In any story, conflict is vital. It moves the plot forward and reveals truths about the characters involved, keeping readers engaged. It also reflects the world of its writer, who often uses conflict as a tool to illustrate his personal ideas. This is particularly true in the case of early 20th century writer Virginia Woolf. Throughout her most famous novel, Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf draws readers into several different interpersonal conflicts, each involving a clash between English conventions and undeniable human conditions. Describing these conflicts with a keen sensitivity to injustice, folly, and ignorance, Woolf critiques the traditional English social system as a world in which people cannot recognize, confront, or understand that which may disrupt their comfort. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayThrough the conflict between half-insane World War I veteran Septimus Warren Smith and his eminent doctor, Sir William Bradshaw, Woolf highlights one of the system's most tragic failures: its tendency to isolate "undesirables" at all costs to human dignity. Septimus finds himself desensitized after fighting in the Great War and completely unable to return to everyday life, where empathy is a vital quality rather than an obstacle. Unable to remember ordinary emotions, he hallucinates and experiences bouts of melancholy and euphoria, punctuated by moments of lucidity. However, because English society wants nothing to do with abnormality, Septimus finds himself "swallowed" in London with "several millions of young men called Smith" (Woolf 84). Indeed, ironically, it is at the height of his madness that he realizes that “human beings have neither goodness, nor faith, nor charity... They desert those who have fallen” (89). In tracing Septimus's visit to the famous Sir William, Woolf indicates that even English doctors pursue the sinister goal of eliminating all disruptive agents from public life. Believing that the mentally unstable "should drink milk in bed", Sir William "not only prospers himself, but makes England prosper, by isolating its madmen... [and] making it impossible for the unfit to propagate their opinions” (99). He realizes that Septimus's case is "a case of extreme seriousness" (95), but instead of dealing with it directly, he recommends that Septimus "go to bed in a beautiful house in the country" (97 ), far from everyone who loves him. Lacking the faculties and resources to seek further help, Septimus and other “friendless” people who see Sir William have no choice but to obey his orders (102). Even more worryingly, Woolf notes that Sir William “endears himself greatly to the relations of his victims” while he “silences the people” (102). Here, his use of the term "victims" to describe Sir William's patients and his revelation that he is much loved by their loved ones casts an insidious shadow over English doctors, who seek not to help the sick but to "take care ...that these antisocial impulses...[are] controlled” (102). Unfortunately, the way in which the English system sequesters its outcasts causes more victims than those who receive treatment from Sir Williams; As Woolf demonstrates through the example of Lucrezia Smith, Septimus's young wife, those who care for the "friendless" find themselves caught between obeying the rules of society and keeping everything they have loved intact ( 102). At first, not understanding the diseaseSeptimus, Lucrezia believes that her detached husband acts “selfish” and despairs that “love makes you lonely” (23). When she finally realizes that something is seriously wrong with Septimus and gets treatment for him, she finds herself more alone than ever, as Sir William tells her that the treatment is "a matter of rest... away from 'she' (96). ). Aware that she and Septimus have been "abandoned" by those who claim to help them (99), Lucrezia adamantly refuses to be separated from her husband, and readers follow her story sympathetically as she fights, in a sense, to revive Septimus even before his death. Later, when Septimus commits suicide to avoid yet another visit to the doctor, readers also see clearly the tragedy that occurs when doctors strive to eliminate the strange and disturbing rather than cure the sick. Through Lucrezia's conflicts, first with Septimus, then with English doctors like Sir William, Woolf expresses the enormous damage caused by a system that tolerates neither abnormality nor connection with it. In describing several unsatisfying romances, Woolf also criticizes marriages that perpetuate complacency rather than nurturing mutual growth. For example, although protagonist Clarissa Dalloway falls in love with the idealistic Peter Walsh, she feels uncomfortable with Peter's insistence that everything in his life "be shared, that everything be done" (8). Not content to let her simply become "the perfect hostess" (7), Peter demands "impossible things" of Clarissa, challenging her to think about life beyond throwing parties and entertaining guests ( 63). However, Clarissa ends up rejecting Peter in favor of Richard Dalloway, a man who grants her "a little license, a little independence" (7). “Perfectly good” who displays an “inexplicable kindness” (74), Richard nevertheless “makes a simple hostess” of Clarissa and “encourage[s] her worldliness” so that, in the end, she “always cares » by Clarissa. ] it's too much for rank, society, and worldly success" (76). Their marriage also lacks passion and intimacy; Clarissa fails Richard sexually "again and again," unable to "dissipate a virginity…that clings to her” (31), and despite his efforts, Richard can never bring himself to tell Clarissa that he loves her. Ironically, the quixotic Peter is also content with a less fulfilling marriage. simply concludes that “women…don’t know what passion is” (80) Clarissa and Peter are both aware that they have failed in one way or another Clarissa wonders what she has; made of her life, knowing that she has only remained worldly, and the tortured Peter, still rather in love, admits that he is "in a certain sense a failure", having done little with his humanitarian ideas outside from trekking to “a Himalayan peak; reading science; ultimately, because Clarissa and Peter marry people who don't challenge them. uncomfortable from time to time, as they would have done for each other, neither of them considers life a great achievement. Finally, Woolf uses mutual resentment. between Clarissa and Miss Doris Kilman to illustrate the stratified social arena of England, in which people of different classes are often too steeped in their own prejudices to understand each other. Openly admitting that her dislike for the destitute Miss Kilman is unreasonable, Clarissa explains that "without a doubt, with another throw of the dice...she would have loved Miss Kilman" (12). However, as things stand, she resents Miss Kilman because she "makes you feel her superiority, your inferiority; how poor she [is]; how rich you [are];, 1953.