the Main characters’ restlessness of Life in Virginia Woolf’s novel mrs Dalloway: a new criticism study

The thesis aims to analyze the main characters’ restlessness in the story. The main characters’ restlessness is the theme of the story. The writer focuses on the formal elements of plot and character and relates it to the theme of restlessness. The objective of the problem is to describe the formal elements of plot and character which relate to the main characters’ restlessness in Virginia Woolf’s novel entitled Mrs. Dalloway. The research study uses new criticism theory by Tyson’s book. The main data is taken from Virginia Woolf’s novel entitled Mrs. Dalloway and the supporting data are taken from Tyson’s book to analyze formal elements of character and plot, other literary books, journals, thesis and internet sources to support the data. The research study uses descriptive qualitative method to analyze the novel. It emphasizes the description and explanation of the data. The writer also conducts library research in this research. The research study finds that in Virginia Woolf’s novel entitled Mrs. Dalloway, the main characters’ restlessness are caused by many factors such as love, monotonous marriage, memory of the past, unpredictable future, the traumatic experience, the shell-shocked of the War I and the society pressure. The research study also finds that formal elements of character and plot relate to the theme of restlessness. It can be concluded that the main characters’ restlessness can be seen clearly through the main characters’ action, speech and thought. The main characters’ restlessness affects their life and creates their action, thought and feeling. All of the main characters’ restlessness can be seen in every phases of the plot. The formal elements of plot and character create a unity and relate to the theme of restlessness.