Woolf and Gender Expression

Woolf, having an ambiguous affair with a woman herself, quite obviously explored sexuality in Mrs. Dalloway through such relationships as Sally and Clarissa and perhaps Septimus and Evans. In a slightly more subtle fashion, Woolf experiments with gender expression and androgyny through almost every character she depicts.

Let's start with the guys. Septimus is probably the most blaringly obvious example of this as a man who cries all the time, is incredibly sensitive, and lets his emotions and experiences affect him. Even more, he joined the military specifically because he was too feminine. Even Richard appears effeminate in his passiveness and bumbling awkwardness. Then there are the women. Sally is overtly exploring her gender expression through her sexual bravado (in running through the halls naked), smoking cigars, and the overall confidence and spontaneity she exudes in comparison to the passivity expected of women. Lady Bruton and Miss Kilman are also shown as masculine- Bruton in her interest in politics and manipulation; Kilman in her overall brutishness. Even Clarissa seems to find her role as a wife unfulfilling and wishes she had more masculine features, such as an interest in politics.

Perhaps Clarissa and Septimus’s desire to operate outside the bounds of gender expectations is a major reason why they're so troubled. Septimus is obviously far worse off than Clarissa, being appropriate because he is probably the most gender-defying character in the book (besides maybe Sally). But even Clarissa is haunted by her role as a woman. She's been reduced to “Mrs. Richard Dalloway”, a name that implies she's nothing but an extension of her husband, and this bothers her. The only relief she finds is in her parties, and even those she doesn't truly enjoy. Painting two of characters who operate(or desire to operate) androgynously as the two most outwardly troubled should imply that gender expectations are bad for us and are the root of our demons. But if you look deeper into the book you'll find that perhaps Woolf is actually taking a less radical but more realistic approach.

Unlike Woolf’s overwhelmingly positive depiction of same-sex attraction, she doesn't make androgyny inherently good or bad. Despite what Clarissa and Septimus’s stories imply, Sally and Lady Bruton tell different stories. Lady Bruton exercises her androgyny freely and without shame. She seems to even be admired for it. Somehow Septimus is all screwed up through his femininity but Bruton thrives on her masculinity. At the same time while Sally was the epitome of androgyny at Bourton, at the end of the book she has turned into the perfect mother, wife, and woman, bearing a whole 5 boys and loving it. Although Clarissa points out that her light has been burnt out of her with age, Sally still seems just as happy fulfilling the feminine role as she did exercising her masculinity. These examples clash with the radical “gender stereotypes cause endless pain in all of us” idea. Instead, they show a much more real depiction of androgyny. I think that Woolf is trying to say that yes, gender expectations are awful. But at the same time they're perfect or good or fulfilling for some people- it just depends on the person. So we need to get rid of them but also embrace those who don't embrace androgyny, because everybody’s gender expression is legitimate and good.