Eric Auerbach writes in Mimesis that one of the characteristics of the realist novel of the interwar period is the multipersonal representations of consciousness. In Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1925, the novel delves into the consciousness of many characters. However, one character stands out more than any other: Septimus Smith, a World War I veteran who constantly suffers from the terrible repercussions of trench warfare. The long period that Woolf remains in his mind is both interesting and confusing. Why does Woolf choose a crazy supporting character – what does she hope to accomplish by this decision? Septimus has often been described as Mrs. Dalloway's double, and at first glance the comparison couldn't be stranger. On the one hand, Septimus comes from a poor working-class background while Mrs. Dalloway is the wife of a wealthy, upper-middle-class politician. There is not only a clear social divide, but also a psychological divide. Septimus is crazy, while Mrs. Dalloway is not. Septimus' madness seems to serve as the driving force that crystallizes the distinction between the two characters. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the two characters are more similar than different and Septimus' madness, rather than differentiating the two, only further illuminates the similarities. So, Septimus must be mad because his madness helps show that he and Mrs. Dalloway are actually parallel characters. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay One way we can use our knowledge of Septimus to understand Mrs. Dalloway is to examine their social roles. Although the two characters may seem very different at first glance, they share many similar traits and experiences. In the novel, Septimus's experience during the war and his struggle with the terrifying consequences of trench warfare are juxtaposed with Mrs. Dalloway and her struggle with gender roles and being a housewife or hostess stereotypical. Although the two struggles are seemingly very different, they are fundamentally the same: both struggle against the conventions and expectations of society. In the case of Septimus Smith, his experiences in the trenches of World War I and the death of his good friend Evans cause him to lose his mind. But the British social order of the 1920s was ill-equipped to deal with madness – it was frowned upon and largely ignored by society. No one wants to acknowledge the horrific effects of trench warfare and bombing, even though war was the most formative experience for men of Septimus's generation. Septimus, as an able-bodied young man, is still expected to be an active member of society, despite the terrible repercussions of the war. This reluctance to recognize and address the issue of madness and shock is reflected in the views of people like Dr. Holmes, who insist that "there was nothing, come what may" (90 ). In fact, Holmes suggests to Septimus's wife, Reiza, that the solution to her husband's "mood swings" was to go to the Music Hall or take a day off and play golf together (90). . Even Sir William Bradshaw, a well-respected physician, suggests sending Septimus to an asylum because he has violated society's norms and standards. Septimus's struggle against madness and the consequences of trench warfare is juxtaposed with Mrs. Dalloway's struggle against gender stereotypes. In Virginia Woolf's time, a woman's identity was largely constitutedof her relationships with others: as a daughter, wife or mother. In fact, the novel begins and is titled Mrs. Dalloway – an acknowledgment of Clarissa's defining role as the wife of Mr. Dalloway, a prominent politician. Clarissa feels a kind of entrapment in the roles that society has assigned to her: “she had a strange feeling of being invisible herself, unseen… being Mrs. Dalloway; not even Clarissa, anymore; it is Mrs. Richard Dalloway” (11). She deeply feels the need for private development and refuses to be seen as simply someone's wife or the hostess of a party. In a way, his house can be seen as an equivalent of Septimus's asylum: both institutions are methods of containing society. Clarissa's struggle for individuality can be seen as a reflection of Septimus's struggle for reason – both violate the traditional structures of society. The social order of the time created norms and forced individuals to assume rigid roles with certain expectations – those of a wife and a soldier. While Septimus's struggle for sanity is evident in the story, Clarissa's is not. Therefore, Septimus and his madness are necessary to show that both characters have private selves that deviate from the audience's expectations of them. Perhaps the ultimate victory goes to Mrs. Dalloway who, when she descends the stairs at the end of the novel, is finally recognized by Peter Walsh and others as an individual in her own right: "What is this terror?" What is this ecstasy? …What fills me with extraordinary excitement? It’s Clarissa” (194). Septimus' madness also serves an aesthetic purpose. Woolf uses her madness to emphasize the modernist notion that reality is disordered rather than structured. She achieves this through her use of style, syntax, and form. The novel uses the stream-of-consciousness style, which is inherently orderless. Not only is it orderless, but it also blurs the distinction between reason and madness. In examining the consciousness passages of the novel, if we were to remove all the clues revealing the person we are in, it would be very difficult to identify the character described. This is not to say, of course, that everyone's consciousness is the same as Septimus's, but that the intrinsic qualities of the stream-of-consciousness style blur the distinction – almost everyone's thoughts are without logical structure, some (that of Septimus) being more illogical than others. . Virginia Woolf deliberately chose this style because it helps to reinforce the similarities between Septimus and Clarissa. For example, Mrs. Dalloway describes one of her revelations as follows: "whether it was pity, or their beauty, or the fact that she was older, or an accident – ​​like a faint smell, or a violin next to it…she then undoubtedly felt what men felt” (32) How do pity, beauty, being older, or a violin connect and contribute to her understanding of this what do men feel? This quote gets to the heart of the novel, which is not action or dialogue, but rather moments. By focusing on the “moment,” Woolf rejects traditional storytelling structures with their organized form. Mrs. Dalloway is neither a comedy nor a tragedy, nor a drama or romance. Woolf also uses syntax, particularly the semicolon, to place self-contained, independent entities in a single sentence without a logical connection. This also supports the idea of ​​a messy reality with no inherent logic or connection. The semicolon is used adroitly in the following observation from Mrs. Dalloway: In people's eyes, in the swaying, the wandering and thepainful walking; in the roaring and tumult; the carriages, the automobiles… the brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph, the ringing and the strange, high-pitched song of an airplane overhead, that was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June (4). This juxtaposition of random and weakly connected objects (swing, carts, barrel organ, airplane, etc.) illustrates the chaotic reality in which Woolf believed she lived. However, this is not to say that there is no order or that this style of stream of consciousness is just a random rambling of thoughts and impressions. Although Woolf rejected traditional forms of order, such as chapter breaks and plot, she employs a much more subtle form of organization that draws inspiration from still lifes, namely composition. Both Reiza's Hat and Clarissa's Party can be seen as compositions that create coherence from disorder and chaos. Big Ben is another form of order in the novel, dividing the story into hours. Woolf also uses symmetry as a method of organization – the novel is halfway through when it is noon. Although there are some attempts at organizing the novel, the underlying argument remains that reality is without inherent order – the character of Septimus helps us achieve this understanding. His madness is the physical manifestation of the chaos that reigns in the natural world. Virginia Woolf intentionally blurs the distinction between reality and imagination, order and disorder, to show the intrinsic similarities between Septimus and Clarissa. The madness of Septimus can also help us in a psychological analysis of the novel, particularly in the study of the theme of the intimacy of the soul. Mrs. Dalloway, even at 18, craves privacy. In fact, she married Richard because "in marriage there must be a little license, a little independence between people living together day after day in the same house, which Richard gave to her, and she to him » (7). She craves private development and is offended when Peter Walsh introduces her as just a hostess. Others identify her primarily in her social role as Richard's wife, Mrs. Richard Dalloway, and do not see her as an individual. In a way, Clarissa envies the old lady in front of her for her intimacy and believes that "love and religion would destroy that, whatever it was, the intimacy of the soul" (127). because love and religion would require sharing and communication. Septimus is perhaps the best example of someone who has privacy – indeed, he has complete privacy of his soul. Even Reiza, his wife, doesn't know what he's thinking most of the time. Virginia Woolf uses the scene in Regent's Park where the couple sit side by side on a park bench to show how distant Septimus is from Reiza, despite their physical proximity. In fact, the only time Septimus appears sane in the novel is when he helps Reiza make a hat. He begins by “putting strange colors together – for even though he had no fingers and couldn't even tie a bundle, he had a wonderful eye” (143). Working with his wife on creating a hat – taking ribbons, beads and wool and making a cohesive whole from the pieces – “was wonderful. He had never done anything that made him so proud. It was so real, it was so substantial, Mrs. Peter’s hat” (144). In making this hat, he must inevitably share a part of himself – his thoughts and opinions – with Reiza and, in doing so, extricate himself from isolation and madness. In the end, Septimus succumbs to madness and, in his final act, throws himself out of the window to preserve the privacy of his soul against the invading figure of Dr. Holmes. Septimus' death is necessary in the story because it. 1990.