Holmes' Homes
Out of the many characters in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, one that stood out to me was Dr. Holmes, the "villain" of the novel.
The choice of his name is very much an intentional choice by Woolf. In her essay, "Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown," she comments on a Doctor from Aurthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: "For instance, in this article he says that Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes is real to him: to me Dr. Watson is a sack stuffed with straw, a dummy, a figure of fun." (Woolf). She pokes fun at the beloved Victorian sidekick, challenging the status quo. Many of Watson's features show up in Dr. Holmes' character. They are both medical doctors, classic Victorian gentlemen, and end up having intellectual superiors (Sherlock and Bradshaw). Virginia Woolf's own critique of these attributes may be reflected in Holmes' role in the book.
Throughout the novel, Dr. Holmes represents a failure of one of the book's key themes: intersubjectivity. In the plane scene where Septimus and Lucrezia first appear, Rezia laments on her isolation, "For he was not ill. Dr. Holmes said there was nothing the matter with him. She spread her hand before her. Look! Her wedding ring slipped -- she had grown so thin. It was she who suffered -- but she had nobody to tell." (Woolf 23). Dr. Holmes' failure to diagnose and treat PTSD not only hurts Septimus, but also isolates Rezia in her struggles. Intersubjectivity requires bridging the gap between two minds through empathy and shared ideas, but Holmes alienates Septimus by dismissing his psychological condition as a "funk that can be cured with some time outdoors". Septimus also fails to see him as any sort of doctor, instead seeing him as a testament to the evils of human nature. Since Holmes' conclusions keep Rezia in the dark, she also has no way to restore her connection with Septimus or make any sense of what is going on in his mind.
Holmes' alienation escalates in the scene of the tragic death of Septimus Smith. Ironically, it had seemed that his advice was working: in the moments leading up to his suicide, he was enjoying time outside, laughing and connecting with his wife again, and seemed pulled out of his haze. However, it is the medical doctor that ultimately spoils it: When he arrives, the scene is nothing short of cringeworthy. Holmes' demeanor is angering and puts the reader against him: "'My dear lady, allow me..' Holmes said, putting her aside. (Holmes was a powerfully built man)" (Woolfe 145). A man intruding in a couple's house and unscrupulously manhandling a woman is hard to like.
Hey Linden! I like your idea that not only is Holmes an embodiment of everything Woolf hates about the "Victorian Character" but also the usual lack of intersubjectivity in the "Victorian Character," and how detrimental that kind of character is to the other characters in the novel. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHey Linden, woah thats an interesting take that I never thought off. Ya I do agree with your points about Dr. Watson being a sidecick and woolfs criticism of that. I think its interesting that she decided to potray Sherlock Holmes as an evil version in this book as well, and makes me wonder wether she disliked sherlock holmes. Overall good post!
ReplyDeleteIt's also worth remembering that there's no reason for Holmes to be there at all on this particular afternoon, and it's a tragic coincidence that his random, spontaneous visit to check in happens to overlap with the expectation for Bradshaw to arrive and take Septimus away. As your title implies, he clearly conflates the two doctors in his delusions, but while there's plenty to criticize about Bradshaw (Woolf is pretty explicitly satirical when she writes about him), Holmes is worse. His total gaslighting of Septimus ("nothing whatever the matter") combined with his cluelessness ("we all get a little sad sometimes") makes him a lot harder to like than Bradshaw. At least Bradshaw sees that something IS wrong with Septimus, and he advises a treatment that Woolf despised but which did happen to be a widespread approach to mental illness at the time. Holmes is never more infuriating than in his final appearance--not just "setting Lucrezia aside" and bursting into the house without permission, but declaring Septimus a "coward" after he leaps from the window. He embodies the popular dismissal of shell shock both in his denial that anything "really" is wrong AND in the moralistic implication that a soldier who succumbs to wartime trauma is "weak" or "cowardly"--the very gender ideology that got Septimus entangled with the war in the first place.
ReplyDeleteHey LindeN! This was really resourceful of you to dig out another source from Woolf, and I really see the connection. I never thought of Dr. Holmes from this book being correlated with Sherlock, yet now you bring it up I can see how they can be compared. Great post Linden!
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