The Character of Septimus in Mrs. Dalloway
According to Cuddon, a character is defined as a representation of an individual through the dramatization of word or action in a play. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as a person/ animal in a book, play, or film. When synthesizing the meaning of these two definitions with regards to this essay, the salient feature will go as follows. A character is a person or animal that dramatically represents the features required of them in an auditory or visual manner. Mrs. Dalloway is a novel written by Virginia Woolf and published in 1925, which features the dramatic life of Mrs. Clarrisa Dalloway. Around this female protagonist are many colorful characters, among them Septimus Warren Smith. Septimus forms the basis of this essay’s character analysis, and his distinctive personality will be explored.
A disturbed World War I veteran is how Septimus is introduced to the reader in Mrs. Calloway. Little Pearson Handbook gives detailed instructions on evaluating the sources for any academic essay, precisely this type of literature writing (Faigley, Graves & Graves, 3). However, to make a successful analysis of the tragedy of Septimus’s character, one has to read the book. He appears at the start of the novel, accompanied by his wife, the Italian Lucrezia. The reader has the first impression of him not being in full control of his senses due to the description of his physical appearance and the thoughts in his head (Woolf, 10). Throughout the book, his person is developed mainly by the interaction of three people. His wife, Lucrezia, and his doctors who unsuccessfully try to cure him of his trauma, born of the War, are his primary contacts. Towards the end of the novel, his suicide appears to be a point of interest for the ruling elite in Mrs. Dalloway’s party. The only one who seems to have any sympathy for him is the hostess herself, Clarissa, who sees his death as an escape from his unfortunate reality. It is saddening that his country people whom he went to War to treat his death as nothing more than a passing amusement.
In Forster’s description of a character, he gives the two options he/she/it could turn out to be (Forster, 47-49). “Flat” is a person whose form is built around a single narrative and remains constant through the play and provides their atmosphere which a reader can easily see. For people like these in a play, they remain etched in the memory as circumstances happened to them. They could be described as victims of fate if a dramatic flair is needed. Septimus and his wife fall under this category as the blanket illness of ‘shell shock” controls their life. They easily resonate with their audience as the loss felt by the death of a friend in war compounds sympathy (Woolf, 18). Rezia is torn by the guilt of her husband’s insanity and that of missing her homeland. For this couple, Septimus is a “flat” as his illness, and the unwilling compromise of others towards him is his entire narrative.
Forster gives a “round” as a complex character with a changing temperament in an act. One of the characters in the novel who oscillates between moods and can thus be classified is Mrs. Dalloway. Through her, a reader can understand the crises faced by Septimus before tragically ending his life. It is a common aspect for a writer to use one of the protagonists/antagonists to develop another person. In the expanse of her garden, Clarissa laments on her loneliness: strangely enough, these sentiments are echoed by Septimus (Woolf, 17). “Love is solitary,” is a direct phrase in the book concerning the solitude and the suffering of a man who had frequent visions of his dead friend (Woolf, 100). What the author tries to bring out in this analogy is that the love experienced by Septimus was not enough for his wife to stop him from jumping to his death. Even the love Rezia felt for her husband was inadequate when he was faced with involuntary confinement options. For Septimus, his freedom was more important than any other aspect. After the traumatic effects of the War he had gone through, he lacked comfort in the people surrounding him. He is not the hero of this story but an unfortunate casualty of a society that fails to keep up with its suffering members.
In the progression of the novel, a reader comes to terms with the conflict experienced by its members. The sanity exhibited by Septimus, a troubled man, is particularly sobering and saddening in equal measure. Cynicism and hope is a propagation that is so well written in his activities throughout the play. The feeling of numbness associated with life, age, and suffering are themes that many writers fail to bring out. Unlike them, Septimus uses his death and that of his dear friend Evans to communicate on the fragility of life (Woolf, 132). Woolf regards the novelty of human experience with a detachment that shocks even her ardent of fan or critic. The lack of conformity to the expected behavior by a veteran is considered normal today. In the past society that Septimus lived in, he was forced to live like other residents who may not have gone through the ordeal that he did. Mrs. Dalloway is a novel that humanizes its character, whether they are “flat” or “round.” The conflict within Septimus is one that most people, if honest with themselves, go through in their lifetime.
Works Cited
Faigley, Lester Roger Graves, and Heather Graves. The Little Pearson Handbook, 3rd Canadian Edition. Don Mills, ONT: Pearson Educational, 2018. Print.
Forster, E. M. Aspects of the Novel. RosettaBooks LLC. New York, 2002. Electronic edition. 02 May 2020.<file:///C:/Users/300105403/Downloads/Aspects_of_the_novel_written_by_E.M_fors.pdf.
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: Harvest/HBJ Book, 1981. Print.