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Mrs - Dalloway - Septimus

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21 views

Mrs - Dalloway - Septimus

Uploaded by

sofija manaieva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MRS.

DALLOWAY – SEPTIMUS
Mrs. Dalloway, through its depiction of Clarissa and Septimus, who can be seen as foils for each other,
and of the political atmosphere in Britain during the 1920s, explores the fragmented yet fluid nature of
time and the interconnectedness of perception and reality across individuals and social spheres. Clarissa,
a woman of high society, is primarily concerned with giving a good party—perhaps as a means of
affirming life and fending off death. When news of Septimus’s death is interjected into her party, she is
annoyed, as it might dampen everyone’s spirits. She appears at times to be concerned only with the
surfaces of things, but her seeming disillusionment with reality can be understood as a coping
mechanism. Clarissa tries to ignore the uncomfortable realities of her surroundings—the residual
horrors of World War I and her own implied mental illness—and instead engages at the superficial level
of societal rules and expectations. Septimus, on the other hand, represents the breakdown of such a
society: unable to live with the idea of confinement, he jumps to his death. Clarissa does not face the
same sort of confinement, but her freedom is shown at times to be an illusion. She does not commit
suicide of the body, but, by shielding herself from uncomfortable realities, she commits emotional
suicide, some critics argue. However, Clarissa’s identification with Septimus at the end of the novel also
implies that she is somewhat aware of the limits on her freedom. It also seems to relieve her of her
disillusionment, if only momentarily, as she praises Septimus for having the courage to escape the
confinement that she sees in her own life despite her efforts to ignore it.

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