Alex Correia, “Representations of Physical and Mental Illness in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway,” 2nd Place
Early in her essay, “On Being Ill,” Virginia Woolf considers the qualities a writer must possess to write fiction involving characters who are ill, stating, “To look these things squarely in the face would need the courage of a lion tamer; a robust philosophy; a reason rooted in the bowels of the earth” (33). When attempting to assess the specific qualities Woolf considers, there are infinite possibilities. One possibility may be the awareness to recognize how the ill are treated based upon their socioeconomic status, their race or ethnicity, or how well one can adhere and appease to sociocultural norms and beliefs. As Woolf acknowledges in “On Being Ill,” illness can provide the ill with a certain kind of creative freedom as they rest, giving them time to think, or it may bind and harm the creative mind and body. In her 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf explores the complexities of physical and mental illness, as well as trauma, through the experiences and perspectives of Clarissa Dalloway, Septimus Warren Smith, and Lucrezia Smith, while also recognizing the cultural, socioeconomic, and gendered differences between the trio of characters and how those differences impact them internally and externally. Additionally in Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf emphasizes that the ability to overcome illness and live in the Modern world is not dictated by one’s agency, but rather through how the world and environment react and treat them because of their illness.
Before delving into the trio of characters, it is first important to critically examine the spaces presented in the novel and what these spaces tell us, the reader, about the Modern world and its understanding of physical and mental illness. Beginning with Clarissa, the cityscape of London itself is pivotal to understanding her character as the urbanized and industrialized city of London acts as a binary opposite to the countryside of Bourton, where Clarissa spent much of her childhood, and which is the space where she experiences trauma by witnessing her sister get crushed by a tree. The space of London liberates Clarissa from her trauma and becomes a space that she loves, as noted in her walk to buy flowers at the beginning of the novel:
In people’s eyes, in the swing, tramp, and trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel oranges; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment in June. (Mrs. Dalloway 4)
While this moment from Mrs. Dalloway may seem insignificant, it provides deep insight into the inner workings of Clarissa’s character as she loves the urban and industrial elements of city life as characterized by her love for urbanity and industrial creations such as planes, vehicles, and brass bands. The urban setting of the novel is important when examining Clarissa’s character due to her role as a hostess and how she brings people together, contrasting with her time in the countryside as a child.
Another significant moment within Clarissa’s walk is the chime of Big Ben. As the clocktower is preparing to chime, the narrator notes Clarissa’s internal emotions, “Clarissa was positive, a particular hush, or solemnity; an indescribable pause; a suspense (but that might be her heart, affected they said, by influenza)” (Mrs. Dalloway 4). Clarissa’s pre-emptive reaction to Big Ben chiming matters as Big Ben is an icon of British industrialization and this is the first mention of Clarissa’s experience with influenza, most likely caused by the 1919 Spanish Influenza pandemic.
While at first glance Clarissa may not appear to be as traumatized by the Modern world as Septimus or Lucrezia, the combination of her sister’s death and the Spanish Influenza pandemic damaged her psyche and body. In “‘Wood for the Coffins Ran Out’: Modernism and the Shadowed Afterlife of the Influenza Pandemic,” Elizabeth Outka notes the devastating effects of the pandemic with at least fifty million dying, making it the second deadliest pandemic in history, and the emptiness of London as a result of the pandemic (940, 941). Writing on the character of Clarissa, Outka states Clarissa “represents a vivid image of the startled and lonely survivor who is left behind” (954) because of her experience witnessing the Influenza pandemic, and the deaths of her sister and Septimus. By surviving the 1919 Spanish Influenza pandemic and witnessing two deaths, the city of London and her role as hostess act as ways for Clarissa to manage her trauma and aftereffects of her illness positively.
When Clarissa returns home from her morning walk to buy flowers, another form of management for her illness and trauma appears in the form of the attic which has been converted into a bedroom for Clarissa. As Clarissa sits in her attic room, the narrator provides the reader with background information, stating, “For the House sat so long that Richard insisted, after her illness, that she must sleep undisturbed … So the room was an attic” (Mrs. Dalloway 31). Although the attic is meant to act as a safe space for Clarissa, allowing her to breathe and rest easier after her time ill, it instead becomes a space of rumination as she thinks of the complications between her and her husband, questions the worth of her party, and is transported back to her time to Bourton and her relationship with Sally Seton. While Clarissa can ultimately live in the Modern world through her socioeconomic status and can treat her trauma by herself, unlike Septimus, she still faces her past traumas through her daily experience with the world and her rumination.
Clarissa’s ability to exist and dwell in the Modern world deeply contrasts with the characters of Septimus and Lucrezia who cannot dwell in London due to the physical and psychological effects of the city on them. The first notable space within the novel pertaining to mental illness is Regent’s Park as it is the introductory space of Septimus and Lucrezia. Deconstructing the space of Regent’s Park is vital to understanding Woolf’s strategic representation of mental health because of the metaphysical properties assigned to the space that may be understood through historical, ecocritical, and socioeconomic analysis. In her examination of Regent’s Park and green spaces in Mrs. Dalloway, scholar Nora Wiechert takes note of the historical significance of green spaces as being a retreat from the industrial city, allowing the city dweller mind to heal. Wiechert writes:
Implicit in this diagnosis is the idea that nature, as found in the countryside, can have a restorative effect on the human mind. Furthermore, this “nature” (greenery, trees, fields, quiet) stands in binary opposition to the city. Public parks were born out of the conviction that nature could and should be administered to the urban population to bring about physical as well as mental well-being. Nature, in a controlled aesthetically pleasing setting, was seen to contribute to mental and physical well-being of its occupants. In general, the parks movement that arose in the nineteenth century was guided by this underlying statement. (22)
Wiechert’s historical analysis of Regent’s Park is essential when analyzing the relationship between the metaphysical properties of Regent’s Park and Septimus’s treatment as Lucrezia has chosen to take Septimus to the park to heal from his illness and experience the world around him, a decision she takes due to the instructions of Dr. Holmes. Regent’s Park transforms from being a public park into a medical space for the Smiths as it is part of the treatment for Septimus; blending the public and the private which disrupts Septimus’s treatment as the sensations he feels at the park cause him to hallucinate. From a socioeconomic perspective, the purpose of parks such as Regent’s Park is to provide a natural space to the working class, whereas the wealthy can retreat to the English countryside to experience natural spaces. By placing the introduction of Septimus and Lucrezia in Regent’s Park, Woolf is critical of the treatment suggested by medical professionals, such as Holmes and Bradshaw, as she demonstrates how these spaces are not capable of healing the mind.
Septimus and Lucrezia are introduced when a motorcar passes them down Bond Street near Regent’s Park. Distracted by the motorcar, Lucrezia calls out to Septimus and worries how the other parkgoers will perceive them, thinking:
People must notice; people must see. People, she thought, looking at the crowd staring at the motor car; the English people, with their children and their horses and their clothes, which she admired in a way; but they were “people” now, because Septimus had said, “I will kill myself”; an awful thing to say. Suppose they had heard him? She looked at the crowd. Help, help! She wanted to cry out to the butchers’ boys and women. Help! Only last autumn she and Septimus had stood on the Embankment wrapped in the same cloak and, Septimus reading a paper instead of talking, she had snatched it from him and laughed in the old man’s face who saw them! But failure one conceals. She must take him away into some park. (Mrs. Dalloway 15, 16)
The couple’s introduction in the novel is foundational as it establishes who they are and their purpose within their novel. Beginning with Lucrezia, Lucrezia is shown to have an immense awareness of how those around her and their reaction to Septimus’s hallucinations. Whether Lucrezia’s awareness is accurate or not is not stated within the novel, but she consistently worries about how others perceive her and Septimus, causing her great stress as she tries to manage him and his illness. Lucrezia’s desire to scream for help is a recurring desire throughout the novel as she feels isolated in London and let down by the failure of Dr. Holmes’ treatment of Septimus. This moment within the text also sows the seeds of the failure of public spaces in London as they serve as distractions for Lucrezia and Septimus, causing them to either hallucinate, worry, or ruminate in the past.
For Septimus, this moment is important as it introduces his suicidal ideation as he is unable to properly live and receive treatment in the Modern world. The shift in Septimus’s behavior from the autumn of 1922 to the summer of 1923 matters as it shows how quickly his illness has progressed. Septimus’s suicidal ideation occurs multiple times throughout the novel, and it affects Lucrezia as she is unable to determine what she can do to help him, constantly worrying about what others might do if they overhear or find out.
The conceptualization that failure is something to be concealed is influential when approaching the characters of Lucrezia and Septimus as it is part of the rhetoric used by early twentieth-century healthcare professionals when examining shell-shocked soldiers returning home from World War I. In the past, several Woolf scholars have noted the tie between Septimus and the concept of “male hysteria” that became prevalent following the droves of soldiers returning home from the war front. In “‘Human Nature is Remorseless’: Masculinity, Medical Science and Nervous Conditions in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway,” Avishek Parui notes that medical professionals historically denied the idea of shellshock, called “male hysteria” due to its similarities to “female hysteria,” after World War I, stating, “The medical treatment of male hysteria, especially when it was associated with essentialized ‘feminine’ symptoms, often relief on the forceful denial of its existence under the biopolitical gaze” (121). Parui’s gendered medical reading of Septimus and historical understanding of shellshock is notable as the idea that Septimus has anything psychologically wrong with him is dismissed due to the masculine gender expectations placed on him by his culture. The dismissal of and desire to hide Septimus’s illness demonstrates to the reader the reinforcement of patriarchal and hierarchal beliefs of English power structures as Septimus is disregarded for possessing feminine qualities.
The disruption that Septimus experiences in the park stems from when Lucrezia attempts to direct Septimus’s attention to the skywriting airplane flying overhead advertising toffee. The narrator describes Lucrezia’s attempt, “’Look, look Septimus!’ she cried. For Dr. Holmes had told her to make her husband (who had nothing whatever seriously the matter with him but was a little out of sorts) take an interest in things outside himself” (Mrs. Dalloway 21). This moment is critical when analyzing Woolf’s representation of mental illness in Mrs. Dalloway as it reveals the problematic rhetoric of medical professionals at the time and is also where Woolf considers the effects of mental illness on the effects of those near the ill, specifically loved ones through Lucrezia’s marriage to Septimus. Rather than find Dr. Holmes responsible for Septimus’s treatment and immersion in Regent’s Park, Lucrezia is perceived to be responsible, putting pressure on her as Septimus’s wife to treat him which she is not capable of doing. Dr. Holmes’s rhetoric is extremely problematic as he diminishes the mental anguish experienced by Septimus, stating that he is “a little out of sorts.” This dismissal of Septimus’s mental health is extremely important as it is what leads to Septimus’s suicide at the end of the novel as he is unable to receive the treatment he needs from the medical professionals around him.
The Holmes’ failure is further reinforced when Septimus follows Lucrezia’s command to look at the airplane and begins to hallucinate when he sees the plane. Describing Septimus’s hallucination in an almost inexplicable manner, the narrator comments, “So, thought Septimus, looking up, they are signaling to me. Not indeed in actual words, that is, he could not read the language yet; but it was plain enough, this beauty, this exquisite beauty, and tears filled his eyes as he looked at the smoke words languishing and melting…” (Mrs. Dalloway 22). The hallucination Septimus experiences when following the treatment plan of Dr. Holmes demonstrates the failure of the post-World War I medical system as by trying to partake in the world around him, Septimus’s condition worsens. When examining the scene through the foundation provided by Wiechert, part of the failure of Septimus’s treatment is the presence of the industrial and commercial plane and how it encroaches upon a space that is designated as a ‘natural’ space. By placing the plane into the narrative of Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf demonstrates the failure of Holmes and the need for the early twentieth-century medical landscape to evolve and improve its treatment of the ill. The plane not only pollutes the environment but also the mind of Septimus as he is temporally transported back into World War I. Considering the use of aircraft in World War I, specifically small models of planes that would resemble the ones used for skywriting, it may be extremely difficult for Septimus to view an airplane in his day-to-day life in London without being transported back into his time in war. By defiling the metaphysical properties ascribed to Regent’s Park, the airplane, and even the motorcar, make it impossible for Septimus to live in the modern world.
As Septimus’s hallucination at the sight of the airplane worsens, Lucrezia attempts to calm him, and the narrative switches its focus from Septimus to Lucrezia. When Lucrezia leaves Septimus at the park bench to have a moment to herself, the narrative dives into her inner emotions:
For she could stand it no longer. Dr. Holmes might say there was nothing the matter. Far rather would she that he were dead! She could not sit beside him when he stared so and did not see her and made everything terrible;… And he would not kill himself; and she could tell no one . . . To love makes one solitary, she thought. She could not tell nobody, not even Septimus now, and looking back, she saw him sitting in his shabby overcoat alone, on the seat, hunched up, staring. And it was cowardly for a man to say he would kill himself, but Septimus had fought; he was brave; he was not Septimus now . . . He was selfish. So men are. For he was not ill. Dr. Holmes said there was nothing the matter with him. She spread her hand before her. Look! Her wedding ring slipped–she had grown so thin. It was she who suffered–but she had no one to tell. (Mrs. Dalloway 23)
By transitioning the narrative from Septimus, and describing his experience of the hallucination, to Lucrezia, and describing the anguish she feels, Woolf provides the reader with the ability to understand how mental illness affects not only the ill but those around them as well. Woolf also reveals that Lucrezia’s psychological stress stems from multiple sources. The sources of Lucrezia’s stress can be broken into three parts: Dr. Holmes’s inefficient treatment of Septimus, the responsibility placed onto Lucrezia by Holmes for Septimus’s treatment, and Lucrezia’s inability to express the psychological duress she is under to those close to her. Lucrezia ties her suffering to her love for Septimus as she is unable to tell those close to her that Septimus suffers from suicidal thoughts as his thoughts conflict with the Modern societal expectations of what a man should be. By listening to Dr. Holmes, Lucrezia begins to feel hopeless; while she loves Septimus, she cannot understand what has happened to him since he has returned from the war, which is further emphasized by her loneliness.
Lucrezia’s understanding of Septimus’s mental health, in combination with Holmes and Bradshaw’s understanding, is another point of contention for Woolf scholars as some interpret their combined understanding as a form of communal failure. In her article “Trauma and Recovery in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway,” Karen DeMeester notes how communities often dismissed or ignored the struggles of veterans to retain pre-war society and prevent the traumatization of those close to veterans, “In its effort to protect and preserve itself from this secondary trauma, the community jeopardizes the veteran’s recovery from his trauma by forcing him to deny or repress what he learned in war and to attempt to resurrect his prewar identity rather than to establish a new one consistent with his experiences as a warrior” (7). While Lucrezia is equally as much of a victim of Holmes and Bradshaw’s inabilities as Septimus is, her understanding of Septimus follows the pattern examined by DeMeester as she wants Septimus to be who he was before the war again. By holding Septimus to such a standard, Lucrezia, Holmes, and Bradshaw prevent him from moving forward and healing from his illness as the version of him that they desire is no longer in existence.
The failure of Regent’s Park and the idea that nature can cure Septimus is reinforced when Lucrezia returns to the park bench and sees Septimus hallucinating once again, talking to a sparrow and hallucinating the presence of his dead friend Evans. The sparrows speak to Septimus in Greek, “they sang in voices prolonged and piercing in Greek words, from trees in the meadow of life beyond a river where the dead, how there is no death. There was his hand; there are the dead. White things were assembling the railings opposite. But he dared not look. Evans was behind the railings!” (Mrs. Dalloway 25). The juxtaposition of the airplane and the bird being the causes of Septimus’s hallucination is important as Woolf demonstrates that it is not just industrial objects that impair Septimus’s mental health but also the natural world as he finds himself getting lost in it.
The relationship between Septimus and Evans is a major point of contention for Woolf scholars when examining Septimus due to the homosexual undertones of their relationship. As noted by Kristin Czarnecki in “Melted Flesh and Tangled Threads: War Trauma and Modes of Healing in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony,” Septimus thrives in the war as he is masculinized, but his masculinity is called into question due to his hobbies and inability to speak on his experience in war. Czarnecki writes about Septimus’s potential homosexuality, “Reminding Septimus of his promotions and medals only exacerbates his sense of guilt, which many critics attribute to his homosexual relationship, or feelings for, Evans–feelings inadmissible in patriarchal culture” (57). When examining Septimus and his treatment by Holmes and Bradshaw through gender and sexuality-focused lenses, his rejection in the Modern world may come from an inability to fit into and conform to societal expectations of masculinity and manliness. The dismissal of Septimus’s illness and trauma by Holmes and Bradshaw suggests that men, especially those who were soldiers, were not traumatized by the war but instead had something internally wrong with them.
Lucrezia’s suffering is brought up again when she is in the park and reflects on Septimus’s words, what she has given up in life to be with Septimus, and also her desire to be a mother. Once again delving into Lucrezia’s inner thoughts, the narrator remarks:
But Lucrezia Warren Smith was saying to herself, It’s wicked; why should I suffer? she was asking, as she walked down the broad path. No, I can’t stand it any longer, to say hard, cruel, wicked things, to talk to himself, to talk to a dead man, on the seat over there; when the child ran full tilt into her, fell flat, and burst out crying. That was comforting rather. She stood her upright, dusted her frock, and kissed her. (Mrs. Dalloway 65)
Lucrezia’s inner monologue reinforces her trauma to the reader as she is unable to receive or give Septimus the treatment he needs to recover from his illness. As a result of this inability, Lucrezia suffers from both isolation and doing everything she is told to do by Dr. Holmes as a means of treating Septimus. The child’s appearance in the scene is important as it is the first time that Lucrezia’s desire for motherhood is established, and it is what breaks Lucrezia from her rumination. While this moment appears hopeful for Lucrezia and her want for motherhood, she, later on, comes to question whether or not she will ever be able to be a mother with Septimus in his condition.
Once the child runs off, Lucrezia’s unhappiness returns as she remembers her life in Italy and how much she misses it. Lucrezia thinks to herself, “But for herself she had done nothing wrong; she had loved Septimus; she had been happy; she had a beautiful home, and there her sisters lived still, making hats. Why should she suffer?” (Mrs. Dalloway 65). Unlike the industrial and urbanized London, Lucrezia’s Italian homeland appears as a paradise. There are many ways to read the “paradise” that Lucrezia forms in her head. Italy may appear as a paradise for Lucrezia due to it being her home before Septimus became ill. Or, it may appear as a paradise due to her family being there, contrasting with the loneliness she feels as a foreigner and the social rejection she faces due to Septimus’s illness. While Italy did experience an industrial revolution, the natural world of the Italian countryside, just outside its cities, may provide Lucrezia with a better space to function and exist.
Returning to her desire for motherhood, a key scene in the novel is Lucrezia’s realization that she and Septimus are not going to have children. The first moments of Lucrezia’s realization come when the narrator reveals Lucrezia’s inner thoughts, “But, Rezia said, she must have children. They had been married five years” and “One cannot bring children into a world like this. One cannot perpetuate suffering, or increase the breed of these lustful animals, who have no lasting emotions, but only whims and vanities, eddying them now this way, now that” (Mrs. Dalloway 89). The first inner thought that Lucrezia has, regarding the length of her time with Septimus, creates the implication that there may have been issues with Septimus and Lucrezia conceiving a child throughout their marriage and that Lucrezia is stressed as she desires to have children. While Lucrezia’s desire to have children may be a personal desire, further emphasized by her observation of children in Regent’s Park, it is also possible that she feels a sociocultural pressure as a woman to have children. The second inner thought that Lucrezia has occurs after she thinks she must have a child-like Septimus; by following that thought with the consideration that having children leads to the perpetuation of cycles of suffering, Lucrezia reveals to the reader the unhospitable nature of the Modern world. The nihilistic tone of Lucrezia’s second inner thought is tied to the condition of Septimus and his role as a solider in World War I as Lucrezia believes if she were to have a child it would suffer the same fate as Septimus.
When Lucrezia’s inner thoughts regarding her desire for children come out in conversation with Septimus her emotional trauma physically manifests itself as she cries, and Septimus’s reaction to her tears reemphasizes the trauma that he has experienced as he is unable to react. The narrator captures the moment:
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 to a piston thumping. But he felt nothing. (Mrs. Dalloway 90)
This moment reveals the deeper anxieties Lucrezia feels as she witnesses the women around her have children, the stress of having children she feels as she is aging, and the isolation she feels being in England. Unlike Septimus, who gains the attention of medical professionals, albeit professionals who are not able to treat him, Lucrezia is not able to receive any help at all as she is far from her family in Italy and instead is forced to ruminate. By including Septimus’s reaction, or lack of reaction, Woolf displays the severity of his illness regarding his marriage to Lucrezia. The sensory experiences of Septimus described by Woolf are interesting as Septimus’s internal reaction is described using industrial terminology, such as the piston thumbing.
The trauma shared between Lucrezia and Septimus comes to a head with Septimus’s suicide. When Dr. Holmes appears at the Smith’s flat, Septimus chooses to jump out of a window, ending his life. The narrator describes the ordeal, beginning with Holmes approaching the flat, then describing Septimus’s thoughts of the many ways he could commit suicide, before providing the reader with Septimus’s inner thoughts:
It was their idea of tragedy, not his or Rezia’s (for she was with him). Holmes and Bradshaw like that sort of thing. (He sat on the sill.) But he would wait until the very last moment. He did not want to die. Life was good… Holmes was at the door. “I’ll give it to you!” he cried, and flung himself vigorously, violently down on to Mrs. Filmer’s area railings. (Mrs. Dalloway 149)
This scene once again demonstrates Dr. Holmes and Bradshaw’s failure to successfuly treat Septimus’s illness and trauma as their frustrations with Septimus cause him to commit suicide. Septimus’s thought that his suicide is the tragedy desired by Holmes and Bradshaw emphasizes their inability to understand his illness completely as they melodramatize it. In this moment Septimus has a brief moment of clarity as he almost returns to his pre-war self, thinking of how good life is. By flinging himself out the window, Septimus refuses to continue participating in a failing healthcare system. The parenthetical that describes Lucrezia as being with Septimus is interesting as although she fails to treat Septimus of his illness, Septimus still deeply loves her and she becomes a part of his inner world, potentially due to the shared trauma of his illness.
The shared trauma between Septimus and Lucrezia is also shown through Lucrezia’s reaction to his suicide. As Dr. Holmes chases after Septimus’s body and Mrs. Filmer comes to comfort Lucrezia, Lucrezia’s inner thoughts are explored once again:
She put on her hat, and ran through cornfields—where could it have been?—on to some hill, somewhere near the sea, for there were ships, gulls, butterflies; they sat on a cliff. In London too, there they sat, and, half dreaming, came to her through the bedroom door, rain falling, whisperings, stirrings among dry corn, the caress of the sea, as it seemed to her, hollowing them in its arched shell and murmuring to her laid on shore, strewn she felt, like flying flowers over some tomb. (Mrs. Dalloway 150)
Lucrezia’s inner thoughts after Septimus’s death are peaceful as she reflects on her life with him. Septimus’s death frees Lucrezia from her trauma as well as from the resentment and frustration that she feels earlier in the novel. The beauty and liminality of Lucrezia’s somber recollection heal her from her shared trauma. Woolf’s use of language to describe Lucrezia’s emotions, specifically describing her with the simile “strewn she felt, like flying flowers over some tomb,” adds an element of peace and acceptance to Septimus’s death as Lucrezia is described like flowers over his grave.
The convergence of Clarissa and Septimus’s storylines also appears with his suicide as she hears of the aftermath from Dr. Bradshaw. After hearing the news, Clarissa thinks to herself, rather selfishly, “Oh! thought Clarissa, in the middle of my party, here’s death, she thought,” before considering her unhappiness and discontent with her life (Mrs. Dalloway 183–86). Clarissa’s consideration of her life and the unhappiness she feels during her party suggests that although she may have a higher socioeconomic position than Lucrezia and Septimus, she is still miserable. However, unlike Lucrezia and Septimus who can overcome their illness and trauma, at the cost of living in the Modern world, Clarissa is not able to overcome her trauma but is still allowed to live. This difference between the two sets of characters reveals a greater struggle between belonging and satisfaction as the upper-crust world Clarissa lives in allows her to belong and perform as a hostess. Still, it leaves her dissatisfied with life as she constantly ruminates on the past.
Overall, through her complex exploration of physical and mental illness in Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf demonstrates the failures of the Modern world in its ability to treat the ill and traumatized. The vastly different experiences of Septimus, Lucrezia, and Clarissa allow the reader insight into how people of different classes and genders are perceived by the world around them and how they are expected to act and perform in certain roles. While Clarissa can live in the Modern world, she must do so unhappily, whereas Septimus can provide Lucrezia with peace at the cost of his life. When considering modernist literature as a literature of trauma, Mrs. Dalloway fits within a Modernist literary tradition as she recognizes the differences between the English lower and upper class, as well as the failures of the Modern world in embodying ideas of modernity.
Works Cited
Czarnecki, Kristin. “Melted Flesh and Tangled Threads: War Trauma and Modes of Healing in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony.” Woolf Studies Annual, vol. 21, 2015, pp. 50–77.
DeMeester, Karen. “Trauma and Recovery in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 1998, pp. 649–73. ProQuest, https://www.libproxy.umassd.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journal/trauma-recovery-virgina-woolfs-mrs-dalloway/docview/208049217/se-2.
Outka, Elizabeth. “‘Wood for the Coffins Ran Out’: Modernism and the Shadowed Afterlife of the Influenza Pandemic.” Modernism/modernity, vol. 21, no. 4, 2014, pp. 937–60.
Parui, Avishek. “‘Human Nature is Remorseless’: Masculinity, Medical Science and Nervous Conditions in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.” The Male Body in Medicine and Literature, edited by Andrew Mangham and Daniel Lea, Liverpool University Press, 2018, 120–36.
Wiechert, Nora. “‘No sense of proportion’: Urban Green Space and Mental Health in Mrs. Dalloway.” Virginia Woolf Miscellany, no. 78, 2010, pp. 21–23, Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A297829224/AONE?u=mlin_s_umass&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=ed67ae51.
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York City, Mariner Press Edition, 1990.
_____. “On Being Ill.” The New Criterion: A Quarterly Review, Faber & Gwyer, Limited, vol. 4, no.1, January 1926, pp. 34–45.