Woolf's Salvation Schemes For Human Society

Mrs. Dalloway, written in 1924, is considered as the representative works of Virginia Woolf, in which her technique of stream-of-consciousness has reached its peak. It is a significant novel not only for its artistic experiment, but also for its profound social and political meanings. In this novel, Virginia Woolf successfully applies the technique of stream-of-consciousness to present the complicated relationship among characters through the parallels of Clarissa and Septimus. Woolf's creation of these characters really contributes to the significance of the theme. By researching into the seemingly loose and ruleless structure of character relationships, this thesis dig out five triangles in which Clarissa always acts as one part. On the one hand, it tries to challenge the common reading simply seeing Clarissa and Septimus as a pair or double; on the other hand, it aims to reveal Woolf's scathing indictment of war and strong critique of patriarchal society. She considers war as the product and extension of patriarchal system. These triangles emphasize gender relations and war at that particular historical point. Actually, the seemingly simple binary oppositions "his/her" in patriarchal society and "us/them" in war complicate the whole world. Woolf intends to use the tensions and power shifts created by these triangles to blur the binary oppositions in war and in gender. Meanwhile, the thesis also tries to present Woolf's propositions for world peace through the ending of the novel—Clarissa's party. According to the different characteristics of men and women, Woolf points out that the distinctively cooperative and peaceful traits of women are the female virtues which can decrease men's domination and aggression. Then the war can be prevented and avoided. Clarissa hosts the party in order to bring together men and women who feel lonely, scared and empty in the post-war years. At the party, men and women communicate happily and get along with each other harmoniously. It depicts an ideal picture for world peace. In this sense, Woolf offers her salvation schemes from female perspective: using women's soothing power to save the world.