Who Is Virginia Woolf's Death Of A Moth?

In Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf, the narrator observes a moth desperately trying to fly out of a room through a closed window. Woolf describes the moth's physical changes, thoughts, and experiences in great detail. The narrator is moved to go and help the moth but decides against it after realising that the reason for the moth's struggle is its imminent death. Woolf portrays a generally disregarded animal, the moth, as it exists in nature, especially on this September day. The writer is not able to think, charmed by the moth, additionally occupied by the work in the fields and the developments of the winged animals. The life of the moth she considers "woeful." It is immaterial in the plan of things. This, Woolf uncovers on the other hand, is precisely the point. It becomes evident that the moth is dying and the author, at first intended to help the creature, decides that she ought not. On further reflection, Woolf points out that the moth's struggles are indicative of life in general "had any chance against death." The moth's last efforts are dignified and admirable …show more content…
Her own life is one of the challenges she faced and she overcame them against great odds, but in the end, she gave up the fight and became just like the moth - quiet, unassuming and even trapped. She chooses not to help the moth just as she perhaps considers that there is no one who can help it because she realises that death is relentless. She is perhaps, like the moth, making her last attempt at survival; Woolf committed suicide before this essay went to print. Suffering is part of the process of life or, in fact, the process of death, as she is suggesting that the two overlap and it is not necessarily clear where living ceases and dying begins, only that "it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death." She is as much in awe of death as she is of