The aim of this study was to examine how Woolf creates and depicts consciousness, using Bakhtinian thoughts on dialogism to determine the conditions and limitations for the creation of a ‘self’. In Mrs Dalloway, the characters are indeed portrayed as isolated, all struggling to communicate with one another. Nevertheless, through their interactions with each other and with their external surrounding, the characters gain a sense of self. Woolf’s novel consists of a large network of conscious minds: each of the character is living simultaneously in the present and in the past, and they are interconnected through their memories of each other and their encounters with one another. The shifts between these minds allow the reader to experience consciousness as it often functions, and depicts it as fractioned.
As argued by Bakhtin, the conscious mind can never exist on its own: it is through the relationship between the ‘I’ and the ‘Thou’ that a consciousness emerges. Without the ability to communicate with the external world, one risks losing one’s sense of self, as acutely seen in the fate of Septimus Warren Smith, who seemingly cannot distinguish between the internal world and the external world: they merge together, resulting in him perceiving the surroundings as parts of his own being.
Furthermore, the intertextual elements in the novel allow the reader to unify the story within her mind: the minds of the characters are connected through their shared memories (of the war, of each other), their perception of one another, and so forth. By applying Kristeva and Barthes’s theories of intertextuality and the role of the reader, the study has shown that the novel encompasses a network of interconnected stories, minds, and consciousness, all dynamic in that they are formed continuously through their interaction with each other as well as through the realisation of the reader. The universe or story-world within which the characters exist is partially narrated by themselves, as seen with Peter Walsh. Through him, a portrait of Clarissa Dalloway emerges: the reader is never allowed full access to the inner minds of the characters, as they as constructed by their interactions and perceptions of each other. Much like words and language, which according to Saussurean theory cannot exist in isolation, consciousness is in essence multiple.
Through this study, it is possible to conclude that the structure of Mrs Dalloway agrees with the Bakhtinian notion of self as anchored in the external world and unattainable in the internal. Relying on the multiple perspectives of others, which are unified within the reader, the character’s self is arguably dialogical, constructed and maintained by their shared human experience, and their ability to respond to it.
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