An Abstract View of Death in Mrs.Dalloway and The Hours...

An Abstract View of Death in Mrs.Dalloway and The Hours Works Cited Missing In Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours contradictory and almost altered views of death are presented. Virginia Woolf and Michael Cunningham portray death as escape for some, but an entrapment for others. It is no longer treated as a subject to worry about or fear, which society now views it as. A line from Shakespeares Cymbeline, Fear no more the heat o the sun / Nor the furious winter rages, sums up what the authors of Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours are trying to convey. Meaning that death is not something to fear, and life should be lived to the fullest. The thought of death streamlines through several characters†¦show more content†¦Evans answered from behind the tree. The dead were in Thessaly, Evans sang, among the orchids. There they waited till the War was over, and now the dead, now Evans himself - (Woolf 70). Richard Brown, however, is slowly dying of AIDS. He is a writer whos about to receive an award for his work. Most notably was a novel he wrote about the death of his mother, Laura Brown, who abandoned him at a young age. His medications are giving him a similar reaction to time and reality as Septimus had. This point is illustrated when Clarissa Vaughan goes to visit Richard on her way back from getting flowers. Richard says, Sorry. I seem to keep thinking things have already happened. When you asked if I remembered about the party and the ceremony, I thought you meant, did I remember having gone to them. And I did remember. I seem to have fallen out of time (Cunningham 62). There were alternate reasons for suicide in each characters case. Septimus would have lived even though he was clinically insane, but he committed suicide for relief and a sense of freedom. His death meant that he no longer had to deal with his illness which was a burden to him and his wife, Rezia. Richard suicide was based more on his illness. He knew that he was eventually going to die from his disease. But there are