The thesis aims to explore how Virginia Woolf indicates the individual beauty in Mrs. Dalloway to free the meaning of a human being from the social construction. The social condition of Clarissa and Septimus as a woman and a mad man shows that an individual could be marginalized in the dominating ideology of the society. The relationship in which people judge and overwhelm one another with their own ideas and beliefs exposes similar violence. Through the aesthetic perspectives expressed in the characterization of Septimus and Mrs. Dalloway, however, Woolf discloses the beauty of existence itself. The aesthetics liberates the value of a human being from the social value systems and manifests the aesthetic relationship between different individuals who transcend the boundaries of time as well as body.
In addition to Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis is divided into three chapters. In Chapter One, I investigate Mrs. Dalloway¡¦s and Septimus¡¦s marginalized social positions as a woman and a mad man in Britian in the early 20th century. As a woman, Mrs. Dalloway was confined to her domestic role and Septimus, as a mad man, was secluded from society. In this chapter, I argue that Mrs. Dalloway¡¦s party and Septimus¡¦s mad writing, as their way to change the status quo of the society, are their offerings to the world. Chapter Two investigates the dark desire to wield power over the others. Septimu¡¦s death and Mrs. Dalloway¡¦s perception of the beauty of the existence are taken as an escape/exit from this violence. Chapter Three explores the beauty of the existence and the aesthetic relationship between individuals beyond the violence of judgments and social construction Woolf reveals in Mrs. Dalloway.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0725111-210423 |
| Date | 25 July 2011 |
| Creators | Li, I-ting |
| Contributors | Yuan-jung Cheng, Hsin-ya Huang, Jade Tsui-yu Lee |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0725111-210423 |
| Rights | not_available, Copyright information available at source archive |
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