A Feminist Reading of Clarissa Dalloway in Ms Dalloway

A Feminist Reading of Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of BA in
English

South China Business College,
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
April, 2011

DECLARATIONS

The thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any institutions of higher learning and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the thesis.

Signature: Su Jingmei Date: April 23rd, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to give special thanks to my supervisor for her continuous guidance from the preparation of this thesis to the completion. She devoted much of her precious time scrutinizing my thesis. Without her help, I could not have achieved anything desirable. I really appreciate it. Because I had no idea what to write and how to start with my paper at first, after talking with my supervisor, Ms. Liang Wen yan, then I get to know how to start my paper.
What’s more, I would like to thank my friends and my classmates who offer their help with the information for my paper.

ABSTRACT The novel Mrs. Dalloway, written by Virginia Woolf, has been regarded one of the greatest feminist novels in the 20th century .The main character; Clarissa Dalloway is full of complexity. This paper mainly discusses the character of Clarissa Dalloway from the perspectives of feminism. Through a detailed analysis of the image of Clarissa Dalloway, especially of her relationship with other men and women, the paper draws a conclusion that women in the novel suffer from oppression of men and Clarissa presents a contradictory character due to the oppression. On one hand, she remains conservative in order to maintain her social status; On the other hand, she shows her independence and desire for independence. In other words, she tends to seek for a balance between these two extremes. The causes and impacts of Clarissa ’s contradictory character are also discussed in the paper, Virginia Woolf clearly reveals women’s oppressed position in the society and Clarissa Dalloway’s desire to seek a way out as well as the writer’s.
Key Words: Mrs. Dalloway；Clarissa Dalloway；contradiction；feminism

摘要
佛吉尼亚伍尔夫的小说《达洛卫夫人》被誉为二十世纪最伟大的女权主义作品之一，其主人公克拉里莎有着复杂的性格，本论文将从多个角度去分析其性格。，透过具体的分析，从卡拉里莎的形象，尤其是她与男人和女人之间的关系，可得出以下结论：小说中的女性受到男性的压迫，同时克拉里莎体现出矛盾的心理。一方面，为了维护自己的社会地位，她显得较为保守妥协；而另一方面， 她显得较为独立，她意图在这两者中寻求到平衡。该论文也将提及到克拉里莎其矛盾性格的原因和影响。作者佛吉尼亚伍尔夫清晰地阐述了在父系社会下受到压迫的女性，小说中的主人公如作者一样，意于矛盾之间寻求到一个平衡点。
关键词：《达洛卫夫人》；克拉丽莎；矛盾 ；女权主义

CONTENTS
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………….1
2. Basic Assumptions of Relevant Feminist Theory………………………...1
3. Oppression of Females in Mrs. .Dalloway…………………………………3
3.1 Oppression of Females of the Upper Classes ………………………3
3.2 Oppression of Females of the Lower Classes ………………………..4
4. Contradiction in Clarissa Dalloway’s Character………………………….5
4.1 Conservation of Clarissa Dalloway ……………………………………6
4.1.1 The Relationship between Richard and Clarissa Dalloway…6
4.1.2 Clarissa Dalloway’s Disagreement with Miss. Kilman………7
4.2 Independence of Clarissa Dalloway…………………………………….8 4.2.1The Relationship between Peter and Clarissa Dalloway………8
4.2.2The Relationship between Sally and Clarissa Dalloway…...…9
5. The Causes of Mrs. Dalloway’s Character……………………..…………10
6. The implication of Clarissa Dalloway’s Character………………………11
7. Conclusion………………………………………………….……………….….11
8. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….13

Bibliography:
[1] Bressler, Charles. E. literary criticism An Introduction to Theory and Practice (M), Prentice-Hall, 1994
[2] Lee, Elizabeth, Feminist Theory—An Overview (P), Brown University, 1996
[3]Lodge, David (Editor)，Twentieth-century Literary Critics（M）,Pearson Professional Education,1972
[4] Rosenthal, Michael. Virginia Woolf（M）, London: Rutledge Ltd, 1979.
[5] Seidenberg, R & Decrow, K ,Women who marry house: Panic and protest in agoraphobia , （M）,New York, McGraw-Hill 1983
[6]Woolf. Virginia, Mrs. Dalloway（M）, Oxford University Press, 2009
[7]Woolf .Virginia ,Virginia Woolf’s autobiography（M）, Oxford University Press, 1927
[8]罗泽主编，汤震宇、杨茜译，《女性心理学》 (M) 上海：上海社会科学院出版社,2006
[9] 秦明利主编，《英美现当代小说赏析》(M) 上海：上海外语教育出版社，2008
[10]孙梁、苏美译，《达洛卫夫人》（M）上海：上海译文出版社，2007.7（2009.3重印）
[11] 孙中欣、张莉莉编著， 《女性主义研究方法》（M）上海：复旦大学出版社，2007.11
[12] 周国平，《周国平文集》（M）上海：复旦大学出版社，2003

Bibliography: [1] Bressler, Charles. E. literary criticism An Introduction to Theory and Practice (M), Prentice-Hall, 1994 [2] Lee, Elizabeth, Feminist Theory—An Overview (P), Brown University, 1996 [7]Woolf .Virginia ,Virginia Woolf’s autobiography（M）, Oxford University Press, 1927 [8]罗泽主编，汤震宇、杨茜译，《女性心理学》 (M) 上海：上海社会科学院出版社,2006