The Moving Pictures and Pages of Depression

After reading Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and watching The Hours, a film based on Michael Cunningham’s book, (titled The Hours), I can’t help by draw parallels between the book and the movie. One of these parallels that really stuck out at me was the similarity in the way Septimus, in the book, and Virginia Woolf, in the movie, are depicted in their respective stages in their depressions.

In the book, we’ve read and discuss how Woolf is able to depict Septimus’ depression as something only he is able to understand. The medical field at his time is not very well accustomed to treating people with shellshock, and so Septimus is left to try in live in a world that has been distorted by his own mind and at the unintentional expense of those around him (most importantly, Reiza). Even in the last hours of Septimus’ life, when he seems to be “getting better” by realizing that, if he focuses very hard, the visions and noises will go away, and he will be able to see through this dense fog his mind has placed over him. “He began, very cautiously, to open his eyes, to see whether a gramophone was really there. But real things--real things were too exciting. He must be cautious. He would not go mad...None of these things moved. All were still; all were real” (Woolf 142). Septimus tries very hard, assumably for Reiza, (not the doctors), to see things for what they really are; to see the real world.

But, as we all know, his recovery is halted when he hears that Dr. Holmes is coming to the door. In a surprisingly calm panic, Septimus decides to throw himself out the window in order to escape them. But “he did not want to die. Life was good. The sun hot. Only human beings--what did they want?” (Woolf 149). Septimus knew, no matter how hard he tried, he would never fully recover, and would therefore be subjected to “treatment” that wasn’t suited for his illness. He used death as an escape into a freer path; he fell in his life so he could rise again in another. I suppose this would go along with what Mr. Mitchell mention in class about Septimus being considered a Christ figure. (I wasn’t planning to go down the religious route, but there is it I guess).

In the movie, Virginia Woolf, played by Nicole Kidman (remarkable well if I do say so myself), is also dealing with a different case of depression. Even though her case is not in as serious of a stage as Septimus’ was, she still is a victim of male medicine in which doctors of her time were not as educated on the topic of depression (or bipolar disorder in Woolf’s case) as they are now. Therefore, Woolf was subjected to multiple forms of “treatment” in which she was made to, to quote Mr. Mitchell, “rest her pretty little head until it all clears”. And when that treatment didn’t work, her and her husband moved to a secluded house in Richmond, England, away from London, the city that was seemingly causing Virginia so much trouble.

This, of course, doesn’t help because Virginia still feels locked away for something other people don’t even understand, stating that “[she’s] endured this custody...endured this imprisonment” and explaining that she is “attended by doctors everywhere who inform [her] of [her] own interests...they do not speak for [her] interests...[her] life has been stolen from [her]” and that she is “living a life [she] has no wish to live” (Cunningham). Virginia’s life has been taken over by those who believe that, because of her condition, she seems weak and unable to be a reliable judgement of her own condition. Although her husband, Leonard, is only trying to help Virginia by doing what the doctors say, he does not realize that the “treatment” is slowly pushing her deeper into her depression, and in the end, towards suicide.

In both Septimus’ and Virginia’s cases, their depression seems to be furthered by those who try to “treat” them without really trying to understand them. People close to them, such as Reiza and Leonard, whether or not they understand their respective partners’ condition, actually help them better than the medical authorities. This is because, since Reiza and Leonard are both close to their partners, and therefore have the patience to sit back and observe, they don’t push their beliefs on Septimus or Virginia; they don’t want to force either of them to do things that will torture them; they are only interested in seeing Septimus and Virginia healthy again. And it’s interesting how both the book and movie are able to portray this is such different, and yet incredibly similar ways.