Krysantha Flores
The Death of The Soul; The Death of The Body
Throughout Mrs. Dalloway we followed the storylines of two characters, Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith. This is one of the most interesting parts of the story to me. The comparison of seemingly dissimilar characters who have internally similar systems is very intriguing to me. Their stories seem quite different at first, one is about PTSD and how war trauma affects Septimus and the other is about a woman preparing for her husband's party that night. But as the story progresses, the reader can see the parallels between their characters. Woolfe even intended for Clarissa to have the fate Septimus has in book, in the original draft. Why do two characters who seem to have very different stories and lives reflect each other so much?
For one, both of them are affected by the gender roles of their society. In the book, Clarissa is faced with the question of who she is. Is her only purpose to be a wife? If she wasn’t Richard Dalloway's wife, who would she be? She grapples with the fact that outside of performing her ‘womanly role’ as a wife, her identity is quite…blank. During Septimus’ side of the story we see a similar type of emptiness, rather not in his identity (at a superficial glance), but in his emotions. He originally didn’t fit the gender roles and was told to be more manly. In a way, he also lost his identity, he lost who he was, replaced by the shell of a man he’d previously been. Both lost who they were trying to shove themself into the mold of gender expectations, having to cut off what didn't fit in that mold.
Peter Walsh notes whenever Clarissa fits into traditional roles of what a woman should be like or like as ‘The death of her soul’. He repeats this many times, “‘The death of the soul.’ He had said that instinctively, ticketing the moment as he used to do—the death of her soul” (Woolfe, 59). In a way, both of their souls died with conformity to society. However, Septimus’ inability to conform any longer (due to his mental health struggles) caused the death of his body. His soul was already dead and his body followed soon after. Spetimus didn’t want to be changed and that’s why he chose to kill himself. Clarissa conformed, forever creating an impenetrable wall that hides her inner self which will never be revealed to the outside world. Septimus wasn’t able to properly show who he was inside while Clarissa chose to keep her internal self buried, only pulling it out for quiet moments of reflection. Overall, both of them face similar issues. The only thing that changed the difference in their fates is their choices. Septimus’ last true essence of his identity was the killing of his body to save his soul which was rotting himself from the inside.
I loved how you mentioned Peter's constant line drop: "The death of the soul." It's very telling about the two character's whose lives we seemed to follow the most: Septimus and Clarissa. I especially enjoyed the part where you said (about Septimus) "His soul was already dead and his body followed soon after". This is a great summary/analyzation of Septimus in this novel.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting blog post! I really like how you describe Septimus's soul being dead before he physically died. He had hallucinations because of these turmoil's from the constraints of society. But, we can either consider his suicide as damning or freeing himself. We can also consider Clarissa and Septimus as two sides of the same coin. Their paths diverged when they chose to conform or not.
ReplyDeleteI think it's also worth noting that I believe Septimus attempted a similar feat to that of Clarissa, burying his soul but it had already been broken by that point. As his soul rotted under the layers of protection, eventually he began to to. The PTSD slowly eroded at him until he couldn't handle it anymore. Societal pressure suffocating from the outside and mental anguish on the inside. Interesting topic, nice blog!
ReplyDeleteIn the scene of Septimus' death, I like the idea that he was faced with two options, the death of the soul and the death of the body. He would rather choose the death of his body, rather than his soul being corrupted by the evils of humanity.
ReplyDeleteI think that Clarissa and Septimus were both going through similar, but at the same time very different, things. As you said, deep down, both of them felt "smothered" by gender roles and their place in society. Given the original ending of the book, I wouldn't be surprised if, had she not heard of Septimus' death, which caused some kind of revelation, she may have ended up in the original ending. Something about learning of Septimus' suicide changed her outlook on life, and stopped her from committing suicide, even if her mental health wasn't at that point in the book.
ReplyDeleteI love your points about gender roles and their affects on both our "main" male and female characters. I think this book does a very good job of showing both ends of that spectrum, and I really enjoyed your writing and analysis!
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