In “Wit,” love is portrayed as a force that Vivian Bearing struggles to understand and experience due to her emotional isolation and intellectual focus. Throughout her life, she prioritizes academic achievement over personal relationships, leading to a lack of emotional intimacy, especially with her distant father. As she faces terminal cancer, Vivian begins to long for human connection, finding moments of love in the kindness shown by her nurse, Susie. The play suggests that love, in its purest form, emerges through vulnerability and compassion, especially in the face of suffering and death.

Knowledge in “Wit” is both a source of power and a limitation. Vivian’s intellectualism defines her life, but it also isolates her from emotional connection and leaves her unprepared for the raw realities of mortality. Her deep understanding of Donne’s poetry fails to offer comfort when she is confronted with her own illness. The play critiques the idea that knowledge alone can provide meaning, suggesting that emotional and human experiences are just as vital for understanding life and death.

Grace in “Wit” is an unearned gift of compassion that emerges as Vivian confronts her own mortality. Initially emotionally distant, she experiences moments of grace, particularly through the kindness of her nurse, Susie, who offers empathy without judgment. These acts of grace help Vivian move from intellectual detachment to emotional openness. The play portrays grace as something that cannot be earned through intellect but is found in vulnerability and human connection.