Sexuality in Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway
Uploaded by richierich on Oct 26, 2011
This paper examines some of the female characters in the two books Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway and discusses various aspects of their sexuality.
I Introduction
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and Ulysses by James Joyce are two of the most difficult and densely layered works in the English language. The sexuality of the characters is very subtly drawn; the sensuousness is woven throughout the books and is such an intrinsic part of both that finding specific, individual episodes is not as simple as it might appear. This is not to say that there isn’t a great deal of explicit language in Joyce, particularly Chapter 18, but on the whole much of the sexuality is symbolic. In many cases, we find clues to our understanding of it by observing other characters; situations; even dress.
Why is sexuality so important? This may seem like a trivial question, but it’s not. One of the very first questions anyone asks about a new baby is, “Is it a boy or a girl?” Our sex, to a large extent, still determines what our lives will be like. Society expects certain things of boys that it would never think of asking girls to do; and to a great degree, women are still thought of primarily as wives and mothers; men as wage-earners. Despite decades, if not centuries, of struggle turn this perception around, it remains. And since our sexuality is such a vital part of us, we can learn a great deal about someone if we study their sensual nature. Are they warm or cold? Outgoing or reserved? Do they enjoy the touch of another human hand, or do they flinch from such contact?
This paper will argue that indirect observation of the sensual nature of the characters in these books will tell us a great deal about them, their place in society, and indeed the way in which they see themselves and their lives. What others say about them, and the way in which they are observed, are as important as self-revelation in understanding these characters.
II Mrs. Dalloway
Woolf has gone to some lengths to clearly differentiate her female characters from each other. Clarissa Dalloway remembers the time that Peter Walsh described her as “cold, heartless, a prude,” (P. 8); later he says “Clarissa was cold as an icicle”, (P. 80) and we begin to understand...