Mental Illness in "Mrs Dalloway" and "The Hours"
One of the most important themes of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ and, by virtue of it being a derivative text, of ‘The Hours,’ is that of mental health. The ways issues of mental health are presented are, almost universally, sympathetic and, in the case of the former, empathetic. The strongest symbols of this theme are Septimus and Clarissa in ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ and Richard, Laura (Mrs. Brown), and Virginia (Mrs. Woolf) in ‘The Hours.’ Most have problems which are very much the product of their time and we see the way in which people with such illnesses were (and in the case of Richard still are) treated for their malaise. Also of interest in these texts is the relationship between era and the illnesses suffered and the treatment given; across these two texts, the years 1923, 1949, and 1999 are represented.
The most explicitly portrayed mental illness is that of Septimus in ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ whose shell-shock (brought about by action in the First World War) seems to have brought about a plethora of other symptoms. The utter lack of comprehension and compassion on the part of his doctors partly draws from similar experiences Woolf suffered at the hands of her own doctor, Dr. Savage, and also the way in which shell-shock victims tended to be regarded at the time. As such, the theme is wider than just Septimus’s manifestation of ‘war neurosis’ à la Freud. It also encompasses his treatment by the careless Dr. Holmes with his suggestions that Septimus play golf, eat porridge, and take bromide and the sinister Sir William Bradshaw who wishes Septimus to enter a ‘rest’ home and seemingly to undergo Orwellian re-programming. Bradshaw’s stream of consciousness sections are especially revealing of the attitude of some doctors at the time:
‘Health we must have; and health is proportion; so that when a man comes into your room and says he is Christ… …and has a message… …and threatens… …to kill himself, you invoke proportion; order rest in bed; rest in solitude; silence and rest; rest
The most explicitly portrayed mental illness is that of Septimus in ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ whose shell-shock (brought about by action in the First World War) seems to have brought about a plethora of other symptoms. The utter lack of comprehension and compassion on the part of his doctors partly draws from similar experiences Woolf suffered at the hands of her own doctor, Dr. Savage, and also the way in which shell-shock victims tended to be regarded at the time. As such, the theme is wider than just Septimus’s manifestation of ‘war neurosis’ à la Freud. It also encompasses his treatment by the careless Dr. Holmes with his suggestions that Septimus play golf, eat porridge, and take bromide and the sinister Sir William Bradshaw who wishes Septimus to enter a ‘rest’ home and seemingly to undergo Orwellian re-programming. Bradshaw’s stream of consciousness sections are especially revealing of the attitude of some doctors at the time:
‘Health we must have; and health is proportion; so that when a man comes into your room and says he is Christ… …and has a message… …and threatens… …to kill himself, you invoke proportion; order rest in bed; rest in solitude; silence and rest; rest