Symbolism of Septimus's Death

 Virginia Woolf's 1925 modernist novel Mrs. Dalloway has a wide surplus of talking points, and during my class, we have touched up on so many potential blog talking points that I wrote in my notebook. All these topics would make for a very compelling discussion starter - whether it is about character studies, symbolism, the environment, parallels between characters and even to Woolf herself. So naturally, I had a lot of choices for my blog.

(note: I originally intended for my Dalloway blog topic to be about a much broader aspect of Woolf's life and even an important part in literature as a whole. As you know, before jumping fully into Dalloway, we read "Modern Fiction" and "Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown", two essays from The Common Reader. These articles explored both Woolf's unique writing style and views on writing. Woolf famously criticizes Edwardian and late Victorian writers such as HG Wells, Arnold Bennett, and John Galsworthy by arguing that they put too much focus into writing about materialism, like the world itself, social systems, houses, etc. Characters in their stories are "means to an end"; they have a severe lack of capturing the inner human spirit and soul. As a stark contrast, Woolf writes using a stream of consciousness prose especially present in Dalloway. In this profound novel, instead of making a linear plot or overly describing materials, Woolf specifically focuses on each character's private thoughts, regrets, and memories within their own mind and soul, whether it be Clarissa, Peter, Septimus, or anyone. The reason why I wanted to focus on that is because I wanted to compare it to the huge Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake feud from 2024, because it is that exact same instance of soulful stream of consciousness (Kendrick) vs social materialism (Drake) battle, but instead of being around Victorian-Modernist literature, it's around modern music. But that's silly so I ended up scrapping it.)

Mrs. Dalloway is certainly a highly complex and layered novel, filled with very intense moments where we can see directly into a character's mind. However, to me, the single most intense segment of the book like this is the portion approximately spanning pages 141-147, where Septimus's journey culminates: his thoughts spiral and, refusing to give in to Dr. Holmes' inhumane subjugation, tragically jumps from the window to his death. Most of my close analysis will be about this scene alone, but to begin, we first must of course go through Septimus's character evolution throughout the book and how it escalated into his tragic death.

Septimus is a WWI veteran, and his post-traumatic stress causes him to feel like he is in a state of constant isolation. During the war, he grew very close to his commanding officer Evans. But after Evans died in the war, Septimus did not feel any emotional grief towards it. Deeply disturbed, he went to Italy and married Rezia, but he remains trapped within his own mind, experiencing constant hallucinations such as visions of Evans. Septimus's medical authorities Dr. Holmes and Sir William Bradshaw but they only make it much worse: Holmes dismisses Septimus's PTSD as just being a mood, and Bradshaw seeks to manipulate his broken patients and make them submit to him. Septimus believes Holmes and Bradshaw represent "human nature", forcing vulnerable people to surrender to order. Bradshaw sentences Septimus to be locked away in a country rest home, completely alone. As Septimus and Rezia lie on a couch, waiting for Dr. Holmes, they work together to make a straw hat for their neighbor, and for the first time in months, Septimus does not feel tortured by visions of Evans nor of the weight of his guilt: he can finally, peacefully, connect with his wife as they create art, away from all the bounds of society. Rezia momentarily leaves to send the newspaper child back home, and Septimus falls asleep, initially happy.

But it is not for long. Septimus hears the laughter turn into cries when he drifts off and when he awakes to see Rezia no longer with him, the beauty fades, and all he sees are ordinary lifeless objects around the room. Even as Rezia returns and refuses to burn his frantic theories about life and death, instead keeping them out of love, it is still proven to Septimus that society will never let him have peace. Dr. Holmes's heavy footsteps echo up the staircase and he pushes past Rezia. Septimus realizes that his soul will be inevitably be locked up and isolated in one of Bradshaw's homes, and tragically, the only way he can escape this fate is by committing suicide.

But, as Woolf tells us, "[Septimus] did not want to die. Life was good." (Woolf 146) Septimus could still find contentment living with Rezia and enjoying art with her if human nature did not threaten his freedom by taking advantage of his mental trauma. In contrast, the only thing these human beings like Holmes and Bradshaw want is to see the broken continuously suffer even more from their own malicious actions. However, by cutting his own life short, not allowing his psyche to be drained in Bradshaw's homes, he keeps his own soul and does not let Holmes take it. But his body still remains on the railings for them to take. I believe this is why Septimus cries "I'll give it to you!" to Holmes before he jumps, and why Holmes cries "The coward!" (Woolf 146) as he witnesses Septimus jump. After Septimus jumps, Rezia, quote, "ran to the window, she saw; she understood." Immediately after, Holmes gives Rezia a sedative, because he does not want her to see the paramedics carrying Septimus's body away. I believe this is a symbolization of how British "human society" (incarnated through Holmes and Bradshaw) tries to suppress the grievances of victims so they remain disillusioned over the horrific realities of the war, or specifically, the mangled bodies that they directly caused. Dr. Holmes was the force who drove the tormented Septimus out the window.

However, Rezia still realizes the truth at the very end of the segment on page 147: "She saw the large outline of his body standing dark against the window. So that was Dr. Holmes."

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. Edited by Bonnie Kime Scott, preface by Mark Hussey, 1st ed., Harcourt, 2005.