Mod A Essay

Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway explores the repressive female gender norms of post World War I to highlight the injustice of socio-cultural expectations and stereotypes, and to challenge the lack of awareness on the importance of time. Extending on Woolf’s identification of the progression in female agency, Stephen Daldry’s film The Hours critiques the burdensome compounding of domestic and public duties now incumbent upon women, having acquired increased autonomy, and cautions on the danger of stoicism rather than utilising communication for a better understanding on the finite nature of time.

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway explores repressive female gender norms, influenced by a combination of her lived experience in a transitional, post-Victorian society, the intellectual environment of the Bloomsbury Group, and the economic inequalities limiting women's creative potential. Woolf identifies the roles women have of their duties as wives such as Rezia, using anaphora followed by tricolon when she realises “she must have children”, or that “she must have a boy” like her husband Septimus who is “so gentle, so serious, so clever”. This recognition of her obligation as Septimus’s wife of five years conforms to the stereotypical depiction of women, emphasising the constraint held against females to provide children, more specifically a son, for their husbands. Thereby, Woolf highlights the unjust and arbitrary restriction of female identity in England during the 1920s, acknowledging the oppression of a woman's worth without a counterpart male. Furthermore, characterising Clarissa as indifferent to the concept of throwing parties when “she did not much like parties” but rather agreed it was “much nicer to be in the country and do what she liked” represents a deeper recognition of self and identity, allowing her the freedom of choice even as a wife to have autonomy over her own life. Likewise, Woolf expresses Clarissa’s disdain for the common loss of identity through women being reduced to the role of a traditional housewife, and, as confirmed by Peter Walsh’s dialogue with her in, “‘The perfect hostess”, whereupon she winced all over’, she reveals her pain from this removal of identity and personal self-worth. Furthermore, using free indirect discourse in order for the audience to notice Clarissa Dalloway’s desire for her own identity outside of being a hostess or simply a wife, Peter Walsh desiring “to save her from… all the other ‘perfect gentlemen’ who would ‘stifle her soul’... encourage her worldliness”, the reader arrives at a deeper understanding for Clarissa’s independence from societal pressures of succumbing to being a “mere hostess” rather than living her own life outside her house. Thus, Woolf challenges the roles and responsibilities of women in 1923 of conformity, contrasting these with the freedom Clarissa recognises and grips onto, further recognised by the others around her. Therefore, Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway explores repressive female gender norms, having witnessed the collision of traditional, conservative views with more progressive, "new" ways of life, particularly in the 1920s.

Stephen Daldry’s The Hours explores repressive female gender norms through his representation of the increased self-agency of women across three distinct eras ranging from 1923 to the late 20th century, revealing women' s desire for a purpose outside of their household duties whilst acknowledging their struggle amidst the ever-present patriarchal hold on the upper-class’ construction of  gendered domestic and public roles in the modernist era. Daldry recognises Laura Brown’s emotional labour and duty to her family as she desires to bake the perfect cake, discarding imperfect attempts, by employing close-up shots of the steps of baking the cake to reveal her focus on perfecting the task, and adopting the symbolism of the misshapen cake as her attempt to perform the role of the socio-cultural construct of the perfect wife, explaining to her son that, “we're baking the cake to show him that we love him”. Similarly displaying this performativity, Daldry represents Laura Brown’s dismay at the restrictions relegating her to her societal role as wife and mother, restricting her individual autonomy, her internal monologue revealing that “she herself is trapped here forever, posing as a wife”. In doing so, Daldry acknowledges the ever-repressive, traditional patriarchal gender norms that required women to function as the foundation of the family. Confirming the similarities between his three female protagonists in their desire to experience freedom from a female identity constructed by, and forcibly dependent upon, their male counterparts, Daldry’s repetition of the single phrase “Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself” identified a common thread between the lives of these three isolated women. Additionally, Laura Brown’s decision to claim and exercise personal autonomy by ultimately leaving her family to prioritise her own will and happiness, Daldry’s use of internal monologue explaining that “the plan was [she] would leave [her] family when [her] second child was born”. Thereby, Daldry contrasts the traditional, conservative gender norms of Woolf’s post-Victorian society with the increasingly progressive female expression within the film’s contemporary post-modernist context. Therefore, Daldry’s The Hours explores repressive female gender norms in the modernist era by highlighting women' s desire for a purpose beyond the domestic sphere.

Both Woolf and Daldry explore the value of time and communication, critiquing stoicism and society’s tendency to treat mental illness as something to be fixed rather than understood through authentic connection. Woolf utilises Septimus’s shell shock and removal from society, the simile capturing how ‘Far away he heard her sobbing [and] compared it to a piston thumping but felt nothing’ portrays his defamiliarisation with emotions and warns of the dangers of being unable to communicate internal pain and dependence upon physical means of treatment such as pills. Additionally, Woolf uses free indirect discourse and rhetorical question, describing how ‘the whole world was clamouring: Kill yourself, kill yourself, for our sakes. But why should he kill himself for their sakes?’, to reveal Septimus’s inner thoughts, explaining the social discourse surrounding soldiers who had left for the honour society promised, now forced to live with PTSD after WWI. Hence, Woolf utilises her non-linear form to mirror her characters’ thought processes, prompting readers to consider society’s lack of understanding of mental health and stressing the need for focusing on supporting soldiers through authentic communication rather than assuming there are physical solutions for mental problems. Similarly, Daldry portrays Clarissa Vaughan as someone who, like Woolf’s Clarissa Dalloway, doesn’t value the importance of time, depicted mise-en-scène creating a constant need for movement as Clarissa hurries across the street whilst on the phone, addressing a passerby with a simple “Hi. Can’t talk”. In doing so, Daldry explains Clarissa’s experience of time as affected by her role as a mother, partner, worker, and hostess, highlighting the importance of reflecting on the value of time. Finally, much like Woolf’s message on the disregard of mental health, Daldry uses motif as Richard reminds Clarissa to "just wait till [he] die[s], then [she’ll] have to think of [herself]”, and she responds that “it would be great if [he] did come to the party", before exchanging yet another kiss. This awkward interaction reveals Richard’s desire for meaningful connection while Clarissa remains fixated on the party, unable to focus on communicating with Richard which he attempts one last time through his kiss, a motif Daldry commonly adapts to show her characters’ longing for authentic communication where words do not suffice. Thus, Daldry establishes metatextual connections with Woolf’s novel to reveal the three women’s newfound understanding of the benefits of prioritising time for real conversations. Therefore, both Woolf and Daldry challenge their audiences to consider the importance of authentic communication by revealing the finite nature of time.