Disproportioned Imperialism And Disillusioned Englishness:a Post-colonial Approach To Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf’s presentation and reflection on Englishness constitute the major discursive and thematic features of her novel Mrs. Dalloway. Meanwhile, imperialism, which crystallizes the connotation and extension of Englishness, helps to interweave a panorama of past and present, reality and illusion, mentality and physicality, vanity and passion to illuminate the status quo of and the interactions between various social strata in Britain pre and post World War I. Such interactions are vividly revealed in one single day’s activities in Mrs. Dalloway’s life in June,1923. This thesis is a study of Mrs. Dalloway from the perspective of post-colonialism, focusing on the connotations of Englishness and imperialism, and the interaction and integration between them. The thesis elaborates on the characterizations of various characters in the novel and the conflicts between self and the other and thus probes into the cultural connotations and symbolic significance of the imperialism and the Englishness. The thesis is divided into six parts:an Introduction, four Chapters and a Conclusion. The introduction offers an overview of Virginia Woolf, her family background and her literary career. There is a literature review of the critical heritages and resources concerning the studies on Woolf and Mrs Dalloway, as well as a short summary of the definitions of Englishness and Imperialism. Chapter One is an introduction of the theories of post-colonialism, with a focus on the relevant views and visions from such prominent post-colonial scholars like Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, and G. C. Spivak, followed by the framework and structure of this thesis. Chapter Two concentrates on the Englishness and imperialism through the depictions of the female characters, who are categorized into two types:the English ladies, including Mrs Dalloway herself, with a good sense of superiority; and the other women who are non-English nationals and deprived of their right of discourse and degraded as fools and heresies. Chapter Three shifts the focus onto the male characters with observations on Englishness and imperialism through their behaviours and activities. Such characters are also divided into two categories:the upper class gentlemen and those working class men who are veterans and service people either get injured in the war and return home with shellshocks or conspire with the imperial government. Chapter Four furthers the discussions on the relations between imperialism and Englishness with detailed character analysis of the previous two chapters. Hypocrisy, fraud, shellshock, lust for power, investment ambitions, immigration schemes and projects overseas are the true scenarios behind the mask of the patriotism generated by Englishness and imperialism. Besides,"proportion" and "conversion", the two repeatedly used words in the novel, are actually used in a ironical tone, because "conversion" is described as "colonialization" and disproportion (extreme nationalism and sense of superiority) permeates every Englishman’s mentality.The thesis concludes that what happens in a day’s activities in Mrs Dalloway’s life truly epitomizes the sense of disproportion which constitutes the essence of the Englishness, and the practice of conversion which facilitates and fulfills the imperialism. WWI weakened Great Britain severely and it was a task for the writers to write something to restore people confidence, to enhance national morale, and to cherish the still existing remnants of the Empire. Under such context, the English discourse or Empire discourse became an integral part of Englishness and revealed the fading hues of the Empire.