The Sadism of the Maternal: Navigating Patriarchy in To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando.

Abstract

This thesis seeks to contrast the representation of the maternal figure in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and Orlando and investigate how they reconcile their maternal desire within the patriarchal structures of society. Building on De Lauretis’s definition of the sadism of the story and Montashery’s reading of Lily Briscoe in To the Lighthouse, it demonstrates how Woolf highlights the lack of feminine subjectivity before and after marriage due to the structures of masculine desire. It does so by illuminating Woolf’s emphasis on women’s beauty in relation to desirability and the maternal and exploring how Mrs. Dalloway and Mrs. Ramsay work within these restrictive structures. Finally, it examines how the transcendental characters Lily Briscoe and Orlando subversively work outside the conventional structures and thus deny the drive of masculine desire within their respective narrative.