The Treatment of the City in 'Mrs. Dalloway'

Paper Summary:

Using the presentation of London in 'Mrs Dalloway,' this essay argues that the advent of modernism had a profound effect on post-war Britain. Using many examples from the text, modernist notions of commercialism, Freudian theory, individuality and science, as well as traditional markers of religion and royalty are all encompassed.

From the Paper:

"Set in 1923, Mrs Dalloway portrays a period of great social upheaval in England. For some it was an exciting, promising time: the war had been over for five years, and there was a feeling of exuberance in the nation. Modern forms of transport and commerce changed the very face of the country; and developments in social reform and the literary, scientific and arts worlds made people consider life in a different way. Others did not find this modernization so appealing, however; as England was bombarded with the "new", traditional values and the old order were challenged, enhancing the nation's sense of loss. Woolf employs London, the very heart of the country, as a metaphor to convey these contradictory feelings. The city is, therefore, used to represent the unstable mixture of optimism and fear rife in society at the time."

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