Everyone is gay!!!! (Kind of)
In our in-class discussions of Mrs. Dalloway, we've discussed the relationships between Clarissa and Sally, and Septimus and Evans. However, we've never really discussed the possibility that Wolfe wasn't just describing intense friendship, but rather romances suppressed by the homophobic society they live in.
When reflecting on her relationship with Sally, Clarissa describes their kiss as "most exquisite moment of her whole life". In contrast, Clarissa's relationship with her husband, Richard, seems devoid of the passion that she experienced with Sally. I think her describing her kiss with Sally as the most exquisite in her life, rather than any from Richard, might be because Clarissa's first love wasn't Richard or Peter, but rather Sally. Also interesting to note is how she remembers pausing to think to herself that Sally was in the same house as her--something most people do not when with friends, but rather with a romantic interest. However, given the nature of 20th century Europe, where same-sex relationships were taboo, the very notion of being in love with Sally may never have occurred to Clarissa.
Also, it's interesting that this isn't the only same sex "friendship" in the book that could be interpreted as romantic, as seen with Septimus's relationship with his commanding officer, Evans. Septimus describes their wartime relationship as "two dogs nipping at each other", an odd metaphor to use considering the circumstances. However, consider the saying "puppy love", used to describe an innocent crush or relationship, fitting for the innocent poet Septimus was before the war. Perhaps his inability to feel love for Lucretia could go beyond his PTSD?
Although I find the idea that Wolfe was actively was trying to make these two relationships anything other than strong friendship unlikely, it's still interesting that from a 21st century perspective, the subtext seems to be there.
The title of the blog post caught my attention. Given the sensitivity of the subject in the 20th century, it's very interesting how Woolf devotes a decent amount of time to talk about it. Because of such bias towards homosexuality during the period, I believe Woolf is aware that she must control Clarissa's relationship with Sally. Even though Clarissa and Sally's relationship is obviously more intimate than Richard and Peter (the two combined even), Woolf doesn't explicitly state that Clarissa is gay. Ironically, Clarissa worries about her daughter Elizabeth's relationship with her teacher. What I'm saying could be a stretch but I agree with you when you say the suppression from homophobic society that they live in could have affected them dramatically.
ReplyDeleteYou really do have to wonder if Woolf had romantic interest in mind, or if she was honestly writing it as intense friendship. From the way she writes Septimus, whose mental issues would be extremely controversial just for existing, she's not afraid of writing about something most authors consider taboo. It's interesting how passionately these characters interact with these "friends" yet how platonically they treat their own spouses. Should a marriage be a business deal or a passionate romance?
ReplyDeleteI certainly think that people of Woolf's social class would think of it as a business deal. At least, they wouldn't have thought that love between women or men was something that was even an option.
DeleteI agree that the character's in Woolf's novel probably only consider marriage a business deal, especially since Sally, the person who created the "most exquisite moment of Clarissa's whole life," ended up marrying a man. Even more so because the man Sally married was a rich, important man near Manchester which was a decidedly un-sally like thing to do (at least according to Peter Walsh), making it seem like less of a romantic decision and more a business decision.
DeleteI definitely agree with your assessment of the narrative, but I think it was most likely a conscious choice on the part of Woolf to include these details. Woolf herself maintained a longtime female lover, even while she was married. Thus, especially if we choose to interpret the character of Mrs. Dalloway as semi-autobiographical (which, given their similarities in time and social status, I think is reasonable) the idea of her being gay (like Woolf) makes a lot of sense. Certainly, at least, Woolf would know the difference between intense friendship and love, probably moreso than other writers. Given that, I find it hard to believe that the blurring of the lines between platonic and not were unintentional.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I find it ironic that it took us in our class discussions so long to get to this topic which seems to demonstrate some notion of taboo remaining.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that interests me about Sally and Clarissa's relationship is that she specifically mentions her when speaking about love and what it is like to love other people, yet she never seems to be referring to a romantic love until the "exquisite" kiss. In that way, it is hard for the reader to comprehend if Clarissa is seeing her and Sally's relationship as one of romantic love or rather one of simply friendly love. From a more modern perspective, the idea of kissing someone doesn't seem to correspond with friendly love, but then again, it is possible that opinion differs when looking from a 1920s 20-year-old's perspective.
I agree that Clarissa herself probably wouldn't have consciously interpreted her crush on Sally as a romantic or sexual affection, due to taboo and what I interpreted as a sort of "uncritical" type of mind. I don't think Woolf wrote these scenes unaware of the possible homosexual implications, however. Nat already mentioned Woolf's own personal experiences with another female lover, and I agree with Betsy that Woolf proved her unabashed exploration of stigmatized issues.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is possible that both of those weren't just intense friendship, but rather romances (or could have been). Also when you say, the very notion of being in love with Sally may never have occurred to Clarissa, it clearly wasn't. Several times in the book there were parts when Clarissa was thinking "there is no other choice but marriage" and since there was no same-sex marriage at the time that wasn't an option. However, in The Hours, it explored what could have been in the modern Mrs. Dalloway part of the story and in it Sally and Clarissa got married.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nathalie that Woolf probably purposefully worked in the subtext of same-sex romance, but I think your idea about Septimus is quite interesting – I didn’t think about the possibilities much there. I found it quite difficult to gauge the affection they held for each other, since camaraderie gained through a shared traumatic experience seems just as plausible as any form of romantic love in this situation, at least to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of Septimus's relationship with Evans- it definitely struck me as more than a friendship between two guys in a war. The quote you used, "two dogs nipping at each other" certainly implies a teasing back and forth that you would see in a romantic relationship and not just any friendship.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just read Albert's blog post about the similar story lines of Septimus and Clarissa, and this similarity that no other main characters in the book share further implies that the partly-obscured theme of same-sex romance was intentional.
I found this blog post really interesting especially because I also wrote on Clarissa and Sally, specifically on the possibility of the existence of a relationship more than just a friendship between them. I do believe that because of our knowledge about Woolf's own background in homosexuality and also the context of 20th century lifestyle/culture, she as the author created both Clarissa and Septimus as mirrors of herself in specific aspects. She probably closely identified with Clarissa in the confusing, blurry feelings she held for Sally which she could not show outwardly in public because of the male-female standard connections seen as the norm in the 20th century.
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