What will I care for gods or devils or for Fate itself. If she smiles or weeps or both. For me” (Rhys 99). Mr. Rochester’s treatment of Bertha demonstrates how patriarchal power in society correlates with treatment of mental health among women because his sense of possession allows him to take her life choices into his own hands. In addition, Mr. Rochester disregards her emotions because he does not care if she smiles or weeps, but assume that both are related to him instead of due to her personal mental health conditions. Rhys draws more sympathy for Bertha Mason then Brontë by displaying how Bertha Mason loses her grip on reality due to mental illness. For example, Bertha describes how “I sat there quietly. I don’t know how long I sat. Then
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Dalloway represents the female pressures to preserve an acceptable image and the consequences on an individual’s mental health. Even though Clarissa is preoccupied with her past and has mental health concerns of her own, she throws parties as a coping mechanism. Clarissa throws parties in hopes of promoting a positive image of herself and in return gaining approval from others. For example, she worries, “oh dear, it was going to be a failure, Clarissa felt it in her bones… she could see Peter out of the tail of her eye, criticising her, there, in that corner. Why, after all, did she do these things… Might it consume her anyhow!” (Woolf 167). Clarissa certainly isn’t satisfied with her life, especially with an unfulfilling marriage in which she always wonder what could have been with Peter Walsh. She suppresses her inner concerns because she seeks to avoid the situation in which Bertha faces, in which mental illness labels her as being “crazy,” especially due to her status as a woman. When Clarissa hears of Septimus’s suicide, Woolf describes, “Oh! Thought Clarissa, in the middle of my party, here’s death, she thought” (Woolf 183). People often react to death with sorrow, but Clarissa initially reacts with annoyance because she sees it as a disruption to her party. However, it troubles her more deeply because Septimus takes actions on his satisfaction of life, while Clarissa is still attempting to conceal her troubles to preserve her image. However, Woolf eventually reveals that Clarissa “felt somehow very like him—the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away” (Woolf 186). This illuminates Clarissa’s troubled nature because feeling glad that someone committed suicide certainly is not a common reaction, but Clarissa instead understands Septimus’s motives behind suicide because she also feels compressed and dissatisfied by societal standards. This portrays how Septimus acts as Clarissa’s
Dalloway represents the female pressures to preserve an acceptable image and the consequences on an individual’s mental health. Even though Clarissa is preoccupied with her past and has mental health concerns of her own, she throws parties as a coping mechanism. Clarissa throws parties in hopes of promoting a positive image of herself and in return gaining approval from others. For example, she worries, “oh dear, it was going to be a failure, Clarissa felt it in her bones… she could see Peter out of the tail of her eye, criticising her, there, in that corner. Why, after all, did she do these things… Might it consume her anyhow!” (Woolf 167). Clarissa certainly isn’t satisfied with her life, especially with an unfulfilling marriage in which she always wonder what could have been with Peter Walsh. She suppresses her inner concerns because she seeks to avoid the situation in which Bertha faces, in which mental illness labels her as being “crazy,” especially due to her status as a woman. When Clarissa hears of Septimus’s suicide, Woolf describes, “Oh! Thought Clarissa, in the middle of my party, here’s death, she thought” (Woolf 183). People often react to death with sorrow, but Clarissa initially reacts with annoyance because she sees it as a disruption to her party. However, it troubles her more deeply because Septimus takes actions on his satisfaction of life, while Clarissa is still attempting to conceal her troubles to preserve her image. However, Woolf eventually reveals that Clarissa “felt somehow very like him—the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away” (Woolf 186). This illuminates Clarissa’s troubled nature because feeling glad that someone committed suicide certainly is not a common reaction, but Clarissa instead understands Septimus’s motives behind suicide because she also feels compressed and dissatisfied by societal standards. This portrays how Septimus acts as Clarissa’s