Free Talk, Taboos and Concealed Fears: Existential crisis portrayed

Abstract

The problem of "difficulty" encountered while reading Virgina Woolf's novels arises from the alluringly simple quotidian life of placid existence that she presents in her novels. The angel in the house governed by the taboos of the well-meant patriarch may not venture beyond, because temptation comes easily, revealing the demoniac underside of the protector-patriarch. Languishing from desires that have no name, she casts the women in her books, not a shade more fair than they are, no aphrodisiac glamour, no romantic gaiety, no witty quips, only the Mrs. Brown always occupying just a corner of the world's space, hovering liked an audible murmur in the man's world of high talk and aggressive self-assertion. Virginia Woolf's quarrel with Mr Bennet, who has forever ignored Mrs. Brown, takes on a special appeal because she has been always battered by society and by the gentleman who represents the society at large.