The Function of the Mirror Image in the Perception of the Self in Virginia Woolf’s Fiction Master’s Thesis Literary Studies: English Literature and Culture By Heleen Buchner 29 May 2019 Supervisor: Prof. dr. P.T.M.G. Liebregts Second reader: Dr. L.E.M. Fikkers Buchner 2 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 Chapter 1: The Mirror Stage ...................................................................................................... 6 1.1. The Mirror Image ............................................................................................................ 6 1.2. Metaphorical Mirrors ..................................................................................................... 13 1.3. The Mirror Stage ........................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Modernist Reflections on the Self .......................................................................... 20 2.1. Subjectivity .................................................................................................................... 20 2.2. Relativity ....................................................................................................................... 22 2.3. Multiplicity .................................................................................................................... 25 2.4. Epistemology ................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 3: Narration and the Perception of Characters ............................................................ 33 3.1. Unreliable Narrators in “The Mark on the Wall” and “The Lady in the Looking-glass: A Reflection” ........................................................................................................................ 33 3.2. Free Indirect Speech in Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse ..................................... 36 3.3. Third Person Soliloquys in The Waves .......................................................................... 44 3.4. The Mirror Stage ........................................................................................................... 46 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 48 Works Cited .............................................................................................................................. 51 Buchner 3 Introduction The notion of the self and of identity are central themes in Virginia Woolf’s novels. Woolf understands identity to be something that is constantly evolving rather than something that is fixed once a person reaches adulthood (Howard 48; Myk 108). She also believes that identity is complex and that multiple selves can exist alongside each other in one person (Howard 48; Richter 114). Therefore, the different sides that make up one person’s identity are often highlighted in her fiction. Additionally, Woolf emphasises the inherent subjectivity of the self. She raises the question whether anyone can be truly known at all, either by others or by themselves. She tends to show this by ambiguously presenting information about the characters by means of the way in which the texts are narrated, while the characters themselves also question their identities. As such, Woolf’s understanding of the self and of identity reflects the Modernist ideas of subjectivity and relativity. Previous research has related Woolf’s understanding of the notion of the self to different theories of and approaches to the self. One approach that is connected to her work is Jacques Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage, which focusses on the forming of identity in childhood. According to Lacan, the moment a child sees itself in the mirror for the first time is significant in its formation of a sense of self. Before this moment, the child is only able to see itself partially because through the eye it can only perceive parts of the body and never the complete form. Thus, when the child looks into the mirror, it is able to see itself in its entirety for the first time, which, according to Lacan, turns the “fragmented image” the child has of its own body into an image that shows the “form of its totality” (78). Moreover, this mirror image gives the child the idea that it is a complete, separate self. However, as Mansfield points out, this sense of wholeness is defined by something outside of the child, namely by the image that is reflected back. Therefore, the crux of the mirror stage is that even though the mirror image gives the child a sense of a separate self, still the only way to obtain this sense Buchner 4 of self comes from something that is situated outside of its body, and thus “other” (43). As Lacan claims, the mirror stage establishes “a relationship between an organism and its reality” (78). It defines the moment in which the child realises its sense of self while also realising that, as a subject, it is always inevitably related to and defined by external factors (Mansfield 43). In Woolf’s fictional texts, reflections on the self are often accompanied by, or prompted by, an actual reflection of the character in a mirror. Additionally, two or more characters also tend to mirror each other as well. The use of this mirror image in Woolf’s fiction is generally seen as a way to comment on the societal difference in the perception of men and women (Chapman 334; Deppman 31; Squier 274). However, the mirror can also be seen as a “metaphor for perceiving reality” (Chapman 336). As Olk points out, Woolf uses mirrors to emphasise the impossibility of “any kind of direct and unmediated vision” which in turn “emphasises subjectivity” (56), and therefore underlines that the characters cannot perceive themselves or others objectively. Like Lacan’s mirror stage, the mirror image of the characters in Woolf’s novels is an external image that gives them some deeper understanding of themselves. As Taylor argues, the mirror can be seen as “a re-establisher of identity” (64), which suggests that it is used as a mode through which the character’s self-perception is revaluated. Likewise, according to Mansfield, the self is always perceived in relation to other external objects or people (3). As a mode situated in between the self and the other, the mirror can provide a different perspective on the character’s perception of their self. Moreover, both the actual and the metaphorical mirror image stimulate the characters to examine and possibly to adapt themselves. This thesis will examine the use of the mirror image in the reflection on the characters’ sense of self in Virginia Woolf’s novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and The Waves (1931), and her short stories “The Mark on the Wall” (1917) and “The Lady in the Buchner 5 Looking-Glass: A Reflection” (1929). For the analysis, the method of close reading will be applied and notions of Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage will be employed. The first chapter will show the ways in which both the actual and the metaphorical mirror images enhance the characters’ reflections on their identity in childhood as well as in adulthood. In the second chapter these realisations about the self will be explored, which will emphasise the relation between the self and the Modernist themes of subjectivity, relativity and epistemological questions. The third chapter will focus on Woolf’s use of stylistic devices to underline the importance of perspective in the perception of a character. Together, these chapters will highlight the significance of the mirror image in the characters’ sense of self. Buchner 6 Chapter 1: The Mirror Stage 1.1. The Mirror Image As mentioned in the introduction, the characters in Woolf’s fiction often contemplate their sense of self while looking in a mirror. Although Lacan’s mirror stage refers to the moment a child looks in the mirror for the first time and starts to form its sense of itself as a subject, in relation to Woolf’s understanding of the self as constantly evolving, these moments can occur in adulthood as well. In fact, in her fiction they seem to have more significance in adulthood. As an example, we may consider the moment Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs Dalloway looks into a mirror, which enables her to collect “the whole of her at one point, … seeing the delicate pink face of the woman who was that very night to give a party; of Clarissa Dalloway; of herself” (40). For her, seeing herself reflected in the mirror signifies a moment of self-reflection in which she is able to draw together the parts that make up her identity. However, although the mirror image can be seen as the reflection of the character’s inner life it can also be a reminder that her reflection might not actually show her true self. According to Varga, Lacan’s mirror stage is a process of “misidentification” because the reflection in the mirror is a composition of the subject’s desired self instead of the “real” one (292). Clarissa pursed her lips when she looked in the glass. It was to give her face point. That was her self – pointed; dartlike; definite. That was her self when some effort, some call on her to be her self, drew the parts together, she alone knew how different, how incompatible and composed so for the world only into one centre, one diamond, one woman who sat in her drawing-room and made a meeting-point, she …