Page 373 - DENG404_FICTION

Unit 30: Virginia Woolf — Mrs. Dalloway: Themes and Characterization

The thoughts of characters such as Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith are connected Notes
by external events in the world, such as the sound of a motorcar, or the sight of an airplane
in the sky, or the sound of the Big Ben clock as it strikes the hour. Woolf shows that the
thoughts of individuals can be connected in a way that reveals a unity in human existence, an
exciting world of possibility.
Although it is difficult to imagine, the novel is a relatively new literary form. Poetry and
drama (plays), for example, have a much longer history. The novel, however, did not arise as
a unique genre until the late eighteenth century. According to literary historians, it arose
along with, or partly because of, the rise of the individual. It is said that Woolf’s style, and
that of other early-twentieth-century novelists, represents a culmination of this connection
between the novel and the individual.

30.1 Major Themes

The sea as symbolic of life

“The ebb and flow of life”. When the image is portrayed as being harmonized, the sea represents
a great confidence and comfort. Yet, when the image is presented as disjointed or uncomfortable,
it symbolizes disassociation, loneliness, and fear.

Doubling

Many critics describe Septimus as Clarissa’s doppelganger, the alternate persona, the darker,
more internal personality compared to Clarissa’s very social and singular outlook. Woolf’s use
of the doppelganger, Septimus, portrays a side to Clarissa’s personality that becomes absorbed
by fear and broken down by society and a side of society that has failed to survive the War.
The doubling portrays the polarity of the self and exposes the positive-negative relationship
inherent in humanity. It also illustrates the opposite phases of the idea of life.

The intersection of time and timelessness

Woolf creates a new novelistic structure in Mrs. Dalloway wherein her prose has blurred the
distinction between dream and reality, between the past and present. An authentic human
being functions in this manner, simultaneously flowing from the conscious to the unconscious,
from the fantastic to the real, and from memory to the moment.

Social commentary

Woolf also strived to illustrate the vain artificiality of Clarissa’s life and her involvement in
it. The detail given and thought provoked in one day of a woman’s preparation for a party,
a simple social event, exposes the flimsy lifestyle of England’s upper classes at the time of the
novel. Even though Clarissa is effected by Septimus’ death and is bombarded by profound
thoughts throughout the novel, she is also a woman for whom a party is her greatest offering
to society. The thread of the Prime Minister throughout, the near fulfilling of Peter’s prophecy
concerning Clarissa’s role, and the characters of the doctors, Hugh Whitbread, and Lady
Bruton as compared to the tragically mishandled plight of Septimus, throw a critical light
upon the social circle examined by Woolf.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 367