Virginia Woolf and the Insanity of Criticism in Mrs. Dalloway

Initially, I intended to discuss the complexities of oppression and insanity, looking at both the Great War veteran, Septimus Warren Smith and Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway, comparing the pressures of war and violence to suffering the transition of going from Clarissa to Mrs. Richard Dalloway, arguing that it is those that work continually to conform that are insane. Taking a humanist approach would have eclipsed the underlying feminist theme that women are criticized into behaving and, even then, aren’t taken seriously.

Men are given some validity to fall back on. Although Smith commits suicide, he is given credit for his effort on the war front. Mrs. Dalloway receives no such praise. She is seen by even the man who obsessively loves her, Peter Walsh, as a woman who wastes her time holding frivolous parties.

As Mrs. R. Dalloway, she busies herself maintaining the upper crust lifestyle. When reflecting on others and how they perceive her, she is Clarissa, and she recognizes that Peter criticizes her. All he has to do is look at her and she can feel it. There is a bit of her identity underneath the wedding ring and bourgeois façade. She silently stands by her interest in throwing society parties—it’s what she likes to do, and it’s something that gives her purpose.

The same cannot be said for Smith’s wife, Lucrezia. She has trouble separating herself from her husband’s plight, arguing that although Smith can be content without her, she can’t say the same for herself. Her view is odd, especially when considering how difficult it is for her to deal with his shell shock (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). He is unbearable to live with, but she has conformed to the role of wife by suffering by his side, which drowns out her own identity.

Criticism comes from many angles in our lives; parents who want to see us financially off, lovers who worry about our life choices, friends who want what’s best for us—but we learn from Mrs. Dalloway that the best reaction to such pressures is to preserve the self. Mrs. Dalloway is still clearly Clarissa, because she holds the party despite Peter’s criticisms. Her old friend, Sally Seton, although considered a radical in her youth, does not hold up to her true nature; she folds and eventually chalks her contribution to society as a mother of five sons, yes, five sons, she had five sons.

For women, one of the best contemporary arguments to stand strong against pressures to conform to others and their standards comes from Paulo Coelho and his work, The Witch of Portobello. Although he is a male writer, he, like Virginia Woolf, provides space for the central female character to continue being true to herself. Although party planning is stressful, Clarissa validates herself. Coelho’s character Athena faces the reality of teaching others without any prior preparation and does it despite serious threats from the established religious institutions. In the end, things work out for both women because they do not listen to others.

As women, we need to listen to ourselves and ignore both external and internal negatives which hamper our own growth. Men also face doubts and pressures which steer them away from their own dreams, but women face the double obstacle of the societal fear of the feminine. Coelho acknowledges that women through the ages have developed an intuition that men do not usually posses—so listen to it, use it, and deal with life accordingly. To do so is to preserve self validation, whether it is through throwing upper crust parties or getting people to set aside their fears and live the way they want to.