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Mrs Dalloway


            Analyse the function of misogyny in Heartbreak House and Mrs Dalloway The use of misogyny in the following texts can be related to the treatment of women throughout the novels. In Mrs Dalloway There is a complex alignment between Septimus and Clarissa. This is useful as it gives a comparison between how each is affected by their social conditions. In Heartbreak House there is misogyny throughout. It seems the women are in control which adds further irony. It is important to see how women are treated in each text and to evaluate the mistreatment of women. Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith are brought up under the same social backdrop. They are very much alike in their actions and thoughts even though they never actually meet. Ebert discusses "counterpointing visions" in the novel's language. She explores how female and male differences are countered by images of androgyny. This is particularly useful when comparing the similarities between Clarissa and Septimus (Ebert, 1995 P. 152.) When analysing the misogyny in the novel it would be useful to explore how these two aligned characters both male and female are represented. The novel begins with Clarissa going out to get some flowers as Lucy has work to do. This is suggested in the imagery as a strongly independent act. However it is ironic as it only consists of buying some flowers: "What a lark! What a plunge! She had burst open the French windows and plunged at Bourton into the open air" (Woolf, 1996 P.5.) After Mrs. Kilman angers her she enters the flower shop and is overcome by the colour. She is transported back to the present and is able to forget the past: "And then opening her eyes, how fresh, like frilled linen clean from a laundry laid in wicker trays, the roses looked; and dark and prim the red carnations" (P. 16.) Clarissa has parties to escape reality. She feels depressed with the society around her. When she had a party she had a feeling of being something other than herself.


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