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MLenarduzzi - 5 A - Modernist Fiction: V. Woolf- textual analysis
by - (2012-01-12)
Up to 5 A - Modernist Fiction: V. Woolf and J. Joyce
"What an Extraordinary Night!" is an extract from the modernists novel "Mrs Dalloway" written by Virginia Woolf. It is structured into eight paragraphs each one dealing with a precise thought in Clarissa's mind.
The entire novel is written using the modernists technique of the stream of consciousness which makes the reader understand better the mentality of the character. Virginia WOolf used this tool because she wanted to emphasize the significance of private thoughts rather than concrete events in a person's life.
First of all the reader must know that the main character is Clarissa and she set up a party inwhich are coming many old friends. Clarissa enjoys organizing parties in order to share happy moments with the people she loves.
In the first paragraph Clarissa gets to know about Septimus's suicide.
She is annoyed with who is talking about death (Mrs.Bradshaws) during her party.
As a consequence she imagines the victim throwing himself from a window.
She feels Septimus's death phisically because of her deep and detailed thoughts.
Therefore the reader can experience death as well.
In the second paragraph Clarissa thinks both that she should go back to the party and about her teenage years at Burton.
The paragraph ends with a remarks on death. She comes to the conclusion that death can be compared to an embrance.
In the third paragraph she thinks about one of the happiest moment of her life: it was the perfect instant to die. As a consequence she thinks that Septimus must be died after having felt the happiest moment of his life. As a result she reflects on the Shakesperean line "If it were now to die, 'twere now to be the most happy".
In the following paragraph Clarissa imagines the meeting between Mr Bradshaw with Septimus.
In particular she points out her opinion of Mr Bradshaw: a great doctor but capable of outrage people.
As a consequence she comes to the conclusion that the doctor might have influence Septimus's last decision.
In the fifth paragraph Clarissa struggles with the hardness of life.
She feels terror and that is why she understands Septimus's attitude, however she feels lucky at the same time because she can be supported by her husband.
In the following paragraph Clarissa feels like she is sinking in profound darkness because of what happened to the man. She believes that Septimus's death is a punishment to her life.
In the seventh paragraph she thinks of her life at Burton. She was happy there because of her activities and her day-to-day life. She compares her happiness at Burton to the sun rose as the day sank.
Therefore she decides to look up the sky and so the narrator explains that she walks to the window.
Last but not least she reflects again on the essence of death after looking up the sky which was not as she imagined.
She comes to the conclusion that the essence of death cannot be judged by thoughts or sences because her mind hasn't already experience it. This can be compared to what happened with the sky: her mind made up a different idea of it.
As a consequence Clarissa doesn't feel sorry for Septimus any longer because she thinks death is inevitable.
To explain all this she thinks of a Shakespeare's line:"Fear no more the heat of the sun".
At the end Clarissa goes back to her party and exclaim:" What an extraordinary night!"