Septimus Warren Smith represents the embodiment of modernity's struggle for mental health. Suffering from a severe case of shell shock, Septimus, like author Virginia Woolf, becomes a prisoner of the modern medicalization of society, forced to repress his "madness" within the confines of his own mentality. Struggling to come to terms with the empty state of humanity, Septimus develops a reluctance to conform to the authoritarian approaches of his doctors, "Sir William...never spoke of madness, instead he called it a sense of proportion" entrenching forced conformity of society, refusing to acknowledge the presence of madness rather referring to it as a choice. Because “once you fall human nature is upon you… Holmes and Bradshaw are one,” losing control of the mind and succumbing to mental illness allows life to trample on individuality, forcing isolation, separation and to weakness. Septimus's death metaphorically saves his individuality, deciding to escape the terrors of life. The echo of Shakespeare's Cymbeline lines “Fear no more the heat of the sun / Nor the raging winters rage” personifies Septimus' passions and desires to escape his inner prison, seeing the final end as a tempting consolation to the horrors of society.