Mrs. Dalloway – A story of love and friendship, communication and
loneliness, society and oppression, disillusionment, past and present
Virginia Woolf - "in order to create, unconsciousness is necessary."
David Daiches - “The pattern of the novel is woven with extreme delicacy, and the various
elements from Mrs. Dalloway’s past brought into the present through a variety of persuasive
devices. The prose itself is carefully cadenced and at times almost poetic, though never rhetorical.
The highly individual sense of significance which provides the basis of the plot pattern is conveyed
through style and imagery through the suggestiveness and cunning of the language.”
As an innovative, modernist writer of the 20th century, Virginia Woolf uses as literary techniques
the stream of consciousness or the interior monologue, enriching them with stylistic devices such as
themes, motifs, symbols in order to ensure the in-depth comprehension of her complex characters, of
their inner struggles and insecurities.
In “Mrs. Dalloway”, characters are symbols of the different aspects of the contemporary British
society, which was highly conservative and hierarchical. Throughout the novel, characters are deeply
aware of their social standing: those in the upper class cherish their family history and come from
aristocracy whereas those in the lower class find it very difficult to move upwards on the social
ladder. Names and titles are still important in this post-war Britain for they reveal the social status of
the characters: Clarissa becomes Mrs. Dalloway after marrying Richard Dalloway; the rebellious
Sally Seton becomes Lady Rosseter – a dramatic change since it implies a great shift from a
somehow childish name to one of clear social stature.
Themes
Communication vs privacy
Throughout the novel, Clarissa, Septimus, Peter and other characters confront themselves with
keeping the balance between finding outlets for communication with each other and also maintaining
one’s privacy. For instance, Clarissa struggles to open a path to communication and throws parties to
draw people together but also longs for privacy. Although the first way of life can seem shallow and
artificial, the other can lead to loneliness and eventually, isolation. Clarissa also finds that loneliness
becomes inevitable as people grow older, just like the old woman living near her. Just about every
character in Mrs Dalloway feels isolated in some way. Although many of them are bound by
tradition, class, history, love of empire, or survival of trauma, they still feel very alone in the world.
Woolf uses metaphors of thread and fish swimming in water to indicate how loose the connections
between people are. People see each other as objects, not as subjects; Clarissa’s parties aim to bring
people together but really become gatherings of a bunch of isolated individuals. The isolation that
people feel throughout Mrs Dalloway brings with it deep feelings of fear – that the entire world is
against them. In the end, Clarissa feels more of a connection to Septimus and the old lady across the
way than to anyone else.
Disillusionment with the traditional symbols of British Empire
The British Empire, during the 19th century, seemed an invincible force, as it expanded more than
any other, becoming the greatest empire the world has ever seen. The aftermath of the war was
shocking and disconcerting: although Britain and its allies won the war, the devastation shattered the
system from its deep structure. England became vulnerable and the citizens lost much of their faith
in the Empire, and they were less willing to accept the hierarchical constraints. In 1923, when Mrs.
Dalloway takes place, the old establishment and its oppressive values are nearing their end. English
citizens, including Clarissa, Peter, and Septimus, feel the failure of the empire as strongly as they
feel their own personal failures. Those citizens who still champion English tradition, such as Aunt
Helena and Lady Bruton, are old, just like the system that they try to preserve.
The fear of death
Thoughts of death lurk constantly beneath the surface of everyday life in Mrs. Dalloway,
especially for Clarissa, Septimus, and Peter, and this awareness makes even mundane events and
interactions meaningful, sometimes even threatening. At the start of the day, when Clarissa goes to
buy flowers for her party, she remembers a moment in her youth when she sensed that something
terrible was going to happen. Clarissa and Septimus remember the same line from Shakespeare’s
Cymbeline; “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun / Nor the furious winter’s rages.” which is from a
funeral song that celebrates death as a comfort after a difficult life. Death comes very naturally into
her thoughts due to her having experienced the death of her parents, her sister and the misfortunes of
war. Septimus’s suicidal embrace of death, ultimately helps her to be at peace with her own
mortality. Peter Walsh, who is so insecure in his identity, grows frantic at the idea of death and finds
distractions to keep his mind off the morbid thought.
Oppression
The threat of oppression lingers constantly over Clarissa and Septimus, and Septimus dies in
order to escape what he perceives to be an oppressive social pressure to conform. It comes in many
guises, including religion, science, or social convention (two major oppressors are Mrs. Kilman and
Sir William Bradshaw - both wish to convert the world to their belief systems in order to gain power
and dominate others). Clarissa herself lives under the weight of that system and often feels oppressed
by it, but finally accepts the conventions of the patriarchal society, while Septimus chooses to take
his own life and save his soul from the oppressors rather than to subdue to them.
Motifs
Time
One of the amazing things about Mrs Dalloway is the creative use of time. The novel starts in an
early morning in June 1923 and ends the next day at 3am; that means fewer than twenty-four hours
pass during the course of the story. This compact use of time means that you have to read closely
because every moment counts. Because of this, a lot happens in the course of just a few minutes
(usually in thoughts more than in actions. Time imparts order to the fluid thoughts, memories, and
encounters that make up Mrs. Dalloway. Big Ben, a symbol of England and its might, sounds out the
hour relentlessly, ensuring that the passage of time, and the awareness of eventual death, is always
palpable. Once the hour chimes, however, the sound disappears—its “leaden circles dissolved in the
air.”, indicating how ephemeral time is. Clarissa, Septimus, Peter, and other characters are in the grip
of time, and as they age they evaluate how they have spent their lives. This is particularly poignant
for Clarissa whose preoccupation with time relates to her fear of death. She’s deeply aware that as
time passes, she gets closer to death, and she feels odd that life will go on just the same without her.
Just as she knows that time existed long before her, she’s aware that it will go on long after her
bones have turned to dust. Time is so important to the themes, structure, and characters of this novel
that Woolf almost named her book The Hours.
Shakespeare
The many appearances of Shakespeare specifically and poetry in general suggest hopefulness,
the possibility of finding comfort in art, and the survival of the soul in Mrs. Dalloway. Clarissa
quotes Shakespeare’s plays many times throughout the day. Before the war, Septimus appreciated
Shakespeare as well, going so far as aspiring to be a poet. He no longer finds comfort in poetry after
he returns. The presence of an appreciation for poetry reveals much about Clarissa and Septimus,
just as the absence of such appreciation reveals much about the characters who differ from them,
such as Richard Dalloway and Lady Bruton. Traditional English society promotes a suppression of
visible emotion, and since Shakespeare and poetry promote a discussion of feeling and emotion, they
belong to sensitive people like Clarissa, who are in many ways antiestablishment.
Trees and Flowers
Tree and flower images abound in Mrs. Dalloway. The color, variety, and beauty of flowers
suggest feeling and emotion, and those characters who are comfortable with flowers, such as
Clarissa, have distinctly different personalities than those characters who are not, such as Richard
and Lady Bruton. Trees, with their extensive root systems, suggest the vast reach of the human soul,
and Clarissa and Septimus, who both struggle to protect their souls, revere them. Clarissa believes
souls survive in trees after death, and Septimus, who has turned his back on patriarchal society, feels
that cutting down a tree is the equivalent of committing murder.
Waves and Water
Waves and water regularly wash over events and thoughts in Mrs. Dalloway and nearly always
suggest the possibility of extinction or death.
Time sometimes takes on waterlike qualities for Clarissa, such as when the chime from Big Ben
“flood[s]” her room, marking another passing hour. Rezia, in a rare moment of happiness with
Septimus after he has helped her construct a hat, lets her words trail off “like a contented tap left
running.” Even then, she knows that stream of contentedness will dry up eventually. The narrative
structure of the novel itself also suggests fluidity. One character’s thoughts appear, intensify, then
fade into another’s, much like waves that collect then fall.
Symbols
The Prime Minister
The prime minister in Mrs. Dalloway embodies England’s old values and hierarchical social
system, which are in decline. The prime minister is a figure from the old establishment, which
Clarissa and Septimus are struggling against. Mrs. Dalloway takes place after World War I, a time
when the English looked desperately for meaning in the old symbols but found the symbols hollow.
Peter Walsh’s Pocketknife and Other Weapons
Peter Walsh plays constantly with his pocketknife, and the opening, closing, and fiddling with
the knife suggest his flightiness and inability to make decisions and suggests his defensiveness.
The Old Woman in the Window
The old woman in the window across from Clarissa’s house represents the privacy of the soul
and the loneliness that goes with it, both of which will increase as Clarissa grows older. Clarissa sees
the future in the old woman: She herself will grow old and become more and more alone, since that
is the nature of life. As Clarissa grows older, she reflects more but communicates less. Instead, she
keeps her feelings locked inside the private rooms of her own soul, just as the old woman rattles
alone around the rooms of her house. Nevertheless, the old woman also represents serenity and the
purity of the soul. Clarissa respects the woman’s private reflections and thinks beauty lies in this act
of preserving one’s interior life and independence. Before Septimus jumps out the window, he sees
an old man descending the staircase outside, and this old man is a parallel figure to the old woman.
Though Clarissa and Septimus ultimately choose to preserve their private lives in opposite ways,
their view of loneliness, privacy, and communication resonates within these similar images.
The Old Woman Singing an Ancient Song
Opposite the Regent’s Park Tube station, an old woman sings an ancient song that celebrates life,
endurance, and continuity. She is oblivious to everyone around her as she sings, beyond caring what
the world thinks. The narrator explains that no matter what happens in the world, the old woman will
still be there, even in “ten million years,” and that the song has soaked “through the knotted roots of
infinite ages.”
Character List
Clarissa Dalloway
The heroine of the novel, Clarissa is analyzed in terms of her life, personality, and thought
process throughout the book by the author and other characters. She is viewed from many angles.
Clarissa enjoys the moment-to-moment aspect of life and believes that a piece of her remains in
every place she has visited. She lacks a certain warmth, but is a caring woman who is touched by the
people around her and their connection to life in general. Clarissa feels that her parties are her gift to
the world and is proud to share herself with others. She loves to be accepted but has the acuity of
mind to perceive her own flaws, especially since her recent illness. Clarissa is a representative of an
uppity English gentry class and yet, defies categorization because of her humanity and her relation to
her literary double, Septimus Warren Smith. She is superficially based on Woolf's childhood friend,
Kitty Maxse.
Richard Dalloway
Clarissa's husband, Richard is in love with his wife but feels uncomfortable showing his
affection. A member of the government, he continually must attend councils, committees, and
important meetings. He is called on by Lady Bruton for counsel, but is viewed by Sally Seton as not
reaching his potential. She and Peter feel that he would have rather been in the country on a farm.
Clarissa was attracted to him for his direct ideas, command of situations, and facility with animals.
Elizabeth Dalloway
Clarissa and Richard's daughter, she is described as strangely dark and exotic looking. She
garners much attention from suitors but would rather spend her time in the country with her father
and dog than at her mother's party. She is close to Miss Kilman but finds Miss Kilman odd and
awkward at times. She sometimes imagines that she may be a veterinarian so that she can care for
animals.
Peter Walsh
Clarissa's beau before Richard, Peter does not see Clarissa often after their break up. He had
moved to India, married, separated, and then fallen in love again. The day of the novel, he returns to
London and visits Clarissa. There is still an intensity between them and Peter reveals later to Sally
Seton that Clarissa ruined his life by refusing to marry him. He rethinks much of their time at
Bourton and decides to attend Clarissa's party even though he hates her parties. He waits the entire
party just to speak with her or be near her.
Sally Seton/Lady Rosseter
As a young woman, she was Clarissa's best friend, staying with Clarissa at Bourton because she
was considerably poorer than Clarissa. Sally enjoyed causing a raucous by making outrageous
claims and acting on a rebellious instinct that led her to smoke cigars, run naked down the halls, and
do other crazy stunts that were not condoned by Clarissa's relatives. She represents Clarissa's true
but unfulfilled love. As an older woman, she has surprisingly married a wealthy man and had a
family, though she retains many of her spirited qualities.
Hugh Whitbread
A proper English gentleman, Hugh feels that he makes an important contribution to English
society by writing letters to the London Times, helping different committees, attending parties at the
Palace, and giving to small charities. He has been friends with Clarissa since childhood. Peter and
Richard find him stiff and boring.
Miss Kilman
The woman whom Richard has hired to tutor Elizabeth in history, she is continually at odds with
Clarissa. She has communist sympathies and feels bitter and repulsed by those of wealth and
privilege such as Clarissa. Clarissa detests the attention she takes from her daughter as well as her
self-sacrificing, condescending demeanor.
Septimus Warren Smith
Often considered Clarissa's doppelganger, Septimus was a successful, intelligent, literary young
man before World War I. During the war, he wins many honors and friends. After a good friend,
Evans, is killed, he realizes that he can no longer feel. Marrying Rezia in an attempt to move on,
Septimus never regains an emotional attachment to the world. The couple moves back to London
and Septimus returns to his good job, but he slowly slips into further depths of despair and horror.
He hears voices, namely of Evans, and becomes extremely sensitive to color and natural beauty. The
doctors compound his problems by ignoring them, and they become the embodiment of evil and
humanity, in his mind. When Dr. Holmes pushes into his home to see him, Septimus throws himself
out the window to his death.
Lucrezia Warren Smith
Septimus' wife, Lucrezia lived in Italy before marrying and made hats with her sister. She is
young and fun loving, but becomes seriously humiliated and sad when Septimus starts slipping into
insanity. She wanted a normal marriage with children, not a man who talks to himself. When they
first met, he had introduced her to Shakespeare and listened to her. Rezia tries to protect her husband
from the doctors, but, in the end, she cannot.
Lady Bruton
The daughter of a general, she is an older woman much more concerned with the British Empire
than relationships or society. She invited Richard, but not Clarissa, to lunch causing Clarissa to
question her own purpose. She and Clarissa have little in common.
Dr. Holmes
The overbearing doctor who first treats Septimus, he insists that nothing is wrong with Septimus
and commands that Rezia try to keep his mind on other things. Septimus views him with hatred,
feeling that the doctor represents the evils of human kind trying to stifle him. It is Holmes rushing up
the stairs past Rezia that persuades Septimus to kill himself.
Sir William Bradshaw
The esteemed psychologist who treats Septimus after Dr. Holmes, Bradshaw recommends rest in
the country for Septimus so he can be reoriented to Bradshaw's strict ideal of proportion. He
recognizes that Septimus is seriously suffering from post-war anguish. He is hated by Septimus
because he represents humanity along with Holmes, by Rezia because he tries to separate the couple,
and by Clarissa because he makes the lives of his patients intolerable.
Lady Bradshaw
The doctor's upstanding wife, the Lady tells Clarissa of Septimus' death, bringing unwanted
death into Clarissa's party. The Lady is a very good amateur photographer, but, ironically, had a
mental breakdown years ago.
The Prime Minister
The man perceived as close to royalty by English society, the Prime Minister is kind enough to
visit the party. The guests are surprised at how ordinary he appears. Many of the other characters
reflect on him throughout the novel.
Ellie Henderson
Clarissa's poor, quiet, and less than sociable cousin, Ellie is only invited to the party because
another of Clarissa's guests invites her. Clarissa thought her too dull to invite. She speaks only to
Richard at the party. The rest of the time, she simply observes the guests and gathers gossip to tell
her friend, Edith.
Miss Helena Parry
Clarissa's old aunt, Miss Parry is part of the memories of Burton, where she chastised Sally and
befriended Peter. At the party, she tolerates the crowds and speaks to Peter about Burma. Most are
surprised that she is still alive.
The old woman
The neighbor whom Clarissa could view in the house adjacent, the old woman seems a mystery
to Clarissa. Though she often appears to be connected to others in her life, Clarissa admires the elder
neighbor's privacy. Clarissa watches the woman as Clarissa looks outside after hearing of Septimus'
suicide. The old woman's turning off the lights to go to bed triggers Clarissa's realization that she
must return to life and her party.
David Daiches - “in Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf achieved the sensitive organization of
tenuous insights which she had earlier come to consider the function of the novelist. The
significant moments in experience are the moments of insight.”
E.M. Forster - "the hidden life that appears in external signs is hidden no longer … [and] has
entered the realm of action. And it is the function of the novelist to reveal the hidden life at its
source".