One thing that intrigued me in Mrs. Dalloway was Peter’s habit of playing with his pocket knife, especially when he is uncomfortable, excited, or generally feeling strong emotions. I was puzzled as to why playing with a knife became his fidgeting habit, and I wondered if, although it seems slightly threatening to us, the practice was more accepted in 1920’s England. From this quote, it appears that people view it as a strange habit but not inherently menacing, as we would see it today: “That was his old trick, opening a pocket-knife, thought Sally, always opening and shutting a knife when he got excited.”
While the knife is not considered menacing, taking it out is seen to be extremely strange, as mentioned by Clarissa: “and he took out his knife quite openly… and clenched his fist upon it. What an extraordinary habit that was, Clarissa thought; always playing with a knife. Always making one feel, too, frivolous; empty-minded; a mere silly chatterbox, as he used. For Heaven’s sake, leave your knife alone! she cried to herself in irrepressible irritation; it was his silly unconventionality, his weakness; his lack of the ghost of a notion what any one else was feeling that annoyed her…” It appears that Peter’s knife fiddling is a physical representation of his social failures or mistakes, the grandest example being Clarissa’s rejection of his marriage proposal. Peter’s habit is linked to when he is feeling strong emotions, which is often, and it appears that their strength is off-putting to those around him. These emotions also, in the opinions of the day, undermined his masculinity – men were not supposed to cry as he did, when Clarissa rejected him. Maybe, in Peter’s eyes, his knife fiddling is not a social weakness, but an attempt to reclaim his masculinity. And yet, I wonder why Woolf, who critiques the ideals of masculinity through Septimus, chose to have Peter “fail” in his life because he does not fit the ideal with his excessive emotions?
If Peter's knife is linked to representing his feelings then it could partially explain Clarissa's aversion to him playing with it. She expresses resentment for him criticizing her (expressing his feelings about her actions) from afar, and also is upset by him playing with the knife, so these things could maybe be connected.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting, although did Clarissa really "emasculate" Peter by choosing Richard? He may have been disappointed or a little resentful, but I don't think Clarissa took away his masculinity by choosing a safer husband.
ReplyDeleteI certainly have seen literary criticism that talks about Peter's knife in terms of phallic imagery, so maybe there is something to the "emasculation" idea. In any case, it does seem related to insecurity and nervousness--almost as if he isn't aware he's doing it, or that others can see it. For some reason, I'm put to mind of Clarissa's self-description as "cutting like a knife through everything"--and elsewhere her face is described as "pointed" and somewhat knife-like. Maybe on that broader scale, where Septimus and Clarissa can be seen as parallel in some ways, the knife also aligns Peter with Clarissa.
ReplyDeleteI also think that Peter's knife does imply some sort of discord between hisself before Clarissa made a life with Richard, and afterwards. In the analogy of Peter's knife to his emasculation (as a result of his failure to be with Clarissa), there's the evidence Peter's nervousness. His anxiety seems to be the cause of his knife "trick", and if we assume Peter's encounters with Clarissa cause him anxiety (in some cases, such as when he breaks down into tears), maybe the presence of Clarissa and others causes Peter to feel like he must display clear masculinity. As if he must defy the assumption that he is a failure, Peter makes a statement with his pocket knife. And I agree that it doesn't seem like Peter is aware of people, who might notice his knife - this compensation for his past failure isn't something he thinks about (if he did think about it, he might see his own actions as even more of an outward sign of what he is trying to compensate for.)
ReplyDeleteI think Peter's total lack of awareness that playing with his knife bothers people is also representative of his tactlessness, such as when he disturbs Clarissa as she is looking at the garden -"I prefer men to cauliflowers..." or when he walks in on Clarissa and Sally's kiss and destroys the moment with "Star-gazing?". Peter is often totally unable to pick up on other people's cues, which is why he can come off as so abrasive.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point about the connection between Peter's emotions and his knife-wielding habit. Peter was the one who had passion and sought excitement in his life, something that Clarissa did not want to center her life around. I think the knife, a typically dangerous, further enforces the idea that Peter was the more unsafe option. His constant fidgeting with it serve as a reminder not only to Clarissa but to the audience that Peter represents a a different path in Clarissa's life that would've been filled with emotion.
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