Category: Mrs. Dalloway

Abstract

Narration is the common element between image and text. Screen adaptation of novel and epic explores the emotions of peoples in form of moving or motion of images moreover now a day’s more information related to novel and academic work available on internet. Whereas, literature based upon a lengthy and complex text which evoke the critical thinking and other abilities of peoples. So, this paper concludes that how literature enhance our knowledge and critical abilities of a person. So, this research paper concludes that how literature enhance our knowledge because it based upon a deep reading of a text.

Introduction

In this article we are going to discuss the nature of textual literature and screen literature. We will also discuss the addition, exclusion and complexities regardless changing nature of their medium of representation. Literature review contains the previous researches in the same era and the researcher just shares his knowledge. The aim of literature review is to show the reader that the researcher has read and has a good grasp of the aim published work.

English literature is a material that is written in English language, either in the form of poetry, drama, novel or a prose. Screen literature is a piece of literature that is filmed. Screen literature reveals on us significance and importance of written English literature. For example, Lords of Files. I enjoyed the book more than the movie because it went more in depth and written in detailed description. While on another hand by watching movie, I came to know about how all characters look alike by their faces and by their action.

The aim of the researcher is to highlight the affinities or relationship between textual literature and screen literature. Textual literature demands more time from the reader. If a reader is reading a play or a novel, he must put his focus on the written work and try to understand the language and grasp the deeper meaning of that piece of literature. It is because of having enough time from the reader side. Most of the people do not have enough time to read the full text of a play or a novel. There may be some people who are not able to understand the language of that specific piece of literature. So, they don’t prefer to read the text. They take more interest in watching that piece of literature because it takes a short time in understanding the main story of that piece of literature. On the other hand, screening literature doesn’t require any specific capability from the person who is watching it.

The researcher has observed minutely the affinities between textual literature and screen literature. By his/her research he collected information and data for defining the objectives of his research work. The researcher has observed the positive sides of textual and screen literature. The main objective of the researcher is to highlight the crucial difference between textual and screen literature.

The main purpose of this article is to put light on the connection between textual literature and screen literature. The main purpose of textual literature is to enhance the reading capability of a reader. By reading text, it helps a reader to improve his conceptual ability and he tries to make his concepts clear regarding the subject. Textual study helps a reader to share his views with others and it also helps him a lot in building a critical thinking. The critical approach of a reader does improve, and he goes into the profound and deeper side of the text and it helps him a lot in understanding and comprehending the things regarding that piece of literature. Textual literature helps a reader in understanding the different characters of a play or a novel. From these characters, a reader learns a lot and he try to understand them psychologically. The psychological insight of a character from a play or a novel helps a reader to understand the psychological aspect of any piece of literature. The reader tries to remember the good and conflicting male and female characters as conflict is an important aspect of any play. It is truly said that if there is no conflict, there is no drama.

The main purpose of screen literature is to amuse the viewers. Screen literature has played a very important role in the entertainment of people. People are enjoying their life by watching different plays and films on the screen. Screen literature is providing a healthy and fruitful entertainment to the people by sitting in their houses. Majority of the people are being entertained by the screen literature. The main purpose of screen literature is to entertain the people in a lighter mood. Majority of a people like to watch dramas or novel or any piece of literature on the screen because it demands less effort and capability in understanding. Screen literature helps in understanding the movements and gestures of different characters. The understanding of common people is greater in screen literature than textual literature. The lighter changes brought in screen literature while dramatizing it. The comedy is presented in lighter tone in such a way as to amuse and entertain the viewers fully. The tragic scenes of a drama or a novel are presented in such a way as to arouse a feeling of sorrow and sadness at a maximum level. Oedipus Rex is a best example of it. The tragic end of Oedipus arouses a feeling of sadness and sorrow in the audience. The self-punishment of Oedipus for blinding himself at his flouts gives us the viewpoint of writer Sophocles who thought that best punishment is the self-punishment. Screen literature leaves a lasting impact on its viewers. People remember a movie or a drama for a long time only because of its visual presentation. By watching screen literature, they are some people who keep in mind the important and famous dialogues of a screen play. Some people try to speak the famous dialogues of a play in their discussion as they have watched the characters delivering it. Screen literature also encourages a people to act in the same way in their daily life. Screen literature also inculcates the sense of acting in the common people.

Discussion

Over the years many literary versions have come to big screen. It is something very special that some popular stories come from the pages of their books to screen that was seen by many peoples via different medium such as theatre and film. Watching a film adaptation of a book that you already read give you a further knowledge about it and develop an analytical thinking in a person.

When you read a book in same way as a director draw a relationship between character and setting of a scene. If a person reads a book in that way so it can be easy for him to draw the differences and similarities between the structure of a book and a film. When you watch a literary adaptation of any novel in the form of film, actor meant to be a characters which portray a different personality or attitude on a screen help you to draw a picture in mind when you are reading a written story. Film based upon viewpoints of a written story allows you to consider different perspective s of others. Films give you a new viewpoint, through the eyes of director. Therefore, whatever novel you like, there is already a film, it will give you a different type of pleasure that how your favorite characters are presented on a screen. Novel drive an imagination and gives you a desire in life. Such as Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf published on 14 May 1925 and adapted in a film version in 1997 by Marleen Gorris.

Film presents story of hours into minutes. In film adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway opens with Septimus which was a main victim of world war 1. The shot of smoke in a film create sense of dream in a viewer mind although it was a flashback. While watching a film of Mrs. Dalloway we see reaction of Septimus towards his friend Evan who blown up by an explosion which fills the screen with white and softening focus. This soft white scene also becomes a part of bedroom of Mrs. Dalloway which show somehow connection between Septimus and Clarissa Dalloway.

Although, Mrs. Dalloway is a unique novel and take place in a single day. At the beginning of novel Clarissa Dalloway doing a preparation for a hosting a party at that evening. She was walking through the street of London to collect a flower for their party where she met with his old suitor Peter Walsh. In the novel author used a technique of flashback, which keep reminding Clarissa Dalloway about her youth. At the same time, we read that how Clarissa Dalloway and people around her was greatly affected by shell-shocked. By reading a novel we learn more about his experience in war and how war left a lasting impact on him and people around her. Moreover, screen literature is not as fine and soothing like a book. Book gives a more information and detailed description about characters and event happening in a novel. Now we will lead our discussion based on literature review, significance of our research, its aims, objectives and purposes in the form of analytical report.

Analytical Report

On the basis of data and information it is reported under the topic “Affinities of Imagination Between Literature and Screen” that textual literature and screen literature are different aspects of studying literature. Language plays an important role in studying and screening literature in both the cases a reader and a viewer must have the language proficiency. As a matter of adaptation of literature into film it is not as though a adaptation is a only of relationship that might exist between literature and screen, but it is the one that most persistency occupies the critic, the reviewer and the ordinary filmgoer alike. It is not necessary after several years of serious research into the processes of adaptation to insist the reliability to the original text. The director of a film may bring some changes in any piece of literature to fulfill its own requirement. It is not easy to make a case strong while screening any play or novel of cheap quality. The case would be strong in terms of the writing of great dramatist and novelist like Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf and William Golding. In the discussion of literature of the screen one should not concern with the large number of badly written films that have found their ways to the screens of the world. There arises a problem even to great directors of films while converting a piece of literature into films like in the work of Hemingway and Faulkner. The trouble with our screen literature is that they are not selective about that upon which they choose to base their case. A criticism done on the screen literature is that sometimes they take the story from a cheap material which is not liked by the educated people. The level of imagination of people is disturbed and hurt by watching the screen literature that belongs to a low category. The screen literature is providing information based on a scientific invention. Science fiction movies are best example of it because it has some exaggeration in it. The positive aspect of screen literature like science fiction films is that viewers can understand the scientific and technological development which has been taken place in future.

It is well said that they are no alternative of a book. As we all know that reading text literature demands a proficient knowledge in the specific language in which it is written. They are many written drama and novels available in the market and on the internet. A devoted reader can quench his thrust by textual literature as much as he likes. The literature of a text gives a deep understanding of a subject and it also enhance the imaginative faculty of a reader. Thou, it demands a lot of time from the reader to devote. A man can enhance and promote his ability to comprehend and grasp the things in a better way. Man gets to know about different words which enhances the level of vocabulary as well as it polishes his speaking ability. The enjoyment of reading textual literature awakes up all the senses of a man. He starts imagining the things which take place in a drama or a novel. The ability to understand the cues is improved by reading textual literature. It brings an improvement in the level of language and the usage of language. A good reader of literature enjoys a usage of coinage which the different qualitative writers use. The reading of textual effects the overall personality of a reader. He becomes more mature and understands the things in better way. Giving a reference of any piece of literature in the matters of day to day life enhances the level of ability and it becomes a cause of appreciation of that person. While reading the plays of Shakespeare a reader comes to know a lot about the characters of the play. The most surprising thing about the characters of Shakespeare plays is that we feel them like human being they are very close to the people of real world. A reader finds the same richness in the characters of tragedy and comedy of Shakespeare’s plays because he had an equal aptitude for writing tragedy and comedy. The most distinctive feature of Shakespeare’s play is that his plays are never alike, and a good textual reader enjoys it a lot because he finds a multiple variety in his plays.

The reading of novel gives a specific sense to the reader to go deep into the delineation of characters. As a good reader knows that success of a novel lies in its theme as well as in characters. The delineation of female characters in the novel is one of the hallmarks of the novelist and a good textual reader gets to know even the psychological aspect of female characters. The novels of George Eliot are best example of it as she goes into the psychological depth of her characters. “Adam Bede” is the best example of it. It is because of psychological depth of her characters that George Eliot’s novel “Adam Bede” is considered a modern novel. And a good reader of textual literature knows it very well. A good reader of textual literature is aware of most famous English novelist of 19th century Jane Austen. She was a quintessential pillar of 19th century English fiction. She was given a title “The mother of 19th century English novel”.

A textual reader of literature is well-aware of Jane Austen. She has written only six novels out of which most important are “Pride and Prejudice and “Emma”. The range of her novel was very limited as her novels deal with domestic issues and married life. Emma by Jane Austen is a novel about domestic issues from high landers and low landers. Novel relates to Georgian Vergency that we perceive it like earlier Victorian novel. Victorian novel link with artificial type of mannerism so this novel can also be called comedy of manners mean through manners how people are comic one and bit ridiculous one through their doings. It is hubris type of novel which shows the over-confidence and foolishness type of pride, so Jane Austen typically focuses in all his maximum novels like “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility”. One and foremost thing about novel that is story of delicate. It is story of delicate females, novel of gentle woman like a fairy although we call it a fairytale, yet it is a story about fairies which is very delicate and innocent human but foolish.

Conclusion

By making the whole analysis of textual literature and screen literature, we came to know that both textual literature and screen literature are considered important and necessary for students. It is also noted that students still like to read textual literature. Research shows that student enthusiastic to engage with screen literature to improve their learning. But every student has no access to the screen literature, and it becomes a hindrance in the way of learning. However, textual literature requires a level of concentration quite different to screen literature. Reading complex and lengthy literature may help contextual analysis and a deeper sense of knowing. So, it is important that we don’t dismiss the textual literature from academic libraries particularly in universities that aim to equip their graduates with critical thinking and independent learning skills.

References

1. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway
2. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-Rex-play-by-Sophocles
3. Lords of files by William Golding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies
4. Emma by Jane Austen https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/emma/summary/
5. Narration in the fiction film by David Bordwell http://www.icosilune.com/2009/02/david-bordwell-narration-in-the-fiction-film/
6. Sense of Film Narration https://www.questia.com/library/120080690/the-sense-of-film-narration
7. Hidden Differences: New meanings in adaptations of literature to the screen by George Raitt (DEAKIN UNIVERSITY) https://www.doubledialogues.com/article/hidden-differences-new-meanings-in-adaptations-of-literature-to-the-screen/
8. Adam Bede by George Eliot https://www.britannica.com/topic/Adam-Bede-novel-by-Eliot
9. Screen and paper reading research https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00048623.2016.1227661

The early 20th century, the golden era of modernism, was a remarkable time in the history of literary world as this modernist paradigm had brought a radical shift in aesthetic as well as cultural sensibilities in all fronts of life, including in literature. It was not only the sense of war, the economic disruption or political turmoil that led to such significant alterations in the worldview of individuals, rather, the dissemination of newfound knowledge throughout the society played a crucial role in this shift. With the emergence of newly discovered knowledge, especially in the field of psychology, writers began to observe and look at things with a completely new lens. Radical experimentation in literary form and expression were developed through new insights provided by new ideas of psychology and a sweeping shift took place, changing the focus from the previous description of external reality to an attempt at description of inside. Therefore, the new subject matter of psychology was an integral part of this avant-garde movement and of its attempts to break free from the earlier conventions of a novel, and in its pursuit to find new forms and techniques to portray the disillusionment of the modern society. This new focus of attention was considered to be revolutionary and came as a shock to many, as such notions of inner experiences was never, up until this period, explored in depth in the workings of literature. To elaborate this emergence of an emphasis on subjective experience in modern fiction, this paper will look into the novel Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, and will highlight how Woolf had used the new subject matters of psychology of the 20th century to interrogate and explore the psychological dimensions of her characters.

Virginia Woolf and the Dark Places of Psychology

Virginia Woolf’s literary focus on consciousness and the human mind has often been a site a discussion for many critics and authors over the years. She is known for depicting the subjective realities of her characters, rather than being engulfed in “materialism” like the earlier writers, as Nicholas Marsh states “the novel had been taken into a dead-end, then: the real life of characters, which is the raw material of literature, was being ignored by the writers of Woolf’s youth. The novel form needed to evolve, or be reborn”(187). For Woolf, the nucleus of characterization lay in the framework of human consciousness and how it functions in moments when we are alone or with others, as reflected in these lines, “Meaning for Woolf is mental, not physical. The novelist’s objective should, therefore, be to show the reader the mind of literary characters from within, from the perspective as to how it creates sense, and not to tell about it from without.”(Venetis ). By positing Woolf’s work in relation to its timeline, it becomes straightforward to trace parallel developments between early 20th century psychology and her own work. The developments of psychologists like William James and Sigmund Freud had wiped out the conventional means to perceive the human mind, as their concentration no longer pertained to conscious actions and intentions, but rather shifted to the hidden impulses and instincts of human behavior. This new wave of ideas allowed Woolf to focus on free and genuine expression of human life, where the irrational impulses of the mind could be discussed without restrictions.

Mrs. Dalloway. Since all of these groundbreaking developments were occurring in parallel with the emergence of the modernist era, much of these ideas collided with the structure and themes of the avant-garde writing approach of Virginia Woolf, and Mrs. Dalloway is a fitting example of this. This novel plays a crucial part in the literary revolution that these modernist writers aimed to achieve, as it had changed the entire concept of a novel, by going across the previous limitations and opening up new realms. In this novel, Woolf puts a great emphasis on the nature of human psyche and was committed in portraying the stream of consciousness of each character in the novel. Some of the basic elements of our consciousness, such as perception, memory and time have been demonstrated in this novel, and Woolf uses experimental novelistic conventions to precisely mirror the workings of these components in the individual mind.

The story is comprised of two interwoven sub-plots, which seems to connect only on the basis of the characters being at the same place at the same time, and it takes place in a single day, however is not limited by it, as we move back and forth in time through the character’s consciousness. The central characters in Mrs. Dalloway are Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith, two anxiety-ridden individuals who have confined themselves in the depths of their own complex minds, trying to make sense of their own existence. In the course of this seemingly regular day, these characters pass through a complex journey with an influx of memories and sensations. On one hand, Clarissa Dalloway seems to be incarcerated by her past choices and her present identity, and on the other, Septimus Warren also seems to battling with his trauma from the war and his present disillusionment, which eventually leads him to end his painful existence. The novel relies heavily on the internal psychological experience as the readers are immersed into the individual consciousness of each character, using the different aspects of the psychological developments of that time. On the outset, it seems as though the novel lacks any actual story as there is not much action in the plot in its traditional sense, nothing particular happens throughout, and the story focuses on ordinary moments and commonplace tasks that each character experiences, however, by focusing on a typical day in the minds of these characters, Woolf tries to highlight that these seemingly mundane moments reflects bits and pieces of our identities. As Woolf had said in her essay, Modern Fiction,

“The mind receives a myriad impressions-trivial, fantastic, evanescent, or engraved with the sharpest of steel. From all sides they come, an incessant shower of innumerable atoms, and as they fall, as they shape themselves into the life of Monday or Tuesday, the accent falls differently from of old…Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged, life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end” (1984)

This feeling of the “semi-transparent envelope” of life, surrounding and creating consciousness, is what Virginia Woolf had intended to attain in Mrs. Dalloway.

Stream Of Consciousness. One of the major early psychological developments that can be seen heavily reflected in Mrs. Dalloway is William James “stream of consciousness”. In James new theory based on the notion of subjective experience of crowding sensations, he remarks that,

“consciousness, then, does not appear to itself chopped up in bits…it is nothing jointed; it flows. A ‘river’ or a ‘stream’ are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it here after, let us call it the stream of thought, of consciousness, or of subjective life… ” (39)

This had a profound influence on modern authors. James’s theory assumed that the external world around us is only known to every individual as an unstable and orderless flood of sensations, and that time itself was also a inconsistent and erratic phenomenon prone to distortion based on our own internal experiences, and even though it may seem like we have a grasp of our reality, we are aware of the underlying sense of chaos that persists within our consciousness. As a result of all this, we are led to an isolated consciousness, whereby it becomes impossible for one individual to truly access another’s consciousness, or understand one another or even themselves precisely. Sigmund Freud, the brainchild of psychoanalysis, which used the method of free association and relied on a similar approach of free mental flux, further popularized this notion. According to Freud, this freely expressed stream of thoughts unmasks our hidden repression that may have been caused from major conflicts, memories, etc. and are brought into the conscious mind, rather than remaining submerged in our subconscious, “Free association is not pre-planned and is not interfered with by attempts to impose organization and structure on the mental output” (Kilk, E). All of these ideas by James and Freud was highly influential in the development of the famous artistic technique of stream of consciousness, and she had seemed to appropriate the methods of free association in Mrs. Dalloway, to capture the exact nature of this flow, using intense interior monologues. Just as how Freud would have encouraged his patients to express whatever that came to their mind, Virginia Woolf’s characters had done the same. This is evident in the fact that in Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf was not interested in the physical happenings, rather she captures the nature of our consciousness meticulously, demonstrating a nuanced understanding of the relationship between the external world and our own realities. For instance, right from the beginning of the novel, we are instantly provided a front seat to the thoughts of Clarissa Dalloway, from the moment she steps out of her house in order to buy flowers for her party that very night:

“What a lark! What a plunge! For so it had always seemed to her, when, with a little squeak of the hinges, which she could hear now, she had burst open the French window and plunged at Bourton into the open air. How fresh, how calm, stiller than this of course… looking at the flowers, at the trees with the smoke winding off them and the rooks rising, falling; standing” (10)

It is immediately made evident that this novel’s narration will not merely allow us an in depth access to Clarissa Dalloway’s thoughts and feelings, but to the essence of her thought itself: it’s conflicted nature, its swift and seemingly illogical twists and turns as memories and ideas flood her with each and every sensation that falls upon her. This style of writing reflects the chaotic and multi-leveled flow that William James and Freud talked about characterizing our mental activity, and throughout the entirety of the novel, she immerses the readers into the ceaseless nature of thoughts of each character.

Non-linear Notion Of Time. Another radical psychological development of the early 20th century, which immensely influenced modernist writers, pertained to the notion of time and time seems to be of great importance in the course of Mrs. Dalloway. William James, who had coined the term “stream of consciousness” had altered the way that people understood time to exist, meaning the earlier notions of time as line of sequential events was almost obliterated, and was considered to flow continuously and freely, similar to how the stream of our thoughts functioned. James had remarked in seminal book Principles of Psychology, “Let anyone try, I will not say to arrest, but to notice or attend to, the present moment of time. One of the most baffling experiences occurs. Where is it, this present? It has melted in our grasp, fled ere we could touch it, gone in the instant of becoming.”(pg). According to him, the concept of time was intrinsically interwoven with the concept of consciousness, and this idea is also reflected through all of the mental processes of the characters in Mrs. Dalloway, as each of them are predominantly occupied with their past memories. Woolf engages with this very idea of the construction of time, and as James had said “that time itself was also a inconsistent and erratic phenomenon prone to distortion based on our own internal experiences”, Woolf similarly broke away from the confinements of chronological time as she converges between different timelines and character’s memories.

Although the plot of the novel appears to be restricted to one particular day in June 1923, the characters’ consciousness suggest differently and Woolf reflects a mode of time which is much more complex than the span of just a single day. For instance, Clarissa spent much of her day reliving moments of her youth in Bourton, thinking about Sally Seton, a free spirited and carefree girl, and perhaps a former love interest who Clarissa seemed to be heavily attached to even after 30 years. We live through a particular moment between Sally and Clarissa, where they had shared a kiss, but she also recalls how Peter Walsh had interrupted and ruined that perfect moment. Memories like these are portrayed in such a manner as though it seems that they were occurring in the present moment. We also get immersed in the summer at Bourton through Peter Walsh’s eyes, as he inevitably thinks about the time when he fell in love with Clarissa Dalloway, having met her again after all these years. The passing of time in the characters minds is not concurrent with the actual passing of time – which is also often represented through the repeated striking of Big Ben in the city of London. Human experience undoubtedly does not occur in a consistent manner, it is fragmentary and temperamental, and these instances of strong internal narration of Woolf’s characters shows the impact of fleeting impressions on our minds, how it can provide us with insights, can sweep us away into our past momentarily, or how one can make connections with the present moment and their past through such transient sensations in our everyday lives. So, time is also portrayed to be inconsequential, not following any linear pattern, as Woolf makes constant use of flashbacks and creates a sense of an interior time.

Freudian Notion Of Repression. Almost all of Virginia Woolf’s characters seem to be repressing their hidden desires and thoughts, which are often hard to come to terms with, and they tend to mask it beneath superficial thoughts and ideas. One of Freud’s major ideas was this idea of repression, “which is the ‘forgetting’ or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or traumatic past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm of the unconscious” (Barry 92). Whenever such unwelcomed feelings or emotions come to the surface in Woolf’s character, we observe that it causes immense anxiety and often even social condemnation, and the characters try their best to keep them concealed in their subconscious. For instance, Clarissa Dalloway, who feels distanced from her daughter Elizabeth, garnered strong feelings of hatred towards Miss Kilman, her daughter’s tutor. Miss Kilman is almost the opposite of Clarissa, she is extremely religious and comes from a low social standing, whereas Clarissa lived a hedonistic life and believed that “religious ecstasy made people callous and dulled their feelings”(pg). Even though Miss Kilman never directly causes any harm to Clarissa, she seems to feel very strongly towards her, and Miss Kilman has a way of reaching into Clarissa’s innermost thoughts, pushing a nerve there. It might be due to the fact that Clarissa feels insecure and threatened about her own beliefs when she thinks of Miss Kilman, and thus she possesses this irrational hate towards her. But Clarissa does not want to admit to herself that Miss Kilman’s existence affects her in such an intense manner, and so she quickly tries to repress such thoughts, “it rasped her, though, to have stirring about in her this brutal monster!” through a different moment, she says to her self, “nonsense, nonsense!” and quickly dismisses all these unpleasant feelings by going into her florists shop and indulging herself in the beauty of all the different flowers and thinking about how Miss Pym, her florist, admires Clarissa. She uses all of these thoughts to repress the feelings of hatred she was feeling towards Miss Kilman, so that she can continue to believe that she does not harbor such hate inside of her, when in reality, she did. She masks it through the approval of Miss Pym and the moment itself. Another such instance of repression can be seen in Peter Walsh’s narration after he had just left Clarissa’s house, her former lover, meeting her after 5 years, and this meeting had rekindled feelings from their love affair at Bourton a long ago. Walsh, having chosen a completely different path in life which did not abide by the social standards, was thinking about the Dalloways and the Whitbreads, and repeatedly asserting to himself that he did not care about them or their success, but then as we gradually delve into his subconscious, we see that he starts contradicting himself as he, in actuality, depends on these very people in order to get a job. It becomes clear that he was in fact insecure about his own identity, and lack of success; however, he did not want to admit it to himself. Peter Walsh is seen to be lying to himself, trying to mask his own insecurities, and this again highlights how Woolf brings in notions of repression in her characters, as he is deliberately sending his unwelcome thoughts away. One of the most important moments in the novel, Septimus’s suicide paralleling Clarissa’s party, which ties the two sub-plots together also, reflects a powerful moment related to the notion of repression. Throughout the novel, we see that Clarissa has extremely ambivalent feelings about life itself, and about the efforts she makes in her life, as we see her often questioning even her own trivial efforts, and even contemplating about death. During her party, when Clarissa hears about the death of this stranger, Septimus, she thinks to herself, “She felt somehow very like him the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. She must assemble. But to go deeper, beneath what people said (and these judgments, how superficial, how fragmentary they are!) in her own mind now, what did it mean to her, this thing she called life?”(pg) In this instance, we observe that Clarissa deliberately lets down her mental defenses, and the part of her mind, which usually represses her unpleasant feelings about death, surfaces, and we enter the character’s undefended mind. Clarissa’s parties, mending her dress, such trivial preoccupations all are a part of an effort that she dedicates in maintaining her self-image as “Mrs. Dalloway”, wife of MP Richard Dalloway, but underneath that facade, lies her submerged thoughts about larger and uncertain issues like death. Clearly, Clarissa fights a battle against the meaninglessness of everyday life throughout the progress of this one-day in this novel.

Conclusion

Mrs. Dalloway, as a novel, had incorporated much of psychological ideas of the time as it gave special attention to the mind, to its character’s individual psychology, and their subjective experiences. Her characters mirror actual human existence living in a dynamic world. By locating Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway in the context of early 20th century psychological insights like that of Freud, James who had shown the infinite depths of the human psyche, we see that writers like Woolf had also come to view their characters as a bundle of inconsistencies, with hidden desires and thoughts. The undercurrent of the human personality was explored in literature, just as it was explored in psychology. The introduction of the “dark places of psychology” opened up new avenues to explore, and thus created an artistic revolution.

Introduction

Virginia Woolf is a famous modernist English writer and the novel Mrs. Dalloway is one of her most popular works. The novel is based on a modernist writing technique which is known as stream of consciousness. There are throwbacks in the novel which are actually the thoughts of the characters. As we see, two stories are being discussed in the novel at the same time and the interesting aspect is that there is no relation between these two stories yet the characters of both the stories have some similarities. There is not central plot of the novel because the narrative of the novel shifts from one story to another repeatedly.

This novel is also about the psychology of human beings and Woolf is trying to portray the different human psyches through it. This novel is also a depiction of her own mental process and condition because for many of the critics Woolf’s experiences of life are just same as her characters have. The characters involved in both the stories are going through different psychological situations which are not usual. Some of them are feeling lonely and have depression some are captured by their past and are unable to get rid of it. They are unable to stay in present as every incident or event makes them to remember their past. The past memories and events of the characters, involved in both the stories, are also different from one another but whenever they recollect their past memories consciously or unconsciously, they get frustrations.

Psychoanalytic theory is given Sigmund Freud in late 19th century. It deals with the mental analysis and treatment of the patients who have any kind of psychological disorder. Its application to the arts is that it is used to analyze the texts as it can be set as standard to find the hidden meanings and intentions of the writer and of the characters as well. It also deals with the actions which are performed by the characters.

In this essay, I will try to find out the factors or the reasons which are affecting the characters’ mental health because all the characters have their own past memories and going through specific present situations which have bad effects on them. As the result of these mental disorders they begin to think about the solution of these problems but their thoughts go in the same direction and they think of a specific act through which they will become able to find peace. They see no hope in life and find the suicide as best therapy to get rid of these worldly pains and suffering. This result of the mental disorders is also the same like the result of Woolf’s life.

Literature Review

The novel is a masterpiece of Virginia Woolf as it gives a deep insight of mental process of human through the use of stream of consciousness which is a modernist technique. This technique is used by the modernist writers to show the complexities in the thoughts of a character. It portrays the cycle of thoughts which occupies human mind in any kind of environment and situation. It explains the reactions of human in happiness and grief but the most important aspect is overlapping of happiness and grief with each other.

The critical study of the novel explores another important aspect of it which is the presence of disillusionment in the characters and the sense of change. The disillusionment is related to the modernity which is divided into three phases by Marshell Berman in ‘All That is Solid Melts into Air (1982). He says that the urge to modernism starts, unknowingly, form 16th century to the 18th century and he calls it as the first phase of modernity. Second phase is the era of French Revolution and the third phase is 20th century when people started to compare conservative and a modern one. But the WWI brought the disillusionment to this modernity and this concept loses its value. So Virginia Woolf leaves the traditional style of writing and introduces such kind of writing in which reader can get the reality through his struggle.

The novel is usually taken as an autobiography because it has a great resemblance with life of Virginia Woolf. The life of Virginia Woolf is also full of sorrows and pains as she faced the first loss of her mother at the age of thirteen which remains fresh in all her life. Then her marriage life was disturbed to some extent which is also shown with the help of Lucrezia’s character. Like her, Woolf also had no children which aided to her distress. She faced depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts from her very early age. All these mental problems react in such a way that she attempts suicide for many times and finally she lost her life in 1941 by drowning herself.

The symbolic study of the novel shows that Virginia Woolf has used the symbols smartly. Different minor characters of the novel are playing a function as a symbol. For example the character of Prime Minister is showing the traditional values of England. When he joins the party and appears there he does not have any impressive look it is because the writer is trying to show that the traditions are losing their charm due to the war. Another example of symbolism is the character of the old woman in the window. It symbolizes the privacy of soul and loneliness. As the Mrs. Dalloway is growing old both these characteristic are increasing in her. With the passing time she is becoming more alone and her privacy is also increasing with time.

Factors Contributing to the Mental Disorders of main Characters.

Lack of communication and alienation

The first factor which is observed as the agent of causing mental disorder is lack of communication. This factor affects the psychological condition of Mrs. Dalloway and the best example of it is the scene when Mr. Dalloway buys some roses for his wife and thinks of confessing his love for her. But when he arrives at her with the flowers he finds himself unable to express his feelings for her wife and he just gives her flowers and there is an exchange of smile between both of them. After giving her flowers he assumes that she have got his feelings that he loves her. He thinks that his wife can understand the feelings and the intentions which he has for herself but Mrs. Dalloway is unable to know his concerns. It shows that love should not be taken as for granted rather there is need of confession also.

‘And there is a dignity in people; a solitude; even between husband and wife a gulf; and that one must respect, thought Clarissa, watching him open the door; for one would not part with it oneself, or take it, against his will, from one’s husband, without losing one’s independence, one’s self-respect – something, after all, priceless.’

She also feels a distance between the hearts of an intimate relationship of a husband and wife. She uses the word ‘gulf’ which represents a large distance. It represents the sense of alienation which is present even between the naturally closest relationship.

Mrs. Dalloway takes the suicide of Septimus as a way of communication.

‘Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death.’

She feels that the Septimus lacks a person in his life to whom he can explain his problems. She thinks about the similarities which she and Septimus have common. She finds both of them in loneliness where they have no one to discuss the things they have in their hearts. So in her point of view it is a powerful voice which cannot be unheard by anyone.

The relationship between Lucrezia and Septimus also lacks the communication and understanding. We see that the Lucrezia is sewing the hats and Septimus is in his own thoughts. He just recalls his friend and sees him everywhere. When they visit doctor, the Lucrezia tells the doctor that the thoughts of Septimus always revolve around his own self. He does not come out of his imaginations and thoughts. She wants the doctor to treat Septimus in such a way that he could concentrate on surroundings especially he should pay attention to Lucrezia because their relation is damaging due to this behavior of him. The Lucrezia also feels loneliness in England as when she is setting in the park she cries that she is alone, she is alone. It shows intense isolation which she is facing there. She also has no one to whom she can explain her sorrows or who can give her hope. The only on is her husband who himself is the reason of all he happenings.

Unwished life and Fear

The lives which the characters are living in the novel are not the same which they wished for themselves. Everyone has some wishes and some aim in life which they want to fulfill. The fulfillment of wishes and needs brings charm to the life a person as he or she can find some reason to become happy. It make them to feel relax and satisfied in life but when a people fail to get their motives their life becomes frustrated and they loss their faith on life. Hopes starts shaking and the stress makes its way to capture the person. Same is the case with the characters of the novel.

First of all, Mrs. Dalloway considers herself as a puppet which is living her life according to the wishes of her husband. She has spent all her life in promotion of her husband’s political life in which she is succeeded and he becomes a successful politician. Even the prime minister of the country attends his parties and other successful businessmen and politicians feel pride to meet him but at the moments Mrs. Dalloway feels that this is not the life which she has wished for herself as she finds that her life is not according to her wish. To her there should be some romance and some energy in her marital relationship but there is nothing like that. We can get a clear observation of it when she goes to buy the flowers for the party and thinks of Peter whom she is refused to marry. She thinks that he is unbearable person but he cannot be a good choice for morning walk in that beautiful morning. It is the depiction of hollowness of her life and her relation with her husband which compels her to think of a rejected person.

The life which Lucrezia is spending with Septimus is also not praised by the Lucrezia.

‘Far was Italy and the white houses and the room where her sisters sat making hats, and the streets crowded every evening with people walking, laughing out loud, not half alive like people here, huddled up in Bath chairs, looking at a few ugly flowers stuck in pots’

Before marrying Septimus she was living a happy life with her sister in Italy. But after marriage she finds no charm in her life. She is taking care of her ill husband who does not even recognize her efforts for himself. For him, her intentions and concerns are nothing as he is always busy in his imaginations and is living in his past which had very bad memories for him. He has no concern with the present while Lucrezia wants him to consider her and the present conditions but she gets no response and success in making him like that.

‘At tea Rezia told him that Mrs. Filmer’s daughter was expecting a baby. She could not grow old and have no children! She was very lonely, she was very unhappy! She cried for the first time since they were married. Far away he heard her sobbing; he heard it accurately, he noticed it distinctly; he compared it to a piston thumping. But he (Septimus) felt nothing!’

She wants children in her life which can bring smile to her because she feels too lonely and depressed. There was no one who can make her laugh so she wants a healthy family which can bring everything to normal. But the Septimus does not feel like her. This thing also brings anxiety to the Lucrezia and she feels so depressed.

Septimus is going through multiple mental disorders but he does not want to visit doctors and dislikes the doctor’s visit to him as well.

‘Holmes was at the door. ‘I’ll give it you!’ he cried, and flung himself vigorously, violently down on to Mrs. Filmer’s area railings.’

He has fear of doctors in his mind which is growing strong with the passage of time. He just wants to live alone but frequent visits of different doctors give him mental torture which makes him to jump from the window to give away his life. When we examine his life we come to know that the life he spent was also not his choice as he got the problems during the war. He does not behave strangely by his own choice but all of his actions are unconsciously done which are not in his control.

Death and War

The novel shows a constant comparison of life and death and the ‘death’ is another factor which is causing mental disorders in the characters. The main characters switch between death and life constantly. We can consider the event of death with the mental disorder of Septimus as a major cause because he has seen his friend dying in front of his eyes in the battlefield. After this incident he finds his dead friend around him. He usually shouts his name with a shock. The battlefield has damaged his mental abilities and his mental disorder is known as shell-shock. This is a psychological problem which is related to the wars or battlefields and the fighting soldiers usually face this condition. In addition to this, he also has some other psychological problem likes depression and anxiety.

‘For the truth is (let her ignore it) that human beings have neither kindness, nor faith, nor charity beyond what serves to increase the pleasure of the moment. They hunt in packs. Their packs scour the desert and vanish screaming into the wilderness. They desert the fallen. They are plastered over with grimaces’

He is at that stage where he finds only bad in people and world. Despite the efforts of his wife and of doctors he is not able to observe anything good in people. This condition happens due to depression and the ability to observe something positive ends.

The WWI has caused a huge damage to the world economically, politically and culturally but its effects on human health were also not good because a lot of people suffered due to it. The war produced a traumatic effect on the minds in the people.

Mrs. Dalloway also has an effect of death on her mind.

‘That phase came directly after Sylvia’s death – that horrible affair. To see your own sister killed by a falling tree (all Justin Parry’s fault – all his carelessness) before your very eyes, a girl too on the verge of life, the most gifted of them, Clarissa always said, was enough to turn one bitter.’

Her beloved sister has died suddenly which caused a mental damage to the Mrs. Dalloway. She does not discuss her sister Sylvia too much but the feelings of sadness and hollowness are always present in her tone. She is also found preoccupied with the perceptions of death and mortality many times in the novel.

‘But that young man had killed himself. Somehow it was her disaster – her disgrace.’

The death of Septimus which has no relation with her makes her sad and tends her to think about death. She goes on the side from the party and begins to think about Septimus and feels as she can understand him. She questions the life of human takes it as a burden which scares her a lot.

Consequences of the mental disorders

Suicide is the ultimate consequence of all the mental disorders through which the characters go through. In general overview it is a reality which cannot be denied because the facts and figures which are provided by different organizations like WHO it is an obvious pathway which is followed by the people who have stress, depression or any other mental disorder. The reports of WHO show that about 800000 people commit suicide every year which means that in every 40 seconds a person commits suicide. From these stats how alarming the situation is.

In the novel there is the same situation as the characters are facing stress, depression and hallucination. Some have clear and deadly symptoms of depression and stress while some have symptoms which are not too obvious and cannot be understood easily but their thoughts are full of death’s perception. The character like Septimus has the fear of people especially of doctors as he becomes so perplexed on arrival of Dr. Holmes and wants him to go back. But when notice that he is going back and is coming to him, it leads him to jump from the window to give away his life.

When Mrs. Dalloway comes to know about the death of Septimus she begins to judge her own life. He goes long back in her life and remembers her relations with many of her old friends. She feels sympathy for Septimus and considers his act as a voice which should be understood before such happening. But in life if a person is not heard then it is the best way to show or tell the people which they were not ready to understand.

It means the characters or the people who are having the mental disorders find the act of suicide as a way of response of the people and to the society as well in which they were living. They answer the world and society in a questioning way which is to be answer by their surrounding according to their observations.

Conclusion

As the main objective of this essay was to identify the factors which are contributing in mental disorders of the main characters and the consequence of it, so from above discussion we come the point where we have sort out some such factors. The sense of being alone and communication gap are the factors which affect the mental health of the characters. We find that the characters of Mrs. Dalloway and Lucrezia are highly affected with these factors. They have their own families but their relationships with their husbands are not up to the mark and are causing stress to them. There is no confession for love from the male sides in both relationships. The unwanted life cycle and fear are also causing disorder in characters. The lives of Lucrezia and Mrs. Dalloway are not according to their wishes or demand. Lucrezia is trying to settle down the life but she is not getting success in her efforts. Her efforts to cure her husband are not showing any result while Mrs. Dalloway is just working for the career of her husband and her private is disturbed. She also needs love and appreciations like Lucrezia but she gets nothing in return as well. The character of Septimus is affected with fear doctors and people. His perception of people is totally negative and pessimistic. The war and death also aided to the psychological disorders of characters. It affects mainly the Septimus who is survivor of WWI and has a dangerous effect of that. Death affected the thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway whose sister has died suddenly. The characters of the novel usually discuss and think about death.

All these factors result in suicidal attempts of the characters. When they become unable to cope with all the worldly pains and sufferings they find suicide as the therapy of these hardships. So the character like Septimus commits suicide to get rid of these problems and tortures. The sympathy of Mrs. Dalloway towards the suicide to Septimus shows that she also finds this act as a final result and response to the problems and the stats of present times still support this act as a large number of people commit suicide in recent times and the numbers are increasing day by day.

In the stream of consciousness, the speaker’s thought processes are more often addressed to oneself, it is primarily a fictional device (Bell, 1990). The representation of the stream of consciousness reflected her need to go beyond the clumsiness of the factual realism in the novel. Mrs. Dalloway is an exploration of consciousness as it portrays the shifting political atmosphere through the characters Peter Walsh, Richard Dalloway, and Hugh Whitbread, it focuses more deeply on the charged social mood through the characters Septimus, Warren Smith, and Clarissa Dalloway. Woolf’s struggles with mental illness gave her an opportunity to witness firsthand how insensitive medical professionals could be, and she critiques their tactlessness in Mrs. Dalloway. This tells that it is explorations of consciousness rather than events.

The novel Mrs. Dalloway portrays a story that captures a character’s thoughts and uses them to tell a story. The novel follows no conventional plot, tragedy, love interest, or catastrophe. For example, Septimus’ death is casually reported at the party although it affects and impacts Mrs. Dalloway in a huge way. The emphasis is laid on the manipulation of words and not on the organization of the story. This helps us to be very close to Mrs. Dalloway’s mind as she is thinking about the myriad things around her and tells us about the exploration of consciousness.

The consciousness not only shows what a character is thinking, but it can actually replicate the experience of thinking, which allows the reader to enter the mind and world of the character more fully. Similarly, Peter’s thoughts about Clarissa, how she rejected him for a rich man in the past, and his comment about her being the perfect hostess, outline Mrs. Dalloway’s present character which is materialistic and cares a lot about her freedom giving hints that the novel has more details on exploration and minimum on events. The characters like Peter and Clarissa portray their possessiveness and sense of freedom when they both think about themselves and about each other.

Through the use of the literary device ‘stream of consciousness,’ Woolf enters into the minds of the characters, where the reader can experience the characters’ thoughts from within. By practicing this narrative method, Woolf not only creates continuity between different time zones and places but also between the minds of her characters. she draws the relationship between reality, unreality, the exterior world, and an inner world. Furthermore, the study of stream of consciousness in Mrs. Dalloway’s novel is vivid as it deals with the analysis of the character’s thoughts, ideas, and feeling in a continuous way from one character to another at a particular moment and focuses more on the inner life rather than on the outer side in which she presents a satirical view of society.

Virginia Woolf has used the stream of consciousness brilliantly in this novel as an exploration of consciousness is used through the characters and gives fewer details on events. The symbols unite everyone. The impressions and expressions are linked up emotionally by the law of association and one even recalls another. The character’s beliefs and reality are shown through their fluidity, almost like a river flowing. Mrs. Dalloway’s novel portrays a vivid form of writing that uses the technique of Stream of Consciousness to explore the inner life of the characters and expose their follies, frustrations, and complexity.

In Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway flowers give the reader much insight into the mind of Clarissa Dalloway. She offers flowers human-like characteristics and personas to them. Perhaps it is that she finds it difficult connecting to other individuals, and when she bestows human-like qualities to flowers, she finds comfort in her connection with them that she does not seem to get with other individuals. Flowers seem to additionally provide her relief when life can prove far too overwhelming, and they are able to provide her joy and peace of mind. Flowers present a medium of personal expression for Clarissa where she is able to reveal her idealistic perspective of life as well as her inner sentiments.

As the reader is taken along on Mrs. Dalloway’s day, it is clear to see how very imperative they are to the novels and how frequently they make an appearance. Take the first line for instance where flowers are mentioned right from the beginning, “Mrs. Dalloway said she would purchase the blossoms herself”. The phrasing of this sentence signifies the individualistic and intimate relationship that she fosters with her flowers. Where this first hint of flowers takes the reader is to the flower shop as she peruses the selection of flowers. Clarissa is in absolute awe of each and every aspect of the flowers as she marvels at the selection at the florist. ‘There were flowers: delphiniums, sweet peas, bunches of lilac; and carnations, masses of carnations…”. This citation indicates how entranced she is with the flowers and how each characteristic fulfills a necessary for her. Each petal or stem is so very noteworthy to her as she indulges in the spectacle of them. From here on out, flowers are blossoming throughout the garden of words on various pages.

In particular, for Clarissa, these flowers provide a sense of bliss as she savors in the sheer magnificence of existence. She feeds off of the spirit that these blossoms pass on to her. Clarissa recognizes how much reliance flowers have towards her, and could not make due in her absence as they would deteriorate without her care. She discovers the pure delight in the dependence the flowers on her, very much like her personal acquaintances do.

Clarissa employs flowers to depict the sheer magnificence of the individuals in her life, but also the not as pleasant moments equally. Age and youth are huge themes that interweave in and out of the novel, and it is something that Clarissa seems to be quite preoccupied with throughout. “… which in his youth had seemed immovable. On top of them, it had pressed; weighed them down, the women especially, like those flowers…” – what this quote is doing is that it is comparing Clarissa’s strain about the anxiety of maintaining her youth to flowers being pressed between the pages of her Aunt Helena’s books. Flowers seems to provide an analogy such as how the petals are being squished in the center of the books, to how her childhood seems to be crushed. When flowers are pressed, similar to individuals when they age, they lose all their liveliness and color that their youth so effortlessly captured. Not being able to preserve her youth just as the petals are unable to prevent getting pressed and damaged between the pages is difficult for her to grapple, as she draws from her own real-life experience.

Through flowers, she is able to adequately ponder on her sentiments and is given the full capacity to comprehend means that she would not be able to otherwise. Clarissa uses flowers to understand human behavior, which further emphasizes how she relates them to behaviors exhibited by those around her. For instance with Miss Pym in the very same flower shop can be portrayed as, “turning her head from side to side among the irises and roses’ – as she looks about the shop, “nodding tufts of lilac with her eyes half closed” – as perhaps she inspects the colorful blooms up on display, “dark and prim the red carnations, holding their heads up” – as she manuevers around the flowers. She realizes how utterly similar flowers appear to be just like people around her. She ties in human mannerisms to features on the flowers to compare Miss Pym’s gestures to the flowers. How she looks about the shop is compared to lilacs and carnations holding their heads up just as she is. Mostly she sees flowers as individuals in her life, which shows how she uses them to understand people in her life.

Having directly disputed how flowers are crucial within Clarissa’s understanding of humankind, there yet another character in which she uses the guise of flowers to better understand. Which is course Richard, and one instance is when, “But he wanted to come in holding something. Flowers? Yes, flowers, since he did not trust his taste in gold; any number of flowers, roses, orchids, to celebrate what was”. This statement discloses how there is a need for Richard to approach her holding flowers in order to make such a comment of affection. Perhaps it would offer a distraction towards Clarissa, knowing how much she values flowers, and just maybe a different reaction will surface. The assortment of flowers that he brings to her is certainly something of interest. “He was holding out flowers—roses, red and white roses” – Richard is at loss for words when it comes to proclaiming his love, but he hopes that the flowers will be able to say what he is unable to. Clarissa’s response was very receptive of this gesture, “She understood; she understood without his speaking…”. Flowers seem to be a medium of connection between this couple. When perhaps words might not be able to say what is needed, flowers seem to step in a take their place. Basically, flowers provide a stepping stone for any communication among the pair. Clarissa seems to get something from flowers that the people around her would never be able to provide towards her. She is able to comfortably perceive her life by having the flowers step in and playing the characters all around her.

Flowers aid Clarissa in expressing her inner sentiments through her day to day interactions, and ultimately aid her in finding happiness when perhaps the human interactions are not able to quite measure up to it. She discovers flowers as being beautiful, yet strangely ordinary all at the same time… just as the people within her life. Within each petal, she is able to either capture an individual’s likeness or perhaps make more sense of occurrences around her that seem to confuse her. She discovers a great comfort in her stable relationship with flowers, and with that, she is able to draw nearer to herself and the world around her.

Through conversations between texts and composers, the construction of texts can be reintroduced across different time periods to display and challenge the values of audiences. This is exemplified through Stephen Daldry’s postmodern film, The Hours, which compliments Virginia Woolf’s modernist novel, Mrs. Dalloway, to a great extent by offering an adaptation on the novel. Through the exploration of both resonances and dissonances between both texts, the relationship and intertextual components are impossible to ignore. ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ written amidst the Victorian Era, influencing Woolf to exhibit a modernist approach to storytelling by exploring the characters and relationships between time and places as it happened aiming to ‘examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day, sanity and insanity, life and death’, rather then clear-cut storytelling. The novel follows a single day in London from the perspectives of several characters through her use of formal, stylistic techniques and stream of consciousness narration. Comparatively Daldry’s post-modern film, situated across three time periods 1923, 1949, and 1990’s which aims to re-tell and innovate the novel into a film by intertwining ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ with Virginia Woolf’s life and contextual values exploring similar concepts and themes. Through Daldry’s use of Woolf’s myriad of literary techniques plus his adaptation and reimagining of themes and binary concepts in the novel such as Time, Societal Restraints and the Troublesome Communications between characters. Through the continued exploration of these themes Daldry creates a post modern adaptation of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ providing meaning to the simple things thus strengthening the connections to both the novel and film by highlighting the resonances and dissonances between the texts and expose the continual relevance.

Time is represented as the fundamental concept which fortifies the relationship between both Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours using conversing resonances and dissonances. The events of Mrs. Dalloway occurs over one single day creating an everlasting order in the novel where several events unfold rapidly. The modernist approach on the novel allows time to be the distinctive factor creating a sense of order within the text where time determines the outcomes of the events in the novel. Woolf utilises her stream of consciousness style of writing to focus on the ‘little things’ showcasing her focus on the interior aspects of life creating a deep contextual meaning to the interactions made from characters and their struggles present in the novel. The novel demonstrates the explicit value of time through two features, the obvious and the concealed. The obvious being the physical features that are everlasting within the novel while the concealed being the duration of the interactions shared between the characters. Time becomes the crucial element that interweaves the complexity of the character’s interactions into the storyline. Woolf thoroughly utilises symbolism throughout the novel to establish the Big Ben clock tower as a motif. The Big Ben apart from indicating the modernism era, signifies that time is everlasting and continuous through the ticking of the clock and the continuous movement of the city. As the book progresses and the clock chimes, the presence of the Big Ben resembles the continuous progression of time and builds an order and rhythm. Through symbolism coupled with juxtaposing views, time can also resemble uncertainty for characters and be an interruption to the concurrent thoughts and memories while also interrupting the relationships shared by characters. The aspect of time creating order and rhythm while linking characters is shown in the beginning where, “Clarissa has recently recovered…She goes out into the street and hears Big Ben tolling ten o’clock, and she thinks of…Clarissa notes the setting: it is five years after the end of World War 1…” Through the use of third person omniscient background narration coupled with repetitive motif, Woolf showcases the importance of time by reiterating the tolling of symbolist Big Ben throughout all the other events occurring as a reminder of the everlasting time. Clarissa becomes a victim of time as she falls ill hinting at the possible end of her time as with many other characters affected by the presence of death in the novel such as Septimus Warren Smith. Similarly, time is also a fundamental concept in, The Hours, where it explores three different timelines and perspectives. Daldry created a re-adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway by showcasing singular perspectives from 1923 Virginia Woolf as she’s writing the book, 1949 Laura Brown reading the book and 1990’s Clarissa Vaughan living the book. Through Daldry’s use of continuous shifting of perspectives in the film, Daldry combines the historical contexts of Woolf coupled with the storyline of Mrs. Dalloway to showcase the traumatic experiences of characters as they race against time to create a better outcome. Also, by introducing the additional storyline of Laura Brown, this provides the audience with further insight into the difficulties of monumental time becoming a burden on life as she fails to end her struggle while time continues on. This resonates with Mrs. Dalloway where death becomes a constant reminder to the characters of time as shown in Septimus Warrens struggle to resolve his inner problems thus leading to his apparent suicide. The continuous presence of time is thus shown through dialogue between Clarissa and Septimus where she reminds him that “he need not die, that he can live like this for years.” Septimus counters with, “but I still have to face the hours, don’t I?” Through a rhetorical question from Septimus, he declares that even if he were to live, he would have to be alone and without Clarissa living an insufferable life showcasing the inevitable burden of time slowing down in his life. Furthermore, time can be intertextually significant between the film and the book contextually as Virginia Woolf intended to name the book, The Hours, just exhibiting the importance of time within the novel. Daldry by replicating the title highlights the importance of the resemblance to the film towards the book. Thus both Woolf and Daldry’s texts resonate the way with how concurrent memories and characters have different experiences with time. Whereas the interaction of Daldry’s multiple timelines heightens the capacity of audiences to craft a better understanding of Mrs. Dalloway and value both texts.

The societal and gender restraining nature of both Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours secures the vital relationship between both texts through resonances and dissonances. The notion of social and gender confinement is seen through the continuous hardships and struggles endured by characters from both texts contextually from the post-war conservative period which intended to keep the values from the Victorian era alive. Woolf intended to focus on the role of women within society through her stream of consciousness style which challenged female oppression by giving insight into the restrictions posed on women while exploring the role of women over time. This is portrayed through the ‘exquisite’ moment shared between Clarissa and Sally, “Sally stopped…kissed her on the lips…the whole world might’ve turned upside down…she was alone with sally…” Through cliché terminology, the shared kiss refers to the strong emotion and love shared between Clarissa and Sally in the past fulfilling their true desires. However, due to societal expectations of women to endure a traditional supportive role to their husbands in historical context, the idea of homosexuality is forbidden and thus looked down upon. This symbolizes the restrictions within Mrs. Dalloway forcing characters to live unfulfillingly. This is further portrayed through metaphorical language in, “there was an emptiness about the heart of life…narrower would her bed be” depicting her life as unfulfilling and another representation of Woolf challenging societal norms. Similarly, the notion of female restrains becomes an adaptation showcasing the struggle of characters over time. Daldry makes it evident in the film that characters are still aiming to achieve independence and joy, but through storytelling the progress is diminished. These restrictions are echoed through Laura Brown trying to fill a particular role supporting her husband while in severe distress. Homosexuality represented by Woolf is replicated by Daldry resonating similar values when Laura shockingly kissed Kitty in the absence of her husband highlighting a sense of release of Laura and Kitty from the forced housewife role fulfilling their desires. Daldry depicts Woolf as the living embodiment of female movement and homosexuality through historical context when she herself is shown in the film sharing a kiss with her sister. This kiss resonates across the novel and film as an extensive motif interconnecting the texts through similar events underlining the psychological effects of unfulfillment. Daldry similarly shows Clarissa Vaughan as an individual with more opportunities as she possesses authority to throw a party. However, in the presence of an authorative figure such as Louis Waters, she is depicted through submissive camera angles as powerless. Daldry also utlises setting and propping by illustrating Clarissa’s societal role through her floral clothing and rubber gloves in the kitchen. This showcases her housewife roles while ignoring her authority in planning the party. Mrs. Dalloway explores the restrictions of societal restraints towards females during the modernism period through one time whereas The Hours depicts the slow shift of the role of women within society through different times and perspective. This slow progression is shown through Virginia where she is under complete submission of her husband to Clarissa who is depicted with minor independence almost decades later. This is showcased through language features in conjunction with tone where Virginia is shown speaking indirectly to her husband asking for permission as societal expectations in, “May I go for a walk?” Whereas, Clarissa is represented with action of independence as she can make her own decisions and choices, “I will buy the flowers myself?” Thus the notion of achieving personal fulfillment while breaking free from societal restraints along with its psychological effects on characters and relationships is heavily exhibited through both texts while offering deeper insights into the resonances and dissonances.

‘Love between man and woman was repulsive to Shakespeare”(Woolf 97). Virginia Woolf published Mrs. Dalloway in 1925. The Modernist monumental work was written in the wake of the atrocities that happened during the first world war. The story presents the reader with Clarissa Dalloway, a member of London’s high society, who spends a day in 1923 preparing for a party later that evening. While doing so, she is preoccupied with her past and questioning her decision of marrying her husband, Richard Dalloway. The entire day is spend reminiscing about her old friend and lover, Peter Walsh, and a kiss she shared with her dear friend Sally Selton. Simultaneously, Septimus Warren Smith, a traumatized soldier, roams around London with his Italian wife, whom he does not love. All day he is pestered with terrifying visions of his dead army commander. Throughout the modernist novel the paths of the perfect hostess and the shell shocked soldier never cross but are always connected. There seem to be invisible ties between the two characters. To this end, this paper will focus on Septimus Warren Smith and Clarissa Dalloway as doubles by means of their homosexuality.

To commence, it is necessary to examine the society’s stances on homosexuality in 20th century England. According to Tamange, the author of “A History of Homosexuality in Europe,” homosexuality was seen as a disorder, but a curable one. However, there seemed to be a fine line between treatments and punishment. This resulted into trauma and physical suffering. In the aftermath of the First World War, there was an association between “homosexual disorder” and treason. “Homosexuality was not only a crime against the army, but a crime against England“ (30-33). Consequentially, homosexuals kept their sexual orientation hidden since “the homosexual person, at least the male, had become the subject of legal, medical and psychological categorization” (Barret 148). Women were supposed to impart high moral standard of behavior which definitely excluded homosexuality. Lucy Delap explains that, being a gay woman was not criminalized, as sex between women, did not carry the same threat to family, morals and society as sex between men. But, this did not make being a lesbian acceptable, as some gay women lost custody of their children (117). There were undoubtedly homosexuals who managed to build a life together in the 20th century, though because of the juridical, religious and social institutions in society it would always have to remain hidden.

Next, Clarissa becomes Mrs. Dalloway by marrying Richard Dalloway, throughout the novel she is reminiscent of her younger years. She takes the reader back to a time, where she was Clarissa instead of Mrs. Dalloway, she was courted by Peter Walsh and fell in love with Sally Selton. This blatant confession of love for another woman, given the circumstances, is what makes her extremely intriguing. Clarissa foregoes her true feelings for Sally to yield to the social norms. As Deleuze writes, “Woman is an infinitive, a process or event, a speaking position, perhaps but not an identity.” (Qtd. in Driscoll 2000). The title of the novel, Mrs. Dalloway, shows exactly what Clarissa is. She is a middle-aged, upper-class hostess and foremost the wife of Mr. Dalloway.

Further, Adrienne Rich argues in Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence that Clarissa is part of a society that enforces heterosexuality upon individuals. And that “women have married because it was necessary, in order to survive economically and not suffer of social ostracism and to remain respectable. Heterosexual romance has been represented as the great female adventure and duty” (654). Compulsory heterosexuality is an ideology formed by society where individuals must only be in heterosexual relationships. Mrs. Dalloway’s marriage with Richard is devoid of passion. Throughout the novel there is not a single moment where Clarissa feels passionate for Richard in the way she does for Sally. According to Peele in “Queering Mrs. Dalloway”, Clarissa her feelings towards men are of a material kind. She recognizes Richard Dalloway as a means of financial stability. Clarissa knows that her future is based on finding a man who can provide for her (208). This is made clear when the couple is faced with the age old romantic gesture of giving flowers. They remain unable to say “I love you” to each other. Furthermore, her choice for Richard over Peter was not based on love but on her wish to continue to be independent. On the contrary, her love for Sally is strong, as she still thinks about the kiss they shared many years ago. Clarissa remembers it as “the most exquisite moment of Clarissa’s whole life” (Woolf 38). In an interesting take on the subject Peter Childs argues that “We are told of Clarissa’s pleasure, which is like a man’s, when kissing Sally Selton (Childs 111). Clarissa must hide her desires for women through marriage and lead a life that correlates with the social norms of her time and place. At the end of the novel we are confronted with the effect of compulsory heterosexuality and the weight of societal expectations as the once mischievous and rebellious Sally Selton is now married.

Consequentially, Septimus’s identity seemed to be that of a shell shocked soldier beyond repair. Yet, some critics refute this identity as a solely shell shocked soldier, and connect his frantic state to a suppression of his homosexual feelings towards commander Evans. Mitchell Leaska, quoted in “Inconsequence: Lesbian representation and the logic sexual sequence”, claims that there is no evidence in the novel that explains his state as the result of shell shock (90). Leaska contends that Septimus’s “psychic paralysis is the result of the taboo nature of his love for Evans” (90). Nonetheless, Leaska goes on that, of course,” no sense in which the possibility of Septimus’s post-war trauma cancels the possibility of his homosexuality” (90). The post-war society where Septimus comes back to is, as been addressed before, not one where homosexually was tolerated. There is a clear parallel taboo between shell-shock and homosexuality in this society. Both were associated with treason and “being unmanly”. Furthermore, both conditions were to be treated. Septimus is under immense pressure which results in alienation, anxiety, paranoia and a sense of loneliness. These are valid reasons to keep a façade of heterosexuality up (Peele 206). This explains his loveless marriage with Lucrezia. His interest in her seems (identical to Clarissa) social rather than emotional.

A quintessential symbol that is used through the entirety of the book are flowers. Flowers and important events seem to be inseparable. Especially, the rose as image for the link between “war trauma and the trauma inflicted by rigidly heterosexist standards”, which is explained by Burian (80). The flowers express traumatic realities that are felt by closeted people. Burian points out that roses are objects of desire and expressions of love. Evans sends Septimus roses picked in “the fields of Greece” (Woolf 102). Greece is a country that has had a long history of being an open minded society concerning homosexuality. Therefore, the flowers express “a man’s sexual desire for another man”(73). Thereafter, Septimus describes that he did not feel anything when Evans died. Paul Fussel, quoted in “Woolf in the Real World”, illustrates in “Soldier Boys”, that if Septimus and Evans were lovers, rather than fellow soldiers, this numbness felt by Septimus “may be intensified beyond survivor guilt, becoming guilt over sexual desires that the society of his day condemned as perverse”( 83-84). Septimus Warren Smith could be described as a man that is oppressed by guilt and society.

Finally, Septimus serves as Clarissa’s double. Even though they never meet in the novel, the story of his suicide penetrates Clarissa’s revelry. When confronted with the tragedy, “she does not pity him” (Woolf 205). The most self-evident argument for their figurative twinship is Clarissa’s unaccountable and intuitive understanding of Septimus’ s death. She is able to reconstruct exactly what happened with Septimus without being informed.

“He had killed himself –but how? Always her body went through it, when she was told, first, suddenly, of an accident; her dress flamed, het body ground; through him, blundering, bruising, went the rusty spikes. Then he lay with a thud, thud, thud in his brain and then a suffocation if blackness. So she saw it.“ (Woolf 202).

If we regard both as oppressed by societal standards of sexual conduct, then Clarissa’s intuitive understanding of his despair suddenly makes perfect sense (Durian 83-84). Woolf portrays Clarissa and Septimus as two characters that have to conceal their true identity and find resort in the safe harbor of marriage. Both feel “displaced or too restrictively placed within the social order of the time” (Rutledge 7). Virginia shows us how the characters had to conform to the ruling principles of heterosexuality that were installed in the rather rigid post-Victorian British society. Septimus’s and Clarissa’s homosexual desires and passions are confined to the spaces of their minds. In Queering Mrs. Dalloway, Thomas Peele says, “Clarissa and Septimus finds themselves in postwar London, then, disengaged from the culture in which they live because of the pressure to maintain the secret of homosexual desire” (206). This displaces them mentally from their social spaces.

In summation, societal imposition of heterosexuality and blatant rejection of homosexuality have united the two seemingly contrasting figures. It is in their suppression of emotions, desires and feelings in their cultural context where they find each other as equals. “Even allowing for their considerable differences (age, gender and class), the character in Mrs. Dalloway most like Septimus is Clarissa” (Jagose 90-91). They differ in the way they carry the weight of their secret. One gets crushed, the other covers the silence by hosting parties.

Works Cited

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