AL-Neelain University

Faculty of Art
Department of English

A Feminist Criticism of Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia

Woolf

By: Maha Taj al-Deen Ibrahim

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation and interpretation of
literature. The modern literary world is heavily influenced by the
concept of literary theory. This is a philosophical discussion about the
goals and methods of literature. Literary criticism can help readers
understand the works of authors.

The main purpose of this assignment is to expand my acknowledgment

in literary criticism by practicing writing and criticizing this text.

The applied approach in this text is feminist lens, on the novel Mrs.
Dalloway.

Woolf describes a particular day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a

woman of Edwardian Era in England. Woolf examines the preparation
of a party, the celebration of the success and subsequent reflection in
Clarissa Dalloway’s diary. Woolf is demonstrating the women’s lifestyle
at that time was mostly ordinary and trivial due to the constrains of
their sex.

Clarissa Dalloway, a women in her 50s who enjoys organizing parties,

she was a good hostess, giving parties is her favorite hobby.

In the early morning she set up the last arrangement for her party in
the evening, she goes to buy flowers by herself whiles she was going to
the flower shop she remembers her old love Peter Walsh whom she
had rejected when she was younger.

This assignment will examine the ways in which women were perceived
and treated during the specified time period.

Clarissa Dalloway appreciate her personal freedom. Peter Walsh has

been her lover since childhood, and she feels more drawn to him more
than Richard Dalloway. Despite the fact that she has rejected Peter, she
married Richard, because she feels that, “in marriage little license, a
little independence there must be between people living together day
in day out of the same house; which Richard gave her”.

This was impossible with Peter. With Peter “ everything had to shared
and everything is gone into. And it was intolerable…” Despite Clarissa’s
assertive nature, she was not adverse to scarifying her love for
independence.

In English literature, we are fortunate to witness Clarissa’s character,

who despite being assertive, never surrendered to any man who had
not fought for her independence.

Even though Sally Stone had the most intense connection to her, it was
not acceptable in her time to have same sex attraction, therefore she
could not admit to what she felt because she will destroy her dignity
and cause shame, societal standards in her time forced her to hide her
feelings.

Instead of that she got married to Richard Dalloway because it was

what expected from her in her society.

She felt inadequate because she had not been able to find a life that
matched her desires and had been forced to live this one. She told
herself that she would be better if she have the opportunity to choose
her own life.

She tried to keep her true feelings hidden because it was a hard thing
to live with feeling comfortable with what she is doing and hiding her
feelings, as a woman did not had a choice but to submit and not to be a
rebel against the society standard.
Woolf also depicts the wife’s duties and responsibilities in the character
of Lucrezia Warren Smith, wife of Septimus Smith who suffers from
mental illness. Although she loves her husband very much, she feel
responsibility for taking care of him, The role of constant caregiver is
forced on Lucrezia, and she sees her husband as less of a man.

Although Clarissa is usually portrayed as a repressed woman, some

signs in the novel point to the roles of power. For example Lady Bruton
was a lady in a powerful position. She could lead and inspire people,
and everyone obeyed her. She was also able to do things that were out
of the ordinary for normal woman. As you can imagine, it was very
unusual to be led by a woman, because women are generally not
expected to lead. It would only have happened if a lady was in a
powerful position.

The writer describes Miss kilman as a monstrous character in every

aspect of her life. She is descripted as being horribly ugly, she have no
clothes suit her body, and have hideous hair. She is a monster woman
because she is a victim of a patriarchal society’s look at the females as
monsters, her consolation is not the religion that would balance and
help control the desire of flesh, but food.

She only wants to feed her hunger physical and mentally as well. She
tries to keep Elisabeth for herself to achieve a birth in another way, she
wanted to make Elisabeth hers and never let her go.

She does not give she only takes. This behavior is more characteristic of
a man than a woman. She has completely turned inside out somewhere
in her life, rather than being smooth and friendly she is being wild,
uncivilized and aggressive.