The Realities of War (Content Warning: Suicide)

 The Realities of War

Although the main character of the story in Clarissa Dalloway, Virginia Woolf created a just as, if not more, complex character in Septimus Smith. Septimus is introduced as a war veteran who seems to have lost all sense of what is real, relying on his wife, Lucrezia (Rezia for short), to attend to his every need. We quickly switch to Rezia’s point of view, where we learn more about Septimus’s situation. We learn that he was a veteran of World War 1, and after he quickly marries the daughter, Rezia, of an Italian family who was housing him. Once they are married, Septimus’s psychology quickly deteriorates, prompting Rezia to call upon Dr. Holmes and eventually Sir William Bradshaw. Both doctors attempt to “treat” Septimus in different ways, both of which do nothing but harm Septimus more, which eventually leads to his tragic fate. Virginia Woolf uses the character of Septimus Smith not only as a method of showing Clarissa Dalloway’s inner self but, more importantly, to call attention to the rampant mistreatment and ignorance surrounding mental health care after WWI.

The first doctor whom Rezia calls to help Septimus was Dr. Holmes, who arrogantly and ignorantly diagnoses that Septimus is simply “in a funk” and needs to find new hobbies. Little does Holmes know (or care, for that matter), Septimus had lost all feeling after watching his mentor and close friend get killed in battle right before his eyes. This dismissal of Septimus’s trauma highlights just how uneducated and damaging these so-called doctors could be during the 1920s. The idea of PTSD didn’t really exist at the time, meaning that veterans who were exiting the worst war the world had ever seen were simply seen as not being manly enough, even though they had just put their lives on the line. The character of Dr. Holmes embodies the widespread disregard of very real mental illnesses that were written off as nothing simply because the caretakers could not see any physical issues.

The second doctor who Rezia calls upon is Sir William Bradshaw, who supposedly was a doctor of the highest caliber and prestige; however, when faced with Septimus’s situation, Bradshaw also mistreats him. Bradshaw at least acknowledges that something is plaguing Septimus; however, his idea of treatment is to lock Septimus up in a mental asylum, isolated from everyone, including the only person supporting him, Rezia. Bradshaw claims that this will give Septimus time to be all alone with his thoughts so that he can fix his mind without any outside distractions. Treatments like this and worse were commonplace in the 1920s, as no one really knew how to treat PTSD and, more generally, mental health patients. After WWI, many treatments like this were used to “help” patients but more often harmed the patients mentally and physically. By sticking the patients in mental health asylums, doctors cut off the only source of support patients had by isolating them from their loved ones, and when doctors prescribed more extreme treatments like lobotomies (which were used heavily on PTSD patients), people often lost all sense of who they were and were placed in an almost vegetative state. Lobotomies actually became quite popular after WWI because people who underwent this procedure often went from having PTSD attacks to being super lethargic and apathetic, which was seen as a success, but really they were just destroying the patients' lives instead of treating them properly (Darshan, Psych & Neuro Club).

Virginia Woolf wanted to use the character of Septimus Smith to raise awareness of the issues plaguing mental health treatment, not only because she was an avid activist for these kinds of issues but also because she personally experienced these issues firsthand. Throughout her life, Virginia Woolf struggled with her mental health and was subject to some of these types of treatments, which only harmed her. Septimus was the perfect embodiment of these issues, as throughout the story he has to face two different sides of the treatment spectrum, from complete dismissal to extreme and damaging treatments, which real-life veterans and other mental health patients would have experienced during the 1920s. Sadly, Septimus’s story also ends in the same way as far too many real people during this period, including his creator, Virginia Woolf. Although this is quite a depressing topic, it's important to discuss because these issues, although conditions have gotten better, still prevail in our society today, and it is important to show how even 100 years ago, individuals were fighting against this often hidden danger, and that needs to continue today.