Mrs Dalloway Part 4

Elizabeth comes down from her room with Miss Kilnman, who is dressed in rather shabby clothes. Elizabeth goes to meet Clarissa, who is still resting in the living room, where Richard left her. Clarissa gets up to greet Elizabeth and Miss Kilnman who is waiting on the landing. Miss Kilnman is overcome with her hatred for Clarissa at that moment and wishes that she could feel her like a tree. She feels like life has been unfair to her since she had been fired from her position as a teacher because of the anti-german sentiment that became pervasive after the war. Miss Kilnman’s German ancestry and her sympathy for the plight of Germans in England caused her to become so disfavoured. She found religion some two years ago and found a place to teach Elizabeth due to the goodness of Richard, whom she still respects. She doesn’t respect Clarissa, and since she found salvation in religion, women like Clarissa inspire nothing but pity in her. Clarissa is quite taken aback by the hateful look in Miss Kilnman’s eye but as soon as it passes, Clarissa gathers herself and asks them to return home before the party. Clarissa hates Miss Kilnman because she feels like the woman has stolen Elizabeth from her.

Clarissa watches a neighboring old lady climb the stairs into her room and believes that love and religion don’t answer the question of the human soul. Elizabeth guides Miss Kilnman through stores as she absentmindedly buys a petticoat while thinking about how life has been unfair to her but treated women like Clarissa so well. They sit down to have Tea, which is one of the few things that Miss Kilnman values in her life along with food and religion. Elizabeth observes the greedy manner in which Miss Kilnman eats, and how she stares daggers at a child when he eats a cake that Miss Kilnman had been eyeing. She dislikes certain things about Miss Kilnman, as well as the fact that she doesn’t get along with her mother. She knows that her mother makes an effort but Miss Kilnman never seems to take them kindly. Elizabeth escapes the company of Miss Kilnman by boarding an omnibus that takes her through the poorer sections of the town, while Miss Kilnman heads to pray at the Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth rides the omnibus and thinks about her career since Miss Kilnman had just told her about the nearly limitless opportunities that exist for women in the future. Elizabeth considers studying, medicine, becoming a farmer, and joining the parliament, but she feels that she is too lazy to commit to any of those things.

Rezia and Septimus return to their room, and Rezia struggles to come to terms with Septimus’s condition. He thinks that he is being killed, but Rezia tries to calm him down. He asks her why people like Sir William had the authority to tell him what to do in the world, and she tells him that it was because he had threatened to kill himself. They wait for Sir William’s messenger to arrive, and Rezia busies herself with making a hat for a neighbor’s daughter. Septimus rouses himself out of listening to the voices in his head and works with Rezia to create an exciting design for the neighbor. Rezia suddenly feels likes she has gained back her Septimus, as she sets herself to making the hat while he goes to reading the newspaper. They are interrupted by a small girl, Rezia plays with the child, while Septimus watches them. He loves Rezia and thinks her very existence is a miracle. Septimus falls asleep listening to the laughing of Rezia and the child, but the sound changes into screaming as he retreats into himself.

Septimus wakes up alone as Rezia has gone to return the child to her mother. Septimus begins to spiral and when Rezia returns home, he tells her to burn all the things he had dictated to her about love and beauty. Rezia had tied the papers with a silk ribbon and stowed them neatly away, but they had once found a neighborhood child reading the papers and laughing. That had hurt him, and he had cried while complaining about the cruelty of humankind. Rezia tries to calm him down but Septimus continues to remain agitated even as Rezia begins to pack their bags so they leave and avoid following the instructions of Sir William. They hear the voice of Dr. Holmes, and Rezia goes in to stop him, but while she is gone, Septimus hurls himself off the building and onto a fence. He watches an old man in a room across from him and kills himself as if he were trying to thwart Dr. Holmes. The doctor sees what Septimus has done, and labels him a coward while Rezia believes she understands why he did it. Holmes gives Rezia a concoction to help her sleep and prevents her from seeing Septimus’s mangled body.

Analysis

The parallels between Septimus and Clarissa continue to be drawn, even in the last moments of Septimus’s life. Clarissa looks across at an old woman from her window, an act she has often done in secret. She knows nothing about the woman, yet she has a relationship with her. Clarissa struggles with the idea of connection as she realizes that though human beings often communicate, they retreat alone into their worlds. The rooms and houses discussed in the book function as a symbol for the soul. As she watches the woman, Clarissa realizes that neither Miss Kilnman nor Peter, have the answers to the problem of loneliness and human suffering. Similarly, Septimus has a few moments of lucidity before his suicide. He sits down with his wife, and they discuss the mundane issues of domestic life. They laugh together and communicate intimately. This illusion of connection passes when Septimus wakes up alone in his room. He returns to the feeling of suffering, as he realizes that beauty in human life is fleeting. Just like Clarissa, Septimus observes an old man across from him before he plunges to his death.

His suicide is presented as a choice of asserting his agency, as opposed to following the directions of someone like Sir William. People like Dr. Holmes dismiss Septimus’s suicide as an impulsive action that could not have been prevented. His ideology is limited to drugging people to remain calm so that they do not remain awake to the deeper questions of human existence.