Shift from the 3 rd person external to the 3 rd person internal narrator Cohesive devices Time chronological vs personal Interconnectedness of the past and the present Invasion of the bright emotionallycharged memories of the past into the present ID: 210835
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Slide1
Mrs Dalloway – class discussion 1 (pp. 3-5)
Shift from the 3
rd
person external to the 3
rd
person internal narrator
Cohesive devices
Time: chronological vs. personal
Interconnectedness of the past and the present
Invasion of the bright, emotionally-charged memories of the past into the present
The determining presence of the past in the present
Reliving the past (anticipation, sense of foreboding)
The objective presence of time (age, Big Ben that punctuates life with its strikes)Slide2
London and the consequences of WWI (anti-pathetic fallacy)
The past determining the present: “the war was over, except[…]”
Antithesis: peaceful life vs. troubled lives of peopleSlide3
The past that determines the present: Clarissa (pp. 5-7)
Unable to erase the past from her memory
Prone to reconsider her past decisions
Specificity of her line of reasoning (a position of superiority, yet one mixed with “…the grief, the anguish, and then the horror…”)
Realization of her mistake of judgment (“Never could she understand how he cared.”)
Greater tolerance thanks to lifelong experience. (“She would not say of anyone in the world now that they were this or were that. […] she would not say of herself, I am this, I am that.”)Slide4
Clarissa’s inner conflicts (pp. 6-9)
“very young” vs. “unspeakably aged”
“sliced like a knife through everything” vs. “was outside”
included vs. excluded
taking active part in everything vs. “alone”
Identity crisis (“cease completely”)
Life (“survived”, p. 7) vs. death
Love vs. hatred (p. 9)Slide5
Clarissa’s multiple identities (pp. 7-9)
An upper class woman
Ignorance (“…she knew nothing; no language, no history; she scarcely read a book now, except memoirs in bed… “)
Deeply internalized inferiority (“she had a pea-stick figure; a ridiculous little face, beaked like a bird’s” vs. being a slow, large, stately woman, interested in politics like Lady
Bexborough
)
Engages in typical for this class of people activities (shopping, participating in charity actions, etc.)Slide6
A wife
“invisible; unseen; unknown”
“not even Clarissa anymore”
A mother
keeps questioning Elizabeth’s motives to stick with Miss
Kilman
A homophobe
scornful, narrow-minded: looks down at Miss
Kilman
the “reduction” pattern: “better poor Grizzle than Miss
Kilman
” (p. 9)Slide7
Septimus Warren Smith (p. 11)
Onomastics
: the seventh child
“… about 30, pale-faced, beak-nosed […] shabby overcoat, […] that look of apprehension…”
Doubles:
“
Mrs
Dalloway […] looked out …”
“
Septimus
looked.”
Preoccupied with the them of death like Clarissa (“Is it I who am blocking the way…”; “I will kill myself”); questions the essence of his existence (see Clarissa as well)Slide8
Anti-pathetic fallacy (pp. 12-13)
The setting
“veneration … for Queen, Prince, or Prime Minister”, “greatness was passing”, “symbol of state”, “opening some bazaar”
“grass-grown path”, “Wednesday morning”, “sunlight”, “white”, “magical”, “glittering stars”
an
aeroplane
– a symbol of freedom vs. confinement; a symbol of consumerismSlide9
Septimus (pp. 16-17)
heightened sensitivity (p. 16)
mental and emotional instability as seen in the upward and downward dynamics (p. 17)
sanity vs. insanity (p. 17)
isolation (p. 17)
post- WWI trauma
Identity crisis (“… he was not
Septimus
now”, p. 17) – see Clarissa as well
bouts of insanity (p. 18): see voices as wellSlide10
Septimus’s insanity (p. 18)
pacifistic notes
sparrows – birds – freedom
Greek – the language of antiquity that celebrated the beauty of the man
blurring of the differences between the living and the dead (“there was his hand; there the dead”) – maybe he already sees himself as dead?Slide11
Septimus / the theme of insanity (p. 18)
pacifistic notes
sparrows – birds – freedom
Greek – the language of antiquity that celebrated the beauty of the man
blurring of the differences between the living and the dead (“there was his hand; there the
dead”)Slide12
Clarissa + voices
(pp. 22-23)
Making
peace
with
her
life:
‘’… must one
repay
in
daily
life…?’’ (p.22)
Feeling
excluded
(‘’… the
shock
of Lady
Bruton
asking
Richard to lunch
without
her
’’ (p. 22)
Afraid
of time /
aging
(p. 23)
Considering
suicide:
“
a
diver
before
plunging
”
(p
. 23)
Anti-
pathetic
fallacy
‘’…
June
morning
; soft
with
the
glow
of rose
petals
…’’
vs. ‘’…
suddenly
shrivelled
,
aged
,
breastless
…’’ (p. 23)Slide13
The nun
The
theme
of
withdrawal
(distance, isolation,
separation
on
both
topographical
and
emotional
levels
)
The
reduction
pattern:
a
child
‘’
exploring
a
tower
’’
a life of
loneliness
(‘’
Narrower
and
narrower
would
her
bed
be
’’,
p. 23)
r
eading
as a
way
to escape the reality
Stripped
off
her
feminine
characteristics
(‘’…
she
could
not
dispel
a
virginity
preserved
through
childbirth
which
clung
to
her
like
a
sheet
.’’ (p. 23)Slide14
Lack of
sexuality
;
frigidity
(‘’
She
could
see
what
she
lacked
. It
was
not beauty;
it
was
not
mind
. It
was
something
central
which
permeated
;
something
warm
which
broke
up surfaces and
rippled
the cold contact of man and
woman
, or of
women
altogether
.’’, p. 24)
Shown
as an
atypical
woman
-
homosexuality
(‘’…
she
could
not
resist
sometimes
yielding
to the
charm
of a
woman
…’’)
drawn
to
unconventionalities
(Sally
Seton
)
a
kiss
as
precious
as a
revelation
(
religious
connotation), pp. 24-25Slide15
Doubles: Clarissa and Septimus
Making
peace
with
their
lives
Accepting
its
sadness
Being
not
afraid
Clarissa (p. 29: ‘’
Fear
no more,
says
the
heart
.’’)
Septimus
(p. 101:
‘’
Fear
no more,
says
the
heart
in the body;
fear
no more.’’)Slide16
Rhetorical patterns: antithesis
Clarissa
Conventional
Envious of Sally’s beauty, her “abandonment” (p. 24)
“Knew nothing about sex”
Knew “nothing about social problems” (p. 25)
“the purity, the integrity of her feeling for Sally” (p. 25)
Protective of Sally (p. 25)
Sally
Unconventional behavior (smoking cigarettes, p. 24; cutting flowers’ heads off; running naked, p. 25))
Dysfunctional family (“Sally’s parents did not get on”, p. 24)
“a sort of abandonment” admired by Clarissa (p. 24)
Poorer (“hadn’t a penny “, p. 25)
Passionate (“Sally it was who made her feel”, p. 25)
Sally’s idea “to abolish private property”, p. 25
Intelligent (reading Plato)
Reckless (p. 25)
Personality (p. 25)Slide17
Rhetorical patterns 2: antithesis
The young Clarissa
Capable of feeling (“ That was her feeling – Othello’s feeling […] all because she was coming down to dinner in a white frock to meet Sally Seton!” (p. 26)
“She was wearing pink gauze – was that possible?”
“…the radiance burnt through” (the kiss, p. 26)
The 52-year-old Clarissa
Unable to feel; numb (“She could not even get an echo of her old emotion”, p. 27)
“…seeing the delicate pink face of the woman who was that very night to give a party; of Clarissa Dalloway; of herself” (p. 27)
“That was her self – pointed;
dartlike
; definite” (p. 27)
“…the whole world seems to be saying ‘that is all’’(p. 29)
“Fear no more, says the heart” (p. 29)Slide18
Rhetorical patterns 3: antithesis
Clarissa Dalloway
Lack of sexuality
Femininity fading away
Frigidity
Confinement
Peter Walsh
Sexuality (see the displacement mechanism: personal anxiety unarticulated desires )
Intensity
Freedom