Social Issues In Mrs. Dalloway

The turn of the 20th century brought a great deal of change into the world. This was a time of development in science and technology. By 1910’s and 1920’s rolled around the world was already an entirely different place form the start of the century. During this period the world saw the greatest war of their generation and one of the biggest and one of the most deadly in history. World War One affected the whole world and changed the lives of many. Virgina Woolf’s, “Mrs. Dalloway” is a great commentary on many of the social changes and important issues you saw during this time, including psychiatry and World War One (WW1). Woolf is able to effectively bring to light these important issues. While writing “Mrs. Dalloway”, Virgina Woolf discovered …show more content…
The soldiers coming home from battle were still suffering even though the war was long over. Many of the soldiers coming back were suffering from “shell shock” now know as “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”. This caused the men to suffer from hysteria, anxiety, depression, and many more symptoms. Unfortunately, these men were severely mistreated because of knowledge of psychiatry at the time was very misinformed. Woolf does an excellent job interpreting how soldiers felt after the war and how psychiatrists treated these men. Septimus Warren Smith is a character dreamt up by Woolf. He is a WW1 veteran who suffers from shell shock and hallucinations of his friend who died in battle, Evans. Many men rushed to volunteer when the war broke out. They wanted to defend their homeland and gain honor by making the ultimate sacrifice. Peter Walsh, a character from the story, admires these soldiers when they are marching, “Boys in uniform, carrying guns, marched with their eyes ahead of them, marched, their arms stiff, and on their faces an expression like the letters of a legend written round the base of a statue praising duty, gratitude, fidelity, love of England”(2183-84). These men bring up a strong sense of pride in his …show more content…
Woolf denounces the medical treatment Septimus receives over the course of his decline and eventual suicide. When Septimus is having severe hallucinations, his wife thinks of what the doctor had told her, “Dr. Holmes said there was nothing the matter with him”(2193). Victims of shell shock were often seen as cowardice and seen just as a sign of emotional weakness. The doctors are quick to make judgments on his condition and never really communicate with Septimus himself, but instead talk to him through his wife. While Septimus continually grew worse and even talked of suicide to his wife, which Dr. Holmes all knew, he only had to say, “There was nothing the matter with him” (2207). The actually psychiatrist of the story, Sir William Bradshaw, does agree that Septimus is seriously ill and believes he should be sent to the countryside to get better. Septimus did not want to go. Sir Williams is condemned by Woolf at this spot in the reading, “Sir William not only prospered himself but made England prosper, secluded lunatic, forbade childbirth, penalized despair; made it impossible for the unfit to propagate their views until they, too share his sense of proportion”(2211). Sir Williams, doesn’t help people, he hides them away from the view of the public. An idea of the time was to send these veterans who are suffering and take them out of the public view. Dr. Holmes finally comes to take Septimus away; Lucrezia and her husband did not want him