The Case of Septimus Smith

Virginia Woolf's character Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway (1925), is a war veteran who displays obvious symptoms of "shell shock." In WWI Septimus "went to France to save England" (86) where he developed manliness--becoming manly was one of the propaganda techniques used to lure young recruits. His good friend, Evans, was killed "just before the Armistice," and "Septimus, far from showing any emotion or recognizing that here was the end of a friendship, congratulated himself upon feeling very little and very reasonably" (86). This lack of feeling develops into an inability to feel at all.
Septimus suffers from hallucinations. He sees an old woman's head in the middle of a fern, and a dog become a man. His friend, Evans, who was killed in the war also appears to him in one of his hallucinations (70). All of his visions most likely stem from scenes Septimus witnessed during wartime. Woolf does not mention exactly what traumatic event Septimus witnesses. This is due to the fact that it is characteristic of "shell shock" victims to repress traumatic events. Septimus does not possess the capacity to realize how severe his condition of shock is.
A German messenger dog from WWI wearing a canine gas mask. This image could be the basis for the dog hallucination.

His young foreign wife, Lucrezia, is most severely effected by her husband's illness as she is his companion and caretaker. She observes multiple times that although his appearance had not changed, "...he was not Septimus now" (23). She witnesses him "talk[ing] to himself, talk[ing] to a dead man..." (65). She is embarrassed by his behavior and in her desperation takes him to two doctors: Holmes and Bradshaw.

Dr. Holmes tells Septimus and Lucrezia that there is nothing seriously the matter with Septimus, that he is only "a little out of sorts" (21). "So, you're in a funk," (92) he says agreeably to Smith. He accuses Septimus of "talking nonsense to frighten [his] wife" (93). Lucrezia, demanding a second opinon, takes her husband to see Sir.William Bradshaw, "the priest of science" (94). Bradshaw immediately sees that Septimus has had a complete nervous breakdown, with every symptom in the advanced stage (95). Williams, after his twenty minute appointment with Septimus, prescribes him rest, and sends him to a house in the country to rest "without friends, without books, without messages" (99).
Septimus is not given the therapy and support that one who suffers from "shell shock" requires. Instead he is told to get over his issues like a man, and that if he just rests he will become well. Consequently Septimus commits suicide to escape what he views as a corrupt world.