CharacerAnalysisofClarissaandSepimusinMrs.Dalloway对《达洛卫夫人》中克拉丽莎和塞普蒂默斯的人物形象分析_开题报告

1.1 Domestic Current Literature Research

In China, great achievements have been made on the studies of Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and her other works. The critics mainly focus on the following aspects: the interpretation of the novel from the perspective of feminism, analysis of the characters and self-pursuit from Freud’s theory on self, life and death, self, loss of self-identity, comparison analysis, etc. At the beginning, compared with the studies abroad on the novel, the studies at home have mainly examined the novel’s writing techniques and narrative styles，just as Gao Fen and Lu Yan in Virginia Woolf Studies in China in the Late 20 Years summarize, the study of Mrs. Dalloway mainly focuses on the narrative form of the novel. In recent years，reviewers have gone a further step and some critics also touch upon the theme and meanings revealed in the novel. Chen Wenjuan in The Stream-of-Consciousness Novel and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway analyses Woolf's unique use of the interior monologue in Mrs. Dalloway and points out that “with the third person voice and her skilful shifts in perspective”, the novel “reveals the very state of human existence in Woolf's time.” Zhu Danya in Traversing the Tunnel of Time and Space：The Time Consciousness of Virginia Wool’s  Mrs. Dalloway analyses Virginia Woolf's perception of time，and reveals her unique consciousness of time. Li Wei in Unrecovered Trauma: Interpretation of Trauma Theory in Mrs. Dalloway, from the view of trauma theory, applies the detail methods to read, analyzes Septimus’s  trauma experience and explains the reason of his unrecovered trauma. The Mrs. Dalloway’s theoretical and realistic significance is demonstrated when the author is writhing the history, showing the trauama, and warning the popular to pay attention to trauma and the aspect of curing. In the article The Unyielding Pursuit of Her Real Self: A Study of the Image of Mrs. Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway published by Sun Chunmiao, reveals that the housewives in the upper class and on the behalf of the Mrs. Dalloway have lost themselves when they performance the role which the society gives them. And this article also explores the sufferings happened in her life, and the tryings and effects she has made to find herself. At the end, this article, the author points out that only the “house angle” make endless struggling and effects, they can go out the dilemma and find a real themselves. The Call on the Soul-An analysis of the Main Characters’ Inner World in Virginia Woof’s Mrs. Dalloway, published by Xu Tongtong, is to explore the author’s and the protagonists’s inner persuit or hope in terms of reality and desire from the analysis of the contrast between the youthful life and the present life of Clarissa Dalloway and Sally Seton, Mrs. Dolloway’s paradoxical psychology with her former lover-Peter Walsh and her husband Mr. Dalloway, Clarissa Dalloway’s exemplifications of feminism in many aspects and the relationship of Septimus and his psychiatrists. Fan Lina in her article The Identity Crisis of The Main Characters in VirginiaWoof’s Mrs. Dalloway expresses that if man respects others and their subjectivity, he will achieve his subjectivity and defend others subjectivity at the same time. Therefore, the tragedy of Clarissa and Septimus can be avoided. And Yang Yu, in her article, finding ego  voyage of the heart, reveals how Mrs. Dalloway realizes the personal mastery on the situation of split personality. The article, the self-awareness awakening of the women of the British middle class after the WWI, published by Zen Wei, by analyzing the religious emotion between Sally and Clarissa, reveals that when the two females communicate with each other, it is the embodiment of helping each other to find themselves in the women movement. This article, Life and Death: A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Mrs. Dalloway, writed by Zen Xiuye, bases on the interpretation on Mrs. Dalloway by Freudian Psychoanalysis, especially the defense mechanism, we may have deeper understanding of Woof’s view of life in this novel. And the other article, The Road of Seeking for Identity-Expressions of Virgina Woolf's Feminism in Mrs Dalloway, published by Kong Xuan, mainly talks about the feminism in this novel and the relationship between war and the female. On the other hand, this article also analyzes the female’s resists to the paternity, and marriage. And in present world, this idea also is very useful in maintaining the rights of the women. 

1.2 Overseas Current Literature Research

Since its publication, Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and her other works have been attracting the interest of many critics and scholars. And Mrs. Dalloway is regarded by many critics as one of Woolf’s most representative novels. Critics and scholars have researched profoundly and have made plenty of enlightening comments and analyses about its narrative style, the technique of stream-of-consciousness, characters, gender roles, war problems, madness, etc. from the perspective of modernism, feminism, psychoanalysis, sociology, politics and philosophy, etc. The interpretation and study of Mrs. Dalloway fall into two main categories. The early critics focus their attention on the stylistic aspects. Later, with its research and study deepening, the attention of the critics is shifted to the socio-psychological aspects. Jane Goldman in her The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf, discusses development in Woolf studies chronologically as follows：Contemporary reviews and the 1940s：innovation, experimentalism, impressionism; The 1950s and 1 960s：philosophy, psychology myth; The 1970s and 1980s: feminism, androgyny, modernism, aesthetics; The 1980s: feminism, postmodernism, sexual/textual politics; The 1990s to the present: feminism, historicism, post colonialism, ethics. Before 1970s, we can see critics mainly drew their attention to the design, the experimental narrative technique, and the stream of consciousness of the novel. It is generally believed that in mid 1970s, the study of Virginia Woolf came to the climax mainly owing to the publication of Virginia Woolf. A Biography written by Quentin Bell in 1972, which was a catalyst for Woolf studies. It Was also a boom age of the study of Mrs. Dalloway. Since 1970s, Mrs. Dalloway has increasingly caught attention of the critics in various fields. Different approaches are taken to review the novel. Psycho-biographical critics find much more evidence with the revelation of more detailed materials about the woman writer and they focus on the position of writing in Woolf's life and the writer’s own mental state. For feminist critics, they mainly focus on androgyny of the title character. What’s more, a great many critics began to recognize the social and political element of Woolf in her works and Woolf's class consciousness is usually examined in Mrs. Dalloway. On the whole, there is a large amount of criticism from the academic world, which will continue increasing and going further. 

II. Outline

1. Introduction

2. The Characteristics of Clarissa

2.1 A girl pursuing love but giving up her love for the sake of a decent life and her self-identity

2.2 An elegant, perfect but unsatisfied upper-class housewife

2.3 A female who has lost self-identity but begins to reflect on life and death 

3. The characteristics of Septimus

3.1 A patriotic national hero

3.2 A depressed veteran with mental illness 

3.3 A suicide defending his identity and rebelling against the society 

4 Similarities and differences in the characteristics of Clarissa and Septimus 

4.1 Similarities

4.2 Difference

5 Conclusions

3. Bibliography

[1] Sun Chunmiao. The Unyielding Pursuit of Her Real Self: A Study of The Image of Mrs. Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway[D]. Sichuan International Studies University, 2013.

[2] Chen Wenjuan. The Quest for Self in Virginia Woolf ‘s Mrs. Dalloway [D]. Zhejiang University, 2015.

[3] Kong Xuan, The Road of Seeking for Identity-Expressions of Virgina Woolf's Feminism in Mrs Dalloway [D]. Nankai University, 2006.

[4] Xu Tongtong, Inner Calls-Analysis of the Main Characters' Inner World in Virgina Woolf's Mrs Dalloway [D]. Harbin Engineering University, 2009.

[5] Fan Lina, Identity Crisis  of the Min Characters in Virgina Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway         [D]. Nanchang University, 2008.

[6]Woolf, Viginia. Mrs. Dalloway[M]. London: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1996

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[8] 杨瑜, 朱洁. 追寻自我的心灵航程--论达洛卫夫人的人格分裂与自我超越[J]. 名作欣赏, 2007(6): 108-111. 

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