Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs.Dalloway

Biographical Information

Plot Summary

Characters

Interpretation

Seminalism

Biographical Information of Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf was born in 1882 and died in 1941. She suffered through mental illness the majority of her life. She was sexually abused by her stepbrother, George, during her childhood until she was in her early twenties. She had three major breakdowns. Her first breakdown occurred after her mother passed away. She described that time as "the greatest disaster that could have happened." Virginia's second breakdown occurred after her father's death in 1904. She attempted suicide and suffered from scarlet fever at that time. Virginia married Leonard Woolf who comforted, cared, and nurtured her for the rest of her life. Due to an inheritance from a deceased aunt, Virginia was able to write freely without financial demands from her. Some said that without that financial freedom, she never would have written. She outlined the guidelines that women writers needed for writing freely in her long essay "A Room of One's Own." Virginia Woolf wrote many other novels before she committed suicide including Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. She eventually committed suicide.

Summary of Mrs.Dalloway Mrs. Dalloway experimented with narrative in this novel. She started the novel out from the mind of the party hostess, Clarissa Dalloway. She intertwined many characters thoughts throughout the novel which centered around the preparation of Clarissa's party. The end of the novel finishes with Clarissa's party. The day in which the novel centers is one in which Clarissa and most of the other characters reflect on their life and the choices they made to get them to where they are.

Characters in novel

Clarissa Dalloway-the title character in the novel. She is referred to as "sick" and "needing rest" because she had some sort of unexplained mental breakdown previously. She is preparing for the party and reflecting on her family, her past love (Peter), and the decisions she made.
Richard Dalloway-Clarissa's husband, a politician. He had class and kindness and wooed Clarissa into marriage. He is kind yet uncommunicative with Clarissa about his feelings. He tries to protect Clarissa from her own doubts and keep her healthy.
Peter-Clarissa's old love flame who just strolls back into town the day of the party causing Clarissa to wonder what would have happen if she had chosen him instead of Richard. He is unsuccessful by society's standards. He currently resides in India and was back in London checking on the status of his current love's pending divorce.
Sally Seton-Clarissa's old best friend and confidante. They shared one kiss that was the single most passionate moment of her life as Clarissa once said in the novel, but they were interrupted by Peter. She was independent and opinionated, but eventually married and had four sons. Clarissa considered Sally's marriage below her.
Elizabeth-Clarissa's daughter who was nothing like her. Elizabeth disliked her mother's fake exterior and vapid goals. She disliked the high society lifestyle and chose to escape it with the help of Miss Killman.
Miss Killman-Elizabeth's tutor who shares and fuels her disdain for high society. She is unattractive and detests men which fits her name.
Septimus-Clarissa's character counterpart who vocalizes and acts out her impulses of insanity and unhappiness. He kills himself by jumping out the window in the end when the doctors are coming to take him away. He epitomizes post traumatic stress syndrome from World War I. Woolf uses his character to criticize war, mental illness, doctors, marriage, and many other conventional society standards.
Lucrezia-Septimus' wife from the war. She sacrificed her life at home in Italy after the war to come to London and marry him. She believes in love and that Septimus will become himself and madly in love with her like she remembers. She is an idealist who believes that love and marriage will conquer all.

Analysis of Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway can be interpreted on many levels. Virginia Woolf used this novel to criticize many society standards and structures of the time. She criticized war and its pointlessness with Septimus' experiences in the lack of feelings he experienced from watching his best friend being killed and his insanity afterwards. She criticized marriage with how Clarissa lost her charm, personality, and happiness through marriage and Lucrezia's idealist attitude after she sacrificed her whole life, family, and country which proved to be futile after her husband killed himself. She criticized doctors and their treatment of mental illness with the exhibited doctor's pompous attitudes and lack of care for Clarissa or Septimus. The novel also criticized other standards and structures such as politics, success, children, communication, and death.

Seminalism of Novel This novel was seminal because it experimented with narrative and stream of consciousness. Woolf was able to weave different characters' minds together using connectors such as time, location, flashback, or just similar thoughts. This technique brought more interest into a typical day by allowing the reader to see into more than one character's mind to gain a fuller perspective on the situation.