BRITISH LITERATURE: EARLY 20TH CENTURY
ASSIGNMENT
GROUP NUMBER: 10
B.A. ENGLISH HONOURS
III YEAR; SEMESTER V
GUIDED BY: DR. MONICA CHHABRA
QUESTION:
The character of Septimus Warren Smith suffers from an emotional anesthesia that
emphasizes the inevitability of death in conjunction with the meaninglessness of life.
Discuss.
Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece “Mrs. Dalloway,” explores the complexities of the human psyche,
raising questions about the societal constructs that shape our perceptions of meaning and purpose
through characterisation of Septimus. His inability to find solace or meaning in the world around
him serves as a critique of a society that fails to support those who suffer from mental health
issues and overlooks the profound impact of war trauma.
Woolf portrays the inevitability of death as an ever-present backdrop to life, highlighting the
fragility and transience of existence. Septimus's emotional anesthesia, then, becomes a metaphor
for the emotional disconnection that can arise when one confronts the harsh realities of mortality
and the apparent insignificance of individual lives.
Septimus Warren Smith, back from the war and emotionally ravaged by it, struggles to cling to
the promise of a normal sane existence as he sees it embodied in his young wife Lucrezia, but
finds himself slipping away into the dark and blessed oblivion he desperately craves. Septimus is
significant to the text for two reasons: first, for bearing the weight of Woolf's response to war and
second, for providing her with the scope to explore the phenomenon of psychosis/ neurosis that
plagued her particularly through the war years.
"His brain was perfect, it must be the fault of the world then that he could not feel," is an apt
statement in a nutshell that Rezia uses to describe his emotional anesthesia as a defense
mechanism, a way to shield himself from the overwhelming pain and chaos which originates
from his internal conflicts. He suppresses his emotions as a means of self preservation, but this
suppression only exacerbates his mental turmoil which is a constant reminder of the deep
emotional wounds that linger beneath the surface. Except for the sin which human nature had
condemned him to death that he did not feel. The effect was so high that "he had not cared when
Evans was killed,” highlighting the pervasive effects of trauma and the dissonance between the
inner and outer lives of individuals.
The consequence of this emotional anesthesia resulted in him knowing about the truth of life and
the inevitability of death. "Now we will kill ourselves," shows how deeply the truth of human
nature, the final destination of every human being, was known to him. The fact that he really
wanted to escape the ignorant brutes and end his suffering, "Now I will kill myself," an awful
thing to say for others but for him it was as if he was doing himself a favor by connecting
himself to truth of life that was death; a larger and cleaner existence for him.
The truth that he knew about human nature was what made him greatest of Mankind, “was alone,
called forth in advance of the mass of men to hear the truth” and ironically made life
meaningless too. He thinks there is peace in death, that life is meaningless, “it might be possible
that the world itself is without meaning.” Septimus did not want to give birth to a child because
"one cannot perpetuate suffering, or increase the breed of these lustful animals, who have no
lasting emotions, but only whims and vanities, eddying them now this way, now that".
He became disillusioned with the reality which came after he was shell-shocked by exposure to
the calamity of war, his insanity derived from his trauma which made him suffer from post
traumatic stress disorder. Septimus embodies the effects of a society that couldn’t comprehend or
adequately address the psychological scars of war. His delusional episodes and eventual suicide
highlights the tragedy of a broken system failing it’s victims calling them insane - out of
“Proportion”, ironically people stationed to maintain this very balance, Bradshaw and Holmes
are the creators of this imbalance. Woolf uses Septimus to critique the callousness of society
towards those grappling with mental illness, offering powerful commentary on the fragile nature
of human sanity.
Septimus epitomizes the crushing weight of emotional anesthesia, the sense of life’s
meaninglessness, and the inevitable specter of death. His tragic descent into insanity serves as a
stark commentary on the emotional numbness that can engulf individuals in a callous, indifferent
society which underscores the novel’s exploration into the human condition, leaving us with a
poignant reminder of the fragile nature of existence. His tragic end underscores the inescapable
reality of mortality. Woolf skilfully weaves the story of Septimus’ into the narrative, reminding
us that, in the face of life’s inherent chaos, the search for meaning and confrontation with our
own mortality remains a perpetual, if often elusive, human quest.
GROUP 10 MEMBERS:
AIMAN SHADAB 2021/1558
KHUSHI JHA 2021/1609
RAKHI 2021/0418
ANUSHKA 2021/1613
SACHI JAIN 2021/1518
SNEHA NARULA 2021/1445
MANSI RAI 2021/2043
