From Madness To Androgyny—a Feminist Study Of Woolf’s Minor Characters

This thesis is an attempt to analyze seven minor characters (most of whom are female) from three of Virginia Woolf’s best known novels, namely Mrs. Dalloway published in1925, To the Lighthouse published in1927, and Orlando:A Biography published in1928.This thesis argues that minor characters, such as Sally Seton, Miss Kilman from Mrs. Dalloway, Lily Briscoe from To the Lighthouse and Sasha from Orlando:A Biography all reflect on a certain level Woolf’s feminist ideas. This thesis also argues that characters demonstrate a progression of Woolf’s feminism. Woolf’s later works possess much stronger and maturer feminism than those from earlier works. Therefore, Sasha demonstrates stronger feminist ideas than Lily Briscoe whose feminist ideas are in turn much intenser than those of Sally Seton and Miss Kilman.Chapter One is an introduction which include the literature review about Virginia Woolf and her works. Chapter Two is a brief introduction of Virginia Woolf’s biography which is related to the writing of the three novels that are going to be analyzed in this thesis and to the development of Virginia Woolf’s feminist theories. Chapter Three is an introduction of Woolf’s feminism theories and her representative feminist writings:A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas. Chapter Four is a detailed analysis of the minor characters in Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and Orlando:A Biography. Chapter Five is a summary of the features the female minor characters reflected in these three novels, an analysis of the significances of these features, and a comparison and contrast of the intensity and maturity of feminism as reflected by these minor characters.Therefore, by comparing and contrasting the minor characters appeared in these three novels, and analyzing these characters and some symbols that have feminist significances, the author of the thesis conclude that as Woolf’s feminist feelings and ideas progress with time in terms of intensity and depth, the minor characters in her later novels demonstrate maturer and stronger feminist ideas than those in the previous works.