ANALYSE LITTERAIRE

Stéphane Jousni
Code cours : C3AF531

N° Etudiant : 21513885

Œuvre choisie : Mrs Dalloway, de Virginia Woolf

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Mrs Dalloway follows the journey of 19 characters during an ordinary day in London.
The reader is given the opportunity to perceive the world through the characters’ eyes and
sensibility, thanks to a stream-of-consciousness narrative. This modernist attempt « to reveal
the flickerings of that innermost flame which flashes its message through the brain »1 was the
innovative answer of the mind to the materialistic and scientific innovations of society of that
time. The Great War had marked the passage from one world to another, and modern novelists
were eager to emancipate from Edwardian and Victorian formal and conventional literature.
This quest for freedom is shown throughout the novel, as the narrative voice constantly and
readily shifts from one voice to another, from one character to another. The lines are blurred,
as a reflection of the mind. Septimus is one major character of the novel, along with Clarissa
Dalloway. He echoes Woolf’s fierce criticism of postwar patriarcal Britain, as he embodies the
millions of soldiers British society has sacrificed and sent to what Sir William Bradshaw 2
outrageously calls « that little shindy of schoolboys with gunpowder »3. Despite the shell
shock syndrom4 he suffers from, his doctors -the very men who belong to the society that sent
Britain to war5 - will never diagnose Septimus properly 6 and will never take heed of his
distress, leaving him on his own. In the extract under scrutiny, Septimus and Rezia are resting
in Regent Park, before heading to see the psychiatrist Sir William Bradshaw. The excerpt
stresses Septimus’s struggle for his existence despite a crushing society that does not want
him in it. He stands at the intersection of two opposing worlds, the colliding of which will
eventually lead to his tragic death.
SEPTIMUS : A SURVIVING POET

1 Modern Fiction, The Essays of Virginia Woolf. Volume 4 : 1925 to 1928, McNeille, A. (ed), The Hogarth Press, 1984, p 161
2Septimus’s psychiatrist
3 Mrs Dalloway p106 l.24-25
4 See Professor Joanna Bourke, Shell Shock during World War One
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/shellshock_01.shtml, last updated 2011-03-10
5 Dr William Bradshaw attends Mrs Dalloway’s party, along with Britain’s Prime Minister.
6 « Holmes and Bradshaw, (…), who differed in their verdicts, (…), yet judges they were ; (…) yet ruled, yet inflicted »p163
l.14-21
 The Great War was a collective work that crushed millions of individuals’ lives,
including Septimus Warren Smith’s. The battles in the French trenches, have taken everything
from him, except his poetry. Despite the shell shock syndrom he suffers from, Septimus is
« exhausted but upheld » (l.7), and clings to his art in order to survive. To face this new world
he opens his eyes to with great effort, as « he strained ; he pushed ; he looked »7(l.27),
Septimus calls upon his only arm : poetry. Yet, the apparent light, beauty and innocence he
finds in Regent Park, where « [watching] a leaf quivering was an exquisite joy » (l.31), with
« the sun (…) dazzling it with soft gold with pure good temper» (l.35), or where « some
chime (it might be a motor horn) [is] « tinking divinely » (l.36), are all an illusion as « the
world seemed to say » (l.29). Science has taken over, as beauty has to be proved
« scientifically » (l.30), and the world is now « calm and reasonable » (l.37). Even the poetic
swallows have lost their ability to let go, as they fly « in perfect control as if elastics held
them » (l.34). What’s more, the incongruous presence of « antelopes stretching over the
palings » (l.31), underlines Septimus’s need of nature in order to make the man-built world
poetic and therefore acceptable. In a rationalized world where « all of this (…) was the truth
now ; beauty, that was the truth now. », Septimus endeavours to find certainty and objectivity
in beauty, thus depriving it of its very substance : subjectivity. Moreover, the world’s arrogant
and self-certain assertion, « we welcome […] ; we accept ; we create », serves as a cruel
reminder that Septimus’s purpose of creation is no longer relevant in a materialistic world.

Stream of consciousness is Woolf’s answer to her contemporary modern society and

its scientific proccupations, as a modernist attempt to « illuminate the mind within rather than
the mind without »8. It allows Septimus to escape his science-spoiled physical surroundings
and use his imagination to turn this materialistic world into a poetic one. That is, a world
made of « smooth columns » (l.12), where a shrieking motor horn evolves into music, and
where « an old man playing a penny whistle » becomes « a shepherd boy’s piping » (l.13-14).
Yet Septimus cannot escape the soldier British society has turned him into. The war is within
him, as his very name Septimus Warren9 Smith suggests, thus his try at pastoral poetry is
marred too : the music is in fact an « elegy », that is, a mournful poem, the motor horn
becomes an « anthem » (l.13), that « cannoned from rock to rock (…), met in shocks of
sound » (l.11). Pastoral lush gardens are replaced by barren rocks, flowers that « [grow]

7 As keeping his eyes shut shields him from going « mad » -cf p. 26 l.10, and p.56 l.20-23
8 V.Woolf, Modern Fiction, 1966,II, p.81
9 My emphase
through his flesh » and « stiff leaves [rustling] through his head » (l.9-10). War has never left
him as « there they waited till the war was over » (l.44) and the forever scarred poet is now
forced to « [interpret] with effort, with agony, to mankind » (l.8).

10
To Septimus, « Communication is health, communication is happiness » , and the
only two words, « so unhappy » (l.54), Rezia pronounces to summarize her own feelings
(l.54) are insufficient for him to articulate how he feels. His tragedy lies in his failure to
express himself, to press the words out of him. The first audible words he utters to the outside
world through direct speech appear quite late in the text and are « cried out » (l.45). Before
that, he « muttered » (l.14), he « thought » (l.21), or « he was talking to himself again – it was
awful, awful ! » (l.22-23). The repetition of the adjective underlines his excruciating desire to
disclose his message out to the world. But Septimus’s words have perished in the horror of the
trenches , as « from his lips fell like shells, like shavings from a plane, without his making
them, hard white, imperishable words » (l.40-41). The references to plane bombings and to
his shell shock syndrom suggest that the poet he used to be died on the battlefield and took his
words, his most precious companions, with him. Actually, he has no longer power over them,
they do not convey any meaning, and thus are deprived of their very substance. The lifeless
image of Septimus’s words is epitomised as they are first addressed to what Septimus sees as
Evan’s phantom, his friend who died fighting, « For God’s sake don’t come ! » (l.45). The
exclamative form and the profanity put the emphasis on Septimus’s lack of power over his
words : they are out of control, and escape him. What’s more, his last utterance, « I will tell
you the time » (l.60) is pronounced « very slowly, very drowsily, smiling mysteriously. »
(l.60), thus conveying a ghostly image.

Septimus’s inability to communicate with the outside world is conveyed through the
shift of narrative voices. Throughout the text, indirect speech and a controlled stream of
consciousness allow Septimus to express himself, with parenthesis helping defining the
different lays of his wandering mind (l. 12, l.13-14, l.22, l.36). But Rezia’s intervention in
direct speech, « It is time » (l.39), obstructs this narrative complicity, as the narrator parts with
Septimus, and uses parenthesis to disrupt Septimus’s stream of consciousness with an
omniscient narration (l.48-l.51). Septimus’s estrangement from the narrative voice is
highlighted at the end of the text, when Septimus’s stream of consciousness is disrupted twice
by Rezia speaking in direct speech (l.54-l.57). The narrator no longer protects Septimus with
stream of consciousness, leaving Septimus on his own. This loneliness is stressed by his

10 Mrs Dalloway, p.103 l.34 – p.104 l.1

constant disconnection from his physical surrounding : « himself » (l.20, l.22, l.24, l.25) faces
the « We » of the world, « we welcome (…) ; we accept ; we create » (l.29), « I must tell the
whole world » (l.47), « he again intrepreted, with effort, with agony, to mankind » (l.8), or
« he would tell them » (l.55).11 Septimus setting against the rest of the world underlines his
struggle for his individuality, for his very existence in a crushing society that took part in a
deshumanizing, mechanized war.

Despite the sufferings of his « melted » flesh (l.5), of his « body (…) macerated until
only the nerve fibres were left » (l.5), that is reduced to « a veil upon a rock. » (l.7), Septimus
wants to exist in this new world, as his use of the scientific semantific field, « scientific »
(l.2), « scientifically » (l. 4 – l.30), « eons of evolution » (l.4), « discovery » (l.12), illustrates.
This is a surviving act, « for one must be scientific above all things »12. Actually, World War I
saw the emergence of numerous technique innovations13, and postwar era was a period of
great scientific emulation14. Those are words English modern society henceforth required. Yet,
the very society he sacrificed his life to rejects him, as the narration itself suggests. Actually,
the scientific terms are situated in short sentences, as opposed to the long phrases that allow
Septimus’s poetic mind to unboundedly wander through stream of consciousness.
Rezia, whom he married after the war, and who is part of « the millions [who] lamented »
(l.55) can be seen as the embodiment of this expelling society that prevents Septimus from
expressing himself. Actually, as Septimus is about « to tell them in a few moments, only a few
moments more, of this relief, of this joy, of this astonishing revelation » (l.55-56), she once
again interrrupts him with direct speech, « The time, Septimus, » (l.58). The censorship
towards Septimus also appears in his second and ultimate attempt to dialogue with the outside
world through direct speech, in a will to answer Rezia, « I will tell you the time » (l.60).
Actually, Big Ben speaks for him, as « the quarter struck » (l.61). The dialogue the
mechanized clock establishes with Rezia casts Septimus aside and epitomises his
estrangement from the civilized, modern world.

II THE TRAGIC CONFRONTATION OF TWO WORLDS

11 My emphases
12 Note the deontic use of the modal must and the impersonal pronoun one
13 See https://www.reseau-canope.fr/apocalypse-10destins/en/theme-based-files/technological-and-scientific-progress-
during-the-first-world-war.html
14 Einstein’s theory of relativity was published in 1916 for instance
 Septimus’s sung answer to Rezia mentioning time, « it is time » (l.40), with an
« immortal ode to Time » (l.42) echoes Woolf’s focus on time in the mind , as opposed to the
time on the clock. The brackets and the repetition « the word "time" » (l.40) concentrate on
the very concept of time. Septimus rejects time on the clock, for it is the time that « draws him
towards the shores of life » (l.24-25), towards a scary future « when dogs will become men »
(l.3). He refuses the merciless passing time that sent him to war, and aches for the stillness of
an eternal Time. He can’t go with the flow anymore, as he « leant over the edge of the boat
and fell down « (l.20-21). Yet the ship kept sailing away, as a metaphor for a British society
that abandoned its soldiers - eager as it was to forget its past - and left him like « a drowned
sailor on a rock » (l.20). The sailor Septimus identifies with underlines he was once part of the
society, which makes his country’s disregard towards him even more painful.

« Sortir du temps, c’est sortir totalement de l’ordre cosmique, pour entrer dans un
autre ordre, un autre univers. Le temps est indissolublement lié à l’espace.»15 Septimus’s
rejection of a world moving forward is suggested by his desire for verticality, as opposed to
the horizontality of the world, of the desert he wanders in alone (l.49), of the sea he cannot
dive in, remaining « high on his rock » (l.20). He’s a « drowned sailor » (l.20) yearning to
reach Heaven, yet who finds only agony in between (The noun agony being actually sitted
between the two other terms in the text). He asks to « rest still » (l.21-22), refers to himself as
a « sleeper [who] feels himself drawing to the shores of life » (l.24). The quiet, peaceful
horizontality he begs for is denied to him, as the use of the passive form emphasizes. Peace
can only be achieved « very high, on the back of the world » (l.8), among « smooth columns »
(l.12), where a « boy stood still », before he « climbed higher » (l.14-15). « Up here » (l.10-
11), the elegy being played gives him the illusion of death, the illusion of the « divinely
merciful, infinitely benignant » Heaven he craves for. His earthly body position, as « he lay
back in his chair » (l.7), « he lay resting » (l.7), « he lay very high » (l .8) magnifies the
delusory death he experiences in the depths of his mind. Furthermore, the images of antique
literature his mind creates put the emphasis on his desire for an immutable Time. Verticality
allows him to flee the unbearable sun, source of a « heatwave (l.3), and to « withdraw up in
the snows » (l.17), that is, the eternal snows, as opposed to the rising and setting sun, symbol
of a passing time.

15 Chevalier J., Gheerbrant A., Dictionnaire des symboles, Robert Laffont / Jupiter, Paris, 1982, p.938
 Septimus’s desire of a relieving death is epitomised by the repetition of the word
« dead » when referring to Evans - « the dead were in Thessaly, Evans sang » (l.43) ; « now
the dead, now Evans himself » (l.44) ; « he could not look upon the dead » (l.45) ; « a man in
grey was actually walking towards them. It was Evans ! (…) the dead man in the grey suit
came nearer »(l.46). Death redeemed Evans for the crimes he committed on the battlefields, as
« no mud was on him ; no wounds ; he was not changed » (l.47). Septimus, who « [has] been
dead, yet [is] alive » (l.21-22) has to remain on earth and to atone for his sins through a
« macerated », « melted off » body, with « only the nerve fibres (…) left » (l.5). Verticality
uproots the former soldier he is from what’s left of his horizontality : a mutilated body
reduced to « a veil on the rock » (l.6).

In the excerpt under scrutiny, Woolf’s focus on « stitching past experience into present
consciousness »16 carries out nightmare. Actually, « The modernists found in the passage of
time and history not coherence but the "nightmare" Stephen Dedalus speaks of in Ulysses » 17
Septimus’s past experience of war colliding with the present time, as Rezia mentions it, « it is
time » (l.40) brings about gloom and terror. The disrupting of Septimus’s stream of
consciousness by Rezia’s direct speech, hence making the time in his mind meet the time on
the clock, raises a nightmare reality. Septimus is joined in his verticality, as « "time" (…)
poured its riches over him », and words « from his lips fell like shells» (l.40). The rising
stream of consciousness conveyed earlier in the text is no longer a refuge, and is now
appalling : the boy who stood still is a « giant mourner » (l.52), the smooth columns give way
to « a colossal figure » (l.49), to an « iron-black figure » (l.52). The light and lively « Regent
Park before him » (l.28) gives way to a barren and dreadful « desert » (l.49), with the phantom
of Evans « walking towards them », and « legions of men [who] prostrate behind him». His
mind and the delusory Heaven it led him to no longer spares him and now conveys « despair »
(l.50). His escape thus has to turn physical : «he [raises] his hand » (l.48), « [rises] from his
chair » (l.52). But horizontality is inescapable, as Rezia is « trying to make him sit down »
(l.54). Septimus has to live on the earthly human time, as the final strike of Big Ben’s steeple
cruelly reminds him :« the quarter struck – the quarter to twelve » (l.61).

Septimus’s verticality is upwards, as if to escape the suffocating dug trenches that

« drowned » him (l.20). Yet the very structure of the text suggests a reverse verticality and
works against him, drawing him downwards. The text goes from Heaven (l.1) and ends up on

16 Woolf, V. (1975) Orlando, Penguin, Harmondsworth [first published 1928]

17 Randall Stevenson, The modern novel, Introducing Literary Studies, edited by Richard Bradford, 1996, p444
the desertic earth (l.49). The lightness of the real-life Regent Park (l.28) -with the reassuring
verticality of its « flies rising and falling » (l.34), and of its « swallows swooping, swerving,
flinging » (l.33)- works as an ironic mirage, an illusory oasis in Septimus’s deserted life (the
word « seem » is used twice, and therefore questions what Septimus sees). This reverse
verticality conjures up a descent to an earthly Hell, where time is the ultimate ruler, as its
strike concludes the extract.18

Rezia « trying to make [Septimus] sit down » (l.49) embodies a society that does not
want Septimus to stand out, for he is a painful reminder of the past atrocities of war. Time and
society took Septimus’s verticality away and forced the soldier to surrender. He is now
doomed to wander the physical earth like a living dead, as the adverbs « very slowly, very
drowsily, smiling mysteriously » (l.60) suggest. Yet, « as he sat smiling at the dead man in the
grey suit » (l.61), Septimus befriends death, and implicitely chooses the dead over the living,
as an expression of his loath for humanity. Septimus is a tragic hero, as he is willing to live,
yet he has to die because of the sins he and society have committed during the war. He will
eventually answer the « whole world (…) clamouring : Kill yourself, kill youself for our
sakes. »19 with an ultimate return to verticality, throwing himself out of a window.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
WOOLF, V., Mrs Dalloway, Penguin Popular Classics, London, 1996.
PASQUIER M-C, Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf, Préface de Bernard Brugière, Gallimard, coll.
Folio classique, Paris, 1994
CHEVALIER J., GHEERBRANT A, Dictionnaire des symboles, Robert Laffont / Jupiter, Paris, 1982
RASMUSSEN, D., War, Alienation and the concept of Parresia in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway –
Virginia Woolf Miscellany ; N°89, 2016, p55-57
LYPKA, C., Modern machines : intersecting public and private spheres in Mrs Dalloway, Virginia
Woolf Miscellany. N° 88, 2015, p 16-18
MCNEILLE, A. (ed), Modern Fiction, The Essays of Virginia Woolf. Volume 4 : 1925 to 1928,
London, The Hogarth Press, 1984, pp 157-164
MAUCK, C.A., The Tragedy of Septimus Smith : Woolf’s recreation of Shakespeare, The CEA Critic,
Volume 78, Number 3, November 2016, pp 340-348

18 The immediate follow-up to this extract switches to Peter Walsh, a whole other character, thus stressing the implacable
strike of the clock.
19 Mrs Dalloway, p. 102 l.34, p.103, l.1