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The New Dress Sparknotes

Decent Essays

In Virginia Woolf’s “The New Dress,” the protagonist, Mabel, attends a party in her new dress—which was meant to please and impress other partygoers with her unique style and originality. Throughout the party, Mabel constantly criticizes herself and imagines criticism imposed on her by others, whether or not any is actually communicated, or is simply imagined. Mabel also criticizes herself at one point for not being interested in a few select academic disciplines. Michel Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish” elucidates the kinds of internalized discipline Mabel likely feels throughout Woolf’s short story. It highlights the ways in which Mabel has come to discipline herself the same way she expects the larger society to. Foucault’s theory on the …show more content…

For example, she compares herself on more than one occasion, to a fly trying to crawl out of a saucer of milk with her wings stuck together—a reference to a book, though she is unable to remember which one. Though she tries, Mabel cannot see the others at the party in this same degrading way. As stated on page 64 of “The New Dress,” Mabel “saw herself like that—she was a fly, but the others were dragonflies, butterflies, beautiful insects, dancing, fluttering, skimming, while she alone dragged herself up out of the …show more content…

Mabel feels strained in comparing her appearances to others. The panopticon theory offers insights to the way Mabel feels she must discipline herself, and as if she is always being looked at and judged. Because of her paranoia about what others may think, she alters her appearances and behaviors to present herself the way she feels others wish to see her. The panopticon acts on her in a way which causes her to discipline herself before others have the chance to, while still constantly worrying that others will discipline—or are currently disciplining—her in their words or behavior toward

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