Graduation Year
2022
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English
Reader 1
Aaron Matz
Reader 2
Tessie Prakas
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2022 Meghan R Condas
Abstract
In the novels of Virginia Woolf, the difficulties of deep intimacy are troubled by the limitations of language and the fear of shame and vulnerability. What can characters express, and do words have the ability to appropriately describe their feelings of love and desire? Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and The Waves grapple with the penetrability of the mind and the potential for shared thought between characters. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf utilizes Clarissa and her relationship with men to highlight how eroticism and affection are inhibited by shame. To evade the anxieties of articulating romantic feelings and sexual desires, Woolf posits that shared consciousness between characters is an avenue that fosters closeness with others. In To the Lighthouse, the intimate relationships between the Ramsays and Lily Briscoe uncover the potential for unity with others and the human desire to know others deeply. Woolf’s continued interest in questions of shared consciousness and a communion between reader, writer, and character pervade her novels, as demonstrated in her later novel, The Waves which primarily focuses on the potential for unity in body and mind.
Recommended Citation
Condas, Meghan Rose, "Intimacy, Unity, and Shared Consciousness in the Novels of Virginia Woolf" (2022). Scripps Senior Theses. 1953.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1953
