THE BOOK
In
Jacob's Room, the novel preceding Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf works with many
of the same themes she later expands upon in Mrs. Dalloway. To Mrs. Dalloway,
she added the theme of insanity. As Woolf stated, "I adumbrate here a
study of insanity and suicide; the world seen by the sane and the insane side
by side." However, even the theme that would lead Woolf to create a double
for Clarissa Dalloway can be viewed as a progression of other similar ideas
cultivated in Jacob's Room. Woolf's next novel, then, was a natural development
from Jacob's Room, as well as an expansion of the short stories she wrote
before deciding to make Mrs. Dalloway into a full novel. The Dalloways had been
introduced in the novel, The Voyage Out, but Woolf presented the couple in a
harsher light than she did in later years. Richard is domineering and pompous.
Clarissa is dependent and superficial. Some of these qualities remain in the
characters of Mrs. Dalloway but the two generally appear much more reasonable
and likeable. Clarissa was modeled after a friend of Woolf's named Kitty Maxse,
whom Woolf thought to be a superficial socialite. Though she wanted to comment
upon the displeasing social system, Woolf found it difficult at times to respond
to a character like Clarissa. She discovered a greater amount of depth to the
character of Clarissa Dalloway in a series of short stories, the first of which
was titled, "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street," published in 1923. The
story would serve as an experimental first chapter to Mrs. Dalloway. A great
number of similar short stories followed and soon the novel became inevitable.
As critic Hermione Lee details, "On 14 October 1922 [Woolf] recorded that
ŒMrs. Dalloway has branched into a book,' but it was sometime before [Woolf]
could find the necessary balance between Œdesign and substance.'" Within
the next couple years, Woolf became inspired by a Œtunneling' writing process,
allowing her to dig Œcaves' behind her characters and explore their souls. As Woolf
wrote to painter Jacques Raverat, it is "precisely the task of the writer
to go beyond the Œformal railway line of sentence' and to show how people Œfeel
or think or dream...all over the place.'" In order to give Clarissa more
substance, Woolf created Clarissa's memories. Woolf used characters from her
own past in addition to Kitty Maxse, such as Madge Symonds, on whom she based
Sally Seton. Woolf held a similar type of affectionate devotion for Madge at
the age of fifteen as a young Clarissa held for Sally. The theme of insanity
was close to Woolf's past and present. She originally planned to have Clarissa
die or commit suicide at the end of the novel but finally decided that she did
want this manner of closure for Clarissa. As critic Manly Johnson elaborates,
"The original intention to have Clarissa kill herself in the pattern of
Woolf's own intermittent despair was rejected in favor of a Œdark double' who
would take that act upon himself. Creating Septimus Smith led directly to
Clarissa's mystical theory of vicarious death and shared existence, saving the
novel from a damaging balance on the side of darkness." Still, the
disassociation of crippling insanity from the character of Clarissa Dalloway
did not completely save Woolf from the pain of recollection. Woolf's husband
and close friends compared her periods of insanity to a manic depression quite
similar to the episodes experienced by Septimus. Woolf also included
frustratingly impersonal doctor types in Bradshaw and Holmes that reflected
doctors she had visited throughout the years. As the novel focused mainly on
the character of Clarissa Dalloway, Woolf changed the name of the novel to Mrs.
Dalloway from its more abstract working title, The Hours, before publishing it.
Woolf struggled to combine many elements that impinged on her sensibility as
she wrote the novel. The title, Mrs. Dalloway, best suited her attempts to join
them together. As Woolf commented, "In this book I have almost too many
ideas. I want to give life and death, sanity and insanity; I want to criticize
the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense."
Furthermore, she hoped to respond to the stagnant state of the novel, with a
consciously Œmodern' novel. Many critics believe she succeeded. The novel was
published in 1925, and received much acclaim.
PLOT:
At
10 a.m. on a Wednesday early in June 1923, Clarissa Dalloway goes to Bond Street
to buy some flowers for a party she’s giving that evening at her house. While she
is in the flower shop, a car drives noisily past and shifts the attention to
the street, where Septimus and Lucrezia warren Smith are walking: he is an estate
agent’s clerk and shell-shocked veteran of the war, she is an Italian girl. Doctors
have been called in to deal with septimus’s mental problems. Clarissa walks
back to her house and there she receives an unexpectedvisit from Peter Walsh,
the man she once loved in her youth. He then leaves her house and goes to
Regent’s Park, where he meets Warren Smith, who is going to the doctor. His
visit lasts three-quarters of an hour and results in the arranging for Septimus
to go into a mental hospital. At six p.m. septimus commits suicide and his body
passes by Peter Walsh. All the characters who have been in some way important
during the day are present at Clarissa’s party. She hears about Septimus’s
death by the Bradshaws: clarissa feels a strong connection with the dead man.
The
meaning of the novel does not lie in the events but in the reactions they
provoque in the characters. Clarissa does not simply walk up Bond Street, she
also perceives, thinks, remembers, her present and her past are linked and
mingled. Virginia Woolf wanted to show life as changing endlessly from moment
to moment. Not only are the characters emotionally aware of the moment as it
passes, but they also respond physically to the world around them. The characters
belong to the upper-middle class of doctors, lawyers, intellectuals, politicians.
In its time and place Mrs.Dalloway is
similar to James Joyce’s Ulysses: it
takes place on a single day, and it follows the portagonist through a very
small area of London, from the morning to the night of the day on which she
gives a large formal party. Woolf showed the deep humanity of her characters,
behind their social masks. They enjoy the sights of London, its parks, its
life, its flavour. The novel also provides a descrition of the new technologies
of that time (planes,cinema,newspapers,marital relationship...) She uses
cinematic devices (close-ups, flashbacks, tracking shots. The clocks act at the
same time as a structural connection and a symbol of time passing through life
into death.
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.
Lucy: Clarissa's principal servant, Lucy has the run of the house. She is
proud of its ability to effuse beauty and honor.
Mrs. Walker: Another servant, Mrs. Walker is older and has been handling the dinners
at the parties for many years.
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.
Miss Pym: The woman who works at the florist on Bond Street, she notes that
Clarissa was once very kind. She is polite and apologetic to an extreme.
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.
Maisie Johnson: A young woman fresh from Scotland, she is frightened
by the Smiths in Regent's Park and wonders if she should have come to London
after all.
Carrie Dempster: An older, lower class woman in Regent's Park, who
imagines the future life of Maisie Johnson based on Maisie's appearance while
evaluating her own life.
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.
Milly Brush: Lady Bruton's secretary, Milly is also a confidant and good friend. She
cannot tolerate the pomposity and extreme politesse exuded by Hugh Whitbread.
The Morrises: A family that is staying at Peter's hotel, they eat dinner at the same
time as Peter and befriend him in the smoking room afterwards.
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.
Professor Brierly, Jim Hutton, Lord Gayton, Miss Blow: All guests at
Clarissa's party, Clarissa has a few moments to speak to each of them and to
try to smooth over any conflicts or boredom.
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.
Main Themes:
The sea as symbolic of life: The ebb and flow of life. When the
image is portrayed as being harmonized, the sea represents a great confidence
and comfort. Yet, when the image is presented as disjointed or uncomfortable,
it symbolizes disassociation, loneliness, and fear.
Doubling: Many critics describe Septimus as Clarissa's doppelganger, the
alternate persona, the darker, more internal personality compared to Clarissa's
very social and singular outlook. Woolf's use of the doppelganger, Septimus,
portrays a side to Clarissa's personality that becomes absorbed by fear and
broken down by society and a side of society that has failed to survive the
War. The doubling portrays the polarity of the self and exposes the
positive-negative relationship inherent in humanity. It also illustrates the
opposite phases of the idea of life.
The intersection of time and timelessness: Woolf creates a new novelistic
structure in Mrs. Dalloway wherein her prose has blurred the distinction
between dream and reality, between the past and present. An authentic human
being functions in this manner, simultaneously flowing from the conscious to
the unconscious, from the fantastic to the real, and from memory to the moment.
Social commentary: Woolf also strived to illustrate the vain
artificiality of Clarissa's life and her involvement in it. The detail given
and thought provoked in one day of a woman's preparation for a party, a simple
social event, exposes the flimsy lifestyle of England's upper classes at the
time of the novel. Even though Clarissa is effected by Septimus' death and is
bombarded by profound thoughts throughout the novel, she is also a woman for
whom a party is her greatest offering to society. The thread of the Prime
Minister throughout, the near fulfilling of Peter's prophecy concerning
Clarissa's role, and the characters of the doctors, Hugh Whitbread, and Lady
Bruton as compared to the tragically mishandled plight of Septimus, throw a
critical light upon the social circle examined by Woolf.
The world of the sane and the insane side by side: Woolf portrays the sane
grasping for significant and substantial connections to life, living among
those who have been cut off from such connections and who suffer because of the
improper treatment they, henceforth, receive. The critic, Ruotolo, excellently
develops the idea behind the theme: "Estranged from the sanity of others, rooted
to the pavement,' the veteran [Septimus] asks for what purpose' he is present.
Virginia Woolf's novel honors and extends his question. He perceives a beauty
in existence that his age has almost totally disregarded; his vision of new
life... is a source of joy as well as madness. Unfortunately, the glimpse of
beauty that makes Septimus less forlorn is anathema to an age that worships
like Septimus' inhuman doctor, Sir William Bradshaw, the twin goddesses
Proportion' and Conversion.'"