WOMEN QUOTES <3

'She would marry a prime minister, and stand at the top of a staircase; the perfect hostess he called her (She had cried over it in her bed)’

• This is the reality as seen in the end of the book.

•  Peter present a vision of what would have been the expected role for her, which was meant to be socially, fulfilling and representative of a successful woman

• It is interpreted as a derogatory comment on her conventionality due to her affection for the unconventional Sally

Friendship

Karen Marcus

‘victorians accepted friendship between women because they believed it cultivates the feminine virtues of sympathy and altruism that made women into good helpmates’

>’indicated a shift in the spiritual and emotional defition of marriage from a hierarchical…to a more egalitaruan conception modeled on friendship’

>’female friends…marriage brokers who helped facilitate courtship’ though not defined by ‘instrumental utility’

1830-80 was the ‘heyday of sentimental friendships legitimated in terms of affection, attraction, and pleasure and federated into marriage and family ties’

>’aristocratic women viewed friendship as an alternative to marriage and justified it as the cultivation of reason, equality, and taste’ post romantcisim+evangelicalism (emotions+faith priotitised)

Ellis ‘counseled women to accept their inferiority to men and to cultivate moral virtues[…]as counterweights to male virtues’

>’it trained women not to compete with men’ ‘it fostered feminine vulnerability’

>’Ellis explicitly argued that friendship trained women to be good wives by teaching them particularly feminine ways’

Marriage ‘rarely ended friendships and many women organised part of their lives around their friends’

>Princess Victoria was given a ring by her giverness (identified as her best friend) on her wedding day

>’because friendship involved close connection without the primal bodily contact or all-consuming commitment[…]it was the ideal’

friend ws ‘also in a category of her own’

>’force’ of other bonds ‘but without sharing households or sex’or ‘total caretaking’

>’entailed few of the material entanglements and responsibilities attached to middle-class family life’

Friendship (Karen Marcus + Ellis)

Friendship

Karen Marcus

‘victorians accepted friendship between women because they believed it cultivates the feminine virtues of sympathy and altruism that made women into good helpmates’

>’indicated a shift in the spiritual and emotional defition of marriage from a hierarchical…to a more egalitaruan conception modeled on friendship’

>’female friends…marriage brokers who helped facilitate courtship’ though not defined by ‘instrumental utility’

1830-80 was the ‘heyday of sentimental friendships legitimated in terms of affection, attraction, and pleasure and federated into marriage and family ties’

>’aristocratic women viewed friendship as an alternative to marriage and justified it as the cultivation of reason, equality, and taste’ post romantcisim+evangelicalism (emotions+faith priotitised)

Ellis ‘counseled women to accept their inferiority to men and to cultivate moral virtues[…]as counterweights to male virtues’

>’it trained women not to compete with men’ ‘it fostered feminine vulnerability’

>’Ellis explicitly argued that friendship trained women to be good wives by teaching them particularly feminine ways’

Marriage ‘rarely ended friendships and many women organised part of their lives around their friends’

>Princess Victoria was given a ring by her giverness (identified as her best friend) on her wedding day

>’because friendship involved close connection without the primal bodily contact or all-consuming commitment[…]it was the ideal’

friend ws ‘also in a category of her own’

>’force’ of other bonds ‘but without sharing households or sex’or ‘total caretaking’

>’entailed few of the material entanglements and responsibilities attached to middle-class family life’

Mari+the horse

-M tells Willoughby she cannot accept ‘the absurdly extravagant gift of a horse’ (Mullins) that he has sent her; it’s an ‘overweening present’ (Mullins)

>simply can’t afford to keep the horse: it’s an ostentatious and impractical gift- poor financial practice

>inappropriate name of the horse – Queen Mab – connotations of frustrated, illicit sexual desires that come to us in frustrating dreams.

>supposedly rides her chariot across lover’s brains to create dreams in Romeo and Juliet

>Mercutio claims they are ‘begot of nothing but fantasy’

>highlights both the danger of their intense physical and spiritual connection and the illusory quality of that connection.

>her dreams of the horse and Will cant come true either

>indicates Willoughby that he has excessive sensibility / impulse

How does Mari meet Will

-Marianne and Margaret set off to explore the hills near Barton

>it begins pouring rain, and the girls have no choice but to run down the steep hill that leads back to the cottage.

>Marianne falls and twists her ankle.

>a dashing gentleman comes along and carries Marianne home. When they reach Barton Cottage

>when he visits they discover a shared love of music, dancing, and certain authors

What initially draws Brandon to Marianne

Her piano forte

"Mrs. John Dashwood was a strong caricature of himself; more narrow-minded and selfish."

-unsparingly critical of the characters she dislikes

-Austen sketches the character of John Dashwood with a biting acerbity

>explicitly skewering both John and his wife:

>Austen thus relies on understatement and irony to reveal her feelings towards her more disagreeable characters.

Eli acting according to sensibility for Ed

-when he leaves after a brief stay she accounts for it by assuring herself his mother must be demanding him

>as Dashwood did to explain Will’s absence

-though she tries to occupy herself she finds herself thinking of Ed

(Though she waits for his reaction when they meet, Mari embraces him warmly but she is reserved, leaving her wondering if his feelings have changed)

What is improper in Will x Mari

-he offers her a horse

-he cuts a lock of her hair and kisses it

-takes her to his house in Allenham whilst his relative is out

-she is open with her affection- writing letters imploring him to visit though they are not formally engaged

Examples of second attachments

-Mari + Will +Col

-Col + Eliza +Mari

-Ed + Lucy +Mari

-Wil + Mari +Grey

-Henry Dashwood

Responses to Willoughby leaving Devonshire

-Ms Dashwood invents a narrative that this is necessary to prevent his relative from learning of the attachment

-Mari is overcome by grief and cannot speak or eat

>she acts as she assumes a disappointed lover should- cultivating her grief by reading what they had read together and singing what they had played

-Elinor remains sceptical that the attachment was official

Brandon and Eliza

-he explains that he was once deeply in love with a woman named Eliza

>they attempted to elope

>but she was married against his inclination to his brother so as to ensure her fortune for the family.

-Brandon's brother treated her very unkindly

>ultimately, the couple divorced, and she disappeared.

>Colonel Brandon found her dying of consumption in a sponging house (a "bath," or spa) in London.

-He cared for her until her death and promised to take care of her three-year-old daughter.

>Then, about a year earlier, she suddenly disappeared.

> The following October--the day of the intended picnic to Whitwell, which takes place earlier in the book--he received the news that she had been seduced and abandoned by none other than John Willoughby! He explains that this is why he had to rush off to London on the day of their planned outing.

Rezia and the war

-Septimus suffers from shell shock (PTSD), Rezia is left to absorb its domestic consequences.

>Though she did not witness combat, she too is a casualty of war—her emotional labour goes unrecognised.

>She thinks, “every one has friends who were killed in the war,” but her inability to comprehend the depth of Septimus' trauma further alienates her.

>Showalter suggests that Rezia’s suffering exposes the “double trauma” of war for women: first in emotional isolation and second in being made caretakers of broken men.

Septimus is “relieved” when he notices Rezia’s missing wedding ring

>This aligns with critic Lyndall Gordon’s view that “Woolf reveals how traditional gender roles disintegrate under emotional strain, creating new and painful ambiguities.”

Rezia’s marriage

-Rezia is unable to live up to Victorian ideals of womanhood

>she cannot be submissive or maternal in the traditional sense because there are no children, and Septimus is no longer capable of leading.

>She takes on a “hybrid role,” both protector and carer, making decisions for him.

>This deviation causes her deep anxiety, particularly over how they appear in public. “People must notice; people must see.”

-Rezia, an Italian in London, is doubly isolated—culturally and emotionally.

>She sacrificed her homeland and her personal aspirations, trying to find purpose through devotion to Septimus.

>Makiko Minow-Pinkney observes that Rezia’s fragmented inner monologue reflects her “linguistic and existential exile,” and mirrors Septimus’ own incoherence, showing how war has broken them both—just differently.

-Both Septimus and Rezia are isolated within their marriage.

>she longs for their “honeymoon days,” Septimus barely registers her distress, dismissing her words as interruptions: her unhappiness “a mere sentence.”

>Their inability to understand or soothe each other results in a tragic emotional standoff. This makes the absence of shared reality between them central to the pathos of their marriage.

Summary of Harrison’s view on lesbianism+the party

-Suzan Harrison explores the intersections between feminine sexuality, creativity, and rebellion in Mrs. Dalloway

>Woolf aligns homoerotic desire with artistic and imaginative liberation, while simultaneously revealing its dangers or social costs.

-Harrison identifies a recurring motif where a young, reserved woman is drawn to a more daring female figure, prompting an imaginative or creative awakening.

>In Clarissa’s case, her attraction to Sally Seton becomes the emotional and aesthetic high point of her life:

> “Artistic vision is initiated by and closely allied with an erotic attraction to another woman.”

-This intimacy with Sally represents a moment of "blossoming", an erotic and artistic flourishing

>akin to what Rachel Blau DuPlessis describes in Orlando, where:

> "Lesbianism is the unspoken contraband desire . . . that itself frees writing."

-draws on Elizabeth Meese’s theory that feminine sexuality can serve as a form of resistance against patriarchal structures.

> “Sally’s kiss destabilizes the triangular romantic plot \[…] and introduces a subversive form of female desire.”

-Though Clarissa ultimately chooses marriage and social conformity, Harrison emphasizes that Woolf questions this decision.

>At fifty-two, Clarissa reflects on her youthful love for Sally with lingering regret, and her marriage to Richard is seen as a sacrifice of emotional depth for “economic security and the responsibility of the marriage bed.”

>The narrative does not reward conventional romantic closure;

-Drawing on J. J. Wilson, Harrison connects Clarissa’s party with Woolf’s modernist aesthetic:

> “The party has the potential for joining outer and inner experience, the individual with humanity, the instant with the constant…”

>party-giving parallels artistic creation — a space where Woolf explores the tensions between self and society, memory and present, repression and revelation.

Summary of Bond on Liz v CD journey

BOND

-Elizabeth’s *omnibus ride** through male-dominated public spaces—Somerset House, Temple, Fleet Street—marks her as a “pioneer” (MD 133)

>exploring the possibility of a profession, imagining she could be “a doctor, a farmer, possibly go into Parliament.”

>She’s drawn to *“queer alleys”** and “tempting bye-streets”, suggesting possible alternative paths for self-discovery, but hesitates: she doesn’t “dare wander off,” showing the enduring power of gendered restrictions.

>Yet she still moves *“shyly, like someone penetrating on tiptoe”** (MD 134), revealing internalised social constraints.

-Elizabeth’s ride mirrors Clarissa’s—but *goes further**, symbolising hope for change

>she boards “in front of everybody” (MD 132), enacting “political defiance.”

>Sally notes Elizabeth is “unlike Clarissa at her age” (MD 188),

-By contrast, Clarissa is *trapped in elite, feminine-coded spaces**—parks and shopping districts.

>Her mobility is socially acceptable, but limited.

>she engages in *“detours of the mind and memory”**—her subjective freedom lies in psychological and temporal movement, not spatial exploration.

-The *country** offers Clarissa a moment of freedom from patriarchal norms, yet even there, her identity has been “shaped by patriarchal ideology.”

Summary of Garvey on Liz v CD journey

-Garvey builds on similar ideas as Bond, positioning Elizabeth’s ride as a symbol of future female possibility and continuity between generations.

>Her bus ride offers *“certainty and direction … for the next generation”** and embodies “a branching out of sorority,” not a male-centric lineage.

>She becomes *the “figure-head of a ship”**, both art object and leader (p. 206)“gazed ahead … with the staring incredible innocence of sculpture.”

Critics on identity in CD

Clarissa’s Identity, Aging, and Invisibility

-Sedon argues that Clarissa Dalloway’s aging body threatens her social and personal visibility:

> “Already married and no longer bearing children, Clarissa’s identity as an aging woman rests on being Mrs. Richard Dalloway.”

> Society reduces her to a function—wifehood—while rendering her subjectivity increasingly invisible:

> This links to Clarissa’s moments of doubt and disconnection throughout the novel, particularly in her reflections on her past, her waning sexuality, and her role in social life.

Language, Consciousness, and Identity

-Wang offers a poststructuralist reading, arguing that Woolf’s use of stream of consciousness reveals the instability of identity:

> Rather than revealing a coherent inner self, Woolf’s narrative technique demonstrates that consciousness is fractured, shaped by fluctuating discursive positions.

>Clarissa’s thoughts often shift unpredictably—from existential musings to trivial memories—highlighting identity as contingent and constructed.

Clarissa as Artist and Critique of Patriarchal Conceptions of Self

-Jacob Littleton expands on Clarissa’s artistry as central to her identity—her parties are more than social obligations; they are creative acts:

> This counters the patriarchal idea that women, especially upper-class hostesses, lack intellectual depth:

> “Woolf is concerned, before anything else, with the absolutely private mental world of a woman who \[...] was not imagined to have any artistic feeling at all.”

> By presenting Clarissa’s inner life as rich and meaningful, Woolf undermines traditional, externally-defined character:

> “Woolf criticizes conceptions of character bound by the exterior forms of life: the whole complex (job, family, assets).”

-being itself—experience for its own sake—is central to Clarissa’s worldview:

> “Her delight is free of self-interest or discrimination \[...] she sees the worth of being as directly opposed, and superior, to those other values.”

> Clarissa’s celebration of life, even as she navigates fear, repression, and alienation, becomes a philosophical stance.

Gender, Power, and Feminine Resistance

-Clarissa seems to conform outwardly, Littleton sees a quiet radicalism in her:

> “Clarissa’s ‘actual’ existence \[...] is an unrecognized but fundamental contradiction of traditional assumptions about gender.”

> Though her truths may seem “apolitical”, the novel reveals that her loneliness and containment result from patriarchal control. Still, her interior life resists:

> “An individual feminine power \[...] is the source of her feelings of human affiliation.”

>by giving Clarissa the introspective complexity usually reserved for male protagonists, Woolf “destabilizes gender boundaries”

Maternal instincts Rez + CD

-Lucrezia has an unfulfilled maternal instinct

>turns her maternal drive towards Septimus

>often wishes for a conventional marriage + worries being judged

>when a crying child runs into her she is excited to comfort them

>echoes Woolf’s wish for children (considered detrimental to her health)

-CD has a stable relationship and channel for maternal instincts with Liz

>though she has fulfilled her purpose she longs for more

>she refuses to submit to Patmore’s the angel in the house as she refuses to stay within domestic boundaries and strives for independence (buying flowers herself, nostalgia for youth)

Showalter on the party

The climactic party affirms life. Clarissa reflects on her choices, her past love for Sally Seton, and her unresolved feelings for Peter Walsh. Despite the class-bound setting, Woolf reveals “hidden memories and troubled feelings” among the guests.

The shock of Septimus’s suicide briefly halts Clarissa’s performance. Retreating, she meditates on mortality before emerging, understanding the party as a “life-affirming communal pageant.”

What does Showalter claim is the cause of Septimus’ suicide

-Septimus, a shell-shocked war veteran, is emotionally shattered.

-Woolf initially envisioned him as a terrorist but reshaped him into a PTSD victim, whose “*delusions reflect the conditions of his society*”—a culture that suppresses emotion and glorifies self-control.

-The doctors, *Holmes and Bradshaw**, are depicted as brutal and obtuse, symbols of institutional failure.

>Septimus’s suicide is a tragic response to a society blind to trauma.

>Woolf, who had her own experiences with mental illness, uses him to expose how society evades the emotional scars of war.

-Woolf uses Clarissa to critique and reveal the psychological impact of social transformation in post-WWI Britain:

>Peter Walsh observes: *“People looked different. Newspapers seemed different.”**

>Alex Zwerdling sees the novel as “*a sharply critical examination of the governing class at the turning-point of its power*.”

-Woolf links *gender and class oppression**, showing how the subordination of women mirrors that of the working class.

Woolf’s 1924 essay Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown is cited:

> “All human relations have shifted ... and when human relations change, there is ... a change in religion, conduct, politics, and literature.”

> She rejected Edwardian realism:

> “Those conventions are ruin, those tools are death.”

quotes of marriane being sick

“ill and forlorn”

• almost theatrically consumed by heartbreak.

• reflects her influence from romantic literature (as satirised in Northanger Abbey) but also how women were socialised to perform grief and passion.

“stretched on the bed”

• evokes deathbed imagery, feeding into the melodramatic expectations of the genre. T

• will Marianne’s heartbreak destroy her physically, as it did Eliza?

Nazaar on solitude

Where Marianne sees solitude in nature as restorative, Elinor finds solitude within society—a crucial distinction. Marianne’s extreme individualism is solipsistic, and her view of nature as a sympathetic mirror is shown to be false when it leads to illness.

Nazar argues that Austen relocates “reverie” from nature to the social space, suggesting that selfhood is formed not apart from society, but within and through it.

Austen questions “an established representation of reverie as solitude in the presence of nature.”

Yet, rather than rejecting the social space entirely, Austen reconfigures it. In Elinor’s reverie in the drawing room, Austen shows that introspection and conversation can coexist.

Elinor “does not require actual solitude, only what Austen calls ‘the effect of solitude’.”

This contrasts with Marianne, whose romantic solitude is ultimately dangerous and unsustainable (symbolized by her near-fatal illness in the wet woods).

---

“Marianne was silent and thoughtful.”

+Mrs jennings ‘talked on as usual’

-A powerful inversion of Marianne’s usual exuberance, marking a pivotal moment of internal suffering.

>indicates the depth of her grief

>creates an atmosphere of tension and confusion, in stark contrast to the earlier, openly emotional exchanges between the Dashwood sisters.

-female suffering is internalised and sometimes socially dismissed.

>Elinor, quietly observing Marianne’s distress, becomes a silent moral centre, while Mrs Jennings responds with superficial kindness and comic obliviousness ‘talked on as usual’

-Austen highlights the generational and emotional divide between characters.

>Elinor’s internal suffering is profound, yet repressed, while Mrs Jennings’s emotional range appears limited and flat.

>Forster on flat characters

-Through Austen’s free indirect discourse, we witness Elinor’s internal ‘attack’ of shared suffering.

>Elinor’s love for her sister trumps social etiquette.

screening

-Elinor plays a protective role, shielding Marianne from the brutal gaze of society following Willoughby’s abandonment.

>foregrounds Elinor’s emotional restraint and rational temperament

>Elinor’s attempt to “screen Marianne from society” suggests both compassion and a deeper recognition of how damaging public exposure can be for women

Gilbert+Gubar See Elinor as a proto-feminist figure—her silence becomes a form of resistance

>her restraint a critique of performative femininity.

Terry Eagleton

-Emphasises how propriety and moral authority are socially encoded.

> Elinor operates within this framework but increasingly reveals the emotional cost of such restraint.

Hina Nazaar on gossip

>it can elevate an individual’s status but also destroy them, highlighting society’s failure to act as a moral guardian.

>This is clearly evident in the contrast between Willoughby—still accepted in society despite his cruelty—and Marianne, who is at risk of social ostracism simply for having loved too openly.

>Elaine Bander explains, “Gossip is a favorite pastime in all human societies because knowledge is power” (120). Women used it to exchange vital information—mostly about romance, reputation, and social opportunity.

>casual v intimate gossip can be separated

>Gossip in 18th-century England was not necessarily frivolous; it was informational, strategic, and empowering.

“Elinor’s affection for her sister was so strong, that though she did not justify Marianne, she forgave her.”

(+her compassion more generally)

-post ball

-Shows Elinor’s capacity for compassion, even when reason and propriety are challenged.

GENERALLY

-Though she is “indignant” at Willoughby’s seeming coldness she still attempts to account for his discomfort, noting his “embarrassment” during recent interactions.

>Elinor’s fairness and emotional restraint

> Austen constructs Elinor to appear both morally sound and empathetic, reinforcing her as a voice of reason.

> Her measured evaluation of Willoughby stands in contrast to the impassioned responses of others, particularly Marianne.

CRTICS

Segal ‘a love story between two sisters’

Jan Fergus: Argues that Austen privileges the voice of reason but also critiques its limitations. Elinor is not emotionally invulnerable—she is just better at concealing pain.

Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar

-See Elinor as a proto-feminist figure—her silence becomes a form of resistance

>her restraint a critique of performative femininity.

v

Terry Eagleton

-Emphasises how propriety and moral authority are socially encoded.

> Elinor operates within this framework but increasingly reveals the emotional cost of such restraint.

NEW Anderson on self determination in sense and sense

-When the novel is reduced to a categorical study of two easily contrastable characters, the complexity of Austens heroines is undermined

>though Eli demonstrates more self control that Mari both sisters manifest intense sensibility

>Brann “Mari has a foundation in sense”

>if sensibility refers Todd “the faculty of feeling[…]extremely refined emotions” then Eli always possess these traits ‘she had an excellent heart- her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them’

>while Mark’s “Sensibility” is self centred, theatrical, and imitative, Eli experiences intense emotions but suppresses them

>Mari learns to refine her feelings, Eli learns to emotive openly

-Both sisters are emotionally dependent on men (Mari’s dependence is blatant, Eli’s secret)

>[Mari] needs to be passionately loved ‘could never love by halves; and her whole heart became, in time, as much devoted to her husband’

>Boyd “she is never publicly distraught” a “foolish” act by Mari BUT in private Eli still indulges her “disappointed heart”

>it makes no difference whether the emotions are public ally know or private, they still exist. Neither Eli nor Mari is capable of creating her own happiness

>both perpetually entertaining and romantic notions Eli assumes Ed’s lock of hair in his ring is hers, Mari believes Will has shown her Allenham because it will one day be hers

-both Eli and Mari manifest the dangers of a hieghtened sensibility, whereas characters such as Lucy Steele and her role models [Middleton and Fanny] portray a purely self serving, distorted “Sense”

>Austen clearly does not endorse women’s immersion in sensibility that produces emotional and social vulnerability, neither does she propound the kind of callous, egocentric “sense” that protects women from the whims of fate or circumstance but diminishes their humanity

>sense promotes ones survival in a patriarchal material social landscape they possess unromantic ideals ‘all [their] happiness depends’ on wealth and social status

>Lucy Steele is arguably the chief villain […] although ignorant and unprincipled, she is extremely clever when it comes to securing her social prosperity

>Stone she represents “a parody…of the extremes of common sense- reinterpreted to mean selfish calculation” ‘securing ‘every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience’

-Mrs Jennings and …Palmer- embody the blend of sense with sensibility that the novel depicts as most advantageous to a woman’s well being

>BUT Roberts Mrs Jennings “wonderfully deficient in both sense and sensibility” BUT STFU

>’neither overly sensitive nor emotionless’ ‘embody the perfect measure of sense and sensibility’

>’both women are intellectually marginalised and perceived as absurd and shallow’ ‘in reality they have discovered a way to be happy in themselves’

>Mrs Jennings is not dependent on being surrounded by people; she simply enjoys their company ‘she was not without a settled habitation of her own

>theoriesed that Mr Palmer does not truly despise her but rather that it is a charade

>Not true that Tuite S+s is an “unsentimental novel”

NEW (Mari) ‘His eyes want all that spirit, that fire, which at once announce virtue and intelligence’.  

• This is an assertive, hyperbolic statement, she claims to own the objective view, there is no nuance

• Marianne considers his physical imperfections to be indicators of inferior character’ we are told Edward ‘was not handsome’ and Marianne complains that ‘his figure is not striking’. 

• He has no markers of attractiveness being denied his inheritance  (Edward is given a modest living onBrandon’s estate after a cool reconcilement with Mrs Ferrars, the couple end up financially stable)

• Elinor - the more mature of the two sisters - has always valued Edward for his inner qualities.   

• Women are not the only ones to be judged externally 

• Spirit may indicate fire and sensibility but doesn’t necessarily connect to virtuousness or intelligence

Marianne’s journey, in particular, involves a complete reassessment of her values, before she is able to ‘see’ Willoughby and Brandon correctly

“For Austen, the satisfactions of sensibility exact a heavy price[...]. Marianne, it is true, does fall ill, and this illness serves to reproach Elinor for failing to take her sister's distress seriously.”

Critic

• Claudia Johnson

• This doesnt appear to be where the emphasis lies- it is Marianne who goes through the biggest transformation considering the women in her life and reassessing her values 

• Marianne’s rite of passage requires her to accept that ‘her passionate opinions and principles have been tested by experience and observation and proved false.’  In rejecting her ‘narcissistic subjectivism’, she learns to acknowledge ‘the empirical reality that constitutes a shared world’ [Morris]. Thus that she can be deserving of Brandon) 

• Her worshipping of Sensibility has hindered her throughout the novel- indulging in her grief unnecessarily- and her illness is self inflicted (literally in the sense that she gets sick as a product of her moping which pushed her to frolic in the rain but also a desire to adhere to sentimental convention and sacrifice herself for love) 

• Her reading material even influences what she considers to be attractive in landscapes and weather conditions.  Her preference for wild weather and exhausting solitary walks over challenging, wet terrain leads directly to her injuring her ankle, and later, catching a serious infection. 

NEW ‘her manners had all the elegance which her husband’s wanted’

‘Sir john’s was a sportsman, Lady Middleton a mother’

-Lady Middleton

-Their opposing characters make up for the others deficiencies

>personal development is not necessary- opposite of an ennobling effect

-She has nothing beyond her domestic role, it is equated to his hobby

-indicated to be dull as during moonlight (ideal for travelling) the only guests available to entertain the dashwoods are his mother in law and close friend

‘She was full of jokes and laughter’

-Mrs Jenningss

-As a widow she is arguably the freest woman

-She is benign in her vulgarity and teasing

‘Totally unlike [Lady Middleton]’ ‘short and plump, had a very pretty face and the finest expression of good humour’

-Mrs Palmer

-Like her mother she has a life affirming fullness and a loudness

>they dominate the dpmestic space in a jolly manner

>meant to think more of them than those who have nothing to say (eg Lady Middleton who finds company a ‘necessity’, Nazaar claims because they are so empty)

“Furthermore, as the figurehead, who looks forward, she appears to be leading the way.”

Critic

• Johanna Garvey

• This interpretation appears to be false, as in the description Liz is stripped of agency and personhood, being objectified

• Ships link to masc domination of women as opposed to this alternative, positive reading

• It is clear that her desire for the transgressive and active are quashed by the male view of her

‘this attraction calls forth an opening up, blossoming of the imagination and sparks a new creativity’ ‘Sally’s kiss destabilises the triangular romantic plot between Clarissa, RD, and Peter Walsh’

Critic

• Suzan Harrison

•  There is a contrast between the security and stability of Richard and the excitement for open and emotional expression

• Lesbianism disrupts the tradition archetype of the heterosexual love triangle

"Women often play out resistance to [masculine] authority in sexual terms: as the appropriated objects of men, we seek to disturb the system of patriarchal control through acts of sexual defiance.”

Critic

• Elizabeth Meese

• describes feminine sexuality as the site of rebellion

• Though SS may ‘destabilize the triangular romantic plot” Harrison, her relationship with CD, though containing political awakening, is largely about tenderness, comfort and excitement- Meese places the patriarchy in too central of a position, their relationship may be subversive but it is not defiant

‘narcissistic subjectivism that [seeks] to impose self and its systems upon the world’

In rejecting her ‘narcissistic subjectivism’, she learns to acknowledge ‘the empirical reality that constitutes a shared world’

Critic

• Pam Morris

• She attempts to impose her view on life in the world, assumes Will is virtuous due to their shared traits and his compatibility with the gothic heroes she admires

• What lies underneath Marianne’s preference for Willoughby is a narcissistic assumption that a young man's propensity to agree with all her opinions, and imitate her own tastes is what makes him most attractive and marriageable.  

• The young are perhaps more susceptible to this form of narcissism than the more mature characters, who have more experience with opposing views

• To the more mature female mind the most attractive qualities in a man - core values which make him truly ‘marriageable’ - should be kindness, integrity and loyalty- Brandon’s inner worth is central to the plot’s scheme of rewards and punishments. 

• There is room within a good marriage for superficial differences of taste and outlook - as we find between Marianne and Brandon - but core values such as kindness and integrity must be shared (to find an imitation of yourself is narcissistic)

• It is an attitude that Austen seeks to correct in her (slightly) younger heroine, Marianne (she reasses her value)

•  Marianne’s rite of passage requires her to accept that ‘her passionate opinions and principles have been tested by experience and observation and proved false.’  In rejecting her ‘narcissistic subjectivism’, she learns to acknowledge ‘the empirical reality that constitutes a shared world’ [Morris].

external ‘obstacles’, based on social injustice, must be overcome by the heroine of every Austen novel, before she can be ‘rewarded’ with the happy ending of marriage. 

Critic

• Professor Alan Mullan

• In contrast, Woolf’s novel opens with the heroine’s unsatisfactory experience within marriage. 

• Women in Woolf’s world are trained to internalise societal expectations of beauty and youth: physical attractiveness is central not only to the ‘male gaze’ (Berger), but to a woman’s view of herself and others.

• AN

a woman should be ‘half the age of her husband with seven years added’. 

Critic

• Locker-Lampson’s ‘Patchwork’ 1879

• The dominant perspective pushed a younger wife as youth and beauty are intrinsically linked for women but this results in greater immaturity and a need for greater guidance (encouraging paternalistic marriages)

• The marriage outcome of Marianne’s plotline may seem to reinforce this- the older man exerting a stabilising influence on the younger, less experienced woman. 

Littleton Clarissa’s “gatherings serve as… Creative acts of social artistry“

“Woolf is concerned… With the absolutely private mental world of a woman who, according to the patriarchal idea… Was not imagine to have any artistic feeling at all. “

“an individual, feminine power, fundamentally exposed to the male dominated social order is the source of her feelings of human affliction“

Critic

•  this links to the lack of education, her age and status, which would prevent her from gaining any kind of cultural awareness, leading to greater assumptions that she is on creative.

• As she has “selected“ a conventional life. These inadept may be unexpected.

• She criticises a metric of judging human character on the basis of external measures which are coherent with in a patriarchal framework.

• The stream of consciousness style facilitates this.

•  Clarissa seems to contemplate her status as a woman in a offhanded manner, and wolf select an ordinary upper middle-class woman to make this point more universal I’m not overly radical

-Clarissa seems to conform outwardly, Littleton sees a quiet radicalism in her:

> “Clarissa’s ‘actual’ existence \[...] is an unrecognized but fundamental contradiction of traditional assumptions about gender.”

> Though her truths may seem “apolitical”, the novel reveals that her loneliness and containment result from patriarchal control. Still, her interior life resists:

> “An individual feminine power \[...] is the source of her feelings of human affiliation.”

>by giving Clarissa the introspective complexity usually reserved for male protagonists, Woolf “destabilizes gender boundaries” and

 Elaine Showalter “Clarissa… She has internalised the medical attitudes which saw the change of life as a hopeless process of decline.

Critic

acknowledges that some modern readers are disappointed in the way the older, stable (and some feel, dull) Colonel Brandon is given the young, beautiful Marianne in marriage as a ‘reward for all’ - a gift to repay all ‘his sorrows and their obligations’ 

Critic

• Magee

• ΒUT Austen presents the marriage of Marianne to Brandon in a predominantly positive light as “widening” her sphere of influence (Nazaar) and being a reward for Mari’s personal development

“Clarissa has chosen the life she leads when she married Richard instead of Peter, and she does not repudiate that life. She seems to herself to depend upon Richard for her very survival[…] [women like CD their] cultures have denied them an intellectual idom”

Critic

• Vereen M Bell

• She may not ‘repudiate’ her decisions but she does question them

• While these women were limited it feels reductive to imply they lack ‘intellectual idom’ (expression)- we see women expressing themselves still, just in a less traditional, masculine manner

“pictures of perfection, make me sick, and wicked”

Critic

• Not idealised portrayals, each heroine is deliberately created as flawed.  

• Elinor, needs to rebalance noble restraint and self-effacement with fuller, more truthful emotional expression. Marianne’s maturation process/rite of passage involves a more radical shift, as we have seen. 

• The inner strength of her imperfect heroines, as they correct mistakes and face personal challenges, is central to the reader’s process of identification. 

• Flawed heroines signal a move away from the 18^th and early 19^th century’s destructive idealisation of both women’s beauty and moral goodness/formulaic heroines in novels of sentiment  towards a new, more realistic and fluid presentation of feminine identity.  

• Heroines are endearing Mullan (AO5), because they ‘keep getting it very, very wrong’ (Mullan) 

• We may view Austen’s characterisation of Elinor and Marianne in ‘S&S’ as a direct response to the formulaic heroines of the ‘novel of sentiment’,which Austen later ridiculed in her 1816 sketch: ‘Heroine - perfectly good - no wit - no foibles.  Morally impeccable, even if tricked.’  This sketch highlights Austen’s commitment to creating a strong inner life for her heroines: flawed but fluid beings, whostrive continuously to get things right.  According to Mullan, Austen positions the reader so that she/he ‘shares’ and ‘owns’ the mistakes her heroines make.

“the label of mother unifies a female population[...] but the label of motherhood “does little other than provide an impossible system of measurement “

Critic

• Destiny Cornelison

• We are led to be more sympathetic for Mrs Dashwood, who is still in the immediacy of her own grief, and lacks a father figure for her daughters, but we are still meant to feel greater empathy for Eleanor, who is not allowed to feel her own grief, but assume a parental role

• though she may have indulged Marianne and neglected Eli she is given opportunities to gain self awareness and redemption, and in crisis we say her good heart conquers her self indulgence “could be calm, could be even prudent when the life of a child was at stake“ (Marie instinctively calls her mother to her sickbed )

• We see this in the interactions between mothers in MD, SS + CD being united in spite of their maternal positions

‘Identity is first formed in the home.  How a child is defined by the parents, […] and how a child sees himself or herself in relation to his or her siblings all work together to form a self-concept […]  ‘This competition [for attention] may be encouraged, albeit unconsciously, by the parents, for in Austen’s novels many do play favorites. ”

Critic

• Stephanie M. Eddleman

• Eddleman claims these attitudes push siblings into stifling roles

• According to sociologists Bank and Kahn, “there is only one person who can occupy a certain psychological space in a family at any one time.”

• Each child is encouraged to occupy a different role in the household (sensitive v rational)- this psychoanalytical lens can clarify how the women fall into rigid characterisation and the misconceptions over who is capable of authentic and passionate feeling

•     The families in JA are viewed as “Darwinian micro environments” CN in which siblings compete for attention (that will help them have a successful life arguably giving them favourable marriages, although this isn’t always the case, feed excessive pride)

• Parents play clear favourites, most are drawn to children who exhibit valued traits, especially beautiful

•  BUT the sensibility promoted by Mrs Dashwood is a key part of all her daughters identities, and though she does devote more intention to mari this is not based on her slightly superior beauty but on their shared romantic sensibility (though her radiant beauty is linked to her self image as a sentimental heroine)

“Austen makes clear that the old patriarchy cannot be replaced by a matriarchy’ since’ Mrs. Dashwood seems less like Elinor’s mother than like a younger sister.’

Critic

• Nazaar

• “[Mrs Dashwood] now found that she had erred in relying on Elinor’s representation of herself; and justly concluded that [Elinor’s pain] had been expressly softened at the time, to spare her from an increase of unhappiness” “was shocked to perceive by Elinor’s countenance how much she really suffered, and in a moment afterwards, alike distressed by Marianne’s situation, knew not on which child to bestow her principal attention”

• Austen critiques (and in PP) mothers who lack insight and self restraint, forcing their sensible daughters into a parental role

• She also examines mothers who are excessively indulgent and we see how motherhood, due to its elevated significance, is a means of manipulation

“Kindliness [was] sacrificed for toughness, imagination for firmness”

Critic

• Bertrand Russel

• This plays into “Muscular christianity”- an English philosophical movement that was characterised by moral and physical athleticism, compassion, patriotic duty and self-sacrifice

• That gave way to secular and aggressive ideas of ‘stoic endurance, forbearance of pain, suppression of sentiment’ (Roper), there was a shift, with the decline of religion, towards emotional restraint with less significance on spiritual goodness

•  In an era of international commercial competition, imperial dominance, and military threat

• Public schools educated them in ‘manly independence’, removed from domestic comforts and placed in Spartan settings to toughen them, and were prepared in militaristic institutions such as boy scouts

imagination and kindliness relegated as weak and feminine

 masculinity is ‘body and soul, outward appearance and inward virtue were supposed to form one harmonious whole’

Critic

• Mosse

• In the late Victorian period it was the appearance of a singular, ‘hegemonic masculinity’, that was valued (complete balance)

• HOWEVER the external (physical appearance and performance) were how internal qualities were judged, the focus was on the external qualities (nervous complaints were treated by physical exercise -Michel Cohen ‘bodily exertion was the means to a sound mind’), and war was the ultimate test of masculinity

• (although, when Freud  gained national popularity (infiltrated through magazine not more intellectual spheres) mid 1920s there was a shift to focus on the internal, though his core teachings on sexual repression being overlooked, shellshock was attributed rather to clash between instinct to preserve live and social/military duty)

•  Freud’s influence is incredibly notable as manliness was viewed as perfectible, but Freuds teachings that personality was impacted by early influences and sexual repressions leading to an unstable and ununified individual

• Post war memoirs and lit focused on the diversity and complexity of emotional reactions to war > masculine subjectivityMosse

Moral reeducation aimed to “make clear to her how she is to regain and preserve dominance over her emotions” and patients promised to fight “every desire to cry, or twitch or grow excited” 

Critic

• Mitchell

• Women were considered too emotionally expressive and this was believed to weaken their physical endurance, thus they were encouraged to partake in STOICISM

• The self sacrificing maternal role was considered a factor in the disorders and they were encouraged to suppress those instincts

• The women were also encouraged not to share emotions for fear of boring, worsening the disorders, or indulging emotional excess in a self absorbed manner

• Believed women’s behaviour should conform more with masc values, rational ordered

“the central unit of British society was the family. It’s important as the foundation of all social life and order cannot be overstated“

Critic

• Frank O’Gorman

• The mother (biological or substitute) is given the main responsibility for organising the household and children, he highlights the irony of doing this as men “assume [women] to be in of inferior, intellectual ability… Inferior, moral strength” as seen in the femme

• Destiny Cornelison builds on this to suggest mothers was set up to fail, as they could not live up to the expectations of perfection for mothers in the 19th century > very few maternal figures in Austin novels, managed to balance financial practicality, moral education, and emotional support.

“by emphasising the heroes marital status in her title, Woolf draws attention to the way MD is an ordinary woman of her time, defined in terms of her husband, her identity submerged in his, even her first name erased by her social signature

Critic

• Elaine Showalter

 marriage is “represented by Austin is compatible with a widening of the sphere of influence be on the home”

Critic

• Nazaar

• as seen in the treatment of marital relations, Marianne, with Colonel Brandon is “she becomes not only “a wife “and the mistress of a family But also “the patron of a village“ this more public role for her would appear to be a token of her great immaturity

• In her illness she declared “I shall now live solely for my family““- her future is one far beyond that which is only facilitated by the support she received in the domestic sphere 

• Magee acknowledges that some modern readers are disappointed in the way the older, stable (and some feel, dull) Colonel Brandon is given the young, beautiful Marianne in marriage as a ‘reward for all’ - a gift to repay all ‘his sorrows and their obligations’  ΒUT Austen presents the marriage of Marianne to Brandon in a predominantly positive light.

(CD ‘Because it was silly to have reasons for doing things. Much rather, would she have been one of those people like Richard, who did things for themselves’

• This is an interesting comparison as Richard works as a politician, does she underestimate him– reflecting how your mind is a prison, as you cannot access another perspective– or is this a critique on the Conservatives?

• It is socially ingrained in Clarissa to feel as a product of someone’s gaze.

• Clarissa is aware of the social response to how she behaves, this image consciousness is ingrained in women who are valued for their appearance.

• AN

‘Suddenly Elizabeth stepped forward and most competently boarded the omnibus, in front of everybody. She took a seat on top. The impetuous creature—a pirate’

‘And now it was like riding [...] the beautiful body in the fawn-coloured coat responded freely like a rider, like the figure-head of a ship [...] having no eyes to meet, gazed ahead, blank, bright, with the staring incredible innocence of sculpture.’

• Her actions inherently suggest political defiance – as she is acting transgressive for a woman, so her actions appear intentional and exciting.

• The bus is compared to a “pirate“/ship, reflecting its ability to facilitate Elizabeth’s adventures

• Candis E Bond suggests Liz has greater agency “ While Clarissa rides with Peter companionably,’ Liz is in ‘an active political defiance”

• The sentence reflects how men reduce her in their mind – she begins as an active figure, but throughout the sentence turns passive and objectified.

• “Fawn-coloured coat“ reflects the pervasiveness of this comparison – she still retains identifiers that signal vulnerability – and alternate perception of this could be her wearing the perceptions intentionally, however, Elizabeth does not have the agency to do this, and to reclaim these ideas.

• There is a dissociative quality to the description of ‘the body’ – links to “the body she wore”

• The “figurehead” is a being who is traditionally feminine, who lacks agency.

• No one engages inwardly with her

   “I did myself, the honour… Find yourselves and Mrs Jennings… My card was not lost I hope.” 

“I had the pleasure of receiving the information of your arrival in town”

• Willoughby

•  There is bathos in his politeness, which is meaningless.

• He refuses to address the letters, instead, reducing them to mere information, ignoring their personal elements.

• He uses formulaic conventional language and phrasing in order to shift from the questions, and to appear polite as he is in a social setting. His reference to Mrs Jennings plays against Elinor’s early critique of him as being overly and inappropriately focused on Marianne  

• He replaces the letters she asks about with cards. He ignores the question, and suggests that the letters were merely information when they were deeply personal.

• She is revealed that he lacks integrity with his external actions Going against and not reflecting his internal motivation is contrasting with Marianne, who is incapable of suppressing either

•  Sensibility resulting from Tony Tanners, ascribed internal instability clashes with the rigidity of societal expectations, and results in public, humiliation and miscommunication 

• The politeness and directness of Will’s letters despite its insincerity contrasts with Mari’s passionate sincerity despite its transgressiveness reveals Will’s lack of integrity and compellingly presents issues of communication

• Will Mari Social decorum  

(Eli) his influence over her mind was heightened by circumstances which ought not in reason to have weight; - by that person of uncommon attraction, that open, affectionate and lively manner, which it was no merit to possess.’ 

• She acknowledges her pity for him

• Even wise Elinor, knowing all she knows about Will’s actions, admits after their final meeting that Willoughby’s charisma/external charm weaves a spell over anyone he talks to.  

• Shows the power of Beauty and charm however in Elinor/Austen’s eyes it has no merit - we're in danger of responding unthinkingly being too influenced by values of sensibility, rather than guided by our sense/reason. 

• This idea is explored with astute Elizabeth Bennet falling victim to the allure of male beauty (believes Wickam’s(dishonest) testimony only because she considers Wickham the more attractive of the two.)

EARLIER AT THE PARTY

• Though she is “indignant” at Willoughby’s seeming coldness

  she considers his “embarrassment”

  >illustrates Elinor’s fairness and emotional restraint

  >highlights Austen’s subtle suggestion that emotions cannot always be governed by rationality.

  > Austen constructs Elinor to appear both morally sound and empathetic, reinforcing her as a voice of reason.

  > Her measured evaluation of Willoughby stands in contrast to the impassioned responses of others, particularly Marianne

Claudia L Johnson “‘Romanticism was a widespread movement [...] which valued the concepts of emotion, individualism and freedom. [...] In the ‘sentimental novel’ of this period, sensibility was the quality most admired in literary heroes and heroines.’

Critic

 These heroines were typically romantic, innocent young girls

Austen's witty novel takes this sensitive heroine-figure and displaces her – instead of being in a novel that glorifies emotion and sentimentality, Marianne is stuck in the real world, a place of money, practical marriages, and common sense.

Her decision to marry Colonel Brandon is the ultimate practical step in her life

Jane Austen put quite as much of herself into Marianne as into Elinor- the divided self
Critic

• Tony Tanner

• Though Eli’s perspective is prioritised as hailed more consistently, both undergo development, and Mari connects to autobiographical details- Marianne's favourite author's align with Austen's

  >the narrator is generally aligned with Eli’s pers, being as ignorant on WxM’s status

marriage was a ‘gift exchange between men’ with female beauty being ‘the most valuable commodity’

Critic

• Gayle Rubin- coomodity

• Encourages rivalry and competitiveness between women (like competing businesses)

• Men fear Mari will lose her beauty ‘the bloom of youth’

• Lucy’s motives for marrying Edward are entirely financial—"I am afraid she is not really attached to him"

  v Elinor and Marianne struggle for marriages based on mutual affection and moral integrity.

“Austen’s central concern with independent judgment … present us with a rapidly changing social order in which the young women of the gentry acquire unprecedented responsibilities.” “the Dashwood sisters must begin to worry not only about money but also about their non-pecuniary interests, since there are no patriarchal figures”

Critic

• Hina Nazar

• Eli is already skilled in independent judgement, whereas Mari is too easily influenced by both her novels of sentiment and those who fit those values (Mari must evolve to be more like her sister to be better suited for the larger world)

• Although JA does emphasise the significance of individuality, she is not against conformity (and Mari is rewarded for ditching her unconventional desires and tendencies by marrying a socially acceptable fellow)

  >includes adherence to “the norms of propriety,”

  >duality—individual moral development vs. social conformity—is central to Sense and Sensibility.

• society cannot be trusted to protect them either. Tony tanner has argued that the tension between the rigidity of societal expectations and the instability of individuality is the novels central question.

• Many JA novels struggle with the question of adhering to Social decorum (as done by CD)

• Dashwoods gain unprecedented worries (eg financial) in the absence of a patriarch, as due to the changing social fabric chivalry is less prévenant, meaning men can no longer be relied on for protection and to replace unfit patriarchs, meaning the law should change to protect women by affording them the agency to protect themself

“John Dashwood, exemplifies the new economic man and is unwilling to assume the traditional role of the male guardian”

Critic

• Hina Nazar

• “not only deaf to the call of kinship … also dismissive of the old norms of chivalry,”

• Patriarchs in JA are either dead, leaving the children to women, or otherwise unfit

• Facilitate her critique of Regency’s confidence in male chivalry to protect women which have led them not to implement safety features to provide safety for the women

claimed motherhood is more than a job as ‘holidays are not feasible’, family must be viewed as ‘an extension of her personality’ and said ‘the education we give the girl is for herself alone, for her own edification, her own amusement’ AND THIS SILLINESS MUST STOP

Critic

Times educational supplement

 ‘modern education […] neither fitted [helping] girls to become the helpmeet of the working man nor for an independent economic and social responsibility’

Critic

Catherine Webb wrote in 1906 Uni Review

There were questions on the effectiveness of ‘domestic education of girls remaining at elementary’ ‘would not such a tuition be forgotten’ ‘was the training a smokescreen for the production of young domestic servants? The Board of education expressly denied this’

‘She inclined to be passive.[...] for she never seemed excited, she looked almost beautiful, very stately, very serene. What could she be thinking? Every man fell in love with her, and she was really awfully bored.’

• Her impassivity allows for men to project onto her – from a distance, she appears powerful and alluring

• There is an emotional distance between her and her mother – this contrasts with the Dashwood, who are united by their similarities and experiences – however, Elizabeth is able to leave “the drawing room“ so these bonds are less necessary

‘People must notice; people must see[…] She looked at the crowd. Help, help! She wanted to cry out[…]But failure one conceals’      

(Rez)

• She focused on external perceptions, as her position and identity as a wife is tied to him.

• She expresses shame, feelings she has failed in her duties as a wife.

• Due to his illness, Lucrezia must manage and take care of Septimus, pushing her into the role of a mother, or a nurse, which is a role reversal.

'How she had gone through life on the few twigs, of knowledge… she knew nothing; no language, no history’

• Clarissa

• She lacks substantial education, suggested by the reference to twigs, which have fallen from a larger entity – this reflects women’s subsidiary position, and reliance on men to gain scraps of information, though they may have a more holistic view

 (Rez) ‘Tomorrow was nobody. Her words  faded. So a rocket fades. It’s sparks, having grazed their way into the night’

• Her words are compared to sparks that fade, though unsuccessful, and unacknowledged, the very act of attempting creation and expression is viewed as impactful, and as beautiful as the sparks.

• She exists in the darkness of individual thought, unexpressed, and unnoted

‘but that fibre which was the ramrod of her soul, that essential part of her without which Millicent Bruton would not have been Millicent Bruton; that project for emigrating’

• Bruton

• Her deepest self (that which is meant to be sacred and abstract) is consumed by her work which feels trivial comparatively (the sentence crescendo builds to this affect of bathos)

• This passion feels like the impact of her femininity on this masculine topic

• Feels like an avenue to express her inner self- Clarissa’s party on a larger, political, scale

• (RD places less significance on it They had been writing a letter to the Times for Millicent Bruton. That was about all Hugh was fit for.)

PW following woman ‘The very woman he had always had in mind; young, but stately; merry, but discreet; black, but enchanting’

‘She was not worldly, like Clarissa; not rich, like Clarissa.‘

‘he was an adventurer, reckless, he thought, swift, daring, indeed (landed as he was last night from India) a romantic buccaneer’

• Tricolon of contradictions- the fictive idealised woman impossibly embodies ideal states

• The feminine ideal is a male authored fantasty (pygmalion) 

• He places himself egocentrically at the centre of her world and suggests a shared intimacy between them, believing she's ‘whispered through hollowed hands his name’

• The adjectives do not serve her but him

• These traits are both socially acceptable and attractive

• To maintain the illusion he must do no more than creepily follow her and never talk (flâneur>projection)

• Peter’s desperation to find an ideal woman is conveyed by his willingness to observe a passerby claiming that she has these qualities even though there is no evidence. 

• ‘she’s young’ which ties into the societal pressure for a wife to be young CN .adventurer- he seems to associate marriage with aging, conforming to traditional convention, and limiting his youthful freedom.

• She is not a threat like CD with her successful life and personality nor to his personal self as he has no substantial attachment to the woman

• She is not obtrusive enough to make him feel inferior

• This woman would possess admirable qualities but not to the excess (balance he desires emphasises the impossibility of the male standard eg Imagines her as entertaining but not loud)

• Describes himself in an exaggeratedly heroic way, he see himself going against convention (which Richard exemplifies) (formal socialising, the hobbies and the domesticity)

PW following woman ‘”You," she said, only "you," saying it with her white gloves and her shoulders. Then the thin long cloak which the wind stirred as she walked past Dent's shop in Cockspur Street blew out with an enveloping kindness, a mournful tenderness’

• Peter enjoys projecting his desires onto her (her gestures+clothing)

• Female speech subsumed to the language of gesture- the unspoken is all he needs (finds speech encoded in her appearance, can fill in the gaps of what he WANTS her to say, she remains a silent entity to reflect the male psyche back, either flattering or condemnation (TS Elliott))

• He parrallels being singled out (sexual man) but we also see, through the warmth he envisions a maternal longing (extension of Peter Pan complex and Madonna whore dichotomy)

‘The very woman he had always had in mind; young, but stately; merry, but discreet; black, but enchanting’

‘”You," she said, only "you," saying it with her white gloves and her shoulders. ‘

‘This escapade with the girl, made up, as one makes up the better part of life’

• Visually and conceptually our self views are inaccurate and filtered through our lived experiences 

• We are not immune to outside influences

• Woolf explores how identity is constructed (a modernist preoccupation)

• Peter stalking girl

• Tricolon of contradictions- the fictive idealised woman impossibly embodies ideal states

• The feminine ideal is a male authored fantasty (pygmalion) 

• He places himself egocentrically at the centre of her world and suggests a shared intimacy between them, believing she's ‘whispered through hollowed hands his name’

• The adjectives do not serve her but him

• These traits are both socially acceptable and attractive

• To maintain the illusion he must do no more than creepily follow her and never talk (flâneur>projection)

• ties into the societal pressure for a wife to be young

• Peter enjoys projecting his desires onto her (her gestures+clothing)

• Female speech subsumed to the language of gesture- the unspoken is all he needs (finds speech encoded in her appearance, can fill in the gaps of what he WANTS her to say, she remains a silent entity to reflect the male psyche back, either flattering or condemnation (TS Elliott))

• He parrallels being singled out (sexual man) but we also see, through the warmth he envisions a maternal longing (extension of Peter Pan complex and Madonna whore dichotomy)

• Visually and conceptually our self views are inaccurate and filtered through our lived experiences 

• We are not immune to outside influences

• Woolf explores how identity is constructed (a modernist preoccupation)

‘After a morning's battle beginning, [...] she used to feel the futility of her own womanhood as she felt it on no other occasion, and would turn gratefully to the thought of Hugh Whitbread who possessed—no one could doubt it—the art of writing letters to the Times.’

• Bruton

• Hugh, being a simple inoffensive conventional man, is the ideal diplomat

• The letter is a bridge between the domestic and public- a statement of her political intentions declared from her jhome

• She is moving beyond subtle influences, and the significance of this issue to her (the essential part of her) makes it like an expression of her truest self- hence her nervousness

• She views her femininity as a hindernace to her advancement, cannot engage in the masculine sphere as fluidly 

• Modernists often question if there is a way to write femininely, but Woolf seems to suggest, through Bruton’s need for male assistance, that the lexicon of the public sphere is inherently masculine (perhaps due to their holistic education)

• There is a sense of masculine domination in the passage over her opinions, reducing them and making them palatable

(CD) ‘this body she wore[…] She had the odd sense of being herself, invisible and unknown; there, being no more marrying, no more, having of children now, but only this’ ‘not even Clarissa anymore; this being Mrs Richard Dalloway’

‘she had just broken into her fifty-second year’

• Clarissa

• Her own body feels ill fitting. She has greater control over how she dresses, and how she appears

• She feels as though her body and self are disconnected the society has them intrinsically linked

• This feeling of invisibility contrasts with Septimus, who feels scrutinised in the situation.

• Her loss of identity and purpose links to how she resents men for squandering their own opportunities.

• The focus on her loss of identity that occurs with marriage and motherhood reveals the sense of obsolescence. Now that she has performed her role which was always limited to her youth inherently.

• She has internalised societies idea of her own worthlessness.

 Elaine Showalter “Clarissa… She has internalised the medical attitudes which saw the change of life as a hopeless process of decline.

‘Narrower and narrower would her bed be. The candle was half burnt’

• Clarissa

• Claustrophobic image of a life growing increasingly constricted

• Duality of comfort and confining (swaddled)

• Memento Mori

‘“A woman of seven-and-twenty,”, said Marianne “[…] can never hope to feel or inspire affection again”’

• Arbitrarily assigns an age where it is impossible to inspire attraction

• She looks at women through the ‘male lens’ and plays into Bergers idea of women being the observed ‘earliest childhood […] has been taught and persuaded to survey herself continually’

• BUT According to Pam Morris what lies underneath Marianne’s preference for Willoughby is a narcissistic assumption that a young man's propensity to agree with all her opinions, and imitate her own tastes is what makes him most attractive and marriageable-‘narcissistic subjectivism’ (young are susceptible).  

• Austen attempts to correct this

• Marianne’s journey involves a complete reassessment of her values, before she is able to ‘see’ Willoughby and Brandon correctly. 

• She initially considers Brandon - a man of thirty-five, of rather dull and dreary appearance to be ‘an old bachelor’, wholly unsuitable for marriage +praised Willoughby based on a rather superficial, naive appreciation of his aesthetic attractiveness, youth and charisma.  

• To the more mature, discerning female mind, Austen suggests, the most attractive qualities in a man - core values which make him truly ‘marriageable’ - should be kindness, integrity and loyalty.  

• There is room within a good marriage for superficial differences of taste and outlook - as we find between Marianne and Brandon - but core values such as kindness and integrity must be shared.

• Revelation of Brandon’s colourful past reveal that, in his youth, Brandon in fact manifested many of the qualities of an attractive romantic hero, which Marianne so deeply admires in the romantic fiction she reads, and so foolishly projects onto Will

‘she has never seen the sense of cutting people up, as Clarissa Dalloway did[…] not at any rate when one was 62’ ‘had the reputation of being more interested in politics than people; of talking like a man’

• Bruton

• She implicitly attributes Clarissa’s expressions of creativity to the work of a younger woman- she views it as a purposeful pursuit when in the search for a husband

• She too reduces her artistry to something less sophisticated (cutting up seems arbitrary, a childish image, as though led by arbitrary curiosity)

• Bruton engages in the social to push her political agenda, whereas Clarissa does the inners, they are foils for each other, navigating the upper class sphere in contrasting manners to emphasise the diversity of female experiance

‘She's grown older, he thought, sitting down. I shan't tell her anything about it, he thought, for she's grown older.’ 

• Peter comments on the extent to which Clarissa has changed through ageing, contrasting this with Clarissa's emphasis on how little he has changed

• The repetition of ‘grown older’ (framing his thoughts- epanadiplosis) emphasises his difficulty overcoming this observation

• This contrasts with Mrs Dalloway’s response to Peter’s ageing process: ‘Exactly the same, thought Clarissa; the same queer look; the same check suit; a little out of the straight, his face is a little thinner, dryer, perhaps, but he looks awfully well, and just the same.’ 

• (By repeating the adjectival phrase ‘the same’) Woolf emphasises a perceived continuity and stability in male identity despite the ageing process as women are willing to look past their physicality to their essence, whereas men disregard the inner life of women wishing for physical consistency 

• Woolf emphasises a perceived continuity and stability inmale identity despite the ageing proces!

• This fascination with youth is notable for Peter- a man who denies his age, both literally insisting ‘no! no!’ ‘I am not old’ and performing a youthful role as an unattached

• This attitude is echoed in the narrative if S+S, though Mari may initially view brandon as an ‘old bachelor’ and expresses disinterest, this attitude is corrected by the narrative, this reflects the convention in austen’s time

‘She was like a bird sheltering under the thin hollow of a leaf,[...]She was exposed… and why should she suffer? Why?’

(and contrasting Sept quote)

• Rez

• Bird symbolism is stripped of trad connotations of freedom- women frequently compared (MD has a touch of the bird about her, she is beaked) women capacity for freedom unacheavable

• Woolf foregrounds her vulnerability with this simile as a result of the failure of both men in her life and the institutions that are intended to protect her

• Mirrors the beginning of S+S where men abnegate their roles as protectors 

Sept ‘She was a flowering tree; and through her branches looked out the face of a lawgiver’

• He used her as a beautiful feature of nature, who is currently coming into Bloom.

• This is a grounded image of strength, contrasting with a comparison of women to often immature parts of nature – here she is developed, and this does not undermine her beauty

• He views her as a source of protection, recalling back to her desire for the same expressed in the image of her as a bird under a leaf

‘At her time of life, anything of an illness destroys the bloom forever!' 

• John Dashwood’s concern reveals his/society’s confinement of women’s identity within rigid expectations of physical perfection, youth and innocence.

• John’s insensitive comments + callous objectification of Mari reveal his self-interest 

• He treats her beauty as a commodity, displaying no authentic concern for her traumatic experience of heartbreak and illness.  

• ‘bloom’ reveals a fascination with underdeveloped, immature women, supporting a paternalistic relationship between the sexes- image is used by Austen to indicate male fear that a woman’s commercial value is threatened by illness 

• We may also interpret illness in Austen as a metaphor for life’s scarring (educational experiences - through which we learn and develop) > John (dominant social view) wishes to preserve a young woman’s unspoilt perfection, since illness, and neg experience, can age a young woman prematurely (spoil her market value).  

• Austen makes it clear that it is through experiences that her heroines are able to grow and progress. > Marianne views her illness as an opportunity: ‘My illness has made me think- it has given me leisure and calmness for serious recollection’ 

• Behind John Dashwood’s financially-motivated desire to keep Marianne unspoilt, we infer a desire to freeze the female in a state of “perfect” immaturity, innocence and inexperience; there is no interest, here, in the concept of a woman’s fluid, evolving personality.  

• LINKS TO Woolf’s use of nature imagery for Liz Both texts use imagery of young or even partly-developed natural forms to define a woman’s state of physical and psychological perfection. 

• Her beauty survives, though the sickness does change her.  (Contrast with Mrs Dalloway’s illness)  

Key Example: John Dashwood's Comment on Marianne

• John Dashwood, a paragon of “respectability”, says of Marianne:
  “There was something in her style of beauty, to please [men] particularly.” (SS 227)
  

• On the surface, it’s a harmless comment. But:
  He’s saying this while believing she’s dying of romantic disappointment.
  

Johnson “The physical degeneration of the injured heroine, far from being profoundly regretted, is profoundly wished.”

“By dying, the heroine does not defy social codes governing the conduct of good girls... rather, those codes themselves insist upon and anxiously collude in an enfeeblement that leads to her decease.”

• Conservative morality doesn’t just judge women who suffer for love — it relies on their suffering and weakness to uphold its ideal of femininity.

• The heroine’s beauty is made more appealing through her suffering. Marianne’s degeneration isn’t just a sad consequence — it’s subtly eroticized

“she becomes not only “a wife “and the mistress of a family But also “the patron of a village“

Critic

this more public role for her would appear to be a token of her great immaturity

Nazaar marriage is “represented by Austen is compatible with a widening of the sphere of influence be on the home”

In her illness she declared “I shall now live solely for my family““- her future is one far beyond that which is only facilitated by the support she received in the domestic sphere 

Magee acknowledges that some modern readers are disappointed in the way the older, stable (and some feel, dull) Colonel Brandon is given the young, beautiful Marianne in marriage as a ‘reward for all’ - a gift to repay all ‘his sorrows and their obligations’  ΒUT Austen presents the marriage of Marianne to Brandon in a predominantly positive light.

“I question whether Marianne NOW, will marry a man worth more than five or six hundred a-year, at the utmost, and I am very much deceived if YOU do not do better.”

• John Dashwood

• His obsession with money and overlooking of his sister’s complexities is presented satirically

• Austen foreground this perspective on Marianne’s beauty, in his speech to Elinor to expose it through savage irony

• ‘Do better’ he defines female success by the financial position of husbands who they acquire as a result of beauty (they dont have the agency to be successful of their own fruition > MD obsession with motherhood)

• William Magee marriage was ‘virtually the only career open to women’ in Austen’s day > encouraged competition

• John reduces Marianne’s whole identity as a woman to the question of how the family will recover from a potential financial loss, should her sickness scar her and make her less marriageable.  

• His shallowness is clear in his attempt to transfer Marianne’s marriage prospect - Colonel Brandon - onto Elinor (he doesn’t recognise the intricacies of compatibility)

• The physical degeneration of the injured heroine is profoundly wished (not regretted) as by dying, ‘the heroine does not defy social codes governing the conduct of good girls, as conservative moralists of that time would have it; rather, those codes themselves insist upon and anxiously collude in an enfeeblement that leads to her decease.’ (Argued by Johnson)

•  Behind John Dashwood’s financially-motivated desire to keep Marianne unspoilt, we may infer a desire to freeze the female in a state of “perfect”

BUT at this point in the narrative, John & family don’t actually fear Marianne is dyingwould

 "Happy had it been if she had not lived to overcome those regrets which the remembrance of me occasioned”

• To Brandon, Eliza's troubles begin with her failure to die in a timely manner.

• Her resilience to her romantic attachment and her refusal to die prevent her from being a traditional heroine- instead forming adulterous attachments and is finally left to degenerate into a poverty, sin and putrescence so

• Brandon would have preferred death had placed her far outside of the reach of all men

•  The Eliza’s stories are taken over by men post relationship destruction BY MEN , completely stripped of agency

she looked pale, mysterious, like a lily, drowned, under water

• Sept uses floral imagery to romanticise Rez’s signs of suffering

• ‘Drowned’ suggests a latent awareness of her pains

• The pleasing aesthetic impression of Rez is foregrounded

• Later Sally will compare Liz to a lily and it will continue to be used to overlook the depths of women in favour of their beauty

• Fallen woman

‘Lady Bruton replied. "He helped me to write a letter.”

(Lady Bruton detested illness in the wives of politicians.)

[...] she could never think of anything to say to Clarissa [...] It might have been better if Richard had married a woman with less charm’

• Lady Bruton throws herself into a male sphere attempting to do it on their terms – Clarissa, by contrast includes herself in the male social realm on her own terms, organising events where she dominates.

• Her view on illness linked to her comments traditional femininity as a weakness – her comment suggests her aversion to marriage as a risk of inhibiting their husband – reflecting a view of women, not as individuals nearly as burdens, suggesting some internalised misogyny that she possesses not being able to recognise women’s individuality and prioritising the husband above them.

• Like sir Bradshaw‘s wife was meant to help by being subdued into her husband as there was an expectation for wives to be extensions of their partners and only exist to assist them as opposed to having independent endeavours.

• The mode of artistic expression is presented the detrimental to this and Richard‘s career, as not expected to have their own duties and devices

"What I felt [...]and dying too, believing me the greatest villain upon earth, scorning, hating me in her latest moments" when leaving "I had seen Marianne's sweet face as white as death [...] it was a kind of comfort to me to imagine that I knew exactly how she would appear" 

Willoughby

• He envisions himself as being integral to her thoughts on her death bed- an excuse for him centring her illness around him

• reveals a disturbing sense of ownership over Marianne’s emotions and narrative. His phrasing reduces her forgiveness to a transaction meant to soothe his own conscience

  >parallels Rochester’s belief in Jane Eyre that Jane must forgive and save him, a pattern Brontë eventually dismantles when Jane chooses to return only on equal terms.

• Willoughby seems to fantasize about her death caused by his absence

• The death of Marianne would have preserved her as Willoughby’s ‘sentimental dominion’ Claudia Johnson

• Willoughby and Branden witness female suffering as spectators, and frequently widen this out to a larger communal audience through their constant retelling of these women’s sad stores, but certainly in Willoughby’s case, no moral lesson is learned (misusing Eliza and Mari)

• Both women used by Willoughby survive- though we never see Eliza second

• She survives and matures, making a rational marriage to Brandon—a rejection of the melodramatic tradition Willoughby embraces.

• Willoughby visits Elinor alone at the Palmer’s house—a highly improper and compromising situation for Elinor, especially given the late hour and his inebriated state.

  >His intrusion, both physical and narrative, reflects the social freedoms afforded to men

  >image of Marianne’s immobility functions as a metaphor for women’s disempowerment

‘Clarissa used to think, to end in some awful tragedy; her death; her martyrdom; instead of which she had married!’

+DQ

• Clarissa‘s view links to the idea of the fallen woman, expecting Sally should be a cautionary tale With death as the expected natural response to her nature and individualism – links to Marianne.

She has changed ‘It was Sally Seton! Sally Seton! after all these years! She loomed through a mist.’ mist suggests her to be insubstantial and progressed from the ‘warmth’ she once was noted mainly for

(CD) “for in marriage, a little license, a little independence that must be between people living together day in day out…(where was he this morning? Some committee, she never asked what.) but with Peter everything has to be shared; everything is gone into“.

• She uses subdued language when referring to her husband.

• She views marriage as an amenable alliance, rather than a state of deep, emotional connection, she first mentioned her husband only as a comparison for Peter to suggest the lack of intimacy in their relationship.

• This ambivalence to their relationship contrasts with Richard’s desire for intimacy and the passion and closeness that defined her relationship with Peter

Μari “go to him, Eleanor[...]And force him to come to me. Tell him I must see him again-must speak to him instantly” Eli “this is not the place for explanations”  “Good God!” “ Have you not received my letters? Will you not shake hands with me?” 

• The modal verbs of necessity, and the imperatives create an aggressive sense of her attempt to impose her vision of life upon reality- narcissistic subjectivim

• The broken syntax highlights her distress and unravelling mind – has sensibility resulting from her internal instability clashes with the rigid, societal expectations, and results in public humiliation and miscommunication – Tony Tanner.

• Eli, uses her awareness of societal norms to protect her sister from them and the judgement of others- it is clear here though they are stifling they do have a function

• Marianne doesn’t allow him to answer as she wants to impose her romantic sense of reality on to the situation, as opposed to adjusting to the true reality ‘narcisstic subjectivism

• She utilises revelatory dialogue, requesting inappropriately to clarify their relationship, and using many exclamatory, questions, and demands to emphasise her lack of control and desperation. 

• She questions him directly > inappropriate, lacks social decorem

• Again, we see a kind of odd disconnect between modes of conversation, even when two people are standing face to face. 

• Willoughby is playing the stiff upper lip society guy, while Marianne, unable to pretend, speaks directly – a rare occurrence in any of the conversations we've seen.

Claudia L Johnson “‘Romanticism was a widespread movement [...] which valued the concepts of emotion, individualism and freedom

(CD) ‘Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! … ‘The religious feeling! – When old Joseph and Peter faced them […] It was like running one’s face against a granite wall in the darkness… She made old Joseph tell her the names of the stars’

• There is a suggestion in the reference to the flower that something has been taken from her

• The reference to the present reflects the unfulfilled and unfulfillable nature of this experience.

• The tricolon reflects the casualness, with which Sally did this, contrasted with the intensely religious language that follows

• The biblical names of Joseph and Peter represents the patriarchy interacting such a pagan religious experience.

• Move surrounds this climactic moment with bathetic relief with the intruding male presence.

• The recitation of star names shows a contrast between a male and feminine view of nature, the masculine need to label and categorise after a moment of such profound connection – the dull nature of this is emphasised by the anaphoric tricolon

• Does Sally represent her desired possibilities outside of being the perfect hostess, I desire for the unconventional? Is it a desire for knowledge and experience? She is outspoken, impulsive and uncouth, she’s lived intensely.

Suzan Harrison ‘this attraction calls forth an opening up, blossoming of the imagination and sparks a new creativity’ ‘Sally’s kiss destabilises the triangular romantic plot between Clarissa, RD, and Peter Walsh’

•  There is a contrast between the security and stability of Richard and the excitement for open and emotional expression

• Lesbianism disrupts the tradition archetype of the heterosexual love triangle

“but you – you above all, above mother, had been wronged by me”

+ CD quote

• Mari

• After her transformative illness, Marianne recognises that she is in debt to her sister more than her mother

• This strength of feeling contrasts with the apathy+distance that persists throughout CD’s familial attachments

[Liz x MK] it proves she has a heart.’

• There is an emotional distance between her and her mother – this contrasts with the Dashwood, who are united by their similarities and experiences – however, Elizabeth is able to leave “the drawing room“ so these bonds are less necessary

‘(But he could not tell her he loved her. He held her hand. Happiness is this, he thought.)’ ‘She understood; she understood without his speaking; his Clarissa’’

• Richard

• The short phrases reflect a simple bliss within him

• His happiness is rather domestic and achievable whereas PW is never satisfied due to his specific expectations

• For him understanding superseeds communication

• There is a lack of intensity in her response juxtaposing the sincerity he is displaying, reflecting an incompatible understanding

‘ It was not like ones  feelings for a man. It was completely disinterested… They spoke of marriage, always as a catastrophe… “She is beneath this roof… She is beneath this roof!”’

• Clarissa Her interest is intense and uncorrupted, as there is no possibility for a future and as it is unprecedented, it is not contained within the practicalities of societal expectations

• The tone of wonder and excitement at proximity to Sally is ironic, the way that they will inevitably be separated by marriage.

Suzan Harrison “'While Clarissa's attraction to Sally is indeed sacrificed for Clarissa's entry into the world of heterosexual marriage, Mrs. Dalloway works to questions the values of the courtship plot” 

• Woolfs novel does not end with Clarissa's marriage as would be traditional, but opens with it to explore the doubts and questions Clarissa has, at fifty-two, about the wisdom and motives behind her choice

Mrs Jennings “I never saw a young woman so desperately in love” “Marianne, she is quite an altered creature”

• Here love is given the power of transformation

• Links to the great chain of being (man uses reason to aspire away from animals and towards angels) to suggest Marianne has allowed herself to be led by instinct and has abandoned reason

• This transformation underlines the moral imbalance between Marianne and Elinor. While Marianne succumbs to passion, Elinor embodies the rational ideal.

Rez ’How it rejoiced her that! Not for weeks had they laughed like this together, poking fun privately like married people.!’ ‘ Never had she felt so happy! Never in her life!.’

• Her great excitement as a small exchange clearly reflects her desperation

• The simple sentences reflect the simplicity and domesticity of their interaction – we see that she truly did only desire domestic bliss, or something close to that 

• Woolf rewards, Rezia and Septimus with a final moment of domestic bliss and proper marriage – this is given a bit of sweet feel

• A central means that they might was only one in appearance through the comparison that they are like married people.

• She desires this intimacy, which is characterised by being joyful together – not for the view of anyone else, purely privately.

• She depends on him for joy, and he inspires the intensity in her that she didn’t cause in him – this is reflected in the anaphoric categorical repeat of never

 (Rez) ‘She had a right to his arm, that was without feeling[…] Only 24, without friends in England, who had left Italy for his sake, a piece of bone’

•  All she can have, and all he is able to give, is an empty gesture– one which once presented intimacy, but here is merely functional.

• Marriage is viewed so highly significantly, but she was willing to abandon her entire support system, which are now required, as she is in a relationship with a man already dead, more connected with the dead than the living

• She suffers when Sept does due to her dependence on him only exacerbated from her separation from the family unit

• In a reversed position Sept would have other outlets and greater support, but his is thought of as a failure of masculinity 

‘Fifteen years she had gone under’ [product of Bradshaw’s love of conversion] ‘only the slow sinking, water-logged of her will into his. Sweet was her smile, swift her submission’ 

• Lady Bradshaw

• The image of her drowning and being consumed by Bradshaws zeal for proportion is made sinister (unlike romanticised image of Rez as a drowning lily)

• The sibilance and balanced syntax aligns the events with each other, suggesting her sweetness facilitated his total domination (femme couvert, historically normal for women to be taken advantage of and conversion to husband is expected)

• Women’s youth aligned with nature!

• We see the damage caused by Bradshaws masculine obsession with conversion

‘Love and religion! thought Clarissa, going back into the drawing-room, tingling all over. How detestable, how detestable they are! [...] love and religion would destroy that, whatever it was, the privacy of the soul. The odious Kilman would destroy it’

• She rejects traditional methods of control (emphasised by epanalepsis)

• She believes the self is eroded when overcome by anything whether that be methods of control or traditionally pleasant abstractions- such as love and closeness- an extreme product of the domination of men in marriage, explaining her distance from RD

• She believes love reduces you and your autonomy- hence the distance she maintains between her and RD, she doesnt feel the passion that would render one vulnerable

• Her perspective contrasts with Rez who retains the privacy of the soul as she is kept at a distance, leading to her feeling incredible pain

• Her middle aged perspective as a married woman reveals the reality of love and how built up romance is