Description
- Must be related to "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Must be a feminist critique of the text Mrs. Dalloway, used with sophistication and depth of understanding
- MLA format
- 10-15 pages
- Thesis is clear, specific, original, and thought-provoking
- Paper includes ample textual evidence from the primary source for all points made, and evidence is strikingly effective
- Paper includes a wide variety of secondary support
- MLA documentation is virtually flawless
- Paper is virtually error-free
Rubric for the paper
1. Intro
- background
- orient reader
- thesis
2. Biographically
- Virginia Woolf’s own life
- Upbringing >> view of men and patriarchy
3. Stylistically
- Stream of consciousness writing
- free of patriarchal reaction
- true expression
- "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” >> Independent phrase, clause, paragraph, show’s character’s desire for independence + action itself
4. Connection to English society
- discussion of standard gender roles during time period/setting
- Clarissa vs. Septimus >> woman vs. men >> effects
5. Connection to Yellow Wall Paper
- stream of consciousness writing
- negative effects of women having no power
6. Conclusion
Explanation & Answer
Thank you very much for the assignment. I will deliver quality work pal.
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Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway: A Feminist Critique
Mrs. Dalloway, written by English author Virginia Woolf in 1925, follows a single day in
a woman’s life from morning to night. The plot revolves around Clarissa Dalloway, an upperclass housewife in London, as she prepares for a dinner party with guests including the English
Prime Minister. The party preparations have Clarissa reflecting greatly on her past, while also
looking towards her future, particularly in regards to her daughter. Sir William Bradshaw, a
renowned London psychiatrist, arrives late to Clarissa’s party because of the death of a World
War I veteran suffering from shell shock, Septimus Warren Smith. Clarissa is torn between pity
for a long dead man, and an inner rage.
Clarissa Dalloway’s day-to-day life as an upper-class housewife in London, along with
interactions with World War I veteran, Septimus, quickly display the concept of societal
oppression. Virginia Woolf displays the pervasiveness of societal gender roles through both
stylistic and biographical elements in Mrs. Dalloway, particularly through the characterization of
Septimus and Clarissa.
Jane Marcus’ New Feminist Essays on Virginia Woolf gives biographical context to the
viewpoints of Virginia Woolf that revolutionized modern literature and placed her, “…squarely
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in the middle of the organizational network of social feminism in Britain” (121). In Virginia
Woolf’s own life, she was subjected to a depressive and male-dominated atmosphere. Her father
displayed a patriarchal rule over his wife and daughters that greatly affected the way Woolf
viewed the role of men in society. Woolf was also affected by the manipulation and sexual
expression of power displayed by her step-brothers. Marcus suggests Woolf’s personal
experience with sexual assault could have resulted in Post traumatic stress disorder, which later
led to her characterization of Septimus, who also suffered from the disease in her work, Mrs.
Dalloway (184). Both Virginia Woolf and the Mrs. Dalloway character Septimus greatly
struggled with Post traumatic stress disorder that ultimately led to suicide by both Woolf and
Septimus.
Due to the power struggle in the home, Woolf and her sister Vanessa grew closer in an
attempt to fight patriarchal machinery, which manifested itself by Woolf often incorporating the
importance of female companionship in her literary works, as she believed it attributed to new
found purpose. Woolf worked for and was influenced by several feminist groups such as the
Suffrage Movement, World Women Organization, National Union of Women's Suffrage
Societies, and Women Cooperative Guild, highlighting her personal connection to the feminist
movement, often evident in her literary works including Mrs. Dalloway.
Woolf played a significant role in addressing feminism. In her view, she depicted the
society to have considered the female gender as an inferior group, which was expected by the
society to be under the patriarchal dominance. Woolf deemed the patriarchal dominance to be
inappropriate since it oppressed the position of the woman in that era, thus, she encouraged
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women to join her ...