Mrs. Dalloway: Facile or complex?
Since the beginning of the book, Mrs. Dalloway is portrayed as a lover of life. For example, she is happy to do choose that are "below her" on a social level, such as fetching flowers. She also seems to know what she wants out of life. For example, the constant back and forth contemplation of her past refusals to Peter's marriage proposals. She knows that she would have "fun" with Peter, however, she wouldn't have any freedom. Overall, she comes back to the fact that Mr. Dalloway can give her the life that she wants. In this way, she is very objective and aware of herself and her surroundings. There are many points in the book where she looks inward to examine her wants, morals, and even mortality. On one hand, one can take her cheery and direct appearance at face value and determine her to be a happy housewife--content with her house parties to be her only gift to the world. But what if there was more?
Mrs. Dalloway is set in 1924, a time when women had just received the right to vote. A revolutionary time indeed, however, the expectations of the "feminine mystique" were still very real to many women of the time (side note: due to the slow process of change in mindset, some still have this experience today). Could Mrs. Dalloway count her house parties and outward appearance of happiness as just some of her duties as a housewife? After contemplating her love for Sarah, she delves into the thought of her own mortality. My main point is this: How happy can you be with life to be unafraid of death? In addition, just the fact that she reminisces so much about Sarah and Peter leads me to believe that she isn't completely happy in her relationship even though she doesn't outright say it. I think the Septimous character also plays into this idea a lot. If Mrs. Dalloway doesn't feel she can fully express her emotions, then I think it's possible that Septimus could play as a sort of Scapegoat for these otherwise unexpressed emotions. Each viewpoint of this book tells entirely different stories. I wonder what version Virginia Woolf wanted us to grasp while reading this book.
I feel like she is also going through a time where she just recovered from the flu and is transitioning out of her main role as a mother. Her life is changing, and it's easy to understand why she can't help but wonder if there is more she should be doing or something else she should be doing. Her bout with the flu probably also really contributed to her thinking about past memories and her life in general because of thought of death that severe illness brings. So although it may seem like she is happy, after all, she survived the flu and is now holding some sort of party, there are deeper questions going through her mind.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. Her recent bout with the flu had a huge impact on her new thoughts on life and I think that probably played a major role. Even though I didn't mention in my blog post, I also think this transitional phase also would spark some thoughts about the overall meaning of her life. Thanks for the feedback!
DeleteI think Clarissa believes she made the right choice logically speaking, but she's struggling with emotions like nostalgia and uncertainty brought on by Peter returning. When she rejected Peter she was making a decision about the kind of life she wanted to have, but doing so meant ignoring the way she felt about him, which was a hard choice to make. So now, when she sees him again, she's reminded of those emotions and starts to doubt if she took the right path.
ReplyDeleteLogically speaking yes. Nonetheless, it was a huge sacrifice on her part to give up Peter because I believe it signified the loss of a whole lifestyle. In other words, she had to chose which parts of her life were most important to her and she chose privacy over passion. I think what you said about nostalgia makes sense and is a valid reason for why she's thinking about him.
DeleteI think Clarissa is happy with the stability that Richard and her upper-class life offer her, but she wishes she could have freedom and autonomy without sacrificing that comfortable life. She gets parties and social status, which she loves since she's so good with people, but she is also disregarded and taken less seriously as a result. Being just "Mrs. Richard Dalloway" takes away her individuality, and gives less weight to her accomplishments behind the scenes. That's probably why Peter's "perfect hostess" comment struck a nerve.
ReplyDeleteOriginally, I think she's conflicted with her role as Richard's wife because she thinks so much of the past and of if she made the right choice. I think you're right that her individuality is important to her and that Peter definitely struck a nerve saying that; however, in the end, it seemed that she was okay with her role as a hostess. I find that ironic because only after that did Peter recognize her as an individual.
DeleteI agree with you that Clarissa's view on death is a very interesting way to look at her satisfaction with life. In my experience, how content someone is with life definitely correlates with how people view death, although it isn't a direct connection at all. People who are happy with life may be extremely scared of dying, but they also may be content with death as they feel they have lived a good life. And those who are depressed with their life may even welcome death as a way to get away from their troubles in life, but may also fear death even more as they feel they have not lived their life out fully.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it might not be a direct correlation, and think that it is mostly up to speculation--especially with Clarissa. She already gives us little intel on her inner feelings that we must wonder what she's actually feeling. I think it's an interesting puzzle, given the setting and time period of when the book was published and, overall, I find it interesting to contemplate her character fully because there's no real answer in my opinion.
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