As modernism progressed, more people began investigating taboo subjects such as sexuality and relationships. Freud again becomes a key factor in this with his work on sexual repression, the Oedipus complex, and the progressing stages of infantile sexuality. In Mrs Dalloway, Clarissa remembers her kiss with Sally Seton – indeed, she feels about women “as men feel”, and regards her kiss with Sally as “the most exquisite moment of her whole life”, although she does not expressly recognise this as feelings of homosexuality. Virginia Woolf appears to have shown the same attitude as Clarissa, having been married yet engaging in a relationship with Vita Sackville-West, writing her the novel Orlando. However, when Clarissa remembers her relationship with Peter, one of the first aspects of it she mentions is their break up by the fountain. She is at first unable to remember the happier times that they shared. Clarissa and Richard’s marriage has a suppressed quality; although she was introduced as Mrs Dalloway, the first man mentioned is Peter, suggesting that Richard is not the most important to her. However, she is upset when Lady Bruton asks him to lunch without her, implying she guards him jealously. This quickly turns to self pity. Lucrezia and Septimus’ relationship seems strained and arid. Lucrezia does not seem to understand Septimus’ condition, going so far as to call him selfish, seemingly employing the same self pity that Clarissa felt for herself. Septimus also feels that Lucrezia binds him, but in a different way – she is what is keeping him from suicide, yet he finds her a hindrance for it. In “Portrait of a lady”, the woman described seems to try and keep the man with her by employing different tactics, including guilt (which Septimus also feels). The man feels a self pity for himself for being trapped in his relationship. Prufrock, by contrast, feels pity for himself because he feels he will not fulfil his duties in a relationship, due to his ageing and differing appearance and attitudes.
Religion is another theme commonly explored by modernist writers such as Woolf and Eliot. Eliot makes many biblical references in “The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock” - firstly the universe is rolled “toward some overwhelming question” mimicking the stone being rolled from the entrance of Jesus’ tomb, and Prufrock says he is “Lazarus, come from the dead”. Prufrock, in this way, thinks of himself as a form of messiah; he is on a par with and possibly more important than religion. Eliot also makes reference to “Christ the tiger” in “Gerontiom”, a forceful metaphor for the imposing nature of religion. In Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus thinks of universal “rules” such as “men should not cut down trees”; he appears to think of himself too as a messiah. Considering his suicide later in the novel, Septimus’ appearance as a form of prophet seems foreboding and a damning insight against religion on Woolf’s part.
A common theme linking Eliot and Woolf’s work is that of ageing. Peter Walsh seems afraid of losing his masculinity; he is constantly seen with a knife in hand, and indeed this is one of the first things Clarissa associates him with. He is referenced with it often in sexual situations, such as when he follows an attractive stranger through London or his awkward meeting with Clarissa in her drawing room. He never, however, fully addresses his fear of losing this – it is all implied through the knife. Clarissa takes a more headstrong view – she recites a mantra to herself, “Fear no more the heat of the sun nor the furious winter’s rages”, a clear reference to the menopause and its effects. Eliot’s poems “The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock” and “Gerontiom” both deal with the effects of ageing as well. Prufrock is afraid of losing his appearance, and that others will laugh at him. He connects with Peter as much of his anxieties are about women (“they will not sing to me”) and his inability to impress and please them. He regards himself as a “fool”, and also says “I grow old…I grow old…I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled.” The rocking rhyme and childish syntax give the words a weary inevitability. “Gerontiom” has more in common with Clarissa and her loss of fertility; it describes an “old man in a dry month”, exploring the implication of loss of fertility with men rather than women.
One of the greatest changes in modernism was that of fragmentation in life, and how we as people attempt to bring order to chaos. This is explored in Mrs Dalloway by the use of “stream of consciousness” writing, with short sentences contrasted with long and differing syntax. Points of view seem to swap effortlessly between characters, and much of the plot is advanced by the realisations they make themselves, not actual events. Clarissa’s party is an example of the order she is trying to bring to life; in The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock, Prufrock is entering such a party and wondering whether it is worth it. He contrasts great philosophical questions with trivial matters such as “tea and cakes and ices”; for all his pomp, he is afraid of how society will judge him, something trivial compared to such great questions. This appears to splinter what he is originally thinking – when he tries to bring order to his grander thoughts, the trivial party preys on his mind. “Tea and cakes and ices” is a reference to food, which is commonly associated with the sin gluttony; it implies that the body is more content with taking care of itself than with answering greater questions and acquiring knowledge. There are also the repeated lines such as “in the room the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo”; these seem much like a chorus and attempt to bring structure to the free poem. This is contrasted against his hyphenated, and therefore fragmented, lines.
Modernism was a drastic movement in ideals and thoughts among those living in the early 20th century. It began exploring previously taboo subjects and utilising ways of writing that until then had never been publicised, such as the “stream of consciousness” style. Although many modernists disagreed with each other over the issues they covered, they were still united by their exploration of their new world. They faced a world where religion was fading, where sexuality was becoming more prominent, and their exploration of it was what brought them ultimately into the same movement.
