In my analysis of the literary series, I’d like to continue with “Mrs. Dalloway”. In this masterpiece penned by Virginia Woolf, I will explore the theme of the privacy of the soul…
Woolf, one of the pioneers of the 20th-century modernist movement, noted in her diary that she wants to write about the soul on June 21, 1924, which corresponds to the date on which she wrote Mrs. Dalloway. As a result, in Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf deals with the process of protecting individuals’ soul intimacy, the search for private autonomy and realm, internal conflicts, and loss of identity caused by industrialism.
Privacy centers around the manners in which individuals reveal or protect themselves over against invaders who attempt to force a soul. Invasion upon an individual’s isolation, either in general into his private matters or interests may cause him to feel imprisoned by the obligation of serving demands and expectations of the public sphere which is also seen as the extent of the threat coming from society. Therefore, this concept of privacy functions as a kind of shield or shell in terms of self-protection. Both of our characters are characters that lived in the past, because that’s the only place their souls are alive.
For Clarissa, privacy arises in the form of hypocrisy and vanity; adopts a philistine persona by rejecting her past and even “never showing a sign of all the other sides of her faults, vanities, jealousies” to preserve her secrecies, her very real inner-self, real imaginings. Clarissa had to live a fake, “invisible, unseen, unknown” life, even giving up her name to protect the privacy of her soul, even if she tears pieces from her soul.
Clarissa builds a reassuring private enclosure in her attic room, preferring to partake her life with Richard, who allows her to live “a solitude… that one must respect… for one would not part with it oneself… without losing one’s independence, one’s self-respect”. The notion of privacy might evoke fear; the fear of revealing emotions and overmuch feelings. Thus, it can be seen the underlying reason for her choice because “with Peter everything had to be shared… and it was intolerable”. Peter is in an invader position in violating Clarissa’s spiritual and physical intimacy. In addition to emotional and romantic expectations, he also reminds Clarissa “the defects of her soul”.
As a matter of fact, Clarissa is stuck in her own shell as she escapes possible happiness with Peter or Sally to preserve the privacy of her soul. While trying to protect one side of her soul, she kills the other part in the sphere of vanity and affection. At this point, however, Septimus’ death saved her parts of the decaying soul. As regards Septimus, on the other hand, he hears voices and visions in his head telling him about the deep reality of humanity, but he does not know how to manifest these realities. This dilemma of inexpressiveness or lack of communication actually stems from the expectations of masculinity imposed by society. His dissonance, rootlessness and madness leave him even more vulnerable against Dr. Bradshaw and Dr. Holmes, who are the representation of oppression. The only function of these menacing monsters that strain and invade the soul and try to coordinate the “maladaptive”. Unlike Clarissa’s choice, Septimus prefers to kill himself to preserve his self-survival, integrity and autonomy until the last moment and not allow these insensitive invaders to break the lock of his soul. At the time of death, contrary to Holmes’ rhetoric of “coward”, Septimus showed great courage towards these people who made life unbearable. Consequently, he embraced death itself, which is self-defense to defeat barriers of the external world’s threats, instead of the death of his soul. Moreover, Septimus’ attempt provided a kind of catharsis for Clarissa. It reminded her of the reason for the act of withdrawal and isolation created by fear, and therefore her inability to feel the heat of the sun.
Henceforth, beauty and joy replaced fear. The death has enabled one to express and inspire the fear and desolate soul of the other. The main reason why the theme of “privacy of the soul” which is the main focus of the article, is linked to death, because the two characters who are soul partners must show a joint resistance to oppression. Clarissa’s opinion that “to die now means to be very happy” supports this argument. Obviously, the significance of our main theme lies beneath this thought.
Thanks for reading… See you soon in another analysis :)
