Mrs Dalloway meets Virginia Woolf: a study of women's autonomy

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the work Mrs Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf promoting a study on female autonomy, to investigate the rapprochement between Clarissa Dalloway and Woolf, since the author uses the technique of inner dialogue to present her character, as the concept developed by Braith (1985). This approach allows the reader to access the relationship between what is written and what is lived, considering that the molding of the subjectivities of the narrator-protagonist takes place through a socio-historical and cultural context, of which the author was also a part. It is assumed that time is a key character in the character's trajectory, as it permeates the protagonist's life. Having Woolf as a reference in the stream-of-consciousness writing, time is an influencer of actions, as relationships with public and private spaces help in understanding how women shape themselves to adapt to the environment in which they find themselves. As a methodology for this work, a theoretical framework based on feminist literary criticism was used, and gender studies. Thus, it is intended to bring the author and the work closer together in order to identify Woolf's traits in the character.