Britain's Mindset of Grand Superiority in Virginia Woolf’s, Mrs. Dalloway

Nineteenth century Britain was a dominate empire across the globe. Despite the country’s loss of a major colonial force — the United States — the country still dominate world trade, allowing for a sense of pride to be installed within the hearts of the English. As exposed throughout Virginia Woolf’s, Mrs. Dalloway, the mindset of the British was one of grand superiority. Due to the success of the British empire's colonial expeditions, many British citizens felt as though their country was the greatest and most advanced in the world, creating a sense of superficial, self-centered, pride, as reflected through the character of Clarissa. This pride, however, had many dangerous side effects later in history. British Imperialism, combined with unnecessary pride, caused many racial issues for England that would be fought over for centuries to come.

The British interest in India grew as the need for new world markets and trading ports expanded. Many western Europeans longed for the distant goods of the East, but did not care for the expensive prices that international trade had to offer. Rather than allow for the creation of a global exchange, many countries developed their own system and cooperations for importing rare goods. One of these was East India Company. However, in 1858, England, no longer wishing to pay for the extra expenses charged by the Company, established a colonial control over India (Kaul, BBC News).

This exchange of European control sparked a two year long “Great Rebellion,” an attempt made by Indians to end the Raj — or British Imperialism. With the help of Indian princes and many other local leaders, the British controlled over 300 million Indians (Insert Internal Citation Here). The Raj was solely used a...

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... the shocking changes occurring globally.

For example, Aunt Helena, representing the aging generation who remembers Britain’s global glory, begins to go blind and is in need of glass eyes. Helena’s eyes and loss of sight represent a national disillusionment with the ending of the British Empire. Culturally, the English were so full of unjustified pride that they could no longer physically see the social injustices created by Britain’s Imperialism.

The common factor amongst all three instances of British Imperialism was Britain’s greed for economic opportunity. Greed is often caused by unjustifiable pride, which Britain undeniably had. England was so willing to achieve various advancements to its own economy that it created long lasting and devastating destruction in three other regions of the world. These countries still face lingering effects from British greed.