Analysis of "What an extraordinary night" by Virginia Woolf

This writing is an extract from Mrs Dalloway's novel written by Virginia Woolf. This text is organized in seven sequences.

In the first sequence the novelist wants to underline the disapproval of Clarissa on Bradshaw's speech, this guests of her are talking about the self murderer of a young man (Septimus), and they are doing this during her party. The style is reminding the language of poetry with the use of repetitions and onomatopoeic words. The reader can easily  understand Clarissa's thoughts on death, she experiences it physically : with her body, her dress. Her body burns, she hears the noise on her brain and then she feels only blackness.

In the second sequence the reader can see the use of the interior monologue that helps him to understand better Clarissa's feelings and what she thinks. The interior monologue shows also what happens during the party. On Clarissa point of view death is a defiance, an open disobedience and an attempt to communicate.

In the third sequence Clarissa speaks about Mr Bradshaw, one of her guests, he is a doctor. She thinks that he is polite with women but capable of atrocities. Clarissa wonders what would have happened if Septimus had gone to Sir William Bradshaw, but she does not know he had really gone to the doctor.

The fourth sequence explains the struggle that characterizes Clarissa's life. It is between living with serenity to the end and her desire to escape. There is a parallel between the two life (Clarissa's and Septimus' life). Septimus decides to commit suicide because he did not find a sense for living.

In the fifth sequence there is the alliteration of the sound "d". The novelist analyzes the characteristics of modernists novel dealing the "problem" of life. Both Septimus and Clarissa have to face this problem. Clarissa perceives the two faces of her life.

In the sixth sequence Clarissa returns with the mind when she was at Bourton the memory of this place makes her happy. At the same time she goes to the window.

In the last sequence Clarissa continues to think about the man who had killed himself and she realizes that she does not pity him. Looking out from the window Clarissa notices an old lady who is going to bed: life was going on. At the end of the writing she decides to go back to the party, but she feels like the young man and she is somehow glad that he had killed himself. She has a new attitude towards death.

In this extract there are two quotation from Shakespeare's dramas, one from Othello and one from Cymbeline. By this two quotations the reader can evidence the author's opinion about the unstable condition of mankind and the inevitability of death. Death is a relief.

The language used is quite simple and it helps the reader to understand Clarissa's mood and the reason why she suffers. Virginia Woolf tries to analyze the myriad of impressions that an ordinary mind receives, and to do that she uses the interior monologue. In this way she explains better Clarissa's feelings.