In this essay I will be discoursing three texts which will let me to convey into visible radiation a diverse figure of positions and readings of the metropolis. I will be concentrating on D. H. Lawrence ‘s Women in Love, T. S Eliot ‘s The Waste Land, and eventually Virginnia Woolf ” s Mrs Dalloway. All texts will assist me come across the different penetrations, positions and personal feelings towards the metropolis the writers felt. Many of these writers develop their thoughts and emphasise on the affects of the metropolis through their word picture, this essay will foster assist me develop this thought and look into it in more item. I will concentrate on a figure of countries in order to derive an reply as to what the significance of the representation of the metropolis may in fact be in all of these texts.
“ The Waste Land is frequently considered one of the most graphic and forceful visions of the twentieth century. ”[ 1 ]TS Eliot in his verse form emphasised on the representation and experience of the division and withdrawal of urban life. The word picture of the ‘waste land ‘ presents the readers with an indicant of how modern civilization has drifted off from its religious roots ; it highlights the loss of the connexion people had with nature. Images of wretchedness and waste are presented in the verse form demoing the corruptness of society. Eliot tries to convey across that at that place seems to be a kind of pestilence which is endangering our human being, it is illustrated as being nil but waste which seems to be environing the society that we live in. As readers we are encouraged to experience slightly of an revelatory ambiance in the verse form. “ The tone of the verse form becomes profoundly spiritual as a effect of Eliot ‘s major concern with the diverse waste lands of modern life ” .[ 2 ]
The beginning of the verse form depicts the emotions of the supporter. As a replacement of being happy he is to a certain extent shown to be disturbed. He feels scared and un-aware of the new milieus around him hence feels this manner as he does non desire a new get downing himself. He comes across as a character afraid of decease yet at the same clip afraid to unrecorded life. The statement “ I will demo you fear in a smattering of dust ”[ 3 ]conveys the fright of decease the character is shown to hold, it is symbolised merely as ‘a smattering of dust ‘ . Another good illustration in the text of the fright of life is when the supporter asks if the dead organic structure had grown. He seems to be afraid of what might go on if it does. However, the horror of rats ‘ back street illustrates the fright of decease once more. Although the people of the ‘waste land ‘ do non desire to to the full populate, they are excessively afraid to decease.
The Waste Land is a really complex verse form to look at. It tackles and confronts a assortment of thoughts and apprehensions. The intended significance of the verse form may be something different critics and readers may construe in their ain ways. It may in fact be interpreted through the individual and society, or can besides be interpreted on a personal note where Eliot may seek to uncover his ain feelings and purposes as to why he wrote this verse form. The chief subject of the verse form can be seen through the manner in which Eliot portrays modern life as a ‘waste land ‘ . Eliot supports the subject by demoing what was incorrect with society in the early 20th century. He conveys the failing of society by showing a certain deficiency of religion, deficiency of communicating, corruptness of life and the corruptness of intoxicant and sex. Eliot demonstrates the deficiency of religion in the verse form through a figure of ways. At one point he shows one of the characters stating “ I can link nil with nil. ”[ 4 ]This indicates the character holding no religion ; there are no connexions and no significances to her life.
The modern metropolis in modern-day literature is shown to be really complex in the twentieth century. Within literature there are a figure of authors who move towards the physical world of the modern urban life and milieus ; Virginnia Woolf in many ways is a good illustration of this. In her fresh ‘Mrs. Dalloway ‘ , we are presented with the metropolis ‘s vague feelings that link the perceptual experience of the two chief supporters jointly. The characters Woolf looks at are the “ the Centre of life itself ”[ 5 ]. On the contrary, D.H. Lawrence shows his ain apprehension of the metropolis as a topographic point of devastation and division. His text ‘Women in Love ‘ illustrates London as a corrupted metropolis which is populated by outward characters who can merely happen their pleasance and felicity in sex, imbibing and taking portion in condemnable behavior. Both of these modernistic texts allow us as the readers to place the different representations of urban life in a changing metropolis ; we are presented with images of the existent and unreal London.
Mrs Dalloway and Septimus in Woolf ‘s novel are characters who capture go throughing minutes of their lives in a metropolis. Both of these characters are shown to be walking through the metropolis and experiencing the animation of London. Their responses to the same metropolitan symbols vary from one another. Septimus Smith says “ everything had come to a deadlock ”[ 6 ]whereas Mrs Dalloway shows us she is amused by the noise and high energy of the metropolis life. The opposing contemplations both of these characters present demo how their mundane city-occurrences consequence in a contradictory presentation of the metropolis life ; it offers an accurate sense of world within this manner of life. We can see this being present in the novel as Woolf uses free indirect address. Her signifier of look is a good lingual technique ; it acts as a verbal opposite number to the mental minutes of uncertainness within the world of urban life. In this sense, the contrasting contemplations on the same incidents and Woolf ‘s new signifier of look consequence in an imbrication of the characters ‘ consciousnesses which at the same clip nexus to images presented in the novel. In D.H Lawrence ‘s work, traditional linguistic communication is non plenty to demo his apprehension and feelings towards modernness. The metropolis is illustrated as a composite, and socially diverse topographic point, the new signifiers of look are indispensable in order to work in resistance to the turning sense of isolation. Lawrence is shown to be utilizing repeat in his work in order to convey across the crowdedness and light-headedness of the ambiance in the metropolis. Birkin says “ I ever feel so doomed when the train is running into London. I feel such a desperation, so hopeless, as if it were the terminal of the universe. ”[ 7 ]The enunciation Lawrence chooses to utilize is really interesting to look at, he uses ‘hopeless ‘ in different contexts and repeats himself in order to convey across Birkin ‘s emotions towards the metropolis. We can state that the existent significance of the enunciation he decides to utilize may in fact alteration and be a connexion to the modern metropolis and environment where it bears a resemblance to the new clip of order and effectivity.
The characters in ‘Women in Love ‘ are shown to undergo different experiences and feelings in relation to the modern metropolis, for illustration they are shown to experience wretchedness and corruptness in the text. Lawrence brings across the unattractiveness of the urban and industrial metropolis and establishes the metropolis ‘s outlook into the heads of the mineworkers. As a consequence, he creates a perfect, cold system of machines, where the mineworkers begin to deny their humanity in experiencing “ satisfied to belong to the great and fantastic machine, even whilst it destroyed them ”[ 8 ]( Lawrence 1995: 231 ) . There is a batch of word picture of the province of head in ‘Women in Love ‘ ; Woolf besides brings across this mental soaking up of the metropolis features through the characters she presents in Mrs Dalloway. Making everything on clip and being exact is something which is portion of modern minded people, this is symbolised by the manner clip work stoppages on Big Ben in the novel. Virginia Woolf presents the metropolis as a physical topographic point demoing the mental province of head of the characters. For Mrs Dalloway “ aˆ¦silence falls on London ; and falls on the head ”[ 9 ], this in many ways indicates a deep connexion between the interior ideas and emotions and the outer universe. Septimus ‘ consciousness reflects the apprehensions of the outer universe. He “ did non desire to decease. Life was good. ”[ 10 ]
There are many ways in which we can see that the nexus between the metropolis and the mental life is illustrated through the character of Peter Walsh. On one manus Peter suffers from the solitariness in London as he feels a “ unfamiliarity of standing entirely, alive, unknown, at half-past 11 in Trafalgar Square. ”[ 11 ]However he besides uses this feeling to maintain path of the immature adult female before she is lost in the metropolis crowd. Peter trailing the immature adult female may in fact typify the alteration of societal behavior and interactions between the two sexes within the limitations of the metropolis. In ‘Women in Love ‘ a new straightness sing gender is presented as a effect of the altering cultural environment in the metropolis. Alcohol and sexual exhilaration are presented as the chief businesss of the Pussum and the other occupants of the level. Although Gudrun respects London as a ‘foul town ‘ , it is within the urban metropolis where her new apprehension of art is recognized. In the level, a eldritch figure of modernist plants of art and influences are shown to symbolize the straightness to non-traditional art. Within the environment of the modern metropolis, we are presented with the Brangwen sisters as holding much better opportunities to populate their high person personalities than within the familiar familiarity of rural Beldover. Although Birkin and Gudrun detest the multitudes, Mrs Dalloway looks at the “ little crowdaˆ¦gathered at the Gatess of Buckingham Palace ”[ 12 ]from the distance and it becomes beautiful. It is the sense of a boundless society and quality that attracts Woolf whereas Lawrence is shocked by the crowd ‘s individual mindedness. It is interesting to observe that the features of the crowd are non obvious for all citizens of the metropolis.
In decision we are able to place the significance of the representation of the metropolis in all three plants by Lawrence, Eliot and Woolf. There are many different modernist representations of the metropolis which come across in all three texts. What T.S. Eliot pictures as a abandoned, despairing part, is in fact for Virginia Woolf a symbolic landscape of life and plangency, and for D.H. Lawrence an urban country of desperation. All three diverse apprehensions of the metropolis are reflected in the characters presented in the texts by the modernist writers. For this ground we are shown how Mrs Dalloway ‘s consciousness presents an optimistic image of the metropolis, which is contrasted by both Birkin and Gudrun ‘s negativeness. On the other manus, we do non merely acquire the general attack of the presentation and its significance, the writers are shown to be showing their personal and single apprehensions of the metropolis. The metropolis ‘s attitude of preciseness is symbolised within Gerald ‘s modernisation of the coalmines which introduce the perfect cold machines to Beldover. Exactness can besides be found in the work stoppages of Big Ben in Mrs Dalloway. Furthermore, in Mrs Dalloway the metropoliss features are mirroring the province of head of the characters and give hence another position of the urban landscape. In add-on, Lawrence ‘s and Woolf ‘s new modernist techniques of look have the ability to get by with the steadily altering conditions of modernness within the city. Woolf ‘s free indirect discourse gives deeper penetration into the consciousness of the characters and hence gives a truer apprehension of their position of the metropolis. Lawrence ‘s linguistic communication of repeat revisions traditional apprehensions of specific footings and provides the metropolis with new features. As a consequence, this subjective experience of the two writers offers a composite and deeper image of the world and unreality of a weak metropolis.
