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Woolf's Androgyny In Mrs Dalloway

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Being called both a modernist and a feminist, Woolf is one of the pioneers who endeavored to make a turn in the human history. Mrs. Dalloway illustrates the possibility of women going out from the private sphere to the public sphere compared to many Victorian literary classics from the last few centuries from her time. With most characters showing explicitly both masculine and feminine traits, the novel marks a milestone on the path of feminism in a post-war modern society. And yet, instead of showing her readers how great an androgynous mind could be, Woolf might just be showing us minds that have a tendency to go to the opposite end of their gender identity, and this is done, in Mrs. Dalloway, in a very imbalanced way. This essay aims to argue that, instead of promoting androgyny and the complete fertilization of the feminine and masculine mind, Mrs. Dalloway inclines to …show more content…

Dalloway does not show an androgynous mind. Her opinion sides with the masculinization of the feminine mind much more than the feminization of a masculine mind. Throughout the novel, Woolf also suggests ways for a women to gain such masculinity. Lady Millicent Bruther, for example, is “debarred by her sex” (Woolf 198), her masculinity is gained by her social rank. Sally Seton, who is the most feminine character as Peter says, might gain the power by having five sons. But the most important one of all is Elizabeth, who has “every profession open to women of [her] generation”, (Woolf 149) it allows room for hope in the future. Woolf would hope that one day, every girl could live their life so proud like the flowers in Clarissa’s hands that have the “dark and prim the red carnations, holding their heads up…every flower--roses, carnations, irises, lilac-- glows; white, violet, red, deep orange; every flower seems to burn by itself”. (Woolf

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