Learning Paths » 5B Interacting
MBurino- The Modern Age -Analysis of the extract From Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway
by - (2012-01-10)
Up to 5 B - The Modern Age
The extract from Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway is set at the end of the book, during Clarissa's party when she discovers the death of Septimus Warren, who committed suicide. From now on the entire extract deals with her reactions and reflections caused by the news. The extract is composed of six sequences where Mrs Dalloway explores the reasons why Septimus warred ceased living and why she is going on.
In the first sequence the news of Septimus's death initially makes her feel annoyed, as it is said during her party, but suddenly makes her thought about how his suicide may had looked like. She imagines how the earth opened while he was falling and even the fad in the brain.
In the second sequence the reader feels Clarissa's thoughts but also what is going on at the party. Here there's an inner perception but also an external one. Her idea of living is linked to a vision of it as something corrupt and fake, that Septimus Warren couldn't bear and make him commit suicide in order to communicate . In the third sequence Clarissa analyses the figure of the psychiatrist Sir William Bradshaw, who knew and helped Septimus. William Bradshaw is seen as someone dangerous and able to make someone's life intolerable by what he does. In the following sequence Clarissa deals with the fear that life brings, of not been able to manage it. Live is perceived as something difficult as darkness. Furthermore there's a contrast between rhe sense of her inner life and the external one. In the fifth sequence Clarissa faces a moment of being, as she realizes what makes possible for her living: everyday life . In the final sequence Clarissa seems to be interested in death and in the peace that it might bring, but she realizes that she has to go back to normal live and go on living.
The language used by the writer is poetic and uses many similes to make the reader interested. Also, it is used an interior monologue to make the reader feel the same sensations of Clarissa. The Extract is also full of quotes from various works by William Shakespeare. Finally, there's a third person free omniscient narrator.
In the first sequence the news of Septimus's death initially makes her feel annoyed, as it is said during her party, but suddenly makes her thought about how his suicide may had looked like. She imagines how the earth opened while he was falling and even the fad in the brain.
In the second sequence the reader feels Clarissa's thoughts but also what is going on at the party. Here there's an inner perception but also an external one. Her idea of living is linked to a vision of it as something corrupt and fake, that Septimus Warren couldn't bear and make him commit suicide in order to communicate . In the third sequence Clarissa analyses the figure of the psychiatrist Sir William Bradshaw, who knew and helped Septimus. William Bradshaw is seen as someone dangerous and able to make someone's life intolerable by what he does. In the following sequence Clarissa deals with the fear that life brings, of not been able to manage it. Live is perceived as something difficult as darkness. Furthermore there's a contrast between rhe sense of her inner life and the external one. In the fifth sequence Clarissa faces a moment of being, as she realizes what makes possible for her living: everyday life . In the final sequence Clarissa seems to be interested in death and in the peace that it might bring, but she realizes that she has to go back to normal live and go on living.
The language used by the writer is poetic and uses many similes to make the reader interested. Also, it is used an interior monologue to make the reader feel the same sensations of Clarissa. The Extract is also full of quotes from various works by William Shakespeare. Finally, there's a third person free omniscient narrator.