{"id":792,"date":"2021-04-06T22:41:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T02:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/?p=792"},"modified":"2021-08-14T14:38:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T18:38:52","slug":"shakespeares-shadow-in-mrs-dalloway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/shakespeares-shadow-in-mrs-dalloway\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare’s Shadow in Mrs Dalloway"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An
Images of Shakespeare and Woolf. (Courtesy of Vinimay Kaul).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shakespeare looms large over <\/span>Mrs Dalloway<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the passage I selected, Septimus finds a justification for his attitude about life in the work of Shakespeare, even when this is only fiction that he has concocted himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shakespeare also draws the curtain between husband and wife: Rezia\u2019s inability to read Shakespeare defines her as a stranger, at least in the eyes of Septimus. Ultimately, Septimus and Shakespeare become inseparable, veteran and soldier intertwined.\u00a0 Rezia even wonders if she will ever have a son like Septimus\u2014 in this case, Septimus is elevated to legend, just as Shakespeare had been. In fact, we are told that the war was in part fought in the name of Shakespeare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shakespeare\u2019s shadow also extends beyond this passage.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, Clarissa Dalloway clings to Shakespeare\u2019s words and draws her strongest motivation from them. And this begins early on. When we first encounter her, Mrs. Dalloway is haunted by memories of Peter Walsh, a scene reminiscent of <\/span>Antony and Cleopatra<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Take the partying words of Antony and Cleopatra in the play:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir, you and I must part, but that\u2019s not it.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Sir, you and I have loved, but there\u2019s not it:\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

That you know well.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The Complete Pelican Shakespeare, 1664, 86-89).<\/p>\n

A version of those words becomes almost a refrain on the first page of <\/span>Mrs. Dalloway<\/span><\/i>. \u201cWas that it?\u201d<\/span> Mrs. Dalloway asks herself again and again as she probes her memories, particularly those involving Peter Walsh. This comparison of the pair to perhaps the best-known lovers in literature means Clarissa and Peter were also once in love, but they were kept asunder by fate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mrs. Dalloway also rehashes another refrain from Shakespeare, which is even more potent than the first one:<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear no more the heat o\u2019 the sun<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Nor the furious winter\u2019s rages.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Oxford World’s Classics, Mrs Dalloway, 11).<\/p>\n

Whenever her anxiety mounts, Mrs. Dalloway turns to this phrase. \u201cFear no more,\u201d she whispers to herself. This, it must be noted, is in complete opposition to Septimus\u2019s interpretation of Shakespeare. Hers is one of hope; his of desperation. Yet both are referencing the same poet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The relationship between Clarissa Dalloway and Sally Seton is also compared to the one between Othello and Desdemona. When Othello reunites with Desdemona early in the play, he breaks into extreme exaltation, declaring \u201cif it were now to die \u2018twere now to be most happy\u2019, a line quoted in <\/span>Mrs. Dalloway <\/span><\/i>(44)<\/span>.<\/span> This suggests Clarissa was also in love with Sally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So Clarissa, like Shakespeare\u2019s Antony, has many relationships\u2014Sally, Peter, and tragically, Richard. And just like Antony, she ends up in the wrong marriage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That is why I would argue <\/span>Mrs. Dalloway<\/span><\/i> is deeply influenced by Shakespeare\u2019s tragedies. In fact, the novel can itself be considered a tragedy. This is achieved through the death of Septimus, which mimics Cleopatra’s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In essence, Mrs. Dalloway is a novel of failed marriages. On a smaller scale, the passage I selected illustrates this point. Rezia and Septimus are unable to understand one another. This is attributed to their temperaments: the husband is cultured; the wife is practical. From this, we can also glean the gender disparities in society. The man can afford to study Shakespeare, while the woman is expected to undertake monotonous trimming. The husband can engage in abstraction as the wife worries about having children. We can also draw a distinction between the foreigner and the veteran citizen. Rezia is unable to understand Septimus and Shakespeare both. But on a larger scale, the dualities keep multiplying and they all echo Shakespeare. This leads me to further speculate that Septimus is supposed to be an archetype for English culture, a force as great as Shakespeare\u2019s legend. Of course this legend was deeply scarred during the war. The mapping of Septimus\u2019s insanity is then an act of disassociation of the English culture, a commentary on what should be kept and what should be left behind. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare looms large over Mrs Dalloway. In the passage I selected, Septimus finds a justification for his attitude about life in the work of Shakespeare, even when this is only fiction that he has concocted himself.\u00a0 Shakespeare also draws the curtain between husband and wife: Rezia\u2019s inability to read Shakespeare defines her as a stranger, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Shakespeare’s Shadow in Mrs Dalloway”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1942,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[139,138,164],"class_list":["post-792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-virginia-woolf","tag-mrsdalloway","tag-virginiawoolf","tag-shakespeare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1942"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions\/796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}