The Genuine Peter Walsh

One of Virginia Woolf’s key points in ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ is the concept of genuineness and freedom of spirit, which is primarily projected by the character, Peter Walsh. Peter Walsh is still in love with Clarissa and the thing that tortures him most is her loss of genuineness. Never is this more apparent than on page 49 when he expresses frustration at the way Clarissa introduces her daughter to him. She says, “Here is my Elizabeth” instead of simply, “Here is Elizabeth.” He claims, “It was insincere.” Walsh believes she has become conventional where she once was timid. Peter Walsh appears to be the personification of sincerity, which may account for his interest in young adults. “For he understood young people; he liked them (pg. 49).” It is Ironic that Elizabeth is referred to as “His Clarissa,” on page 118. However it can also be said, Peter’s criticisms of Clarissa are merely a defense mechanism to prevent getting hurt by her. As written on page 48, “Only one person in the world could be as he was, in love.”

MacCarthy’s Criticism of Impressionism

Having been the Secretary of the Post-Impressionist Exhibition of 1910-11 (pg. 97), It is no surprise that Desmond MacCarthy would convey a negative outlook on impressionist art. According to MacCarthy, Post-Impressionists consider the Impressionists, “Too Naturalistic (pg. 98).” I suppose this revelation is consistently present in art. For example, cinema is always undergoing changes in how scenes should be filmed. First, it was the goal of the director to set up a shot to be clear as a bell with every character and object vividly depicted. Now, it is common to see choppy editing, blurred characters and shaky cameras for the sake of conveying the raw emotion on screen. I also realize that realism is a factor that applies to this as well. This can be observed in movies like The Bourne Supremacy, which contain fight scenes where the audience is still not overtly aware of what is happening between the characters. The FX original show, The Shield was also a great influence in this style of cinematography.
Desmond MacCarthy claims that the Post-Impressionists attitude towards nature was “far more independent (98).” He felt this style was too constrictive and focused on the wrong sort of details. I suppose MacCarthy viewed impressionists more as engineers or scientists than as artists. Is it not the true purpose of art to inspire emotion? Post-Impressionists believe the focus should be more on sending a message than depicting one. Perhaps MacCarthy is right.