Feminism In Mrs Dalloway

Virginia Woolf is one of the most prominent writers in English literature. During her lifetime, she wrote nine novels, two non-fiction books, a biography and many critical essays and short stories. Among these, Mrs Dalloway is very outstanding and is traditionally regarded as a stream-of-consciousness novel.Woolf is also considered as a great feminist, and she contributes a lot to feminism. Her life style and works embody her feministic attitudes. She did more than a woman was supposed to do at that time, and her two non-fiction books A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas form the core of her feminist writings. On the one hand, Woolf explicates feminist ideas in her works and pushes forward the development of feminist criticism. On the other hand, feminist critics are influenced by Woolf's theories: they reexamine her ideas and generate new thoughts about feminism.Since Woolf is a feminist, and Mrs Dalloway is a novel concerning a woman, there should exist some feministic traits in it. As the heroine, Clarissa Dalloway exemplifies feminism in many aspects, for example: she wants equality with her husband in the matter of social parties, seeks for her own identity, keeps her own space in marriage, etc. In the novel, two pairs of women-Clarissa and Sally Seton, also Elizabeth and Miss Kilman -show latent lesbianism. And some other female characters, namely, Lady Bruton, the old woman who lives in the room opposite toClarissa's home, Lady Bexborough and Septimus's wife Lucrezia also have some feministic traits. Besides, Woolf's own experiences are also reflected in the novel.This thesis mainly discusses feminism in Mrs Dalloway, and is divided into four chapters. Chapter I is an introduction to Virginia Woolf and Mrs Dalloway. Chapter II analyzes the relationship between feminism and Virginia Woolf. Chapter III illustrates feminism in Mrs Dalloway. Chapter IV is the conclusion.