Comparison Of Novels In The Secret Agent By Virginia Woolf

In order to have a better appreciation and understanding of literature, it must be viewed from the context of its time. Novels such as The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, can be better (or only) understood by the characteristics, ideas and social structure of the society at the time they were written. Three of those ideas, or pseudosciences, that were present during the publication of the books are Social Darwinism, Eugenics and Scientific Racism. Pseudoscience refers “to any work that appeals to the authority of science despite being methodologically flawed or incompetently reasoned, even if carried out by credentialed scientists” . Each of them complements and/or enforces the other, also used to bring forth justification for social strata, discrimination, racism, and social policies toward the “undesirables”, working class, women, “simple-minded”, invalids, and disables. In both novels, especially in The Secret Agent, tenets of these ideas are present when physical descriptions and deductions are made. Conrad’s description of Verloc, Stevie, Yundt, Michaelis, and the Doctor exemplifies these tenets while in Mrs. Dalloway, it is Septimus, the women characters, and the society itself who are subject to them. The novels cannot escape or criticize the ideas of their time.

Social Darwinism is “the theory that persons, groups, and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection” , a term used by Charles Darwin to refer to species evolution. The term was coined in the late 19th century and it was used to justify the “survival of the fittest”, where the “weak” was unsuited to survive, while the strong was better suited to adapt growing in power and in cultural influence. Societies, like individ...

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...ally Seton embody the survivors. They are fit and well established in her life and in her community. Another good example is Lady Bruton’s idea to Mr. Dalloway and Sir Whitbread about promoting emigration to Canada for English families. She fears the overpopulation of London would cause a disorder of the social strata, mixing upper, middle and lower classes.

Overall, it has been seen the effects of the tenets of Social Darwinism, Eugenics and Scientific Racism had on Joseph Conrad and Virginia Woolf. However, Sir Conrad’s novel gives a perspective of how people were looked upon at that time (using physiognomy), while Ms. Woolf criticized her society through the descriptions. The authors present their society from theirs and their characters’ point of view. As such, it is governed by the elite, upper-class, while the others are marginalized, segregated and despised.