Criticism In Mrs. Dalloway, By Virginia Woolf

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Throughout the novel “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf, there is a certain understanding of underlying skepticism of the world. A huge part of the story revolves around the premise of being able to see into the thoughts of all of the characters. This allows the reader to make assumptions about each character’s own unique morals and their personalities. Woolf does an exquisite job of giving the reader an omnipresent point of view in which we see all occurrences throughout the span of a single day. Also, Woolf alludes to many outside works in her character’s dialogues, however, none are more present than the works of William Shakespeare. She uses specific lines from plays to emphasize consciousness and thought within her characters. However, …show more content…
Dalloway’s altercation with Lady Bruton. After learning that Lady Bruton had “wished to know if Mr. Dalloway will have lunch with her today,” Mrs. Dalloway became overwhelmed with fear and uncertainty because she was not asked to dinner herself as is shown when she thinks “The shock of lady Bruton asking Richard to lunch without her made the moment in which she stood shiver.”(30) It is at this point that Mrs. Dalloway says to herself to “Fear no more,” but her conscious mind began to create ideas in her head which caused her to “shiver” and “rock.” This gives an insight into Mrs. Dalloway’s mind by portraying her concern and agitation of the extra attention Mr. Dalloway received. As seen earlier in the story, Mrs. Dalloway yearns to live on in the memories of those she connects with. This is unique to her because many of the other characters within the novel do not display such deep thoughts about the connection and lasting memory as she constantly does throughout the novel. Although she displays a superficial and slightly pretentious persona on the outside, the reader is constantly reminded of her deepened understanding of the impact she has on those around her throughout the story. So, at this point in the Mrs. Dalloway’s life, the phrase acts as a superficial comfort to Mrs. Dalloway as if she is forcing herself to believe it. This is can also be interpreted as Mrs. Dalloway …show more content…
She struggled continuously as a woman in some of the toughest times the world has seen during the Great Depression and World Wars. Her depression was extensively displayed in her works and was a very common theme in “Mrs. Dalloway” in particular. The depression overwhelmed her to the point that she filled her pockets with rocks and walked into a river succeeding in this suicide attempt. The phrase at its very basis can be deciphered to mean “to stop fearing what is to come” and “to have acceptance for what shall be” which can unfortunately be related to suicidal thoughts and some sort of struggle with the afterlife. Virginia Woolf can be compared to the character named Septimus, who suffers from a form of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that was called “shell shock,” because he also undergoes similar obsessions and difficulties with continuing to live on every day. Virginia Woolf believed that she had been going insane because of her overwhelming depression. Similarly, everyone thought that Septimus was going insane because of his underlying PTSD problems that caused him to seem out of place. They also share the idea that no doctor will be able to understand and diagnose them properly to help them overcome their disease. For example, this is shown in Septimus’ many

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