Virginia Woolfs Mrs.

Dalloway
Context
Virginia Woolf, the English novelist, critic, and essayist, was born on January25, 1882, to Leslie Stehen, a
literary critic, and Julia !uc"worth Stehen# Woolf grew u in an uer$%iddle$class, socially active, literary
fa%ily in Victorian London# She had three full siblings, two half$brothers, and two half$sisters# She was educated
at ho%e, beco%ing a voracious reader of the boo"s in her father&s e'tensive library# (ragedy first afflicted the
fa%ily when Woolf&s %other died in 18)5, then hit again two years later, when her half$sister, Stella, the
caregiver in the Stehen fa%ily, died# Woolf e'erienced her first bout of %ental illness after her %other&s death,
and she suffered fro% %ania and severe deression for the rest of her life#
*atriarchal, reressive Victorian society did not encourage wo%en to attend universities or to articiate in
intellectual debate# +onetheless, Woolf began ublishing her first essays and reviews after1),-, the year her
father died and she and her siblings %oved to the .loo%sbury area of London# /oung students and artists,
drawn to the vitality and intellectual curiosity of the Stehen clan, congregated on (hursday evenings to share
their views about the world# (he .loo%sbury grou, as Woolf and her friends ca%e to be called, disregarded the
constricting taboos of the Victorian era, and such toics as religion, se', and art fueled the tal" at their wee"ly
salons# (hey even discussed ho%ose'uality, a sub0ect that shoc"ed %any of the grou&s conte%oraries# 1or
Woolf, the grou served as the undergraduate education that society had denied her#
The Voyage Out, Woolf&s first novel, was ublished in 1)15, three years after her %arriage to Leonard Woolf, a
%e%ber of the .loo%sbury grou# (heir artnershi furthered the grou&s intellectual ideals# With Leonard, Woolf
founded 2ogarth *ress, which ublished Sig%und 1reud, 3atherine 4ansfield, (# S# Eliot, and other notable
authors# She deter%inedly ursued her own writing as well5 !uring the ne't few years, Woolf "et a diary and
wrote several novels, a collection of short stories, and nu%erous essays# She struggled, as she wrote, to both
deal with her bouts of biolarity and to find her true voice as a writer# .efore World War 6, Woolf viewed the
realistic Victorian novel, with its neat and linear lots, as an inade7uate for% of e'ression# 2er oinion
intensified after the war, and in the 1)2,s she began searching for the for% that would reflect the violent
contrasts and dis0ointed i%ressions of the world around her#
6n Mrs. Dalloway, ublished in 1)25, Woolf discovered a new literary for% caable of e'ressing the new
realities of ostwar England# (he novel deicts the sub0ective e'eriences and %e%ories of its central characters
over a single day in ost8World War 6 London# !ivided into arts, rather than chaters, the novel9s structure
highlights the finely interwoven te'ture of the characters9 thoughts# :ritics tend to agree that Woolf found her
writer&s voice with this novel# ;t forty$three, she "new her e'eri%ental style was unli"ely to be a oular success
but no longer felt co%elled to see" critical raise# (he novel did, however, gain a %easure of co%%ercial and
critical success# (his boo", which focuses on co%%onlace tas"s, such as shoing, throwing a arty, and
eating dinner, showed that no act was too s%all or too ordinary for a writer&s attention# <lti%ately, Mrs.
Dalloway transfor%ed the novel as an art for%#
Woolf develos the boo"&s rotagonist, :larissa !alloway, and %yriad other characters by chronicling their
interior thoughts with little ause or e'lanation, a style referred to as strea% of consciousness# Several central
characters and %ore than one hundred %inor characters aear in the te't, and their thoughts sin out li"e
sider webs# So%eti%es the threads of thought cross=and eole succeed in co%%unicating# 4ore often,
however, the threads do not cross, leaving the characters isolated and alone# Woolf believed that behind the
>cotton wool? of life, as she ter%s it in her autobiograhical collection of essays Moments of Being @1)-1A, and
under the downour of i%ressions saturating a %ind during each %o%ent, a attern e'ists#
:haracters in Mrs. Dalloway occasionally erceive life&s attern through a sudden shoc", or what Woolf called a
>%o%ent of being#? Suddenly the cotton wool arts, and a erson sees reality, and his or her lace in it, clearly#
>6n the vast catastrohe of the Euroean war,? wrote Woolf, >our e%otions had to be bro"en u for us, and ut at
an angle fro% us, before we could allow ourselves to feel the% in oetry or fiction#? (hese words aear in her
essay collection, The Common Reader, which was ublished 0ust one %onth before Mrs. Dalloway# 2er novel
atte%ts to uncover frag%ented e%otions, such as deseration or love, in order to find, through >%o%ents of
being,? a way to endure#
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While writing Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf reread the Bree" classics along with two new %odernist writers, 4arcel
*roust and Ja%es Joyce# Woolf shared these writers9 interest in ti%e and sychology, and she incororated
these issues into her novel# She wanted to show characters in flu', rather than static, characters who thin" and
e%ote as they %ove through sace, who react to their surroundings in ways that %irrored actual hu%an
e'erience# Caid olitical and social change %ar"ed the eriod between the two world wars5 the .ritish E%ire,
for which so %any eole had sacrificed their lives to rotect and reserve, was in decline# :ountries li"e 6ndia
were beginning to 7uestion .ritain&s colonial rule# ;t ho%e, the Labour *arty, with its lans for econo%ic refor%,
was beginning to challenge the :onservative *arty, with its e%hasis on i%erial business interests# Wo%en,
who had flooded the wor"force to relace the %en who had gone to war, were de%anding e7ual rights# 4en, who
had seen unsea"able atrocities in the first %odern war, were 7uestioning the usefulness of class$based
socioolitical institutions# Woolf lent her suort to the fe%inist %ove%ent in her nonfiction boo" A Room of
Ones Own @1)2)A, as well as in nu%erous essays, and she was briefly involved in the wo%en&s suffrage
%ove%ent# ;lthough Mrs. Dallowayortrays the shifting olitical at%oshere through the characters *eter Walsh,
Cichard !alloway, and 2ugh Whitbread, it focuses %ore deely on the charged social %ood through the
characters Seti%us Warren S%ith and :larissa !alloway# Woolf delves into the consciousness of :larissa, a
wo%an who e'ists largely in the do%estic shere, to ensure that readers ta"e her character seriously, rather than
si%ly dis%iss her as a vain and uneducated uer$class wife# 6n site of her heroic and i%erfect effort in life,
:larissa, li"e every hu%an being and even the old social order itself, %ust face death#
Woolf&s struggles with %ental illness gave her an oortunity to witness firsthand how insensitive %edical
rofessionals could be, and she criti7ues their tactlessness in Mrs. Dalloway# Dne of Woolf&s doctors suggested
that lenty of rest and rich food would lead to a full recovery, a cure rescribed in the novel, and another
re%oved several of her teeth# 6n the early twentieth century, %ental health roble%s were too often considered
i%aginary, an e%barrass%ent, or the roduct of %oral wea"ness# !uring one bout of illness, Woolf heard birds
sing li"e Bree" choruses and 3ing Edward use foul language a%ong so%e aEaleas# 6n 1)-1, as England
entered a second world war, and at the onset of another brea"down she feared would be er%anent, Woolf
laced a large stone in her oc"et to weigh herself down and drowned herself in the Civer Duse#
Plot Overview
4 rs. Dalloway covers one day fro% %orning to night in one wo%an&s life# :larissa !alloway, an uer$class
housewife, wal"s through her London neighborhood to reare for the arty she will host that evening# When she
returns fro% flower shoing, an old suitor and friend, *eter Walsh, dros by her house une'ectedly# (he two
have always 0udged each other harshly, and their %eeting in the resent intertwines with their thoughts of the
ast# /ears earlier, :larissa refused *eter&s %arriage roosal, and *eter has never 7uite gotten over it# *eter
as"s :larissa if she is hay with her husband, Cichard, but before she can answer, her daughter, EliEabeth,
enters the roo%# *eter leaves and goes to Cegent&s *ar"# 2e thin"s about :larissa&s refusal, which still obsesses
hi%#
(he oint of view then shifts to Seti%us, a veteran of World War 6 who was in0ured in trench warfare and now
suffers fro% shell shoc"# Seti%us and his 6talian wife, LucreEia, ass ti%e in Cegent&s *ar"# (hey are waiting for
Seti%us&s aoint%ent with Sir Willia% .radshaw, a celebrated sychiatrist# .efore the war, Seti%us was a
budding young oet and lover of Sha"eseareF when the war bro"e out, he enlisted i%%ediately for ro%antic
atriotic reasons# 2e beca%e nu%b to the horrors of war and its after%ath5 when his friend Evans died, he felt
little sadness# +ow Seti%us sees nothing of worth in the England he fought for, and he has lost the desire to
reserve either his society or hi%self# Suicidal, he believes his lac" of feeling is a cri%e# :learly Seti%us&s
e'eriences in the war have er%anently scarred hi%, and he has serious %ental roble%s# 2owever, Sir
Willia% does not listen to what Seti%us says and diagnoses >a lac" of roortion#? Sir Willia% lans to searate
Seti%us fro% LucreEia and send hi% to a %ental institution in the country#
Cichard !alloway eats lunch with 2ugh Whitbread and Lady .ruton, %e%bers of high society# (he %en hel
Lady .ruton write a letter to theTimes, London9s largest newsaer# ;fter lunch, Cichard returns ho%e to
:larissa with a large bunch of roses# 2e intends to tell her that he loves her but finds that he cannot, because it
has been so long since he last said it# :larissa considers the void that e'ists between eole, even between
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husband and wife# Even though she values the rivacy she is able to %aintain in her %arriage, considering it vital
to the success of the relationshi, at the sa%e ti%e she finds slightly disturbing the fact that Cichard doesn&t "now
everything about her# :larissa sees off EliEabeth and her history teacher, 4iss 3il%an, who are going shoing#
(he two older wo%en desise one another assionately, each believing the other to be an oressive force over
EliEabeth# 4eanwhile, Seti%us and LucreEia are in their aart%ent, en0oying a %o%ent of hainess together
before the %en co%e to ta"e Seti%us to the asylu%# Dne of Seti%us&s doctors, !r# 2ol%es, arrives, and
Seti%us fears the doctor will destroy his soul# 6n order to avoid this fate, he 0u%s fro% a window to his death#
*eter hears the a%bulance go by to ic" u Seti%us&s body and %arvels ironically at the level of London&s
civiliEation# 2e goes to :larissa&s arty, where %ost of the novel&s %a0or characters are asse%bled# :larissa
wor"s hard to %a"e her arty a success but feels dissatisfied by her own role and acutely conscious of *eter&s
critical eye# ;ll the artygoers, but esecially *eter and Sally Seton, have, to so%e degree, failed to acco%lish
the drea%s of their youth# (hough the social order is undoubtedly changing, EliEabeth and the %e%bers of her
generation will robably reeat the errors of :larissa&s generation# Sir Willia% .radshaw arrives late, and his wife
e'lains that one of his atients, the young veteran @Seti%usA, has co%%itted suicide# :larissa retreats to the
rivacy of a s%all roo% to consider Seti%us&s death# She understands that he was overwhel%ed by life and that
%en li"e Sir Willia% %a"e life intolerable# She identifies with Seti%us, ad%iring hi% for having ta"en the lunge
and for not co%ro%ising his soul# She feels, with her co%fortable osition as a society hostess, resonsible for
his death# (he arty nears its close as guests begin to leave# :larissa enters the roo%, and her resence fills
*eter with a great e'cite%ent#
Analysis of Major Characters
Clarissa Dalloway
:larissa !alloway, the heroine of the novel, struggles constantly to balance her internal life with the e'ternal
world# 2er world consists of glittering surfaces, such as fine fashion, arties, and high society, but as she %oves
through that world she robes beneath those surfaces in search of deeer %eaning# /earning for rivacy,
:larissa has a tendency toward introsection that gives her a rofound caacity for e%otion, which %any other
characters lac"# 2owever, she is always concerned with aearances and "ees herself tightly co%osed,
seldo% sharing her feelings with anyone# She uses a constant strea% of convivial chatter and activity to "ee her
soul loc"ed safely away, which can %a"e her see% shallow even to those who "now her well#
:onstantly overlaying the ast and the resent, :larissa strives to reconcile herself to life desite her otent
%e%ories# 1or %ost of the novel she considers aging and death with treidation, even as she erfor%s life$
affir%ing actions, such as buying flowers# (hough content, :larissa never lets go of the doubt she feels about the
decisions that have shaed her life, articularly her decision to %arry Cichard instead of *eter Walsh# She
understands that life with *eter would have been difficult, but at the sa%e ti%e she is uneasily aware that she
sacrificed assion for the security and tran7uility of an uer$class life# ;t ti%es she wishes for a chance to live
life over again# She e'eriences a %o%ent of clarity and eace when she watches her old neighbor through her
window, and by the end of the day she has co%e to ter%s with the ossibility of death# Li"e Seti%us, :larissa
feels "eenly the oressive forces in life, and she accets that the life she has is all she&ll get# 2er will to endure,
however, revails#
Septimus Warren Smith
Seti%us, a veteran of World War 6, suffers fro% shell shoc" and is lost within his own %ind# 2e feels guilty even
as he desises hi%self for being %ade nu%b by the war# 2is doctor has ordered LucreEia, Seti%us&s wife, to
%a"e Seti%us notice things outside hi%self, but Seti%us has re%oved hi%self fro% the hysical world#
6nstead, he lives in an internal world, wherein he sees and hears things that aren&t really there and he tal"s to his
dead friend Evans# 2e is so%eti%es overco%e with the beauty in the world, but he also fears that the eole in it
have no caacity for honesty or "indness# Woolf intended for :larissa to sea" the sane truth and Seti%us the
insane truth, and indeed Seti%us&s detach%ent enables hi% to 0udge other eole %ore harshly than :larissa is
caable of# (he world outside of Seti%us is threatening, and the way Seti%us sees that world offers little hoe#
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Dn the surface, Seti%us see%s 7uite dissi%ilar to :larissa, but he e%bodies %any characteristics that :larissa
shares and thin"s in %uch the sa%e way she does# 2e could al%ost be her double in the novel# Seti%us and
:larissa both have bea"$noses, love Sha"eseare, and fear oression# 4ore i%ortant, as :larissa&s double,
Seti%us offers a contrast between the conscious struggle of a wor"ing$class veteran and the blind oulence of
the uer class# 2is troubles call into 7uestion the legiti%acy of the English society he fought to reserve during
the war# .ecause his thoughts often run arallel to :larissa&s and echo hers in %any ways, the thin line between
what is considered sanity and insanity gets thinner and thinner# Seti%us chooses to escae his roble%s by
"illing hi%self, a dra%atic and tragic gesture that ulti%ately hels :larissa to accet her own choices, as well as
the society in which she lives#
Peter Walsh
*eter Walsh&s %ost consistent character trait is a%bivalence5 he is %iddle$aged and fears he has wasted his life,
but so%eti%es he also feels he is not yet old# 2e cannot co%%it to an identity, or even to a ro%antic artner# 2e
cannot decide what he feels and tries often to tal" hi%self into feeling or not feeling certain things# 1or e'a%le,
he sends the day telling hi%self that he no longer loves :larissa, but his grief at losing her rises ainfully to the
surface when he is in her resence, and his obsession with her suggests that he is still attracted to her and %ay
even long for renewed ro%ance# Even when he gathers his anger toward :larissa and tells her about his new
love, he cannot sustain the anger and ends u weeing# *eter acts as a foil to Cichard, who is stable, generous,
and rather si%le# <nli"e cal% Cichard, *eter is li"e a stor%, thundering and crashing, unredictable even to
hi%self#
*eter&s unhealed hurt and ersistent insecurity %a"e hi% severely critical of other characters, esecially the
!alloways# 2e detests :larissa&s bourgeois lifestyle, though he bla%es Cichard for %a"ing her into the "ind of
wo%an she is# :larissa intuits even his %ost veiled criticis%s, such as when he re%ar"s on her green dress, and
his 0udg%ents strongly affect her own assess%ents of her life and choices# !esite his shar criti7ues of others,
*eter cannot clearly see his own shortco%ings# 2is self$obsession and neediness would have suffocated
:larissa, which is artly why she refused his %arriage roosal as a young wo%an# *eter ac7uiesces to the very
English society he criticiEes, en0oying the false sense of order it offers, which he lac"s in his life# !esite *eter&s
a%bivalence and tendency toward analysis, he still feels life deely# While :larissa co%es to ter%s with her own
%ortality, *eter beco%es frantic at the thought of death# 2e follows a young wo%an through the London streets
to s%other his thoughts of death with a fantasy of life and adventure# 2is critical nature %ay distance hi% fro%
others, but he values his life nonetheless#
Sally Seton
Sally Seton e'ists only as a figure in :larissa&s %e%ory for %ost of the novel, and when she aears at
:larissa&s arty, she is older but still fa%iliar# (hough the wo%en have not seen each other for years, Sally still
uts :larissa first when she counts her blessings, even before her husband or five sons# ;s a girl, Sally was
without inhibitions, and as an adult at the arty, she is still effusive and lac"s :larissa&s restraint# Long ago, Sally
and :larissa lotted to refor% the world together# +ow, however, both are %arried, a fate they once considered a
>catastrohe#? Sally has changed and cal%ed down a great deal since the .ourton days, but she is still enough of
a loose cannon to %a"e *eter nervous and to "indle :larissa&s old war% feelings# .oth Sally and :larissa have
yielded to the forces of English society to so%e degree, but Sally "ees %ore distance than :larissa does# She
often ta"es refuge in her garden, as she desairs over co%%unicating with hu%ans# 2owever, she has not lost
all hoe of %eaningful co%%unication, and she still thin"s saying what one feels is the %ost i%ortant
contribution one can %a"e to society#
:larissa considers the %o%ent when Sally "issed her on the lis and offered her a flower at .ourton the >%ost
e'7uisite %o%ent of her whole life#? Society would never have allowed that love to flourish, since wo%en of
:larissa&s class were e'ected to %arry and beco%e society wives# Sally has always been %ore of a free sirit
than :larissa, and when she arrives at :larissa&s arty, she feels rather distant fro% and confused by the life
:larissa has chosen# (he wo%en&s "iss %ar"ed a true %o%ent of assion that could have ushed both wo%en
outside of the English society they "now, and it stands out in contrast to the confrontation *eter re%e%bers
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between Sally and 2ugh regarding wo%en&s rights# Dne %orning at .ourton, Sally angrily told 2ugh he
reresented the worst of the English %iddle class and that he was to bla%e for the light of the young girls in
*iccadilly# Later, 2ugh suosedly "issed her in the s%o"ing roo%# 2ugh&s is the forced "iss of traditional English
society, while the "iss with :larissa is a revelation# <lti%ately, the society that surs 2ugh&s "iss revails for both
wo%en#
Richard Dalloway
Cichard&s si%licity and steadfastness have enabled hi% to build a stable life for :larissa, but these sa%e
7ualities reresent the co%ro%ise that %arrying hi% re7uired# Cichard is a si%le, hardwor"ing, sensible
husband who loves :larissa and their daughter, EliEabeth# 2owever, he will never share :larissa&s desire to truly
and fully co%%unicate, and he cannot areciate the beauty of life in the sa%e way she can# ;t one oint,
Cichard tries to overco%e his habitual stiffness and shyness by lanning to tell :larissa that he loves her, but he
is ulti%ately too reressed to say the words, in art because it has been so long since he last said the%# Just as
he does not understand :larissa&s desires, he does not recogniEe EliEabeth&s otential as a wo%an# 6f he had
had a son, he would have encouraged hi% to wor", but he does not offer the sa%e encourage%ent to EliEabeth,
even as she conte%lates 0ob otions# 2is reticence on the %atter increases the li"elihood that she will
eventually be in the sa%e redica%ent as :larissa, unable to suort herself through a career and thus unable to
gain the freedo% to follow her assions#
Cichard considers tradition of ri%e i%ortance, rather than assion or oen co%%unication# 2e cha%ions the
traditions England went to war to reserve, in contrast to Seti%us, and does not recogniEe their destructive
ower# !esite his occasional %isgivings, Cichard has close associations with %e%bers of English high society#
2e is critical of 2ugh, but they revere %any of the sa%e sy%bols, including the figure of the grand old lady with
%oney, who is helless when it co%es to surviving in a atriarchal society# Cichard li"es the fact that wo%en
need hi%, but so%eti%es he wrongly assu%es they do# 1or e'a%le, he does not recogniEe that a fe%ale
vagrant %ay not want his hel but %ay instead en0oy living outside the rules of his society# 1or Cichard, this sort
of freedo% is uni%aginable#
Hugh Whitbread $ :larissa&s old friend, %arried to Evelyn Whitbread# ;n i%eccable English%an and uholder
of English tradition, 2ugh writes letters to the Times about various causes# 2e never brushes beneath the
surface of any sub0ect and is rather vain# 4any are critical of his o%ousness and gluttony, but he re%ains
oblivious# 2e is, as :larissa thin"s, al%ost too erfectly dressed# 2e %a"es :larissa feel young and insecure#
Lucrezia !ith "#ezia$ $ Seti%us&s wife, a twenty$four$year$old hat$%a"er fro% 4ilan# CeEia loves Seti%us
but is forced to bear the burden of his %ental illness alone# +or%ally a lively and layful young wo%an, she has
grown thin with worry# She feels isolated and continually wishes to share her unhainess with so%ebody# She
tri%s hats for the friends of her neighbor, 4rs# 1il%er#
%lizabeth &alloway $ :larissa and Cichard&s only child# Bentle, considerate, and so%ewhat assive, seventeen$
year$old EliEabeth does not have :larissa&s energy# She has a dar" beauty that is beginning to attract attention#
+ot a fan of arties or clothes, she li"es being in the country with her father and dogs# She sends a great deal of
ti%e raying with her history teacher, the religious 4iss 3il%an, and is considering career otions#
&oris 'il!an $ EliEabeth&s history teacher, who has Ber%an ancestry# 4iss 3il%an has a history degree and
was fired fro% a teaching 0ob during the war because of society&s anti$Ber%an re0udice# She is over forty and
wears an unattractive %ac"intosh coat because she does not dress to lease# She beca%e a born$again
:hristian two years and three %onths ago# *oor, with a forehead li"e an egg, she is bitter and disli"es :larissa
intensely but adores EliEabeth#
ir Willia! (radshaw $ ; renowned London sychiatrist# When LucreEia see"s hel for her insane husband,
Seti%us, Seti%us&s doctor, !r# 2ol%es, reco%%ends Sir Willia%# Sir Willia% believes that %ost eole who
thin" they are %ad suffer instead fro% a >lac" of roortion#? 2e deter%ines that Seti%us has suffered a
co%lete nervous brea"down and reco%%ends that Seti%us send ti%e in the country, aart fro% LucreEia#
(he hardwor"ing son of a trades%an, Sir Willia% craves ower and has beco%e resected in his field#
&r) Hol!es $ Seti%us&s general ractitioner# When Seti%us begins to suffer the delayed effects of shell
shoc", LucreEia see"s his hel# !r# 2ol%es clai%s nothing is wrong with Seti%us, but that LucreEia should see
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Sir Willia% if she doesn&t believe hi%# Seti%us desises !r# 2ol%es and refers to hi% as >hu%an nature#? !r#
2ol%es li"es to go to the %usic hall and to lay golf#
Lady "Millicent$ (ruton $ ; %e%ber of high society and a friend of the !alloways# ;t si'ty$two years old, Lady
.ruton is devoted to ro%oting e%igration to :anada for English fa%ilies# +or%ally erect and %agisterial, she
anics when she has to write a letter to the editor and see"s hel fro% Cichard !alloway and 2ugh Whitbread#
She has an assistant, 4illy .rush, and a chow dog# She is a descendant of Beneral Sir (albot 4oore#
Miss Helena Parry "Aunt Helena$ $ :larissa&s aunt# ;unt 2elena is a relic of the strict English society :larissa
finds so confining# ; great botanist, she also en0oys tal"ing about orchids and .ur%a# She is a for%idable old
lady, over eighty, who found Sally Seton&s behavior as a youth shoc"ing# She has one glass eye#
%llie Henderson $ :larissa&s dowdy cousin# Ellie, in her early fifties, has thin hair, a %eager rofile, and bad
eyesight# +ot trained for any career and having only a s%all inco%e, she wears an old blac" dress to :larissa&s
arty# She is self$effacing, sub0ect to chills, and close to a wo%an na%ed Edith# :larissa finds her dull and does
not want to invite her to the arty, and Ellie stands alone nearly the whole ti%e, aware that she does not really
belong#
%vans $ Seti%us&s warti%e officer and close friend# Evans died in 6taly 0ust before the ar%istice, but Seti%us,
in his deluded state, continues to see and hear hi% behind trees and sitting roo% screens# !uring the war, Evans
and Seti%us were insearable# Evans was a shy English%an with red hair#
Mrs) *il!er $ (he S%iths& neighbor# 4rs# 1il%er finds Seti%us odd# She has honest blue eyes and is CeEia&s
only friend in London# 2er daughter is 4rs# *eters, who listens to the S%iths& gra%ohone when they are not at
ho%e# 4rs# 1il%er&s granddaughter delivers the newsaer to the S%iths& ho%e each evening, and CeEia always
%a"es the child&s arrival into a %o%entous, 0oyous event#
&aisy i!!ons $ *eter Walsh&s lover in 6ndia, %arried to a %a0or in the 6ndian ar%y# !aisy is twenty$four years
old and has two s%all children# *eter is in London to arrange her divorce#
%velyn Whitbread $ 2ugh Whitbread&s wife# Evelyn suffers fro% an unsecified internal ail%ent and sends
%uch of her ti%e in nursing ho%es# We learn about her fro% others# *eter Walsh describes her as %ousy and
al%ost negligible, but he also oints out that occasionally she says so%ething shar#
Mr) (rewer $ Seti%us&s boss at Sibleys and ;rrows%ith# 4r# .rewer, the %anaging cler", is aternal with his
e%loyees and foresees a ro%ising career for Seti%us, but Seti%us volunteers for the war before he can
reach any degree of success# 4r# .rewer ro%otes Seti%us when he returns fro% the war, but Seti%us is
already losing his %ind# 4r# .rewer has a wa'ed %oustache and a coral tiein#
+i! Hutton $ ;n awful oet at the !alloways& arty# Ji% is badly dressed, with red soc"s and unruly hair, and he
does not en0oy tal"ing to another guest, *rofessor .rierly, who is a rofessor of 4ilton# Ji% shares with :larissa a
love of .ach and thin"s she is >the best of the great ladies who too" an interest in art#? 2e en0oys %i%ic"ing
eole#
,he!es- Motifs- and y!bols
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas exlored in a literary wor!.
:o%%unication vs# *rivacy
(hroughout Mrs. Dalloway, :larissa, Seti%us, *eter, and others struggle to find outlets for co%%unication as
well as ade7uate rivacy, and the balance between the two is difficult for all to attain# :larissa in articular
struggles to oen the athway for co%%unication and throws arties in an atte%t to draw eole together# ;t
the sa%e ti%e, she feels shrouded within her own reflective soul and thin"s the ulti%ate hu%an %ystery is how
she can e'ist in one roo% while the old wo%an in the house across fro% hers e'ists in another# Even as :larissa
celebrates the old wo%an&s indeendence, she "nows it co%es with an inevitable loneliness# *eter tries to
e'lain the contradictory hu%an i%ulses toward rivacy and co%%unication by co%aring the soul to a fish that
swi%s along in %ur"y water, then rises 7uic"ly to the surface to frolic on the waves# (he war has changed
eole&s ideas of what English society should be, and understanding is difficult between those who suort
traditional English society and those who hoe for continued change# 4eaningful connections in this dis0ointed
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ostwar world are not easy to %a"e, no %atter what efforts the characters ut forth# <lti%ately, :larissa sees
Seti%us&s death as a deserate, but legiti%ate, act of co%%unication#
!isillusion%ent with the .ritish E%ire
(hroughout the nineteenth century, the .ritish E%ire see%ed invincible# 6t e'anded into %any other countries,
such as 6ndia, +igeria, and South ;frica, beco%ing the largest e%ire the world had ever seen# World War 6 was
a violent reality chec"# 1or the first ti%e in nearly a century, the English were vulnerable on their own land# (he
;llies technically won the war, but the e'tent of devastation England suffered %ade it a victory in na%e only#
Entire co%%unities of young %en were in0ured and "illed# 6n 1)1G, at the .attle of the So%%e, England
suffered G,,,,, casualties=the largest slaughter in England&s history# +ot surrisingly, English citiEens lost
%uch of their faith in the e%ire after the war# +o longer could England clai% to be invulnerable and all$owerful#
:itiEens were less inclined to willingly adhere to the rigid constraints i%osed by England&s class syste%, which
benefited only a s%all %argin of society but which all classes had fought to reserve#
6n 1)2H, when Mrs. Dalloway ta"es lace, the old establish%ent and its oressive values are nearing their end#
English citiEens, including :larissa, *eter, and Seti%us, feel the failure of the e%ire as strongly as they feel
their own ersonal failures# (hose citiEens who still cha%ion English tradition, such as ;unt 2elena and Lady
.ruton, are old# ;unt 2elena, with her glass eye @erhas a sy%bol of her inability or unwillingness to see the
e%ire9s disintegrationA, is turning into an artifact# ;nticiating the end of the :onservative *arty&s reign, Cichard
lans to write the history of the great .ritish %ilitary fa%ily, the .rutons, who are already art of the ast# (he old
e%ire faces an i%%inent de%ise, and the loss of the traditional and fa%iliar social order leaves the English at
loose ends#
(he 1ear of !eath
(houghts of death lur" constantly beneath the surface of everyday life in Mrs. Dalloway, esecially for :larissa,
Seti%us, and *eter, and this awareness %a"es even %undane events and interactions %eaningful, so%eti%es
even threatening# ;t the very start of her day, when she goes out to buy flowers for her arty, :larissa
re%e%bers a %o%ent in her youth when she susected a terrible event would occur# .ig .en tolls out the hour,
and :larissa reeats a line fro% Sha"eseare&s Cym"eline over and over as the day goes on5 >1ear no %ore the
heat o& the sun I +or the furious winter&s rages#? (he line is fro% a funeral song that celebrates death as a
co%fort after a difficult life# 4iddle$aged :larissa has e'erienced the deaths of her father, %other, and sister and
has lived through the cala%ity of war, and she has grown to believe that living even one day is dangerous# !eath
is very naturally in her thoughts, and the line fro% Cym"eline, along with Seti%us&s suicidal e%brace of death,
ulti%ately hels her to be at eace with her own %ortality# *eter Walsh, so insecure in his identity, grows frantic
at the idea of death and follows an anony%ous young wo%an through London to forget about it# Seti%us faces
death %ost directly# (hough he fears it, he finally chooses it over what see%s to hi% a direr alternative=living
another day#
(he (hreat of Dression
Dression is a constant threat for :larissa and Seti%us in Mrs. Dalloway, and Seti%us dies in order to
escae what he erceives to be an oressive social ressure to confor%# 6t co%es in %any guises, including
religion, science, or social convention# 4iss 3il%an and Sir Willia% .radshaw are two of the %a0or oressors in
the novel5 4iss 3il%an drea%s of felling :larissa in the na%e of religion, and Sir Willia% would li"e to subdue all
those who challenge his concetion of the world# .oth wish to convert the world to their belief syste%s in order to
gain ower and do%inate others, and their rigidity oresses all who co%e into contact with the%# 4ore subtle
oressors, even those who do not intend to, do har% by suorting the reressive English social syste%#
(hough :larissa herself lives under the weight of that syste% and often feels oressed by it, her accetance of
atriarchal English society %a"es her, in art, resonsible for Seti%us&s death# (hus she too is an oressor of
sorts# ;t the end of the novel, she reflects on his suicide5 >So%ehow it was her disaster=her disgrace#? She
accets resonsibility, though other characters are e7ually or %ore fully to bla%e, which suggests that everyone
is in so%e way co%licit in the oression of others#
7
Motifs
Motifs are re#urring stru#tures$ #ontrasts$ or literary devi#es that #an hel to develo and inform the texts ma%or
themes.
(i%e
(i%e i%arts order to the fluid thoughts, %e%ories, and encounters that %a"e u Mrs. Dalloway# .ig .en, a
sy%bol of England and its %ight, sounds out the hour relentlessly, ensuring that the assage of ti%e, and the
awareness of eventual death, is always alable# :larissa, Seti%us, *eter, and other characters are in the gri
of ti%e, and as they age they evaluate how they have sent their lives# :larissa, in articular, senses the
assage of ti%e, and the aearance of Sally and *eter, friends fro% the ast, e%hasiEes how %uch ti%e has
gone by since :larissa was young# Dnce the hour chi%es, however, the sound disaears=its >leaden circles
dissolved in the air#? (his e'ression recurs %any ti%es throughout the novel, indicating how ehe%eral ti%e is,
desite the o% of .ig .en and desite eole&s wary obsession with it# >6t is ti%e,? CeEia says to Seti%us as
they sit in the ar" waiting for the doctor9s aoint%ent on 2arley Street# (he ancient wo%an at the Cegent&s
*ar" (ube station suggests that the hu%an condition "nows no boundaries of ti%e, since she continues to sing
the sa%e song for what see%s li"e eternity# She understands that life is circular, not %erely linear, which is the
only sort of ti%e that .ig .en trac"s# (i%e is so i%ortant to the the%es, structure, and characters of this novel
that Woolf al%ost na%ed her boo" The &ours#
Sha"eseare
(he %any aearances of Sha"eseare secifically and oetry in general suggest hoefulness, the ossibility of
finding co%fort in art, and the survival of the soul in Mrs. Dalloway# :larissa 7uotes Sha"eseare&s lays %any
ti%es throughout the day# When she shos for flowers at the beginning of the novel, she reads a few lines fro% a
Sha"eseare lay, Cym"eline, in a boo" dislayed in a sho window# (he lines co%e fro% a funeral hy%n in the
lay that suggests death should be e%braced as a release fro% the constraints of life# Since :larissa fears death
for %uch of the novel, these lines suggest that an alternative, hoeful way of addressing the rosect of death
e'ists# :larissa also identifies with the title character in Othello, who loves his wife but "ills her out of 0ealousy,
then "ills hi%self when he learns his 0ealousy was unwarranted. :larissa shares with Dthello the sense of having
lost a love, esecially when she thin"s about Sally Seton# .efore the war, Seti%us areciated Sha"eseare as
well, going so far as asiring to be a oet# 2e no longer finds co%fort in oetry after he returns#
(he resence of an areciation for oetry reveals %uch about :larissa and Seti%us, 0ust as the absence of
such areciation reveals %uch about the characters who differ fro% the%, such as Cichard !alloway and Lady
.ruton# Cichard finds Sha"eseare&s sonnets indecent, and he co%ares reading the% to listening in at a
"eyhole# +ot surrisingly, Cichard hi%self has a difficult ti%e voicing his e%otions# Lady .ruton never reads
oetry either, and her de%eanor is so rigid and i%ersonal that she has a reutation of caring %ore for olitics
than for eole# (raditional English society ro%otes a suression of visible e%otion, and since Sha"eseare
and oetry ro%ote a discussion of feeling and e%otion, they belong to sensitive eole li"e :larissa, who are in
%any ways antiestablish%ent#
(rees and 1lowers
(ree and flower i%ages abound in Mrs. Dalloway# (he color, variety, and beauty of flowers suggest feeling and
e%otion, and those characters who are co%fortable with flowers, such as :larissa, have distinctly different
ersonalities than those characters who are not, such as Cichard and Lady .ruton# (he first ti%e we see
:larissa, a dee thin"er, she is on her way to the flower sho, where she will revel in the flowers she sees#
Cichard and 2ugh, %ore e%otionally reressed reresentatives of the English establish%ent, offer traditional
roses and carnations to :larissa and Lady .ruton, resectively# Cichard handles the bou7uet of roses
aw"wardly, li"e a weaon# Lady .ruton accets the flowers with a >gri% s%ile? and lays the% stiffly by her late,
also unsure of how to handle the%# When she eventually stuffs the% into her dress, the fe%ininity and grace of
the gesture are rare and une'ected# (rees, with their e'tensive root syste%s, suggest the vast reach of the
hu%an soul, and :larissa and Seti%us, who both struggle to rotect their souls, revere the%# :larissa believes
8
souls survive in trees after death, and Seti%us, who has turned his bac" on atriarchal society, feels that cutting
down a tree is the e7uivalent of co%%itting %urder#
Waves and Water
Waves and water regularly wash over events and thoughts in Mrs. Dallowayand nearly always suggest the
ossibility of e'tinction or death# While :larissa %ends her arty dress, she thin"s about the eaceful cycle of
waves collecting and falling on a su%%er day, when the world itself see%s to say >that is all#? (i%e so%eti%es
ta"es on waterli"e 7ualities for :larissa, such as when the chi%e fro% .ig .en >floodJsK? her roo%, %ar"ing
another assing hour# CeEia, in a rare %o%ent of hainess with Seti%us after he has heled her construct a
hat, lets her words trail off >li"e a contented ta left running#? Even then, she "nows that strea% of contentedness
will dry u eventually# (he narrative structure of the novel itself also suggests fluidity# Dne character&s thoughts
aear, intensify, then fade into another&s, %uch li"e waves that collect then fall#
(raditional English society itself is a "ind of tide, ulling under those eole not strong enough to stand on their
own# Lady .radshaw, for e'a%le, eventually succu%bs to Sir Willia%&s bullying, overbearing resence# (he
narrator says >she had gone under,? that her will beca%e >water$logged? and eventually san" into his# Seti%us
is also suc"ed under society&s ressures# Earlier in the day, before he "ills hi%self, he loo"s out the window and
sees everything as though it is underwater# (rees drag their branches through the air as though dragging the%
through water, the light outside is >watery gold,? and his hand on the sofa re%inds hi% of floating in seawater#
While Seti%us ulti%ately cannot accet or function in society, :larissa %anages to navigate it successfully#
*eter sees :larissa in a >silver$green %er%aid&s dress? at her arty, >JlKolloing on the waves#? .etween her
%er%aid&s dress and her ease in bobbing through her arty guests, :larissa succeeds in staying afloat#
2owever, she identifies with Seti%us&s wish to fight the cycle and go under, even if she will not succu%b to the
te%tation herself#
Symbols
'ym"ols are o"%e#ts$ #hara#ters$ figures$ or #olors used to reresent a"stra#t ideas or #on#ets.
(he *ri%e 4inister
(he ri%e %inister in Mrs. Dalloway e%bodies England&s old values and hierarchical social syste%, which are in
decline# When *eter Walsh wants to insult :larissa and suggest she will sell out and beco%e a society hostess,
he says she will %arry a ri%e %inister# When Lady .ruton, a cha%ion of English tradition, wants to co%li%ent
2ugh, she calls hi% >4y *ri%e 4inister#? (he ri%e %inister is a figure fro% the old establish%ent, which
:larissa and Seti%us are struggling against# Mrs. Dalloway ta"es lace after World War 6, a ti%e when the
English loo"ed deserately for %eaning in the old sy%bols but found the sy%bols hollow# When the conservative
ri%e %inister finally arrives at :larissa&s arty, his aearance is uni%ressive# (he old yra%idal social syste%
that benefited the very rich before the war is now decaying, and the sy%bols of its greatness have beco%e
athetic#
*eter Walsh&s *oc"et"nife and Dther Weaons
*eter Walsh lays constantly with his oc"et"nife, and the oening, closing, and fiddling with the "nife suggest
his flightiness and inability to %a"e decisions# 2e cannot decide what he feels and doesn&t "now whether he
abhors English tradition and wants to fight it, or whether he accets English civiliEation 0ust as it is# (he
oc"et"nife reveals *eter&s defensiveness# 2e is ar%ed with the "nife, in a sense, when he ays an une'ected
visit to :larissa, while she herself is ar%ed with her sewing scissors# (heir weaons %a"e the% e7ual
co%etitors# 3nives and weaons are also hallic sy%bols, hinting at se'uality and ower# *eter cannot define
his own identity, and his constant fidgeting with the "nife suggests how unco%fortable he is with his %asculinity#
:haracters fall into two grous5 those who are ar%ed and those who are not# Ellie 2enderson, for e'a%le, is
>weaonless,? because she is oor and has not been trained for any career# 2er a%biguous relationshi with her
friend Edith also uts her at a disadvantage in society, leaving her even less able to defend herself# Seti%us,
sychologically criled by the literal weaons of war, co%%its suicide by i%aling hi%self on a %etal fence,
showing the danger lur"ing behind %an$%ade boundaries#
9
(he Dld Wo%an in the Window
(he old wo%an in the window across fro% :larissa&s house reresents the rivacy of the soul and the loneliness
that goes with it, both of which will increase as :larissa grows older# :larissa sees the future in the old wo%an5
She herself will grow old and beco%e %ore and %ore alone, since that is the nature of life# ;s :larissa grows
older, she reflects %ore but co%%unicates less# 6nstead, she "ees her feelings loc"ed inside the rivate roo%s
of her own soul, 0ust as the old wo%an rattles alone around the roo%s of her house# +evertheless, the old
wo%an also reresents serenity and the urity of the soul# :larissa resects the wo%an&s rivate reflections and
thin"s beauty lies in this act of reserving one&s interior life and indeendence# .efore Seti%us 0u%s out the
window, he sees an old %an descending the staircase outside, and this old %an is a arallel figure to the old
wo%an# (hough :larissa and Seti%us ulti%ately choose to reserve their rivate lives in oosite ways, their
view of loneliness, rivacy, and co%%unication resonates within these si%ilar i%ages#
(he Dld Wo%an Singing an ;ncient Song
Dosite the Cegent&s *ar" (ube station, an old wo%an 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 thin"s# (he
narrator e'lains that no %atter what haens in the world, the old wo%an will still be there, even in >ten %illion
years,? and that the song has soa"ed >through the "notted roots of infinite ages#? Coots, intertwined and hidden
beneath the earth, suggest the deeest arts of eole&s souls, and this wo%an&s song touches everyone who
hears it in so%e way# *eter hears the song first and co%ares the old wo%an to a rusty u%# 2e doesn&t catch
her triu%hant %essage and feels only ity for her, giving her a coin before steing into a ta'i# CeEia, however,
finds strength in the old wo%an&s words, and the song %a"es her feel as though all will be o"ay in her life#
Wo%en in the novel, who have to view atriarchal English society fro% the outside, are generally %ore attuned to
nature and the %essages of voices outside the %ainstrea%# CeEia, therefore, is able to see the old wo%an for
the life force she is, instead of si%ly a nuisance or a tragic figure to be dealt with, ignored, or itied#
10