Reclaiming Identity: Sexuality in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway

Abstract

The repression and denial of sexuality in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway conveys the way sexuality was perceived in the 1920s; Woolf addresses some of these issues and attempts to show how they affected different people. Using articles written by Jesse Wolfe, James Schiff and Suzan Harrison I argue how sexuality and identity are connected. Mrs. Dalloway is considered Woolf’s first successful modernist text. Elizabeth Meese’s description of female sexuality as the site of rebellion is pertinent, as is her assertion that Sally Seton’s kiss with Clarissa breaks up the traditional storyline of masculine desire.