Editing Virginia Woolf (section)

=== Death ===
[[File:Handwriting-virginia-woolf-10921544-600-870.jpg|thumb|upright|Woolf's suicide letter to her husband]]
After completing the manuscript of her last novel (posthumously published), ''[[Between the Acts]]'' (1941), Woolf fell into a depression similar to one that she had earlier experienced. The onset of the Second World War, the destruction of her London home during [[the Blitz]], and the cool reception given to [[Roger Fry: A Biography|her biography]] of her late friend [[Roger Fry]] all worsened her condition until she was unable to work.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=725,739}} When Leonard enlisted in the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]], Virginia disapproved. She held fast to her [[pacifism]] and criticised her husband for wearing what she considered to be "the silly uniform of the Home Guard".{{sfn|Gordon|1984|p=269}}

After the Second World War began, Woolf's diary indicates that she was obsessed with death, which figured more and more as her mood darkened.{{sfn|Gordon|1984|p=279}} On 28 March 1941, Woolf drowned herself by walking into the fast-flowing [[River Ouse, Sussex|River Ouse]] near her home, after placing a large stone in her pocket.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=747-748}} Her body was not found until 18 April.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|p=752}} Her husband buried her cremated remains beneath an elm tree in the garden of [[Monk's House]], their home in [[Rodmell]], Sussex.{{sfn|Wilson|2016|p=825}}

In her suicide note, addressed to her husband, she wrote:
{{blockquote|Dearest,
I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can't fight it any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that—everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been. V.{{sfn|Jones|2013}}{{sfn|Rose|1979|p=243}} }}