Abstract :
Virginia Woolf in Mrs Dalloway (1925) primarily focuses on Clarissa Dalloway’s multifaceted identity. In this
study I intend to shed more light on the problem of subjectivity from a feminist perspective. The present study
draws on Woolf’s own understanding regarding the formation of identity as well as Simone de Beauvoir’s,
Judith Butler’s and Susan Bordo’s to locate Clarissa’s feminine qualities and resistance in the novel. All the
above mentioned figures believe in the constructivity of identity formation: that Clarissaʹs identity, far from
being given in advance for her to step into, emerge over time through discursive and other social practices; her
identity is inflected and constructed by ideologies of gender and other social constructs. These interactions
between language and gender on the one hand, and feminist theory on the other, are of tremendous significance
in this study. The present study challenges the essentialist notion that identities in general, and gender identities
in particular, are inevitable, natural and fixed. Clarissa’s identity needs to be constructed socially through
language, but this very language is patriarchal and, therefore, marginalises feminine identity. I conclude that
Clarissa Dalloway, as a social being, is not able to achieve a stable and unified position as a subject and her
struggles are frustrated and ultimately lead to defeat of constructing a unified subjectivity.
