California State University, Northridge the VIRGINIA WOOLF HEROINE a Thesis Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirement

California State University, Northridge

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

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 failure 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 satisfaction 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 heroines 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 response 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.

i As a result of this innocence, Rachel's initiation into society is painful. But these experiences are also use- ful to her, as they make her aware of her own ignorance.

This awareness prompts her to seek guidance from an older friend: Rachel soon learnes how to act, and as she loses her own self-consciousness, she begins to focus her attention·outward, forming opinions of others.

When Rachel becomes an accepted member of a vacationing social group, she has gained enough security wi·thin herself to view her environment objectively. Her intuitions also help her to understand her new acquaint- ances. But as she comes to know her companions, she develops a strong conviction that they are superficial, stereotyped 'Characters who live meaningless lives.

Rachel feels that her world has been "finally displayed in its true proportions.. She disliked the look of it 2 immensely. '' Rachel's dissatisfaction with her milieu grows more specific as her opinion crystallize. When she falls in love, she moves naturally toward the traditional role 8

of wife and mother. But when she forms an attitude toward motherhood, it is an attitude which promises little emotional fulfillment for her. As she studies the mothers that she meets, she notes that maternity drains them. One woman is especially remembered:

This long life and all these children had left her very smooth; they seemed to have rubbed away the marks of individuality and to have left only what was old and maternal.3

Rachel's disillustionment eventually encompasses her anticipated marital relationship with Terence Hewett.

Rachel loves Terence and considers this love natural.

But she does not consider natural the role which society deems to be a proper conclusion of this love. She believes that fundamental changes in the structure of mar~ riage are necessary before an exchange of love and friend- ship can occur between the sexes, so that

woman would be, indeed what she now made a pretense of being -- the friend ang companion not the enemy and parasite of man.

Since Rachel cannot effect these changes, she withdraws from reality through a vague and ultimately terminal illness.

Rachel's journey has matured her and created a sense of personal independence, a development which pre- vents her from accepting Victorian standards. She cannot regain the complacent attitudes which she held before she travelled: a process of mentat and emotional growth has 9 :l ! I' ''I i I changed her from a silly young woman to a thoughtful l' I individual who approaches life with the natural expecta- i' I ! tion of continued growth within herself. ·unfortunately, I ! within herworld, there is no place for such an individ- ' ual. She cannot reject her upbringing, for she would I L then become a part of another, less respectable world, r 'f one which she herself abhors; but if she adopts a traditional role, as this role is structured within her society, she must substitute the routine activities which breed mental and emotional stagnation for the individuality of expression which has become an intrinsic part of herself. Since Rachel cannot hope to find fulfillment within her environment, her response to this environment is a credible reaction to the reality she faces: she withdraws from a repugnant reality into death. 10

The Waves5

There are three heroines in The Waves: Susan,

Jinny, and Rhoda. These women are atypical Virginia

Woolf heroines in that two of the heroines, Jinny and

Rhoda, do not live lives which conform to tradition. _! Butthey remain transitional figures in literature as women who develop attitudes mor.e liberal than the mores

of the surrounding community. Consequently, although

none of these women withdraws from life as Rachel Vinrace

does, each remains isolated from an oppressive society.

The three heroines in The Waves are not only different from Rachel Vinrace, but also from each other.

Each woman exhibits an exaggerated, one-dimensional per

sonality: Susan is the Earth Mother, living for the·pro cess of the life cycle in close relation to nature; Jinny

is the sensual side of the self, evaluating all experience

in terms of physical sensation; Rhoda is.the pessimist--

insecure yet realistic about the inherent limitations within both herself and her environment.

In this novel, Susan is the only heroine who lives a domestic life. She marries a farmer and has sev eral children. She believes that "reality is form and

survival," and is therefore scornful toward anything unrelated to home, family, or nature. 6 In living a basic

life, Susan does not insult tra~ition. But she does remove herself from a society which is socially structured 11

to shun those who ignore the superficial codes. Although

Susan derives a measure of satisfaction from her family and is therfore able to do without close interrelation- ships with her peers, her loneliness shows even in her commitment to process: she often reaffirms her need to live as she does, but expresses no love for her husband or children as individuals. Although she accepts the position she has chosen for herself, there is not enough elasticity within her environment to provide her with companionship to share her interests.

Unlike Susan, Jinny rejects a domestic life and chooses to remain a single, unattached woman who considers casual sexual encounters as the most effective way for her to relate to other people. Although her five childhood friends still associate with her occasionally, she is otherwise isolated from the mainstream of a society which considers her behavior to be sinful. This isolation is lightened during Jinny's youth by the pleasure she derives from her relationships with men:

He moves toward me, This is the most exciting moment I have ever known. I flutter. I ripple. I stream like a plant in a river, flowing this way, floating that way, but rooted, so that he may come to me •••• I do not care for anybody, save this man whose name I do not know.?

However, since her personal satisfaction is dependent upon her attractiveness to men, Jinny's pleasures diminish as she ages. As she loses her beauty, her lovers become 12

fewer and her sense of isolation subsequently increases. Rhoda, the third heroine in The Waves, finds even less satisfaction within her environment than do either Susan or Jinny. As a small child, Rhoda realizes that she is not gifted with the qualities which would mark her potentially successful in the traditional roles of women: she is not pretty, charming, domestic, or maternal. This realization affects both her personal goals and her attitudes toward others:

I am to be broken. I am to be derided all my life. I am to be cast up and down among these men and women, with their twitching faces, with their lying tongues, like a cork on a rough sea.8

With these meager expectations, Rhoda achieves little.

Like both Susan and Jinny, Rhoda is not a part of ''soci ety,.: she does not belong to any group, she forms no deep friendships, and her only relationship with a man is an unsatisfying affair with someone who is married. As

Rhoda grows older, she becomes resigned. to her isolation and she also realizes that she is a person of strength and individuality. But she never reaches a state of compatability with the world she lives in.

These three women would have fared better in a time reriod other than the transitional era of Virginia

Woolf. If they had lived as Victorian women, their roles would have been determined to a degree which would have 13

at least left no doubt as to the consequences of their

behavior: either they would have accepted traditional

roles as natural or they would not question the loneli-

ness which was a consequence of non-conformity. If these

three womeri lived today, they would have greater opportun-

ity to live as they wished and still fit into society:

I Susan could find large groups of people who share her

devotion to basic living, and also have this devotion ac-

cepted even by those who do not share her enthusiasms;

Jinny could become part of an increasingly large segment

of today's young women whose sexual and vocational pref-

erences do not preclude mixing with more staid people;

Rhoda could disregard her lack of classical beauty and

intelligence and instead emphasize her individuality,

perhaps finding a place for her critical aggression

. within groups who work to reform problems within contem-

porary society. 14

. 9 Mrs. Dalloway

Clarissa Dalloway is another type of Virginia

Woolf heroine: she is a woman who wants to belong to the

segment of society which is generally considered the

elite. To accomplish this desire, she adopts the con-

servative, traditional lifestyle which the elite approves.

She finds neither happiness nor fulfillment in her life;

she must finally admit that there is a "monster" within herself, an intense dissatisfaction which she tries to deny through a preoccupation with the trivia of the social

structure she has supported •.

The contrast between the personal potential which

Clarissa possesses as a young woman and her failure to develop this potential is evident in Mrs. Dalloway.

Clarissa has spent her adult life trying to suppress her individuality; in doing so, she has stunted the inner development of the vital young woman remembered by her rejected suitor, Peter Walsh:

••• he saw her most often at Bourton, in the late surnrner ••• there she would stand, hands clapped to her hair, her cloak blowing out, pointing, crying to them -- she saw the Severn beneath •••• They walked always; the others drove •••. and all the time they argued, discussed poetry, discussed people, discussed politics (she was a Radical then); never noticing a thing except when she stopped, cried out at a view or a tree, and made him look with her •• ,trying not to laugh, but always breaking down and laughing, laughing laughing at nothing.lO 15

The Clarissa who discusses poetry and politics

no longer exists twenty years later. She has become a

woman who reads only memoirs and whose unusually intuitive

personality directs its energies most often toward attain-

ing a higher social position. Clarissa has ~lso repressed

her sexuality: she is a frigid woman who realizes that

she has missed the experiences which should be natural to

her:

She could not dispel a virginity preserved through childbirth which clung to her like a sheet ... she had failed him. And then at Con stantinople, and again and again. She could see what she lacked. It was not beauty; it was not mind. It was something central which permeated; something warm which broke up surfaces and rippled the cold of man and woman, or of women together.ll ''·- Clarissa's inability to define herself sexually

also includes a denial of the lesbian side of herself.

As.a young woman, she admires her close friend, Sally

Seton, for her spontaneity and her ability to make the most of each moment. This admiration is accompanied by

a physical attraction which culminates in a single kiss.

Clarissa denies the erotic nature of this moment and also other moments throughout the years in which she has been

attracted to other women. She tries to etherealize her

feelings and categorize them as moments of innocent,

spiritual reverence:

The strange thing, on looking back, was the purity, the integrity, of her feeling for Sally. It was not like one's feeling for a man. It was 16

completely disinterested, and besides, it had a quality which could only exist between women, between women just grown up.l2

Clarissa's repressed emotions also disturb her

family. A basic belief in the Victorian tradition is

that the woman is the member of the family who is to

foster family unity. Since Clarissa tries to live within

this tradition, she expects to be part of a happy family.

But as a woman who has abandoned the process of individ-

uation, Clarissa has substituted shallowness for personal growth. Not only have all her friendships with other women been superficial, the relationship she shares with her husband is merely a structured exchange of kindness and duty which does not fill the deeper needs of either

spouse,

Clarissa's emotional repression also endangers her relationship with her only child, her daughter

Elizabeth. Clarissa'~ genuine love for her daughter has never overcome her overly reticent behavior. Elizabeth's response to the apparent coldness of her mother is a search for emotional intensity. When the younger woman finds this intensity in the declarations of a hostile religious fanatici Clarissa is faced with further evidence of the failure of the lifestyle she has chosen. She acknowledges this failure through the grudging respect which she feels for the woman who, although threatening 17

Clarissa's relationship with her daughter, follows her beliefs with devoted intensity.

Clarissa Dalloway has tried hard to follow

Victorian tradition: she has run a technically proper home, she has cultivated the right people, and she has behaved at all times with ladylike restraint. If she had been created earlier; her chances for happiness would have been greater. But as a Virginia Woolf heroine, her conformity to tradition has denied the individuality which is a strong part of her personality. She finds it harder and harder to suppress the growing frustration within her. As a woman on the verge of modernity, she is aware of her failure and can never fully escape this awareness.

--~--.~--! 18

T o T h e L1g. h t h ouse 13

In To The Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay, like Clarissa

Dalloway, assumes a conventional, domestic role. But

unlike Clarissa, Mrs. Ramsay is neither .frustrated nor

repressed; instead, she is content with her role in soci-

.· ety. She spends her days attending to the needs of her

husband and eight children, with any remaining energy

directed toward helping friends and neighbors. Mrs.

Ramsay has not time for self-oriented pursuits such as

reading, for although she respects the knowledge found in 14 books, she has "never had the time to read them."

Although Mrs. Ramsay's way of life is

conventional, she is more than the Victorian heroine who serves as a submissive wife and proper mother. Mrs.

Ramsay is both unusually perceptive and strong enough to

act upon many of her'insights. She is the center of spiritual and emotional life within her home: she under-

stands her husband and children better than they under-

stand themselves, and she is usually able to direct their behavior toward the end which she considers to be in the best interest of each individual. Although she appears to accept a subordinate position in relation to her husband and often bows to his temperament, she controls a good portion of family activity through subtle manipula- tion. But, the extent of her control is masked by the displays of Mr. Ramsay's more obvious dominance. 19

Mrs. Ramsay's devotion to her family does not,

however, produce family unity. There is often strife be- I' tween Mr. Ramsay and his children; even Mrs. Ramsay must

expend her best efforts when dealing with her husband.

This friction is not so much a fault of the principals

involved as it is an indictment of the Victorian tradi-

I tion which they try to follow. As a dutiful wife, Mrs. l Ramsay must consider Mr. Ramsay the superior, dominant ! I l force in the home. Unfortunately, he is weak, dependent, . i i ; and imperceptive. A dishonest situation is therefore created as Mrs. Ramsay tries to convince both herself and her husband that he is what he is not. Her attempts to reinforce this false order are not always successful:

she did not like, even for a second, to feel finer than her husbandi and further could not bear not being entirely sure, when she spoke to him [of his excellence], of the truth of what she said.l5

The strain of trying to maintain a position in his family which is beyond his capabilities also shows in Mr.

Ramsay's behavior, as noted by a family friend, Lily

Briscoe:

He is petty, selfish, vain, egotistical; he is spoilt; he is a tyrant, he wears Mrs. Ramsay to death·.l6

Mrs. Ramsay's importance in her home is emphasized by the events following her death. After she is gone, her family follows the same traditions as before, but do not find the warmth which Mrs. Ramsay provided. The children 20

are lonely and miss their mother: they remain emotional strangers to their father. The beach home which sym- bolizes family sharing and pleasure is abandoned and decays.

Mr. Ramsay 1 s efforts to fill his late wife 1 s position 1n the rearing of his children are totally un- successful. When he determines to take his younger children with him on a visit to the lighthouse near the beach, recalling a long-past incident during which his wife tries to relate the importance of sympathizing with the emotional needs of their son, James, he is trying to provide the understanding which his children need. But he has no comprehension of the symbolic significance of

James 1 original request. Therefore, when the father and the children undertake the motions of the adventure with no corresponding insights, it is an uncomfortable, futile day for everyone. Mr. Ramsay, unfortunately, never realizes the nature of his deficiencies: his perceptions are so inadequate that he does not even realize how inac- curate his memory is in re.lation to his late wife 1 s insightful responses toward her family:

He thought, women are always like that; the vagueness of their minds is hopeless; it was a thing he had never been able to understand; but so itwas. It had been so with her-- his wife. They could not keep anything clearly fixed in their minds. But he had been wrong to be angry with her; moreover, did he not rather like this vagueness in women?l7 21

If Mrs. Ramsay were a modern woman, she might have eased the discord within the home. As the stronger, more efficient spouse, she could openly assert her

strength to create order, without Mr. Ramsay's blundering attempts to dominate the family. A peaceful, established

£amily structure would leave the children free to progress

~t a natural rate. Mr. Ramsay would also benefit from such a structure: freedom from the emotional responsibil ity for which he is not suited would allow him to focus more of his attention upon the intellectual talents which he possesses.

An honest appraisal'of the Ramsays' needs and capabilities would also encourage Mrs. Ramsay to act upon her insights in a healthier way. Even though she be~ lieves that her actions are for the welfare of those she loves, these actions are often decidedly manipulative.

This characteristic is noted and resented by Lily

Briscoe. If Mrs. Ramsay felt free to assert herself, a more distinct set of issues would become evident, both to her and to the person with whom she is interacting: it would subsequently be easier for both parties to resolve a defined issue than to struggle with innuendo and implication. --~ ~----'-- - -r--~----- l 22 I I I, . Or 1 an d o 19 I

Orlando follows the life of a young boy who seeks ! . I I self~fulfillment through a process of testing different I roles. This story resembles a fairy tale in many ways:

the title character ages only twenty years during events I which span the sixteenth through twentieth centuries; at I thirty years of age, this character wakes up after a

seven-day sleep to find that he has miraculously become

a woman; even the majestic settings and instant transpor-

tations of some of the characters add an aura of glisten-

ing unreality to the narratj,ve.

The transformed heroine, Lady Orlando, is freed

from certain constraints through the flexibility of time

and space within her environment: she does not fear

·death with the same intensity as someone with a fixed

lifespan, and by living in different time periods, she

encounters different mores, some of which are more demand-

ing than others. But she still must confront some of the

basic issues which are of personal concern to other

Virginia Woolf heroines such as Rachel Vinrace and

Clarissa Dalloway.

Before she can find happiness, Orlando must

choose a lifestyle. Yet to do so, she must first formu-

late her own ideas in regard to the traditions she en-

counters. She responds to these traditions in various

ways, changing her reaction as she begins to know herself. 23

As a young boy in Elizabethan England, Orlando, a favorite of the Queen, indulges his high spirits with out neglecting his obligations to his ruler, But the passionate emotions experienced during a love affair over come all of Orlando's former loyalties; when the fickle ness of Orlando's loved one brings the affair to an unhappy conclusion, Orlando must deal with lost social status as well as his broken heart. His first unsuccess- ful interaction with established society is not his last: as a poet, he is betrayed by a highly regarded literary critic; as a gentleman, he finds some of the nobility he encounters to be lacking in the personal qualities he expects them to possess. As a result of these disappoint ments, Orlando decides to remain apart from the mainstream 19 of his society, loving only "dogs and nature." He rejects convention, not with the intention of shocking others, but with the determination to strengthen his own identify.

When Orlando becomes Lady Orlando, she continues to consider her conscience. as her moral arbiter. She eyen lives briefly with a group of gypsies, emphasizing her separation from established tradition. Yet it is while she is with these gypsies that she regains a sense of her heritage and tradition, realizing that the history of her family and her country are also a part of her individuality. When she returns home, it is with the 24

hope that she can find what she seeks within the world

she formerly rejected.

It is during the Victorian period that Orlando

a .' t ieves self-realization. She builds a careful balance b<:-c;Lween the strict codes of the age and her response to

these codes: she retains her independence and individ-

·uality without flaunting the personal freedoms which. have

become second nature to her. But her relationship to

this time period is not one-sided; while she struggles

to satisfy convention without sacrificing the fulfillment

of her inner needs, she is also influenced by Victorian mores: she develops a sense of permanence and commitment when she comes to believe that marriage is desirable:

each man and each woman has another allotted to it for life, whom it supports, by whom it is supported, till death do them part.20

She also accepts superficial standards of dress and

social behavior. What Orlando does not relinquish is the

strong sense of indentity which she has developed.

Lady Orlando wisely chooses a husband who is as

individualistic as she is. Together, they respect each other's need for independent pursuits, an understanding which obliterates sexual roles between them. Instead, they see themselves as people first, and members of a sex second, free to develop their interests with the security of love between them, Lady Orlando is deeply 25

satisfied with this relationship and with her sense of peace in regard to the demands of tradition:

Orlando had so ordered it that she was in an extremely happy position; she need neither fight her age nor submit to it; she was of it, yet remained herself.2l

Lady Orlando's ability to develop and utilize her innate talents is as important to her personal growth as her resolution of the issue of tradition. She is a poet, a lover of literature who believes in the merit of her craft:

The poet's, then, is the highest office of all ..• His words reach where others fall short. A silly song of Shakespeare's has done more for the poor and the wicked than all the preachers and philanthropists in the world.22

Orlando improves her skill through experience, and her ability to write grows with her sense of identity. When she finds contentment, during the Victorian period, her talents reach a peak which allows her to create enduring works of art.

Orlando's sensuality is another example of her commitment to the fullest possible life. She is a person who enjoys physical pleasures and who accepts this enjoy- ment as a natural part o~ human makeup, not as a part of herself to be repressed. She also rejects a sexual stereotype, and believes that each person is androgynous:·

Different though the sexes are, they intermix. In every human being a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only 26

the clothes that keep the male or female likeness .. while underneath the sex is the very opposite of what is above.23

Although Lady Orlando's personality is more

integrated than that of many other Virginia Woolf hero-

ines, the one attribute that she does not possess to the

same degree as Mrs. Ramsay, Clarissa Dalloway, or even

Rachel Vinrace is feminine intuition. Orlando is be-

trayed more than once by people whom she believes to be

trustworthy. It may be that her natural assumption of

her own right to assert her will has obscured this intui-

tion. The other heroines must develop their perceptions

to serve as a bridge between their mental awareness and

the limitations of the ladylike behavior they have been

taught from infancy. Since Orlando was never a little

girl, she remains free to act spontaneously, unconstricted by ingrained behavior.

It is only in this fantasy tale that Lady

Orlando achieves the inner balance which her fellow hero-

ines seek. She does not want the happily-ever-after problem~free life of a Cinderella: she accepts the in- ! I' evitability of money problems, estate management, and even I separation from her beloved husband. What she wants is ' ! the ability to live comfortably within both her environ- I l ment and herself, with the right to develop and exercise i' her talents. This is a goal which is common to many 27

young women of today, but is something which apparently remained an elusive ideal at the time the story was written. ! I: I I .. ------.. --- ··-----··--····-"--·- .. -~-- _____ ., ______. I

III. CONCLUSION

Clarissa Dalloway and Rachel Vinrace do not find

the happiness that Orlando attains, but this failure

· does not reduce them to the status of unrealized hero-

ines. They have taken the first step toward freedom:

Clarissa's awareness of her frigidity does not solve·her

problem but is still a more advanced attitude than that

of earlier heroines who denied the existence of a

healthy female sexuality.

It is not surprising that many Virginia Woolf

heroines cannot resolve the frustration they feel since

· they cannot thrive emotionally through either acceptance

or rejection of surrounding social mores: Clarissa's

unhappy adherence to tradition is no less successful than

Jinny's rejection of it. Even Mrs. Ramsay's sincere re-

spect for family life cannot hide an outdated system.

Rachel's inability to envision a satisfying future for

herself is not far-fetched in a society that offers only

a stereotyped role to her.

The Virginia Woolf heroine lives in a time

period which still respects Victorian traditions and

which believes in stereotyped roles for women that forbid

individualistic personalities. Rachel Vinrace is an ex-

ample of the extreme consequen~es which may result when

a young woman is surrounded by an unyielding value

28 29

structure to which she cannot subscribe. Susan, Jinny,

and Rhoda suffer the same fate to lesser degrees; al

though they do not fall sick and die, they remain aware

misfits, women who cannot become part of a society which

·is more narrow than they.

Clarissa Dalloway also illustrates the failure of

Victorian tradition. She wants to live within the hub of

accepted society and sacrifices both the man she loves

and.her own personal growth to do so. Yet her willing...;.

ness fails to bring her satisfaction: only intermit

tently can she repress the contempt she feels toward the

unnatural life ~he leads.

Mrs. Ramsay's sincere devotion to family life is

in many ways similar to the Victorian tradition in its

best possible form: but the strain and falsity of a pre

determined, rigid, family structure show that this struc

ture does not bring happiness to the family. Mrs.

Ramsay's best efforts therefore emphasize the outmoded

nature of a patriarchal society.

It is difficult to apply categorical qualities

to a transitional literary figure. The Virginia Woolf

heroine is in a difficult situation and often acts ac

cordingly. Clarissa's repression of dissatisfaction may

therefore seem far removed from Mrs. Ramsay's ease when

expressing emotion. But this difference is only a

response to different aspects of a situation which they 30

share. These heroines are bound together t~rough the

developmental nature of their position in society.

T~rough the problems of her present world, the Virginia

Woolf heroine defines both the past and future roles for women. The problems she faces and the responses she offers create a foundation which marks the inception of i modern womanhood. FOOTNOTES

1 V1rg1n1a. . . Woo lf , T h e Voyage Out (M1 "ddl esex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1972}.

2 The Voyage Out, p. 261.

3 The Voyage Out, p. 324. 4 The Voyage Out, p. 302.

5 V1rg1n1a. . . woo lf , The Waves (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. I 1964}.

6The Waves, p. 52 .

7 . The Waves, p. 88.

8 The Waves, p. 92.

9 V1rg1n1a. . . Woo lf , Mrs. Da 11oway ( New Yor k : Leonard Woolf, 1953).

10 Mrs. Dalloway, pp. 233-234.

1 1 --Mrs. Dalloway, p. 46.

12 Mrs. Dalloway, p. 50

13 V1rg1n1a· . . Woo lf , To t h e L1g . h t h ouse (N ew Yor k : Leonard Woolf, 1955).

14To the Lighthouse, p. 43.

15To the Lighthouse. p. 61.

16 To the Lighthouse, p. 40.

17 -·To the Lighthouse, pp. 249-250.

31 32

. i

18virginia Woolf, Orlando {Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Australia Ltd., 1963).

19 Orlando, p. 68.

20 Orlando, p. 172.

21 Orlando, p. 188.

22 Orlando, p. 122.

23 Orlando, p. 133. A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bell, Quention. Virginia Woolf: A Biography.· New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972. Nicolson, Nigel. Portrait of a Marriage. New York: · Atheneum, 1974.

Woolf, Virginia. A Haunted House. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1973 ..

Woolf, Virginia. A Letter To A Young Poet. Hogarth Letters No. 8. London; England:~garth Press, 1932. Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. New York: Harcourt, Brace-r-world, Inc-.-,-1957.

Woolf, Virginia. A Writer's Diary. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1954. Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; Penguin Books Ltd., 1972. Woolf, Virginia. Collected Essays, Volume I. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1967.

Woolf, Virginia. Jacob's Room. Harmondsworth 1 ·Middlesex, England; Penguin Books Ltd., 1973. Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Worl~Inc., 1953. Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1974. Woolf, Virginia. The Captain's Death Bed and Other Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1950. Woolf, Virginia. Jhe Voyage Out. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1972. Woolf, Virginia. The Waves. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England~ Penguin Books Ltd., 1973. Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1955.