Connection without Communication?

Communication is vital because it is the bridge that connects individuals emotionally however it often proves difficult due to the fear of judgment and misunderstanding. In Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf illustrates that no connection or understanding between individuals can occur with a lack of communication.
Woolf’s primary example in depicting the negative effects of lack of communication comes in the form of the interactions between Septimus Smith and those around him. Septimus fears telling his own doctor, Sir William Bradshaw, the man he should have an open relationship with, what he feels. Septimus thinks, “if [I] confess… if [I] communicate… would they let [me] off then?” and considers Sir William as “his tormenter” (98). Also, Septimus’s relationship with his own wife, Rezia, is strained due to both the language barrier that exists and Septimus’s illness and paranoia. Through the point of view of Rezia, the narration comments repeatedly that Septimus is “talking aloud to himself” and Rezia comments to her husband that he is “talking nonsense to frighten [her]” (93) whenever he attempts communication. Even when he attempts communication, Septimus is misunderstood by the people around him which further adds to his problem of trusting others to understand what he is saying. In fact, he is the only character that truly understands the necessity of communication in life, to the point of exclaiming that “communication is health; communication is happiness” (93.)

After Death

After Death

In the novel, Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf constantly presents death throughout her story to emphasize the idea that death is not an ending of life, but the beginning of a chain of related events. Woolf creates this idea by revealing the thoughts and emotions of her characters so that the readers can understand their responses to the deaths of other characters. She demonstrates the influential attribute of death by comparing it with the cycle of nature to verify that death, just like nature is indeed a cycle. In this way, Virginia Woolf conveys that after death, the essence of a person’s soul remains in the environment that he or she was once a part of.
Septimus was deeply affected by Evan’s death as parts of Evan stuck with Septimus after he died in the war. Most likely suffering from Post Tramautic Stress Disorder from seeing his friend die, Septimus “let himself think about horrible things” (66). Almost feeling the pain for his friend, Septimus would argue with his wife, Rezia about “killing themselves and explain how wicked people were” (66). Even after Evans’s death, Septimus continued to see and hear Evans as “the death was with [Septimus]” (93). In the beginning of Woolf’s novel, she introduced Septimus as if he was communicating with something that was not alive (Evans). A voice in Septimus’s head “communicated with him…lately taken from life to death” (25). Woolf’s describes the feelings as eternal, “forever unwasted, suffering forever, the scapegoat the eternal sufferer…the eternal loneliness” (25). Although Evans died, his presence was eternal and carried on with Septimus.
In Clarissa’s theory of life, she suggested that one’s being was not just her in his/her her body, parts of her whole were found in other “people who completed them,” such as her family, and Peter Walsh (153). Not only the people, but “even the places” that tell so much of Clarissa’s life, such as Bourton (153). Clarissa extended it to the situation when someone dies, suggesting that part of people live forever. Peter says of Clarissa, “with her horror of death…the part of us which appears, are so momentary compared with the other, the unseen part of us, which spreads wide, the unseen might survive” (153). Clarissa implies that the parts of people that were attached to other people and other places survive, meaning that some part of the dead person also survives. In Clarissa’s fright, or even curiosity of death, she finds some comfort in knowing that parts of her will survive, in Bourton and in the people closest to her. At the end of the “theory” discussion, Peter thinks about it and relates Clarissa to a place. He says that “he saw her most often in the country, not in London” (153).
Woolf develops the theme of the continuation of the soul after death in her novel, which is important in figuring out the meaning and purpose of Septimus’s death. Most of the novel concerns people’s innermost thoughts rather than what’s on the surface, their visible actions. The people’s thoughts (like when Clarissa informed the readers of Bourton, her past with Peter etc.) connect people and places. Woolf’s choice of adding this theory into her book gives the three main characters, Clarissa, Peter, and Septimus, comfort in leaving life.

Mrs. Dalloway and the Meaning of Life

Life is about attempting to enjoy the short time we have. Even in the darkest of times, there are always moments of pleasure to capture and cherish. In Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, the idea of “carpe diem” is prominent in the darkest characters of the story such as Septimus Warren and Peter Walsh. It is set in a dark period in post-war England. Nonetheless, the story revolves around a party Mrs. Dalloway is hosting for the sake of pure enjoyment. While these characters all face their own dilemmas, they continue to find themselves savoring a perfect moment they have experienced or longed for.
Those who see Septimus at first glance believe him to be suffering from insanity, when in fact he often has thoughts of tranquility within in his personal world. Although he often has suicidal thoughts, he finds, “a luxury in it, an isolation full of sublimity; a freedom which the attached can never know.” (92) Septimus finds a way to take his inner torment and see a revolutionized world where, “Men must not cut down trees. There is a God…no one kills from hatred…there is no crime…there is no death.” (24-25) When Septimus commits suicide, he saw it as a release rather then a tragic ending.
Throughout most of the book Peter Walsh is cynical and highly critical of the society in which Clarissa Dalloway embraces. He is notorious for falling in love with the wrong women and is considered a ‘failure’ for not living up to the set standards of the upper class society. Even though he seems to mock Clarissa for attempting to be the ‘perfect hostess’, he is enraptured with her as much as everybody else. Peter thinks, “What is this terror? What is this ecstasy…What is this that fills me with extraordinary excitement? It is Clarissa.” (194) Although tormented by his age and his unfulfilling love life, this moment is evidence that these instances in life motivates his will to live.
There are always times when life gives moments of extreme pleasure, and it is one’s duty to capture and utilize them in the worst of times to maintain ones will to live. In writing Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf aimed for the audience to believe in the idea of ‘carpe diem’.

The Beginning and Ending of Time

The use of time in Mrs. Dalloway marks the beginning or end of an exposure a character’s true feelings and thoughts. When Peter questions Clarissa about happiness in her life, Elizabeth unintentionally interrupts before Clarissa can answer. Instead of answering the question with a direct answer, Clarissa “emotionally, histrionically”(48) introduces her daughter as a façade for her happiness. Big Ben is stated to be “striking between” Elizabeth and Clarissa and is compared to a young man who is “strong, indifferent, inconsiderate… swinging dumbbells this way and that”(48) mirroring Clarissa’s actions. The use of Big Ben marks the end of Clarissa’s vulnerability and the shift into her mask of being content with her life. Shortly after the strike of Big Ben, Clarissa reminds Peter “remember my party tonight”(48) marking her change from exposed self back to her perfect hostess façade.
During the party Clarissa isolates herself from the rest of her guests and begins analyzing Septimus’ suicide. With the “clock striking the hour, one, two, three” (186) Clarissa comes to the conclusion that “she did not pity him,… she felt somehow very like him,… [and] she felt glad that he had done it.”(186) The striking of the clock symbolizes the beginning of Clarissa’s realization of her content with her life. She states that “he made her feel beauty; made her feel the fun,” but realizes she has too many connections in her life and must “attend to them”(186)

Bring On The Wrinkles!

In Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, aging is one of the major themes. In the story, the theme of aging is presented as being inevitable and depending on how you look at it, aging can be shown with either a negative or positive outlook. In the book, there are two characters who respond to aging differently. Septimus lives his life the way he wants, not the way he is expected to, while Mrs. Dalloway lives a completely predictable life.
Near the end when Mrs. Dalloway learns of Septimus’s suicide, she thinks back to her own life when she felt “the terror; the overwhelming incapacity, one’s parents giving it into one’s hands, this life, to be lived to the end, to be walked with serenely; there was in the depths of the her heart an awful fear.” (185) The thought she has conveys the belief that one is brought into this world, expected to live until they pass away:
As you “age,” you are expected to have certain responsibilities and you are expected to make achievements. Right when you are born, people expect that you will make a contribution to society as you grow older.
Mrs. Dalloway lived as she was expected to: she threw parties, she bought flowers like a normal person, etc. This is the complete opposite of Septimus, who does not do what is expected of him. This could explain why Clarissa admires Septimus, because he does what he wants, not what society wants—he does not “conform.”
In the beginning of the book, Mrs. Dalloway looks into the window of the store front and sees an open copy of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. On the page it’s turned to, she reads the line, “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, nor the furious winter’s rages.” (9) The passage in turn is a representation of living life, by not fearing the hot heat or the freezing cold—and just living through the extreme.
Aging is inevitable, you have to endure wrinkles and get old, like Clarissa, or you can be like Septimus and completely take yourself out of the world.