Theme of Idealism and Humanism in Virginia Woolf's Novel Mrs. Dalloway

 Virginia Woolf was considered as one of the major English authors of the 20^th century. She was a forerunner in exploring the stream of consciousness as a narrative technique. “Mrs. Dalloway” is considered as one of her most renowned works of her career. Published on 14 May, 1925, “Mrs. Dalloway” focuses on the events of a particular day in the life of an upper-class Londoner named Clarissa Dalloway. The narrative of "Mrs. Dalloway" is devoid of any sense of continuity. The majority of the novel takes place in the mind of the protagonist. The novel deals with the idea of time in relation to personal experiences through a number of interconnected stories, particularly that of Mrs. Dalloway, who is preparing to host a party at her home, and the story of a victim of the horrors of the World War I, Septimus Warren Smith, who is afflicted with  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Mrs. Dalloway is critical of the conservatism and traditions of the upper classes of the time, while Septimus is a victim of the tragedy of the "lost generation" following World War I.

         Both the aspects of life - Idealism and Humanism- form the core of “Mrs. Dalloway” as an exploratory piece of fiction. We can see them as compelling reasons working behind the descriptions. Idealism in literature refers to the portrayal of a perfect utopian world or a perfect version of reality. It is the opposite of realism, which focuses on depicting the world as it really is, with all its flaws and imperfections. “Mrs. Dalloway” dwells with characters who are idealists. Idealists seeks flawlessness whether in themselves or in other people. The idealism expressed by the character of Mrs. Dalloway is multifaceted, yet it alludes to a desire to create a more harmonious reality in the face of the depravity of human existence.

         Out of an idealistic conception of patriotism, Septimus had volunteered in the army. With all sincerity, he wanted to contribute to his country. Nevertheless, after witnessing the savagely cruel and premature demise of his comrade and general, Evans in the war, Septimus becomes unreservedly disillusioned and becomes incapable to feel emotions. He feels that he has been doomed by human nature and is often suicidal and thinks that he has been doomed by the world to die because of his lack of ability to feel emotions. In his hallucinations, he envisions himself around the flame and as a prophet with divine message. Therefore, for Septimus the ideal for patriotism falls apart and the terror of the war leaves him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

 Doris Kilman's spiritual belief, expressed through her use of metaphor, may be the most conventional type of idealism. Sir William Bradshaw, who is also referred to as a ''priest of science'' is beyond the shadow of the doubt the most sinister idealists of the text. He preaches proportion and worships the Goddess of Conversion. Just as some religious zealots try to convert non-believers, so does Sir William Bradshaw try to convert mentally ill people to his way of thinking. Patients must convert to the world as William Bradshaw conceives it or else be considered insane. To succeed in his desire for power, he forces people whom he can dominate such as the weak, the sick and the disenfranchised to subject to his command, even his own spouse.

 Sally Seton was an idealist who had an enormous passion to reform the world. She and Clarissa collectively talked for hours about life as well as how they intended to revolutionize the world and indeed had written a missive in this regard. Her views were those of a reformist and she had an aversion to narrow-minded and conventional people like Richard Dalloway and Hugh Whitbread.

 

 Resembling the society in Victorian Era England, Clarissa idealizes the beauty and innocence of her youth. She finds consolation in her memories when the reality of the current world becomes too overwhelming for her. Clarissa even tries to project her youthful idealism onto her daughter, Elizabeth who dismisses those ideals and professes her own value of life and death. Woolf's critique of upper-class privilege and idealism is particularly evident through Clarissa. She exemplifies a struggle between personal identity and public identity. Clarissa's personal identity is masked and is revealed only through her stream of consciousness. We can say that Clarissa's personal identity was conquered by her social one. In the beginning of the novel, the very initial line which reflects on Clarissa's organization for the party she is hosting, ''Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself'' (MD), the name Clarissa does not appear. It implies that Clarissa's personal identity was completely eradicated due to her male assigned title of “Mrs. Dalloway” which also symbolizes the loss of individuality. Clarissa was able to conceal any form of resistance to societal standards, and she was able to do so in such a way that her personal identities were only voices in her head.

Peter Walsh is also one of the idealists in the text. Through Peter's male conventional approach towards women, Woolf indicates the traditional female struggles for personal identity. Peter called Clarissa ''a perfect hostess'' by which he insinuated that Clarissa's life has nothing to show except frivolity, deception, insincerity and artificiality. He held the societal belief that women exist solely for the purpose of marriage persists. He felt personally victimized by Clarissa's refusal to his marriage proposal and questioned, ''Why make him think of it again? Why make him suffer, when she had tortured him so infernally? why?'' (MD). He maintained the notion that the identity of a female lay merely in a marital relationship with patriarchal dominance.

Humanism is a term applied to various beliefs, methods and philosophies that emphasize a central human world. It is the belief that people can live by using their intellect and reason instead of depending on God or religion. Virginia Woolf inherited the humanism of her parents and did not believe in God or the afterlife, but emphasized the superiority of the present moment. Woolf’s method of consciousness describes the soul as a “sacred space” or “refuge.” Woolf’s references to Christ in the characters of Septimius Smith and Clarissa Dalloway suggest a desire to find answers to human pain in a “godless” world. Clarissa Dalloway has "atheistic religion of doing for the sake of goodness". She has come to terms with the absence of God, but does not want to live her life entirely according to worldly conditions. The novel reenacts her search for a spiritual alternative to conventional belief on a particular day in June of 1923, because she is preparing to host a party. Accepting that in death she stops completely, Clarissa expected that her afterlife would be in the memories of others, “laid out like a mist between the people she knew best, who lifted her on their branches as she had seen the trees lift the mist.” (MD)

  When a falling tree killed her sister Sylvia, Clarissa snapped, Peter recalls. And then, “she thought there were no Gods, no one was to blame; and so she evolved this atheist’s religion of doing good for the sake of goodness.” (MD)

After buying the flowers, Clarissa retires to her home and, thinking about life and God, firmly declares that “not for a moment did she believe in God." This may be the opinion of a non-believer or a woman who desires for Good in vulnerable moments. Peter Walsh offers his own interpretation of the concept.

“Possibly she said to herself,… as the whole thing is a bad joke, let us, at any rate, do our part; mitigate the sufferings of our fellow prisoners…decorate the dungeon with flowers and air-cushions, be as descent as we possibly can. Those ruffins, the Gods, shan’t have it all their own way, - her notion being that the Gods, who never lost a chance of hurting, thwarting and spoiling human lives were seriously put out if, all the same you behaved like a lady”

 

Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked war veteran longs for unity, integrity and meaning in his life. The battle takes place mainly in his tortured mind. Even Christianity could not protect him from the sufferings of human life. Therefore, he resorts to committing suicide, which is debarred in Christian teachings. However, killing oneself is a true and bold challenge of modern doctrines. The importance of Mrs. Dalloway's thoughts is evident:

“Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the center which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death.”

 

Woolf's critique of idealism is not aimed at a specific school of thought, nor is it directed against any form of social or political oppression. Rather, it is directed against a pervasive ideological system that perpetuates a system of perceived imperatives that are only apparent to the public at large due to a lack of disciplined adaptation. Despite the fact that many idealists in the writings of “Mrs. Dalloway” do not share the same outlook on order, all of them advocate the imposition of will rather than what is perceived as the obstinacy of material existence. This novel is written with the inner thoughts of the characters in mind. Virginia Woolf indirectly and explicitly expresses Mrs. Dalloway's anti-religion using various religious imagery of events, objects, and characters. The central theme of this novel is Christianity's grave failure to defend the unity of mankind. The traditional religious figures that appear throughout the novel expose the reader to the novel's fundamental themes: the collapse of modern society, the collapse of the individual within society, and the individual within himself.

  References

 “Mrs. Dalloway” novel by Virginia Woolf

  Concepts of Identity in Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway". A Comparison of the Personal and Public Identity Regarding Women during the Victorian Time (grin.com)

·        The Problem of Female Identity in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (edubirdie.com)

·        Woolf and realism (Cambridge.org)

·        Mrs. Dalloway (litcharts.com)

·      Mrs. Dalloway and time (wordpress.com)

·      Human relationships in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway by Barbora Lessova (University in Prague)

·      Private Religion, Public Mourning, and Mrs. Dalloway by Elyse Grahams and Pericles Lewis (Yale University)

·      Religious belief in a secular age: Literary modernism and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (jstor.org)

·      Mrs. Dalloway (enotes.com)

·      A World Without Meaning: “Mrs. Dalloway” (theimaginativeconservative.org)

·      Religious Thoughts through Imagery in Mrs. Dalloway by Lika Tian and Hongmin Li

·      Humanism in English Literature (learnershub24*7.com)

·      What is idealism in literature (quora.com)

 

Note: This blog is written by my TYBA English students: Maitri Gundaria, Ayesha Hakeem, Nazifha Hawawala and Ayesha Jariwala.