| The quest for a feminine identity separate from male definitions of that identity can be found in the fiction of Virginia Woolf. This thesis uses archetypal analysis to study the heroines of four novels in order to determine the effects of the prevailing patriarchal culture upon the feminine search for identity. Not only do the heroines of The Voyage Out, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and Orlando: A Biography struggle to define their lives as best as they can under societal (male) strictures, but their creator also struggles to define herself as a woman and a writer in early twentieth-century England.; By understanding the effect of the dominant patriarchal culture upon Woolf and her fictional heroines, as well as how their situation relates to today, we can perhaps move toward a definition of female identity that evolves naturally from the circumstances of female life instead of coming from outside it. |
PDF Full Text Request