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Savanah Mandeville
English 371
Dr. Murphy
14 December 2012
Unity, Creativity, Consciousness:
How Techniques Used in Mrs. Dalloway Support Androgyny
Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway, is arguably the epitome of Modernist
literature, especially in dealing with changes in gender roles. The early twentieth century saw a
great shift away from Victorian ideals and Modernist literature was highly representative of that.
Just one of many of these shifts dealt with gender roles, and the characters in Mrs. Dalloway
have much more androgynous traits than characters in nineteenth century literature. While
authors writing with any shade of realism have never been able to completely depict their
characters according to extreme traditional gender roles (such a human could not exist), the stark
contrast between character types of the Victorian era and the Modernist era cannot be ignored.
Virginia Woolf presents androgyny of the characters in Mrs. Dalloway by employing various
new techniques to illustrate the constantly shifting and impermanent nature of all human
personalities and thus the unity that exists below the surface. These techniques include
presenting more obvious breaks from traditional gender roles, free-flowing consciousness, and
fluctuating disconnection and connection between people. In essence, Woolf used these writing
techniques to show the “androgyny” of human life as a whole in order to promote androgyny
between the sexes.
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There are many different interpretations of the word “androgynous.” I’d like to outline a
few of these to show in what sense of the word I will be using it from here on out. Many
feminists over time have been uncomfortable with the word because “fails to separate women
from men” (Taylor 367). Or, it is sometimes viewed as the idea that men and women have the
same potential to reach all of the same personality traits. The issue with this is that it doesn’t
support any traditionally feminine traits as superior and in turn feeds into the concept that
masculine traits are inherently superior. This branches into the troubling concept that equality
can be achieved when women successfully adopt masculine traits. According to Nancy Taylor,
“a more positive image of androgyny…is rooted in the Yin/Yang symbol, an Eastern concept
that Western philosophy does not have adequate language to express” (Taylor 368). The
Yin/Yang concept promotes the idea that a certain human quality does not define the individual
because qualities are fluid. A person does not possess a quality indefinitely, therefore there is no
masculine or feminine because “there is no identifiable One or Other; rather each member is the
Other and each is the One…interdependence characterizes the intercourse between sides
complementing and qualifying each other for a holistic vision of perception…and this is the
model Virginia Woolf employs in her novel” (Taylor 368). In other words, at times an
individual is the One and at times the same individual is the Other, it just depends on the
perspective of the situation.
One way Virginia Woolf employs this type of androgyny in Mrs. Dalloway by
distributing typically masculine and feminine characteristics among male and female characters.
At the same time, Woolf doesn’t deny that men and women are different and she takes care to
support traditionally feminine traits as strong and valuable. She does not condemn masculine
traits but does point out how some of them can be weakening to the individual. Almost all of
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the characters in Mrs. Dalloway possess both masculine and feminine qualities and there are
some obvious examples: Elizabeth with her disinterest in fashion; Peter Walsh and his
fascination with love; Lady Bexbourough, the entrepreneur; Lady Bruton with her interest in
politics; Septimus Smith as a victim of patriarchal society
It was a priority of Woolf’s to maintain that men and women are different but that one is
not better than the other. According to Taylor, “forcing people into a model that denies the
possibility of difference…seems as potentially repressive as stereotyping the sexes…Woolf
evades these traps by allowing a free flow of thoughts and feelings that breaks down boundaries
between sex and class…” (369). I agree with Taylor’s point that the stream-of -consciousness
technique in Mrs. Dalloway sought to prove that below the surface, there was no such thing as
masculine or feminine and that these concepts exist only the surface. One way this is achieved is
by presenting how disconnected people are on the surface layer. She wanted to go beyond
measured time to all of the deeper, significant resonances that occur at the same time as the strike
of a clock, but cannot be seen, in order to, as she put in diary, rescue life from ‘waste, deadness,
superfluity’ by ‘saturating every atom’ with the significance of artistic understanding (Schwarz
260). The constant activity of atoms is unseen but is what makes up life. According to Woolf,
“The mind receives a myriad of impressions—trivial, fantastic, evanescent, or engraved with the
sharpness of steel. From all sides, [the impressions] come, and incessant shower of atoms…as
they shape themselves into the life of Monday or Tuesday” (Bowlby 402). In other words, the
“atoms” are our unseen impression of things. They are what exists below the surface.
In Mrs. Dalloway, the way we become aware of all that is below the surface is by
experiencing the thoughts and feelings of different characters as they happen. In fact, the novel
depends almost entirely on the internal workings of the characters. According to Nancy Topping
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Bazin, “In Mrs. Dalloway the ‘outer’ facts are mentioned only insofar as they encroach upon the
thoughts and feelings of the characters. Thus, the evanescent (masculine) aspect of reality
depicted in [Mrs. Dalloway] is derived from the inner rather than the outer life” (99). I find that
this writing style alone lends itself to androgyny. Bazin refers to evanescence as the masculine
aspect of the novel. For our purposes, we will think of the evanescent, or fast-paced, fleeting
moments, as the dominant. In most novels, the plot is the dominant/evanescent. In Mrs.
Dalloway, it is the inner-thoughts and feelings of the characters that is dominant/evanescent.
This got me thinking about the gender role theory of outer-sphere being masculine and innersphere being feminine. If this is the case, the “inner” taking dominance in Mrs. Dalloway shows
that the novel is feminine. At the same time, much of the “inner” thoughts and feelings come
from male characters. I think this is strongly indicative of androgyny for a female author to
produce a male voice. Virginia Woolf once said, “…it is fatal for anyone who writes to think of
their sex” (Marder 107).
A key element to androgyny is unity. To be a unified society, people cannot be
categorized and so often in life we put people we don’t know into boxes and label them. Virgina
Woolf chooses to focus on those “people we don’t know.” By focusing on minor characters such
as Scrope Purvis we become very much aware of his impression of Clarissa Dalloway. He
thinks she is a “charming woman” and knows her well enough to know that she has recently
gotten over an illness (Mrs. Dalloway, 4). Why do we care what he thinks of her? Scrope Purvis
isn’t mentioned again for a single fleeting moment the rest of the novel. I believe Woolf
included this character because she wanted to break down stereotypes. Bowlby argues that
characters we don’t know well are thought of as flat. By providing the thoughts of minor
characters, they are given more humanity or roundness, than a typical “extra” would. Even
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though Scropes’ thoughts focus on Clarissa, a spark of curiousity about this so-called
unimportant character is ignited. Later, as Clarissa is walking, she thinks, “she would not say of
any one in the world now that they were this or were that…” (Woolf 8). Clarissa is taking on
Woolf’s own view that no one in the world is flat and that all personality traits are fluid, an issue
dealing with Yin and Yang. No one can truly be categorized.
A character similar to Scrope Purvis is Clarissa’s other neighbor, the nameless old
woman. Unlike Scrope, Clarissa and the old woman don’t exchange any words and their only
interaction is Clarissa stopping to watch her through her window on two occasions. We are
under the impression that Clarissa and this woman don’t know each other at all. Though we
don’t learn any of the woman’s thoughts or feelings, significant time is spent on her, and later,
when Clarissa watches her after hearing of Septimus’s death, this otherwise nonexistent
character becomes a symbol for continuation of life. The time spent on her is what Woolf was
referring to in her diary—to “saturate every atom” with artistic understanding (Schwarz 260).
Clarissa Dalloway’s two neighbors represent an important point in the novel: the
different levels of knowing someone and the various forms of human connection. We get the
impression that Clarissa and Scrope know each other on a very basic level and that Clarissa and
the old woman know each other even less. As I’ve mentioned, Woolf proves that not knowing
someone deeply does not inhibit the complexity of the person. A minor character in life might
provide insight into yourself or your own life. In this way, the minor characters that Woolf
carefully gives attention to provide a sense of unity among people—but the unity exists below
the surface. When Peter Walsh is secretly following the young woman in the street, he is thrilled
at being able to imagine her as his dream girl. When she disappears through a door, his game is,
“smashed to atoms—his fun, for it was half made up, as he knew very well; invented, this
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escapade with the girl; made up, as one makes up the better part of life…” (Mrs. Dalloway, 54).
Again, the reference to atoms strives to paint a picture of unity, of unifying people. For a
moment, although it’s one sided (much like the relationship between Mrs. Dalloway and the old
woman), there is unity between the unknown woman and Peter Walsh. In an instant, when she
goes inside, the atoms holding them together smash apart. Thus the atoms, the parts that create
the whole, are fluid in the same way that individuals are fluid—we never know how the atoms
are going to fall. To me, this is why Virginia Woolf includes these unknown characters—
strangers—is to show how we are all separate but united. Human relationships cannot be defined
in terms of knowing someone deeply or not knowing them at all because it’s all relative.
In a way, Mrs. Dalloway is the ultimate symbol of unity in the novel. She is the center in
which all of the outer-reaching characters and events are connected. Perhaps the most outer
reaching character is Septimus Smith. Clarissa doesn’t know him personally, they are connected
because he is a patient of Sir William Bradshaw, and they seem to be complete opposites. In
actuality, Clarissa and Septimus mirror one another in many ways which lends itself to the
unifying theme. Both are victims of patriarchal society in that Smith has been forced to become
a soldier and has lost his ability to feel; Clarissa is forced into a “perfect hostess” and is viewed
as cold. Both Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus Smith have had to give something to society which
has taken something out of them. For Clarissa, it’s her parties and for Septimus, it’s serving in
the war. Both have a need for solitude but a need for someone close to keep them from losing
themselves. Clarissa admits that it is Richard who has kept her sane all these years. When
Septimus finds that Lucrezia has left the room on Dr. Bradshaw’s orders, “the people we care for
most are not good for us when we are ill” (Mrs. Dalloway, 96), is when he jumps from the
window to preserve his “self” against society. Clarissa does not preserve herself as well, though,
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as she continues to throw parties and struggle to fit the mold. Perhaps Clarissa envies Septimus
for this reason: “The young man had killed himself; but she did not pity him…with all this going
on” (Mrs. Dalloway, 186). A first reading might give the impression that Mrs. Dalloway was too
busy to pity him, when I think the true nature of the passage was more, “why pity him? He
doesn’t have to deal with all this anymore.” It’s very symbolic of the unity between life and
death and how neither is One or the Other. At the same time, in abilities dealing with preserving
oneself against the constraints of reality, Septimus is able to reach androgyny and Clarissa is not.
From the other angle, Clarissa is happy enough with her life to not commit suicide. So who is
One and who is the Other? It all depends on perspective.
This unity between Septimus and Clarissa can be expanded toward how they view the
world around them and how it influences their creativity. As I mentioned before, Woolf was
seeking to promote androgyny in creativity, she even writes in A Room of One’s Own that,
“perhaps a mind that is purely masculine cannot create any more than mind that is purely
feminine” (Marder, 108). Creativity is key to unity. In the novel when we see unity of people—
the motorcar, the airplane, Clarissa’s party—an object of creation is the center. Creation cannot
exist without androgyny and neither can unity. Septimus and Clarissa both struggle with this
because they try to suppress masculine realities. Clarissa seeks a sense of oneness with the
world, while Septimus is unable to come in contact with the external world. Peter Walsh thinks
that she has, ‘that extraordinary gift, of making a world of her own wherever she happened to
be” (Mrs. Dalloway ). Does not Septimus do this as well? According to Bazin, “she too is
consciously trying to shut out the ‘facts’ of the masculine reality (such as isolation, conflict,
time, and death). Seeking a sense of oneness, she tries to create her own harmonious, unified
worlds” (Bazin, 103). Clarissa is able to create these worlds by taking in with delight each scene
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she passes on the street or by creating her home as a sanctuary. Septimus Smith, on the other
hand, is not able “to achieve any concrete subject-object relationship” (Kelley, 99). A key word
to look at here in relation to Mrs. Dalloway is “create.” She creates her oneness with the world.
Since Septimus Smith cannot grasp emotion or symbolism he cannot come in contact with the
world. Therefore, he is unable to create. Deborah Kuhlmann argues that Septimus must
“maintain his ego and therefore protects himself from the depths of his soul” (31). I believe this
is what causes his difficulties with writing. Therefore, the “unified ego” which, as Taylor puts it,
“comes out of the patriarchal system” is debilitating to creativity. For Clarissa, her creative
outlet is throwing parties. I mentioned earlier that throwing a party takes something out of
Clarissa, but by the logic previously mentioned, to create one must be able to become one with
the world and give up the individual ego. She views her parties as “an offering…could any man
understand what she meant either? about life? She could not imagine Peter or Richard taking
the trouble to give a party for no reason whatever” (Mrs. Dalloway, 122). So, in the end,
Clarissa is able to achieve androgyny in order to create and Septimus is not because he can’t let
go of the patriarch-constructed ego. But at the same time, Clarissa isn’t able to “preserve
herself” against patriarchal society, like Septimus does, and the party is representative of that.
So in the party scene, Clarissa is both the One and the Other, proving the fluidity of human
qualities based on perspective.
I believe the overall theme of Mrs. Dalloway is unity. Woolf creates a sense of unity in
the novel by proving that all personality traits are fluid, or androgynous, beneath the surface.
She does this by focusing on the inner workings of the characters, the text flowing seamlessly
from one character to the next, from male characters to female characters, from major characters
to minor characters. Woolf also creates unity by giving two characters who are opposite on the
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surface, Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith, mirrored concerns in life. The lives of the two
characters are intertwined so that there is a push and pull between which is the One and which is
the Other. Perspectives on which character is “right” and which is “wrong” is completely based
on the reader and further promotes flexibility in human qualities. It’s almost as if the novel
works as an optical illusion. For example, if one looks at Clarissa from one angle, she’s an
independent, creative, free-thinker. From another angle, she’s a restricted, wealthy, socialite.
None of these qualities can be perfectly fixed within her because that is not possible. None of
the characters in Mrs. Dalloway have fixed qualities because Virginia Woolf created them to be
androgynous, though this may have not been visible without her special writing techniques.
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Works Cited
Bazin, Nancy Topping. Virginia Woolf and the Androgynous Vision. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers UP, 1973. Print.
Bowlby, Rachel. "Untold Stories in Mrs. Dalloway." Textual Practice 25.3 (2011): 397
415.MLA International Bibliography. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
Kelley, Alice Van Buren. The Novels of Virginia Woolf: Fact and Vision. Chicago: University of
Chicago, 1973. Print.
Kuhlmann, Deborah. "Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway." Explicator 43.2 (1985): 30-32. MLA
International Bibliography. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
Marder, Herbert. Feminism and Art: A Study of Virginia Woolf. Chicago: University of Chicago,
1968. Print.
Schwarz, Daniel R. The Transformation of the English Novel, 1890-1930. New York: St.
Martin's, 1989. Print.
Taylor, Nancy. "Erasure of Definition: Androgyny in Mrs. Dalloway." Women's Studies: An
Interdisciplinary Journal 18.4 (1991): 367-77. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 11
Dec. 2012.