30 pages • 1 hour read
The Lady in the Looking Glass
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Literary Devices
Personification
Personification is used to grant nonhuman subjects with humanlike characteristics, and is written in the form of a metaphor. As explored in the theme of Perception Versus Reality, the majority of the narrator’s speculation about Isabella is extrapolated from her material belongings. These furnishings and décor are described with humanlike qualities, to make this extrapolation credible as well as to add value to their existence. The narrator refers to themselves as a “naturalist” watching the “shyest of creatures” (2)—creatures being the furnishings in the drawing room. The country room is “quiet” and the bookcases are “sunken.” They are called “nocturnal creatures” because they only come into view when no one is watching, and they come “pirouetting across the floor, stepping delicately with high-lifted feet and spread tails and pecking as if they had been cranes or flocks of elegant flamingoes whose pink was faded, or peacocks whose trains were veiled with silver” (2). Here, the narrator imagines the nonhuman furniture in Isabella’s drawing room taking the form of exotic creatures, both in characteristics and action, deepening the impression of life. The narrator also muses that the furniture “seemed as if they knew more about her than we” (4).
Stream of Consciousness
Woolf’s narrative style adds to the tone and mood of “The Lady in the Looking Glass.” In stream of consciousness, a character or narrator’s thoughts and conscious actions are narrated in a continuous flow, and the fluidity of this narrative style deliberately blurs the distinction between internal and external life. Stream of consciousness is a Modernist style of writing, significantly developed by Woolf, that seeks to express the nature of human experience in a new and freer way, moving away from the realism of the Victorian period. Stream of consciousness reflects the theme of Perception Versus Reality because it is one of the main aspects of the text that blur the distinction between them. It is unclear if what is said is the narrator’s thoughts and opinions alone, reality, or a perception that many others also may have. At times, the fluidity of narration also complicates the difference between perception and real physical characteristics, challenging the idea of narrative truth. The stream of thoughts are expressive of the narrator and their perceptions: Isabella is only the subject of these.
Imagery
Imagery is language that evokes sense-impressions by reference to physical objects, actions, or states. It is a strong feature of Modernist and stream-of-consciousness writing in that it prioritizes feelings and sensations over descriptions. Woolf’s story is rich with imagery, as it is the detailed description of the reflection in the looking glass that grants the narrator, and therefore the reader, a perception of Isabella and her home. However, the imagery used does not paint a clear, concrete picture. Rather, it is filled with perceived emotions and characteristics that build toward a complex speculation about Isabella’s inner life and existence.
From the very beginning of the story, the narrator describes the “long glass that hung outside in the hall,” and how “from the depths of the sofa in the drawing-room one could see reflected in the Italian glass not only the marble topped table opposite, but a stretch of the garden beyond. One could see a long grass path leading between banks of tall flowers until, slicing off an angle, the gold rim cut it off” (1). This detailed description creates a clear picture in one’s mind of the core of the scene before complicating each of her furnishings further with personification. The use of imagery is critical in pulling the reader into the deep speculation of the narrator, leaving the reader just as enthralled and in awe of both the scene and Isabella.
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By Virginia Woolf
