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- this report is about the Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. With a
- comparison to Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus warren smith.
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- These citizens grow up under the same social institutions and
- although classes are drawn up on wealth; it can be conceived that
- two people may have very similar opinions of the society that
- created them. The English society which Virginia Woolf presents
- individuals that are uncannily similar. These two individuals
- carry the names of Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith.
- Clarissa and Septimus, share the quality of communicating through
- actions, not words, and perceiving death as "defiance." Through
- these basic beliefs and mannerisms, Clarissa and Septimus,
- although never meeting, portray each other in their thoughts and
- actions.
- feels death and sorrow all around her. She consistently sees
- routine and habit around her but seems
- discontented Clarissa, she was
- now, "...Mrs. Dalloway; not even Clarissa any
- inside Mrs. Dalloway's soul, lies her
- belief character, the side that she never
- reveals. Clarissa expresses
- her belief in reincarnation. That her inner-communicating self,
- if not revealed in this body, may be revealed in the next. The
- belief that her╘
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- that everything will work out, eventually. Mrs. Dalloway before
- the party remarks that, 'If it were now to die, 'twere now be
- most happy.'"(p. 184) Clarissa portrays her sense of happiness as
- something not monstrumental or grandiose, but rather quite
- simple. She can be happy in
- throwing a party. Clarissa has friends. Her parties are to unite the people, who would
- otherwise never speak to each other. Clarissa communicates
- ycan, "say things you couldn't say anyhow else." She can
- her..." Clarissa Dalloway has a sense of optimism mixed with
- despair, in this she defines her character.
- sorrow in living within his society. Septimus sees beauty in
- small inanimate things that surround him. Beauty can be seen as
- a plane that writes in the sky,
- deciphered but which signifies beauty.
- Subconsciously, Septimus
- reveals his need to be nurtured, "..signalling their intention to
- Frankenstein, Septimus pulls away from society when he falls ill
- and has trouble dealing with reality. Septimus and Clarissa in
- this manner are very similar. Septimus feels frightened from
- the reality around him, "He began to open his eyes, to see
- whether a gramophone was really there. But real things
- were too exciting. He must be cautious. He would not go
- mad."(p. 142) Clarissa pulls away from individuality when she
- marries Richard and becomes ╘ He knew everything!"(p. 140) Septimus' truth was that,
- goodness of humanity under the cold, hard shell that society,
- portrays. Septimus believes in nature, love and goodness; but
- these are not the qualities of reality, they are the antithesis.
- For Septimus knows of war, death and destruction; he knows that
- society will not change and that he cannot live in a world that
- can be so constricting. Septimus takes a leap of faith and ends
- all his suffering in this unforgiving world;
- individuality, Septimus and Clarissa recede into the depths of
- normality. Clarissa accepts this recession, from having a dream
- to being merely Mrs. Dalloway. However, Septimus does not, this
- constriction and uniformity propels Septimus out of his bedroom
- window. Althought they differ in their response to this
- uniformity, the truth remains that they are both dissatisfied.
- Their dissatisfaction emanates from society closing the doors to
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