AnAnalysisoftheFeminismAwarenessinMrs.Dalloway

劉娜

【Abstract】As a pioneer feminist in the 20th century， Virginia Woolf created the novel Mrs. Dalloway when the western feminism and the idea of democracy and equality between male and female appeared. In this paper， the author employees feminism to analyze the female Mrs. Dalloways yearning for freedom and independence.

【Key words】Mrs. Dalloway Freedom； Independence

The novel focuses on the party which Clarissa is going to hold. Females are always passive， conservative， neglected and even marginalized in the then society. As a lady from the upper class， Clarissa is going to conduct a party as a host to create a place for women to show their talents and enjoy freedom. Holding the party as one who manages all procedures is a way she turns against the patriarchy ideology. In the novel， we can see that after more than thirty years， Clarissas loved one Peter returns from India. When Clarissa meets Peter， she is still excited， and even feels disappointed for not marrying him. When she holds his hand and pats his knee， sitting back extraordinarily at her ease， all feelings comes to her-“if I had married him， this gaiety would have been mine all day！”. Clarissa loved Peter when she was young because Peter was such a charming and smart man.However， he was a person who always did what he likes and cared nothing about how people evaluating him. Just like the author wrote：“He was an adventurer， reckless， swift， daring， indeed a romantic buccaneer， careless of all these damned proprieties， yellow dressing-gowns， pipes...” Although Clarissa loves him， she finally married Mr. Dalloway.

It seems that Clarissa refuses him because of his unconventional behaviors. As a matter of fact， it is because that Peter never cares about the traditional customs or rules. From this point， we can see that Clarissa is influenced a lot by the conventional patriarchy thought that every girl should marry a thoughtful man so that they can rely on them in their lives. Clarissa hesitated between Peter and Richard， but finally she compromised to the patriarchy society. Which her unsuccessful attempt to fight against the patriarchy ideology.

References：

[1]Virginia Woolf.Mrs.Dalloway.Penguin Books，2012.

[2]陳靜.《達羅衛夫人》中的對話和思維表現形式[J].四川外語學院學報，2002.endprint