Critical Analysis of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway
Brittney Dube
Virginia
Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway inserts itself
into the literary cannon that would otherwise have rejected not only Mrs. Dalloway, but Virginia Woolf’s
works as a whole due to the content and the fact that it was written by a woman.
The novel’s ability to insert itself into a place that it feels it deserves to
be through its commentary on several societal aspects to ultimately work on
deconstructing throughout the course of the novel. When it comes to
psychological analyses of literature, it becomes important to understand the
conversation occurring in the academic world. This enhances not only our
understanding of the literature, but also of the world around us both in and
out of the academic discourse.
Literature
Review
For the purpose of a critical
analysis of Mrs. Dalloway,
psychological analyses cannot be ignored – especially considering that one of
the main characters, Septimus, suffers from several different forms of
psychosis. In “Railed in by a Maddening Reason: Septimus Smith and His Role in
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway,” Sabine
Sautter-Leger comments on Septimus by stating, “But the problem, again, is on
another level: Septimus thinks he
cannot feel – and this intellectual conception of himself as one who is
incapable of feeling underlies his psychosis,” (12-13). Leger makes this comment after pulling in
psychological analyses from both Sass and Lina Spoerl that diagnose Septimus
with a form of mental dysmorphia and/or schizophrenia. Leger continues to argue
the aspect of psychology that most people have an issue with determining: the
conflict between rationality and irrationality and the presence of intention.
When someone suffers from a mental illness, oftentimes people assign a certain
set of expectations for that one person. This becomes problematic because then
people face two sides of the same coin: one side if hat we do not want to
assign expectations to people with mental illnesses because they should be
treated as equals, but on the other side of the coin, a certain set of
expectations should be put into place if we are attempting to have realistic
expectations of a person that suffers from mental illnesses. Leger states,
If
we use Sass’s account of the condition, we have an alternative and provocative
way of understanding Septimus. Indeed, the aspect of Septimus linking him to
Sass’s version of the schizophrenic and which is essential to understanding his
character is that he insists, despite the anguish it paradoxically causes him
and alienation he feels as a result, on the necessity of taking a rational
approach to understanding his psychological state and the universe as a whole
(13)
The topic of psychological disorders and their
existence is one that most people shy away from when having a conversation.
This comes from the lack of exposure to truths and facts about the topic, and
the over-exposure to horrible assumptions that most people make about those who
suffer from the various disorders.
Another
issue facing the spectrum that Mrs.
Dalloway falls within is that of the presentation and reinforcement of
toxic masculinity. This reinforcement of toxic masculinity is not only
something on its own, but it is also something that stems out of the treatment
of psychological patients – especially those that were men. In “Feminism as
Aesthetic Vision: A Study of Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs. Dalloway,’” O. P. Sharma
focuses mostly on the women of the novel, but in one section, she comments on
the climate of the interrelationships of men within the novel, but also in a
worldly sense as well. She states,
Besides,
she is forces into a situation by his illness, where she has to confront the
insensible and mechanistic world of Dr. William Bradshaw and Dr. Holmes. In
them masculinity is further corrupted by the mechanical and fellingless
reaction to human life. Dr. Bradshaw harangues to the patients and their
relations, in moments of acute tension and affliction, upon the virtues of
“proportion” and “conversion” – and the eternal efficacy of a long “rest in
bed,” (Sharma 69).
Sadly, this is the common conversation when it comes
to discussing hetero-normative issues in literature from all decades and
genres. If the literature is not being outright with its overflow of support of
hetero-normative behaviors, then it must be something of the feminist category
that is bound and determined to replace the patriarchy with a matriarchy. This
assumption, however, is extremely problematic in the sense that the ultimate
goal of feminist literature is to either highlight the issues that women face,
or, highlight their right to independence. The notion that one system of power
can be replaced with another is severely flawed – especially if a person is to
expect that there would be any fundamental differences between the two power
systems other that the gender of the group running said system.
Regarding
the political climate of when Mrs.
Dalloway was published, and the climate of modern society that has the
academic, critical conversations about the novel, not much has changed over
time. Readers can see that the world that Septimus Smith and Mrs. Dalloway
existed in is highly like the world in which they are taking time away from to
read the novel. Mehmet Aslan comments on the climates of the two worlds in “A
Different Perspective on Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.” Aslan comments, “Furthermore;
moral values, spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals were in great
depression as piled crowds were in search of a light to a benign world among
whom the hope for universal peace was rotting under the threat of a new world
war,” (8).
However, one can read the novel and
use the commonality and consistency of conversation to support an argument that
does not align with that of the novel or the general conversation surrounding
the novel. The larger importance here is that the conversation is open to
change and interpretation. If the conversation gets shut down by the elitists
involved, then that completely rejects the point of the conversation as a
whole. The importance of understanding not only the conversation, but the heart
of the text as well comes from the Universality of Truth regarding social and
political issues that many do not want to address. The importance of studying
the text is to see how, in a fairly practical way, a reader can deconstruct a
text (which can become practice for the future deconstruction of a society)
through the study of hetero-normative behaviors and representations, feminist
psychoanalyses, and toxic masculinity. This can then be translated into the current
climate that our society rests within to be used as a tool for teaching the
ability to reject systems of power and change social norms through the use of
conversational discourse and deconstruction.
Methods
For the purpose of this project,
the research is extremely technical. While it would be convenient to open up a
search engine and type in "deconstruction of heteronormative behaviors in
Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway,"
or even something such as "feminism in Mrs.
Dalloway," these will prove to not be fruitful. Though these methods
may be useful in starting the research and data collection process, they are
definitely not enough to create a solid thesis presentation without sounding
like every other critical analysis that can be found with the use of a search
engine for 20 minutes.
The biggest method for research that
I will be using for collecting data for this thesis project will be something,
simply put, like reading through a specific lens. When it comes to looking at
the deconstruction of heteronormative behaviors in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, specific textual evidence
will be focused on and unpacked throughout the process. I will be specifically
looking at text that demonstrate a very certain set of gender roles throughout
the story and how each one of those instances either supports, or discredits
the current social constructs of the time in which the story is taking place.
Specifically, I will be focusing on Septimus and how his mental health suffers
due to his attempt to upkeep the perfect facade of masculinity.
In regards to the feminist reading
of the novel, this will come from analysis of text that deals with gender
roles, but specifically those of the women in the story. What do the women do
with their time? Why are they important characters to keep in the story?
Overall, how does each character challenge their assigned gender roles and how
does that change our understanding of the story? Pieces of text that will be
analyze are ones that simply "do not fit" the normal pattern of text.
Throughout the use of the two main
areas of focus listed above, there will also be a study of feminist
psychoanalysis and toxic masculinity. Once the first round of reading and
research is complete, then the "minuscule" details will be brought into
account to create an expansion of the idea of the importance of this piece of
text in general. The importance of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway comes from its challenging of both gender norms and
basic psychoanalysis theories to open a conversation about the societal
pressures both males and females face not only out in the public, but in their
internal workings as well. This highlights the inherent need for a better
understanding of not only physical, but also mental and emotional health.
Another area where I would like to
do some more research in hope for gathering some significant data is through
the use of the ideas from Karl Marx’s “Capital” and Teresa de Lauretis’s “The
Technology of Gender.” I would like to possibly shift into a focus on the
commodification of gender and what that has to say about the society being
presented. Through this unique combination, I hope to find something bigger
than just “Mrs. Dalloway challenges
gender norms/class structure” and see where the combination takes me.
Analysis/Data
For
the purpose of this proposal, I have narrowed down my data collection to just the
introduction of the novel. This will not only serve as evidence for my thesis,
but will also serve as a demonstration as to how I will be deconstructing the
rest of my text. When looking at the introduction, which Virginia Woolf wrote
herself, I noticed that there were a lot of gendered pronouns used when
referring to non-specific people such as “the author,” “the reader,” “the
audience,” etc. Instead of using the terms previously listed, Woolf uses male
pronouns more often than female pronouns, or gender-neutral pronouns. During
this, I disregarded when Woolf directly identifies a specific character in the
novel, or a specific author by their respective genders rather than using their
names over and over again.
During
the research, I found that Woolf uses a total of 44 pronouns throughout the 5
pages of the introduction. Of those 44 pronouns, 27 of them are gendered and 17
are gender-neutral. Of the 27 gendered pronouns, only 3 are female and 24 are
male. When looking at the overall number of pronouns and how out of balance the
male to female pronoun ratio is, there is not a struggle to see that the male
pronoun is favored over the female pronoun. Additionally, whenever a female
pronoun is used, it is always within the context of traditional gender roles
and what a mother, daughter, wife should be. Whenever a male pronoun is used,
it is within the context of academia and knowledge. Woolf constantly refers to
her audience as a group of males, rather than a group of both males and
females.
This
becomes interesting for a variety of different reasons. One could look at Woolf’s
introduction and just read it as though she was writing in a way that would
adhere to societal standards and keep people interested in her novel. Another
way to read this introduction is that she truly believes that men are the only ones
reading her novel, so she writes to please them and get them engaged with the
novel from the very beginning. However, both of these theories get clouded with
the fact that Virginia Woolf is a woman. One could come to expect that since
she is a woman writing from a very marginalized group of authors, she would
write in a way that would include both genders of a possible audience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway proves to be a novel that
is fruitful with commentary not only on heteronormativity, but also societal structure,
and gender commodification. Furthermore, there is something to be said about the
expectation of emotional responses from either gender and what is considered to
be appropriate for not only the situation, but for the gender of the person
expressing those emotions. Throughout the deconstruction of the novel, one can
begin to see the ways in which Woolf presents the reader with several different
outlets for discussion, review, and reflection.
References
Woolf, Virginia. First Modern Library. Edited by H. Wolff,
The Modern Library Publishers, 1922
SAUTTER-LÉGER, SABINE. Papers on Language &
Literature, Winter2017, Vol. 53 Issue 1, p3-31, 29p.
Sharma, O.P.. Women's Studies, Dec1975, Vol. 3 Issue 1,
p61, 13p.
Aslan, Mehment. ‘Hëna e Plotë’ Beder University. BJES. P
1-8.
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