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California State University, Northridge the VIRGINIA WOOLF HEROINE a Thesis Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirement California State University, Northridge THE VIRGINIA WOOLF HEROINE 1\ A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English by Linda -Matthess Received; Approved: May, 1975 r TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT iii I. INTRODUCTION 1 ! II. THE NOVELS • 6 The Voyage Out 6 The Waves 10 Mrs. Dalloway 14 To The Lighthouse 18 Orlando 22 III. CONCLUSION 28 FOOTNOTES 31 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 33 ii ABSTRACT THE VIRGINIA WOOLF HEROINE by Linda Matthess English Honors Thesis May, 1975 The Virginia Woolf heroine serves as a literary bridge between past and present. She is not the Victorian woman who is bound in duty to God, the husband to whom she submits, and the society which often controls even her thoughts. Yet she is not the woman of today: Virginia .Woolf's heroines are frequently unable to define them­ selves in action. Rather, the author creates a woman who,. although a person of new dignity and self-awareness, is still more than partially bound by tradition. She is sure enough of herself to question the stereotyped roles which are prescribed for her, but because of her environment, she is often not in a position to choose acceptable al­ ternatives. These women sometimes cannot resolve their iii con~licts in relation to lifestyle; yet, each woman possesses an accurate perception of both her environment and her response to this environment. A study of several of Virginia Woolf's novels presents different types of women, and also the different degrees of success or fail- ure which each heroine achieves in her quest for self- fulfillment. This study will also show that there.are patterns and contrasts not only in the way each heroine copes with reality, but also in the heroines' attitudes toward learning, sexuality, and even value standaFds. What each heroine shares with the others is a feminine conviction that she is a person who must find satisfac- tion in living by beginning within the self and reaching '"· outward, rather than the reverse. This thesis will present these ideas in three parts; first, a statement of theme and discussion of characteristics of the Virginia Woolf heroine; second, a study of how these ideas are contained in five novels: The Voyage Out, I-irs. Dalloway, The Waves, To The Light- house, and Orlando; third,. a conclusion drawn from the study. ·iv I. INTRODUCTION Virginia Woolf was an author who used varied writing styles with unusual proficiency. Yet during her lifetime, her appeal was limited to a small, intellectual audience. This audience has widened during the last five ' years: her novels have been reissued in paperback and are selling faster than ever before. The recent rise of the women 1.s movement is at least partially responsible for Virginia Woolf's current vogue. She was concerned with the position of women in society, and reflected this concern through the struggles of the heroines in her novels. From the publication of her first novel, The Voyage Out (1915), to the publica­ tion of her last, Between the Acts (1941), Virginia Woolf created women who are not satisfied with the narrow value structure of their contemporaries. These heroines are different from preceding women in literature; as such, the Virginia Woolf heroine is representative of a new type of woman, one emerging from a period during which Victorian attitudes were still strong, when it was common for women to accept a life defined by the conventions of society. But although not a conformist to Victorian ideals, the Virginia Woolf heroine is not the .woman of today. 1 2 Today's woman can choose any of several lifestyles without losing social acceptance. If she becomes a wife ; and mother, she remains within the mainstream of society. She can also remain single; not only have career oppor- tunities for women steadily ~ncreased, but also social attitudes toward the never-married woman·have changed : from disapproval to respect. Even an unconventional lifestyle is less hostilely regarded today than it was forty years ago. There are now subcultures in society that do not hold traditional mores, but still remain on the fringes of respectability. The freedom that women have achieved in recent years is unknown to the Virginia Woolf heroine. In her environment, Victorian influences remain intact to the degree that rejection of a .traditional lifestyle leads to an. existence of probable isolation. The vast majority of her contemporaries believe that feminine fulfillment is found within a domestic role. Therefore, in the eyes of this majority, a woman who chooses a type of life other t}1an the traditional is rejecting the only worthwhile way to live. She is subsequently either pitied for her stu­ pidity or scorned as a woman without natural feelings. The Virginia Woolf heroine is not a Victorian woman any more than she is a woman of today. These hero- ines differ from Victorian women in basic attitudes: they do not unthinkingly accept a submissive role; they do not 3 believe in God; they accept their own perceptions as more valid than social conventions. In contrast to the unaware conformity of Victorian heroines, the Virginia Woolf woman possesses a strength of personal opinion. Therefore, as a woman who values her own ideas but who cannot always act upon her insights, the Virginia Woolf heroine serves as a literary bridge between the tradi­ tional conformity of the past and the freedom of the present. In addition to strong mental attitudes, the Virginia Woolf heroines also share personal traits. The most predominant of these traits is feminine intuition. The Virginia Woolf heroine is extremely sensitive to those around her: Mrs. Ramsay, the leading character in To The Lighthouse, is almost too intuitive to be credi- . ble. While few of Woolf's heroines are as telephathic as Mrs. Ramsay, they are all women whose sensitivit±es prove helpful when they try to understand people and situations. The contrasting insensitivity of the male characters such as Mr. Ramsay and Richard Dalloway emphasizes the idea that this awareness is a uniquely feminine trait. The Virginia Woolf heroine is also a person who is responsive to the strong sense of tradition within her social structure. She is often uncomfortable with this tradition, and in some cases, such as that of Lady Orlando, rejects moral or social customs while sne 4 searches for self~fulfillment. But the occasions of such rejection are rare: Rachel Vinrace, Clarissa Dalloway, and Mrs. Ramsay, all women who bow to codes of conduct, are more typical examples of the Virginia Woolf heroine. These women struggle with the limits of a woman's prerogatives, but do so within the bounds of traditionally accepted behavior. The recurrence of attitudes and traits does not indicate that Virginia Woolf heroines are copies of each other. Each woman responds to life from.within a differ­ ent personality. These heroines also demonstrate differ­ ent types of temperament and different degrees of emo­ tional expression: the happiness that Lady Orlando achieves contrasts sharply with either the suicidal with­ drawal of Rachel Vinrace or the emotional repression of Clarissa Dalloway. The attitudes of the Virginia Woolf heroine toward sex, motherhood, and literature also range between extremes: Clarissa Dalloway is a frigid woman who reads only memoirs; Lady Orlando is a sensual person who re­ veres both intellectual growth and artistic expression. These two women are both mothers: but Clarissa Dalloway is a mother because the Victorian tradition which she tries to follow considers motherhood a natural role for women, while Lady Orlando is a mother only because she consciously wants to be one. 5 As a woman who achieves mental autonomy before a corresponding evolution in society, the Virginia Woolf heroine occupies an unfortunate position. The conflicts between herself and her environment breed frustration. The ability of the heroine to deal with this frustration varies within each woman. A study of five Virginia Woolf novels will show the different levels of resolu­ tion and fulfillment that some of her heroines attain. I I . THE NOVELS The Voyage Out 1 Rachel Vinrace, the central character in The Voyage Out, is a prime example of a woman who regards her own ideas more highly than the social standards she was taught as a child, But since she has been raised to.re­ spect the Victorian tradition which her intellect rejects, she becomes a young woman torn with conflict. Her re- sponse to this conflict is a subconscious rejection of her environment through an undefined illness which finally claims her life. ~achel's early life is partially responsible for her inability to accept her environment. As a motherless child, she has been denied the example of a female model. The elderly, prim aunts who submissively enforce the pre­ cise dictates of Rachel's often-absent father are no sub­ stitute for a mother who could bring a growing girl to a gradual understanding of both the positive and negative aspects of a woman's traditional role. Lacking such guidance, Rachel emerges from a sheltered, rural environ­ ment with ideas of life based largely upon the abstrac­ tions of her imagination, and is therefore unprepared to deal with a rigid social structure. Rachel's evaluation of traditional society evolves as she acquires self-confidence. When she first 6 7 begins to socialize, she is a shy, awkward girl who does not know how to behave in the company of her peers: she is dazzled by any degree of sophistication; she is so unschooled in social rites that she often bores others; she does not even have enough fundamental knowledge of male-female relationships to deal with a minor flirtation.
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