Hello and welcome back to Jimena’s Mental Manual, where I discuss mental health portrayals in classic literature pieces. In this edition, I will be going through Septimus Warren Smith from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. The novel is a complex narrative of social norms and complex traumas explored through the internal consciousness style of writing throughout. Septimus Warren Smith is a haunting figure in modernist writing as he is shown to be a shell-shocked World War I veteran, battling with the aftereffects he is now forced to live with. Woolf offers a huge exploration of mental health and precisely captures the reality of what is modernly known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. In addition, portraying the stigmas surrounding mental health disorders in a period where these issues were not discussed publicly. This post will contain spoilers.
Septimus is shown to have been a young man with a promising future before enlisting in the war. Leaving with the hope of honorably serving his country, but returning broken and haunted by the horrors he experienced. I believe that though the depictions of his condition after returning from the war are very individualized to Septimus, it also recognizes a larger societal failure at the time in not recognizing the psychological damages that most soldiers were left to struggle with post-World War I. There is also a big theme of isolation when it comes to Septimus’s condition. Through the hallucinations he experiences, Septimus begins to blur the lines between reality and fantasy, showing the severity of how war altered his sense of self. But it’s interesting to note that Septimus isn’t just isolated mentally, but societally as well. He is also deemed to be invisible by those around him who should be showing him support such as his doctor and his wife, Rezia. But also by the rest of society who doesn’t acknowledge the trauma he lives with.
One of the interesting critiques that Woolf shows through the character of Septimus is how medical establishments go about treating him. In the novel, Septimus is under the care of Dr. Bradshaw who is known to be cold and lacking in empathy. Dr. Bradshaw’s plan of treatment is essentially to turn Septimus into a mere object to be fixed through isolation in a psychiatric facility. This dismissive attitude towards a mentally ill person through Dr. Bradshaw is meant to reflect a lack of understanding of mental illness in the early 20th century. The stigma surrounding these issues was that they were some kind of moral failings rather than complex internal struggles. Dr. Bradshaw saw Septimus as an inconvenience rather than a broken and traumatized man, which represents society’s views altogether.
Woolf offered a complex and insightful exploration of what trauma can do to the mind. She doesn’t minimize Septimus as just a victim of his circumstances but shows how complex his mental health struggles are. He isn’t shown to be “mad” for having hallucinations for his friend Evans, or the overwhelming sadness that he feels. Rather how the human mind responds to inhumane experiences such as the one many men were put through amid World War I. Woolf also simultaneously offers a compassionate reaction to Septimus and those who might’ve felt the same alienation that he experienced. There is this parallel between how the outside world sees Septimus, and the narrative that he is given throughout the story. In doing so, the reader can understand his internal world, to see that he isn’t just a tragic figure. This approach that Woolf takes humanizes Septimus, reminding and almost challenging the reader to drop any negative stigma there might be surrounding these kinds of mental issues.
There is a big moral story behind not externally judging people. As well as knowing that mental health struggles can be extremely deep-rooted. It’s the main reason I believe it’s important to speak openly about mental health, to reduce embarrassment and stigma surrounding it. But luckily there have been big strides made in the world of psychology since the release of Mrs. Dalloway, and through this discussion, I hope to see even more significant progress made in the future.
Jimena Araiza – Prose Editor, Layout Editor, Social Media Editor & Blogger: Jimena is a junior at Lewis University majoring in English with a concentration in Literature and Language. She has a passion for creative fiction and is working to pursue a career in publishing. Outside of school, she works part-time as a cashier at Aldi. Her free time is spent watching movies and is currently into reading lots of dystopian novels. In addition to being a huge bookworm, she has a love for running and participates in road races.