The Glimmer Of Hope And The Moment Of Reality

Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse are two novels written in the stream-of-consciousness technique by Virginia Woolf. This thesis analyzes the two female protagonists' similarities and differences in terms of personality and psychology from the relationship between Mrs. Dalloway and other characters, and that between Mrs. Ramsay and other characters. By using psychoanalysis and feminism as the theoretical bases, this thesis mainly focuses on characters' psychological activities. It studies comparatively Virginia Woolf's depiction of Mrs. Dalloway and Mrs. Ramsay, who live in the twentieth century affected by Victorian values. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the author's and the protagonists' paradoxical psychology—inner hope versus reality, by comparing Mrs. Dalloway with Mrs. Ramsay. This thesis also explores the paradoxical psychology of people who are under too much pressure and live in the competitive and modern society, reflecting the spiritual worlds and the psychological states of modern human beings.