An Understanding of a Soul through a Marriage.doc

An Understanding of a Soul through a MarriageMrs. Dalloway tells us a day of the leading role Mrs. Dalloway, from the morning when she goes shopping for her party to the evening when the party is finally held. By using the format of consciousness, through the natural conversions between memories and realities, this book shows us Mrs. Dalloways whole life in one day. Generally, her life can be concluded as this: she meets Peter and Sally in her early life, she falls into deep love with Peter and becomes good friends with Sally; later she meets with Richard, she marries him and becomes the almost perfect “Mrs. Dalloway” who is thought highly of by her neighbors and servants. According to the traditional denomination method, after Clarissa marries Richard Dalloway, we can call her “Clarissa Dalloway” or “Mrs. Dalloway”. Since either is fine, why did the author choose the latter one as the title of the book? With Clarissa as the clue, the book talks about many people and things. In this progress, Virginia Woolf successfully creates the following characters: Clarissa, Peter Walsh, Sally Seton, Richard Dalloway, Septimus Warren Smith, William Bradshaw, Lady Bruton, Hugh Whitbread, Miss Kilman and Elizabeth. We may say that all the ten characters are aimed at building one core image-Clarissa or Mrs. Dalloway. Among them, Peter, Sally, Richard and Septimus, are especially important. The ways Clarissa conducts herself in front of them in different periods are the real reflections of her contradictory characteristics. The life of Clarissa-for the time being, lets call her this name which doesnt refer to her marriage state, can be divided into two stages: before marriage and after marriage. Before marriage, she was a maiden, enthusiastic, passionate and free. She was in real love with Peter and they were psychically accordant-“In some ways no one understood him, felt with him, as Clarissa did.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p.51; at the same time, Sally bravely ignored the social rules and lived a free life, which added inspiration and courage into Clarissas life. Clarissa liked her and was likely to fall in love with her-“Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole lifeSally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! The others disappeared; there she was alone with Sally” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p.40. In a word, in this period, she lived truly and was very happy with her life and herself. However, in the meaning time, at the bottom of Clarissas heart, she was also looking forward to live up to the worldly customs. We can know this from her behaviors on the evening when Richard appeared for the first time-“He (Peter) had gone into dinner rather lateand had sat down by old Miss Parry.who was supposed to presideClarissa came up, with her perfect manners, like a real hostess, and wanted to introduce him to someone.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p.68,69Latter she met with Richard and gravitated to her inner desire. This can be judged from how she responded when Peter and Sally played a joke on Richard-“Sally at lunch saying something about Dalloway, and calling him My name is Dalloway; whereupon Clarissa suddenly stiffened, colored, in a way she had, and rapped out sharply, Weve had enough of that feeble joke.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p.71.After she married Richard, she started the other stage of her life. In this period, she lived entirely to become a perfect wife and mother. Seemingly, she was living the life she had dreamed of. However, now she was not enjoying her life. Instead, she sank into memories of the life in Bourton with Peter and Sally. Why? When she was with Peter, she lived the life as she wanted. She discovered herself and developed it through communicating with Peter. Especially when Sally appeared, her ego became more independently of the common customs and lived freely. Nevertheless, when she got married to Richard, she devoted all her energies into caring for her family-the big house, her husband and daughter. She forgot and lost herself in this way. Her life was built on the basis of those vacuous things which she didnt really like-marriage without love and parties without meanings. Meanwhile, there was no one that she could talk to. Therefore, little by little, she lost in struggles between the inner eagerness for self and the helpless reality. Sometimes, she also thought of getting rid of this-“She had the oddest sense of being herself invisible; unseen; unknown; there being no more marrying, no more having of children now.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p.13In a word, she was living in contradiction, which seemed unsolvable. Virginia Woolf claimed that in the former version, Clarissa died in the end. But the author added another character-Septimus, talked much about him and finally killed him. Judging from the background of Septimus appearance and his ending, we can say that Septimus is a part of Clarissa and also a main and significant part of Clarissa after she became Mrs. Dalloway. From the book, after the experience of the War, Septimus couldnt get through to the world and he fought with the contradiction between himself and the society. He became crazy and mentally disordered. At last, he chose death as a way to protect his ego from “Human Naturethe repulsive brute, with the boold-red nostrils” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p.102. He achieved his pursuit for self through his death. “And his death stopped Clarissas inner conflict and spurred her thoughts: Clarissa reached a clear understanding of her flinch in front of the reality-A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter. It may be said that it was the death of Septimus that made Clarissa brave enough to meet herself and feel her life.” Xu Duan, Craziness and Abstinence, Journal of Yibin University, Vol.6 No.6 (December, 2004) p.112 She decided to keep up her spirit to find a balance between herself and the reality. However, can Clarissa succeed? Here, lets try to analyze the social fact. The then society was dominated by fatherhood and manpower. All it required a woman to do was become a perfect wife and mother and devote all to her family including her ego. This may be one main reason why Clarissa chose Richard. Then, can Clarissa get rid of this fact? At the end of the novel, Clarissa was said to return to the party and go to Peter and Sally. “She must go back to them. But she must go back. She must assemble. She must find Sally and Peter. And she came in from the little room.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p. 205As Xu Duan argued, “We can get various understandings of Clarissas choices in her later life. When she decided to restart, does she mean she will pursue her real ego, or will continue to compromise?” Xu Duan, Craziness and Abstinence, Journal of Yibin University, Vol.6 No.6 (December, 2004) p.112 The author didnt give the answer, while instead she wrote “It is Clarissa, he (Peter) said. For there she was.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (London: Penguin, 1996),p. 213 Although there was no answer, we could say that as long as Clarissa lived, she