From the “Real English Way” to Chinese Eyes: Reimagining Elizabeth Dalloway in Mrs Dalloway

This paper examines the characterization of Elizabeth Dalloway in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925), focusing on her Chinese-looking eyes and Oriental features. While previous scholarship has largely concentrated on Clarissa Dalloway’s gendered identity and Septimus Warren Smith’s wartime trauma, Elizabeth’s characterization offers a less explored perspective on Woolf’s engagement with cultural difference and postwar renewal. Through close textual analysis, consideration of manuscript revisions discussed by Serena Wong (2024), and examination of the intellectual climate of the Bloomsbury Group, this study investigates the transformation of Elizabeth’s characterization from the “real English way” in the early manuscript to the Chinese and Oriental qualities emphasized in the published novel. It situates this transformation within the postwar crisis of Western civilization, Western intellectual interest in Chinese philosophy, and contemporary racial stereotypes associated with the “Yellow Peril.” The analysis suggests that Elizabeth’s Chinese eyes may represent more than a distinctive physical trait: they potentially evoke an idealized image of China associated with composure, gentleness, and peaceful coexistence. This paper argues that Elizabeth’s characterization may reflect Woolf’s broader concerns about the destructive consequences of war and the search for cultural and spiritual renewal.