Description
This thesis examines the significant role of flowers in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and James Joyce's Ulysses. The language of flowers became popular in the Victorian era, a time in which there was great emphasis placed on conservative ideals and propriety. The language of flowers, therefore, was used to convey certain emotions and desires that would not have been appropriate to express directly. This new, unspoken language allowed lovers to carry on a silent communication, expressing their feelings for one another without a single word ever being uttered. It was not until the turn of the century that the literary world began to shift and there emerged a new generation of writers who were weary of the antiquated Victorian ideals. Flowers still played a significant role in literature, but their meaning became progressively more sexualized, and writers such as Virginia Woolf and James Joyce often affiliated them with issues of gender and sexual identity. The modernists, therefore, began using flowers as tools for expressing sexuality and desire in a way that was suggestive, yet subtle. This text explores how Woolf and Joyce strategically use flowers in order to add another layer of meaning to the already complex issues of sexuality, gender identity, and desire.
