MRS DALLOWAY

Privacy, loneliness and communication: Throughout Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf gives
us glimpses into the minds of her characters while at the same time showing their outward
communication with other people. This framework leads to a complex series of relations.
Peter Walsh is notably introverted, and gets swept up in his personal fantasies. Even Clarissa,
who loves parties, deeply experiences her own incommunicable thoughts and the
independence of her existence. She enjoys mingling with other people, but thinks that the true
heart of life lies in the fact that the old woman across the way has her own room, and Clarissa
has hers. She feels shrouded within her own reflective soul and thinks the ultimate human
mystery is how she can exist in one room while the old woman in the house across from hers
exists in another. As Clarissa celebrates the old woman‘s independence, she knows it comes
with an inevitable loneliness.
The inherent privacy of the soul is not always positive, though, and it often appears as
loneliness. Septimus is the greatest example of this. No one understands his Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD), residual mental images of war/shell shock and inner turmoil. Woolf
shows the loneliness of the soul in nearly every interaction between characters, as she
contrasts people‘s rich inner dialogues with their often mundane, failed attempts at
communication with each other. Richard tries to say ―I love you‖ to Clarissa, but is unable to
do so and gives her flowers instead. Clarissa even sees Septimus‘ suicide as an act of
communication, but by its very nature Septimus can receive no response from the world. The
important reunion pointed to by the entire book – the meeting between Clarissa, Peter, and
Sally – only takes place beyond the page, just after the novel ends. With all this privacy,
loneliness, and failed communication Woolf shows how difficult it is to make meaningful
connections in the modern world. Something as seemingly-frivolous as Clarissa‘s party then
takes on a deeper, more important meaning, as it as an effort by Clarissa to try to draw people
together. Clarissa, Septimus, Peter, and others struggle to find outlets for communication as
well as adequate privacy, and the balance between the two is difficult for all to attain.
Peter tries to explain the contradictory human impulses toward privacy and communication
by comparing the soul to a fish that swims along in murky water, then rises quickly to the
surface to frolic on the waves. The war has changed people‘s ideas of what English society
should be, and understanding is difficult between those who support traditional English
society and those who hope for continued change. Meaningful connections in this disjointed
postwar world are not easy to make, no matter what efforts the characters put forth.
Ultimately, Clarissa sees Septimus‘s death as a desperate, but legitimate, act of
communication.
Disillusionment with the British Empire: Throughout the nineteenth century, the British
Empire seemed invincible. World War I was a violent reality check. For the first time in
nearly a century, the English were vulnerable on their own land. The extent of devastation
England suffered made it a victory in name only. Entire communities of young men were
injured and killed. English citizens lost much of their faith in the empire after the war. No
longer could England claim to be invulnerable and all-powerful. Citizens were less inclined
to willingly adhere to the rigid constraints imposed by England‘s class system, which
benefited only a small margin of society but which all classes had fought to preserve.

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. Aunt Helena,
with her glass eye (perhaps a symbol of her inability or unwillingness to see the empire's
disintegration), is turning into an artifact. Anticipating the end of the Conservative Party‘s
reign, Richard plans to write the history of the great British military family, the Brutons, who
are already part of the past. The old empire faces an imminent demise, and the loss of the
traditional and familiar social order leaves the English at loose ends.

The Threat of Oppression: Oppression is a constant threat for Clarissa and Septimus in
Mrs. Dalloway, 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. Miss Kilman and Sir William Bradshaw are two of the major oppressors in the
novel: Miss Kilman dreams of felling Clarissa in the name of religion, and Sir William would
like to subdue all those who challenge his conception of the world. Both wish to convert the
world to their belief systems in order to gain power and dominate others, and their rigidity
oppresses all who come into contact with them. More subtle oppressors, even those who do
not intend to, do harm by supporting the repressive English social system. Though Clarissa
herself lives under the weight of that system and often feels oppressed by it, her acceptance
of patriarchal English society makes her, in part, responsible for Septimus‘s death. Thus she
too is an oppressor of sorts. At the end of the novel, she reflects on his suicide: ―Somehow it
was her disaster—her disgrace.‖ She accepts responsibility, though other characters are
equally or more fully to blame, which suggests that everyone is in some way complicit in the
oppression of others. She has momentary disillusionment.
Time: Mrs. Dalloway takes place over the course of one day, and in its very framework
Woolf emphasizes the passage of time. There are no real chapter breaks, and the most notable
divider of the narrative is the chiming of Big Ben as the day progresses. All the novel‘s action
is so compressed (and usually composed of thoughts and memories) that a few minutes can
fill many pages. The chiming of Big Ben is a reminder of the inevitable march of time, and
fits with Clarissa‘s fear of death and the danger of living even one day.
The circular presence of the past is also deeply intertwined with the forward ticking of the
clock. Clarissa, Peter, Richard, and Sally interact very little in the present, but Clarissa and
Peter relive in great depth their youth at Bourton, so their past relations add weight and
complexity to their present interactions. Septimus is even more ruthlessly pursued by the
past, as he actually sees visions of Evans, his dead soldier friend. One of Woolf‘s original
titles for the book was ―The Hours,‖ so she clearly finds the idea of time important, and by
simultaneously emphasizing the chiming of the hours and the ubiquity of past memories, she
ends up showing the fluidity of time, which can be both linear and circular at once.
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, intersecting time and
timelessness. 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.
Psychology and Perception: The novel mostly consists of inner dialogue and stream of
consciousness (a modernist technique that Woolf helped pioneer), so the inner workings of
the characters‘ minds are very important to the work. Woolf herself suffered from mental
illness (and ultimately committed suicide), and certain aspects of her own psychological
struggles appear in the book, particularly through Septimus. Woolf had a distrust of doctors
regarding psychology, which she shows clearly in Dr. Holmes and Sir William Bradshaw.
Septimus is a tragic example of just how much harm doctors can do when they prefer
conversion to understanding, refusing to truly examine another‘s mental state.

In Septimus Woolf shows the inner workings of PTSD and mental illness, but in her other
characters she also gives a brilliant, sensitive treatment of how the mind understands external
sensations and time. Long, poetic passages capture the perception of images, sounds,
memories, and stream of consciousness all at once. The science of psychology was still
young in Woolf‘s time, but in her intricate, penetrating character development she shows her
own knowledge of the brain, creating personalities that exhibit the inner workings of all kinds
of minds.
Suicide & Fear of Death: Though much of the novel‘s action consists of preparations for a
seemingly frivolous party, death is a constant undercurrent to the characters‘ thoughts and
actions. The obvious example of this is Septimus, who suffers from mental illness and ends
up killing himself. In his inner dialogue Septimus sees himself as a godlike figure who has
gone from ―life to death,‖ and his situation as a former soldier shows how the death and
violence of World War I have corrupted his mind. Though he fears it, he finally chooses it
over what seems to him a direr alternative—living another day. Peter Walsh fears growing
old and dying, and so tries to pretend he is young and invincible by living in fantasies and
pursuing younger women. So insecure in his identity, grows frantic at the idea of death and
follows an anonymous young woman through London to forget about it.Clarissa is also
preoccupied with death even as she goes about the business of enjoying life, making small
talk, and throwing parties. From the start she feels the danger of living even one day, when
she goes out to buy flowers for her party, Clarissa remembers a moment in her youth when
she suspected a terrible event would occur. Big Ben tolls out the hour, and she repeatedly
quotes from Shakespeare‘s play Cymbeline, a passage about the comfort of death: ―Fear no
more the heat o‘ the sun / Nor the furious winter‘s rages.‖ The line is from a funeral song that
celebrates death as a comfort after a difficult life. Middle-aged Clarissa has experienced the
deaths of her father, mother, and sister and has lived through the calamity of war, and she has
grown to believe that living even one day is dangerous. Death is very naturally in her
thoughts, and the line from Cymbeline, along with Septimus‘s suicidal embrace of death,
ultimately helps her to be at peace with her own mortality. In the parallel characters of
Septimus and Clarissa, Woolf shows two ways of dealing with the terror of living one day –
Clarissa affirms life by throwing a party, while Septimus offers his suicide as an act of
defiance and communication against confinement. These two characters never meet, but
when Clarissa hears about Septimus‘s suicide she feels that she understands him. 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.
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 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.'"

Woolf‘s own issues inspired her greatly, as she herself suffered her first mental breakdown at
the tender age of thirteen and was prescribed ‗rest cure‘ – just as Septimus is; Woolf is often
described as a ‗mad genius‘ as she was declared mentally ill at an early stage in her life -- this
intense and troubling lifestyle of erratic nervous breakdowns coupled with her substantial
involvement in the Bloomsbury group in ‗the early manifestations of the Freudian psychiatry‘
led to a close scrutiny and new way of looking at the issue of madness. Woolf intended for
Clarissa to speak the sane truth and Septimus the insane truth, the two sides of the same coin,
and indeed Septimus‘s detachment enables him to judge other people more harshly than
Clarissa is capable of. The world outside of Septimus is threatening, and the way Septimus
sees that world offers little hope. Septimus‘ troubles stem from the war, and the memories of
combat and the death of his best friend still haunt him. We can see how serious these issues
are as the novel progresses, even when looking at something as ordinary as a motor car,
Septimus is quick to scare – he becomes terrified at simple things because everyday life is
now just as frightening as his memories of war. We see this when he notes „and there the
motor car stood, with drawn blinds, and upon them a curious pattern like a tree‟.
Social Commentary, Satire, Criticism & Superficiality: As recorded by the author herself
in A Writer’s Diary, ―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. . .‖ Though Mrs. Dalloway‘s action
concerns only one day and mostly follows a lady throwing a party, Woolf manages to thread
her novel with criticism of English society and post-War conservatism. In Woolf‘s time the
British Empire was the strongest in the world, with colonies all across the globe, but after
World War I England‘s power began to crumble. England was technically victorious in the
War, but hundreds of thousands of soldiers died and the country suffered huge financial
losses. Mrs. Dalloway then shows how the English upper class tried to cling to old, outmoded
traditions and pretend that nothing had changed. This is tragically exhibited through
Septimus, as society ignores his PTSD. Septimus fought for his country, but now the country
is trying to pretend that the horrors of war left no lasting traces on its soldiers.
The empty tradition and conservatism of the aristocracy is also shown in the characters of
Lady Bruton, Aunt Helena, and Hugh Whitbread, who have traditional values and manners
but are hopelessly removed from modern life. Richard works for the Conservative Party,
which is portrayed as outdated, stuffy, and soon to be replaced by the Labor Party. All the
characters are still preoccupied with social class, as when Clarissa snobbily avoids inviting
her poor cousin Elsie to her party. Even the poor Doris Kilman is endlessly bitter towards
Clarissa for her wealth and charm. The futility of classism and outdated conservatism then
culminates in the figure of the Prime Minister. He is first mentioned as Peter‘s critique of
Clarissa (that she will marry a prime minister and so become a useless appendage to a role
rather than the partner to a man) and then his ―greatness‖ is discussed by people in the street,
but when the Prime Minister actually appears in person he is ordinary and almost laughable.
The Prime Minister belongs to the old order of Empire, repression, and classism, which
Woolf shows must be discarded so that England can survive in the modern era.

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 as ―the perfect hostess‖, 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 prevalent sense of
neurosis in the society and the critique of the doctors‘ rigid approach; the tendency to isolate
"undesirables" at any cost to human dignity. Septimus finds himself desensitized after
fighting in the Great War and utterly unable to return to daily life, where empathy is a vital
quality rather than a hindrance.
Symbolically, Clarissa, the traditional aristocrat, feels confused and insecure on an omnibus,
while her more modern daughter, Elizabeth, enjoys to travel by it from time to time in a
rather plebeian manner. Another aspect to be considered in the class difference context is the
character of Sally Seaton. Sally, although coming from a middle-class family, is the most
open-minded, progressive character in the novel, as shown in her modern, eccentric behavior
and ideas, and in her reading of forbidden texts, ―A non-conformist, Sally ―sat on the floor,‖
smoked cigars, ran naked along the passage from the bathroom to her room because ―she
forgot the sponge,‖ and thought of reforming the world, of founding ―a society to abolish
private property. The lower class character of Sally contradicts the traditional Victorian
notions of class, and succeeds in convincing Clarissa, an upper class, to think similarly.
Clarissa‘s strong dislike of Ellie Henderson and Doris Kilman represent another
manifestation of class distinction. Clarissa refuses to invite Ellie Henderson, her poor cousin
to the party, but finally gives in to her husband‘s insistence on doing the opposite. At the
party, Clarissa acts indifferent, which makes Ellie feel lonely and uncomfortable. Richard
Dalloway, Clarissa‘s husband, is the only one who takes pity on Ellie and tries to make
conversation with her. Another example of contempt for the lower classes is Clarissa‘s deep
hatred for Doris Kilman, the history teacher of Elizabeth, who is portrayed as ―poor,
moreover; degradingly poor. Otherwise, she would not be taking jobs from people like the
Dalloways; from rich people who liked to be kind.‖ She defines her hatred as ―this brutal
monster‖. Whenever thinking about Mrs. Kilman, Clarissa always mentions her shabby
mackintosh, indicating that she judges people by their appearance, a very common tendency
of the upper class members. Clarissa is jealous of Mrs. Kilman‘s relationship with Elizabeth,
which is another sign of disdain for the lower classes. However, Mrs. Kilman hates Clarissa
in return and claims to pity those who belong to the upper class, ―Mr. Dalloway, to do him
justice, had been kind. But Mrs. Dalloway had not. She had been merely condescending. She
came from the most worthless of all classes – the rich, with a smattering of culture. They had
expensive things everywhere; pictures, carpets, lots of servants…Now she did not envy
women like Clarissa Dalloway; she pitied them.‖
Members of the upper class hold on to their privileged position, and continue to observe the
old traditional way of life. The middle class, having been much more affected by the war,
begins to question the faith it had in the old system represented by the Queen and the British
Empire. The latter are the people who have to deal with disappointment, mental illness,
isolation, condescension created by class difference, and many other similar aspects that
appear in the after-war English society. Woolf succeeds in bringing all these negative aspects
- injustice, folly, and ignorance - to the reader‘s attention by providing first-hand insight on
the characters‘ thoughts and their constant struggle to balance their inner selves with the outer
world.

Woolf gives a true picture of the post-war civilization-its external glitter and brilliance, its
pomp and show, its social snobbery, its hypocrisy, its greed and worldliness. Mrs. Dalloway
portrays Big Ben by symbolism. The Big Ben and the royal black car passing in the street is
the symbol of the Queen. It controls people‘s acts and thinking tightly, and it even disturbs
and pries into the private life of people. Besides, as followers of Big Ben, the sounds of other
bells also function as forces to control people tightly. Next, the reactionaries leading by the
Queen persecute every revolter, Septimus is such a revolter who is conceived by critics as a
madman. In fact, he is a thinker and a revolutionist. Septimus was a promising young man,
and had a bright future. But the World War Ⅰ destroyed him. When the First World War
ended, he found himself unable to feel. He begins to reevaluate the world like a thinker. He
totally denies the English society and holds that it is full of evil, loath, and agony. Septimus
wants to overturn the old society, and build up a new world. But the evil society would not
allow revolters like him to live in the world. The controller of the society and his accessories
suppress him through such representative figures as Dr Holmes and Sir William. They use the
concepts of Proportion and Conversion to persecute Septimus. Instead of giving up, he
chooses to commit suicide, and dies a heroic death on their execution ground. Although
Septimus had previously given signs of contemplating suicide, both medical professionals
manifest superficiality in finding a solution to his illness. They recommend simple remedies,
such as socializing and other classical behavior, which would fit a ―normal‖ member of
society. When he hears Dr. Holmes coming up the stairs he announces, ―I‘ll give it you!‖ and
jumps out of the window. This particular event points out to the conventionality of the
medical assistance revealing the prevalent blindness and lack of sensitivity of the medical
professionals during Woolf‘s time.
Again through Doris Kilman, Woolf has directed all her indignation at the ‗corrupt religiosity
and possessive love. Doris symbolizes the evils of religious fanaticism, intolerance and
bigotry. She claims even to have seen the Lord who has shown her the way and through
prayer she tries to achieve a feeling of peace and tranquility, but she has no love and religion
within her. She burns with hatred for those like Clarissa, who are more fortunate and happy in
life. Miss Kilman, who is of humble origin, is another follower of the Queen. She stands for
the evil religion. Being persecuted by the evil society, Miss Kilman begins to suppress others
through the mask of religion. The "warfare" between her and Mrs. Dalloway is such an
example. Miss Kilman also wants to tame Elizabeth. But she fails. Dr Holmes, Sir William
and Miss Kilman are all the accessories of the Queen. At last, Virginia Woolf‘s satire on
English society is reflected in the no-love society. There is no love between people. If there is
love, it is an ugly and cruel one. as Septimus, Virginia Woolf also wants to overturn the old
society and build up an ideal one where there is full of love.
Mrs. Dalloway gives us a true picture of modern life with its destructive forces of class-
struggle, economic insecurity, isolation and war. Here Woolf‘s outlook on life is pessimistic
and even cynical, and both the satirical parts of the novel and the serious or tragic parts of it
convey this pessimistic philosophy of life.
Mrs. Dalloway deals chiefly with the life and personality of Mrs. Dalloway, affecting and
affected by others who come in contact with her. The action is confined to a single day on
which she is giving a party in the evening. But within this narrow framework of time by
means of her contacts with others and the memories they evoke in her and in others, her life-
story from her girlhood to her present age of fifty is gradually revealed. Clarissa Dalloway is
apparently very sociable, expert in giving frequent parties. But, in fact, she is terribly lonely.
She finds nothing common between herself and the people around her husband. Ironically,
Septimus is the man with whom she has great deal in common. But Septimus‘ situation in life
is very different from hers.

Blind hero-worship is the result of complete distortion of values in the contemporary

civilization and this is satirised in Mrs. Dalloway. This hero worship is symbolized by
pompous fool life Hugh Whitbread, who stands for those servile toadies who cringe and fawn
before greatness, and represent the snobbery, and everything most detestable in English
middle class life. There is also satire on cold and calculative individuals. While the
Dalloways, the Bradshaws and the Hugh Whitbreads symbolise the traditional and the
conservative, Peter Walsh, Sally Seton and Septimus, symbolise the unconventional, the
adventurous, and the visionary. Sally Seton as a girl is extremely unconventional and
progressive with a passion for reforming the world, but such unconventional people are not
welcomed by society.
―Laughter is a revolt in social living, a satire on culture, spite aimed at shallowness.‖
(Bergson) Woolf was aware of the importance of humor as a coping device, and in both her
life and her fiction, she often greeted injustice, madness, violence, and death with a grimly
humorous attitude. In Mrs. Dalloway all of Woolf‘s humorous sensibilities are evident; it is a
withering satire of her social set, and it is informed—though not necessarily dominated—by a
dark brand of humor. Life‘s traumas are frequently dealt with comically, and institutions and
beliefs, such as marriage, patriotism, empire, and the medical profession, which were thought
to give comfort and meaning to life, are shown in reality to oppress and do violence. Socially
constructed categories and the values underpinning them, springing from ideas of order and
the belief in rational progress for the future, no longer appear viable when confronted with
the realities of a cruelly irrational, postwar world. Societal institutions are paradoxically
shown to impose too much order and not enough—too much in that they do violence to
individuals in the interest of the status quo and a slavish adherence to rules—and too little in
that they cannot truly fulfill their functions since they are incapable of dealing with the
complexities of human behavior.
Woolf is acknowledged for a new kind of prose which she associated with feminine
consciousness. As a fervent feminist she made a great contribution to the modernist literature
by exploring the woman‘s position in society, the construction of gender identity, and the
plight of the woman writer. By showing such lucidity of thought within a woman‘s mind,
Woolf challenges this idea, and illustrates that women have just the same capacity as men for
thought.
In Clarissa Dalloway, the one character who seems to be the thought center around which all
other characters‘ thoughts revolve, clearly shows in her struggle between maintaining a
proper appearance as Mrs. Richard Dalloway and being her inner self, Clarissa. ―There seems
to be a gap between the two components of her name, ‗Clarissa‘ and (Mrs.) ‗Dalloway‘‖
(Ciugureanu). As Clarissa, she is an unhappy, unfulfilled person, constantly searching for
answers to questions about her marriage, her feelings for her first suitor, Peter Walsh, and her
affection towards Sally Seton, something she is unable to identify. On the other hand, as Mrs.
Richard Dalloway, she is a public figure, a woman assuming her ‗wifely duties…‘, ―throwing
parties which might help her husband‘s career and acting -‗the perfect hostess‘-―
(Ciugureanu). As clearly presented by Vereen M. Bell, Clarissa ―empathizes abstractly with
Septimus and his suicide and what she interprets as his gesture of defiance and his attempt to
communicate, and she sees such people as Sir William Bradshaw as truly evil people who
―force the soul‖ and make life intolerable. Yet Sir William and his wife are guests, of course,
at Clarissa‘s party, and she would not dream of them not being there. And Septimus and his
foreign bride would not have been invited under any circumstances. In her thoughts Clarissa
repudiates Sir William and all that he stands for, but in her actions she collaborates in his
social authority‖. Clarissa‘s ambiguity and partiality are the results of her upbringing. She is
an upper class house-wife coming from a sheltered environment. Although she has the insight
to see the flaws beneath the apparently bright surface of society, she comes to accept them
and to observe the privileges of her position.

As stated by Woolf herself, when creating Septimus‘s and Clarissa‘s characters, she intended
to offer an analysis of the English society by providing a comprehensive picture seen from
the perspective of the sane and the insane, ―I adumbrate here a study of insanity and suicide;
the world seen by the sane and the insane side by side--something like that‖. Septimus, a
WWI veteran who suffers from shell shock, denies the English society and understands the
uselessness of its values. Septimus‘s mental troubles, the result of having fought in World
War I, question the legitimacy of the English society he and others like him had believed in
and fought for. Although Septimus and Clarissa never come in contact with each other and
belong to different groups of society, respectively middle and upper class, they are the most
representative characters of the novel. The major difference between the two is that Septimus
is fully aware of the great damage the English society inflicted on him, whereas Clarissa
isn‘t. However, when the news about Septimus‘s death comes to Clarissa‘s party, she can‘t
help ponder on the young man‘s courage in committing suicide. She thinks it had been an act
of defiance, not defeat, ―Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to
communicate…closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in
death.‖ Although at first she feels offended by the death news inappropriately brought up at
her party by Lady Bradshaw, the flow of erratic, disconnected thoughts that follows reveals
her admiration for Septimus‘s determination to ―preserve a thing‖.

Social criticism can best be seen when analyzing Clarissa‘s marriage, Miss Kilman‘s social
status, and Sally‘s free will. While each situation and character differs greatly, the underlying
themes lineup and combine to show how harsh England‘s society was after the Great War.
Richard and Clarissa Dalloway appear to have a normal and happy marriage to all that may
observe; however, under it all, their relationship is severely lacking and empty. Richard wants
tranquility, thus influencing him to let Clarissa rule his life and demand things of him behind
the scenes. He is scared of making their relationship too personal and too intense, so he
avoids romance and the phrase, ―I love you‖. Not only is Richard scared of putting more into
his relationship with Clarissa.
Narrative Technique: Mrs. Dalloway is a psychological novel, which means that it focuses
on the reactions and inner thoughts, feelings, emotions of the characters, and not on their
actions. The technique used is called the stream of consciousness, or interior monologue,
which gives the reader the impression that they are in the minds of the characters. Woolf
shares one of her primary narrative techniques with authors like James Joyce and William
Faulkner. "Stream of consciousness" refers to a mode of narrative that follows the line of a
character‘s thoughts as they occur. The aim of stream of consciousness is to evoke the
character‘s interior life, and to depict subjective and objective reality. It represents a mental
activity that is very close to the actual thoughts of the character. Woolf relied mostly on
direct interior monologues, which means that the author is not present; the characters‘
thoughts are presented directly to the reader. The novel is told from the viewpoint of an
omniscient and invisible narrator. The omniscient narrator moves from character to character,
place to place, and episode to episode with complete freedom, giving herself access to her
characters‘ thoughts and feelings whenever she chooses and providing information whenever
she wishes.

While the first line is presented in the third person, the second line is in the free indirect style
which continues through the third line. The fourth pulls the narration back out a step, by
assuming an authorial presence. Without even leaving this first page, the next paragraph takes
us into another powerful aspect of Mrs. Dalloway‘s narration: memory. Without any
indication, Woolf has taken shifted us in this scene from Clarissa‘s present to her past.
When Clarissa, and afterwards Peter Walsh, take a walk in the park, their thoughts are
interrupted by the author, who then shows us the mind of random people thinking about their
everyday troubles. In the novel, the sentences vary between quite short and rather long. The
short ones are used in dialogues, while the long ones tell us the thoughts and actions of the
characters. However, it is a bit confusing to identify the speaker in the maze of long
sentences, so the short ones bring us back to reality in the objective time sense. In order to
prevent us from getting lost, the writer inserted ―signposts‖, fragments such as ―Clarissa
thought‖ or ―Peter said‖. Woolf applies another modernist method, the difference between
psychological (subjective) and clock time (objective). Objective time is the natural flow of
time measured by hours. It is represented by the Big Ben which shows us and the characters
the passage of objective time. It interrupts the narration, and helps the reader to keep track of
time, and returns the characters into their present. Subjective time, on the other hand, erases
the boundary between present and past, it is flexible, and measured by the intensity of the
emotions. It passes as quickly as the characters feel it, it allows them to think about the past,
the present, and also about a hypothetical present based on a different past. Their thoughts
move on the free association principle, which enables jumping from the past to the future
without chronological order. It means that the thinking processes are discontinuous since
the thought or sight of a random thing reminds the characters of the past or future. A good
example of this is when Clarissa experiences the sunny June morning, and starts to remember
her youth. At that moment the bell of Big Ben makes her feel that she is running out of time
and reminds her of her middle age and that she has done nothing, which civilization would
consider impressive. Past, present and future intermingles here. Mrs. Dalloway explores the
fragmented yet fluid nature of time and the interconnectedness of perception and reality
across individuals and social spheres.
Another device used is called cinematic technique. It includes ways of handling space
and time relationships that are similar to montage. For example there is the scene in the novel
where the car appears with the mysterious passenger, and all the spectators try to identify
them. Here time remains static but a cross-section view of London is given, how differently
people in the city see and react to the same event. This scene is of key importance, because it
shows us that the narrator is not an objective omniscient one, since the identity of the
passenger is not known to them either, the narrator only knows things that are seen through
the eyes of the characters. In doing so, it destabilizes the authority of the narrator. Another
good example of this is the plane skywriting an advertisement for a brand of caramel. Time
montage refers to the fact that the characters are in the present but their minds often wander
back to the past.

Woolf herself was not concerned with probabilities, but instead with articulating internal
actualities. One of her goals for the new literature was to capture the thoughts of a person‘s
mind as they occurred, writing, ‗let us record the atoms as they fall upon the mind in the
order in which they fall, let us trace the pattern, however disconnected and incoherent in
appearance, which each sight or incident scores upon the consciousness.‘ The mechanism
which Woolf used to achieve this is the stream of consciousness narrative device, of which
she was a pioneer. Departing from traditional narrative modes of representing a character‘s
thought-processes, this new device functions in a way which more closely mimics the interior
monologue of the mind. Woolf‘s coruscating stream of consciousness at work is often deeply
poetic, as when Septimus sitting in Regent‘s Park considers his surroundings. Here, Woolf
blends the metaphor and symbolism of poetry with prose, exemplifying what she believes
ought to inhabit the new literature, the modern mind. The experimental way in which the
narrative perspective alternates between the third-person omniscient and the first-person
epiphanic produces a startling contrast which demands the reader to pay close attention to the
text, as when reading poetry. Inside this poetic language she interweaves narrative time,
shifting from an epic spiritual sense with Septimus lying on the back of the world, to a
mundane materialist sense in the details of the horn sounding in the street and the boy‘s
piping.
Woolf says that for the moderns ‗the point of interest lies very likely in the dark places of
psychology.‘ When Clarissa Dalloway, waiting to cross at Brook Street, surmises whether a
car for which all the traffic is held up might contain royalty or the Prime Minister, Woolf
reveals the way in which her thoughts gather together and interact, even manifesting in a sub-
conscious physical response.
The point of view changes many times during the course of the novel, as we weave in and out
of the minds of Clarissa, Septimus, Lucrezia, Peter, Richard, Elizabeth, and Miss Kilman. We
have access to their thoughts and memories, which among the literary set is called "free
indirect discourse." The omniscient narrator, on the other hand, remains anonymous. At times
the omniscient narrator can be quite prominent and critical – as in discussions of Sir William
Bradshaw and even Miss Kilman – but other times will simply relate the thoughts of the
characters themselves.
The modernist novel relied upon the subjective impressions of protagonists to shape the
narrative, a method radically different from the stringent objectivism of 19th-century fiction.
This narrative technique allows us to focus on the little things that people think about, things
that might seem silly for a narrator to comment on. At the same time, it can get a little
confusing. Sometimes the shift between characters – and between the present and the past –
are so subtle that we don‘t even notice. Woolf does not utilize a central plot, but instead relies
on the sensory experiences of her characters. In a sense, Mrs. Dalloway is a novel without a
plot. In the conventional novel, a sequence of events leads up to a climax and then a
denouement provided a framework within which the whole resolution is contained. Every
event in the novel is a logical outcome of the preceeding element. This logically connected
causal pattern is absent in here. For example, the novel does tell us about long-standing
problems (should Clarissa have married Peter Walsh? Does Peter Walsh have a flawed
character?). But at the end of the novel, these problems are just as unresolved as they were at
the beginning. It could be said that the other main story in the novel, that of Septimus Warren
Smith's struggle with his madness and with his doctors, does have a culmination; it ends in
Septimus' death and defeat. But even this apparently definitive ending, the ending of his life
does not have the quality of traditional novel endings with a clear moral attached that we are
expected to learn. Many questions remain unanswered at the end of the book and many areas
of ambiguity remain unresolved.
A panoramic image of a situation overarches the theme of subjectivity within the novel. This
is seen perhaps most prominently when an advertising plane creates letters in the sky – each
character viewing the letters differently (―‘Glaxo‘ said Mrs Coates‖ ―‘Toffee‘ murmured Mr
Bowley‖), and the letters themselves having greater significance to Septimus not in what they
actually spell out but rather their sheer beauty in the sky (―one shape after another of
unimaginable beauty… with beauty, more beauty!‖). This reveals one of Woolf‘s main
intentions for the novel: to illustrate that nothing within the world can be deemed objective,
and thus, without an objective narrator, she shows us this world in its entire nuance, and how
it is relative to each person.
Woolf shows the contrast between characters appearance to their internal thoughts, most
notably that of Clarissa Dalloway‘s. Whilst society seems to view that Clarissa appears a
―cold‖ or free (―a touch of the bird about her‖) woman, her internal thoughts tell us
otherwise. She is burning with emotion, evident in her reactions to the city (―was what she
loved; life; London; this moment of June‖). Woolf illustrating the effects of war on the
individual: one may have had to portray themselves in a different light to their internal
situation to uphold morale and not to invite the vulnerability that comes with candour.
Therefore, this shows the dual perspective of a person – their internal against their external.
Divided into parts, rather than chapters, the novel's structure highlights the finely interwoven
texture of the character' thoughts. The interest in Mrs. Dalloway, then, is not so much on the
action rather more emphasis is laid on various characters' movements of consciousness (or
streams of consciousness). As they move about London, meeting each other and performing
their tasks, they are all living very complex subjective lives with streams of memories,
fantasies, fears, excitements, fluctuating moods and changeable feelings. In other words, plot
in Mrs. Dalloway is essentially internal. Woolf wanted to express a point of view, not a plot.
There is not a single story in the novel rather stories of individuals.
Woolf idolized Marcel Proust, whose novels sought to capture both the psychological
analyses and transformations of his primary characters. The characters in Woolf‘s novels
have fluid identities that change as the narrative progresses, reflecting the ways in which
people in real life evolve as they mature. Woolf‘s narratives explore the subjective realm of a
character‘s memories, thoughts and dreams.

Woolf employs silence to profound effect in her narratives. She creates the impression of
silence through the introduction of peripheral, nearly mute characters and the use of
parenthetical asides to describe actions. This technique expands the effectiveness of Woolf‘s
narrative in that it forces the reader to formulate his own impressions of the silent imagery.
To achieve the continuity of a novel, Woolf required narrative links between their divided
world. The external time scheme, underlined by the stroke of Big Ben, place both the inner
and outer worlds of various characters in an identical framework. It matches Septimus' sense
of an inner truth with the entire social world of the Dalloway's drawing room. Peter Walsh
driving to Clarissa's party meets the ambulance carrying Septimus's body. Finally, particular
characters, the psychiatrist Sir William Bradshaw most prominently among them
communicate between the two worlds. The interesting result is that out of a series of
incomplete pieces a complete whole is constructed. From the above discussion, it is clear that
though Mrs. Dalloway is without the conventional plot, yet there is unity present in the
different events narrated in the novel.
The unreliable narrator effectively lays bare a continuing device that thwarts the reader‘s
expectations. Omissions in Peter‘s discourse cannot be regarded as faults of composition, as
they may be denied their essential narrative function.
Feminism: The main women within Mrs. Dalloway include Clarissa Dalloway, Sally Seton,
Lucrezia Smith, Elizabeth Dalloway, and Doris Kilman. None of these women led lives of
extreme excitement but these portrayals are realistic of women at the time. Another notable
aspect of their portrayal is that they are all different, not standardized or generalized in a
singular patriarchial perspective as has been done before Woolf. Clarissa Dalloway married
for money rather than love. Rezia Smith spent her recent life taking care of and worrying
about her husband. Doris Kilman portrays a woman living independently in post WWI
England, and Elizabeth Dalloway is torn between Clarissa‘s world and Doris Kilmans‘.
―These lives were the unwritten, everyday lives of women, whose voices were not
permitted to be heard due to the social constraints of the time. So, in writing Mrs.
Dalloway, Virginia Woolf embarked upon an entirely new form of literature, one that
„would suggest how great…the hidden worlds and movements in women‟s lives‟ were‖
(Brody).
The aspect of Mrs. Dalloway that was most revolutionary was the relationship between
Clarissa Dalloway and Sally Seton. When the two first met, Clarissa couldn‘t stop looking at
Sally and admiring her beauty. They became great friends, staying up until early morning to
talk about sex and social problems. Clarissa also believed everything Sally said sounded ―like
a caress‖. The two had a very complex relationship. Woolf wrote: ―The strange thing, on
looking back, was the purity, the integrity, of her feeling for Sally. It was not like one‘s
feeling for a man. It was completely disinterested, and besides, it had quality that could only
exist between women, between women just grown up. It was protective, on her side; sprang
from a sense of being in league together, a presentiment of something that was bound to part
them (they spoke of marriage always as a catastrophe), which led to this chivalry, this
protective feeling which was much more on her side than Sally‘s.‖
The two women are very close, and there seems to be an attraction between them as well.
Neither of them seem to desire marriage, and Clarissa feels especially protective over Sally.
Their complicated relationship was against patriarchal traditions and in support of the society
of women. In ―A Room of One‘s Own‖ she wrote, ―All these relationships between
women, I thought, rapidly recalling the splendid gallery of fictitious women, are too
simple‖. The relationship between Clarissa and Sally is anything but. Throughout the novel
Clarissa describes Sally‘s beauty and her feelings for Sally in great detail; however, she isn‘t
quick to categorize her feelings for Sally. Whether it is because of the time period or Woolf
wanted to prove the complexity of women as human beings, the relationship, to a certain
extent homoerotic, remains unlabeled. However, it can be argued that the two were
eventually ―defeated‖ by society for not giving into their apparent homosexual feelings for
each other. Sally Seton was also compelled to yield and accept the patriarchal forces. She got
married to a rich industrialist and resigned to be a conventional mother. Both Clarissa and
Sally were defeated because the only accepted female identity was the one that was accepted
by patriarchy. Through the relationship between Clarissa and Sally, readers are forced to
recognize women as deep, complex (anything but simple) beings. In this instance, Woolf was
revolutionary in her portrayal of women.
What is perhaps most noteworthy about the relationship between Sally and Clarissa, Is the
way in which Woolf brings into question the pairs sexuality. Woolf writes “Sally stopped:
picked a flower; kissed her on the lips‖. During the period of publication there were still
legal restraints on homosexuality, making this act shocking, for both the reader and Clarissa.
What makes this moment so powerful is how Clarissa reflects on the kiss ―Then came the
most exquisite moment of her whole life” suggesting that this was much more than just a
passing moment of folly. Upon reflection she even says ―had not that, after all, been love?”
Woolf essentially uses her two characters attraction a form of feminist protest, rejecting the
need for male involvement in a loving relationship.

Virginia Woolf called for excluding all masculine values of hierarchy, competition and
dominance. She called for a society of women as an alternative to the authoritarian structures
and insisted on the importance of women‘s friendship against these structures. Clarissa‘s love
for Sally Seton is that alternative to the patriarchal society. Sally is portrayed as an anti-
patriarchal woman. She asserted herself as a woman and demanded equal rights for women.
Sally became Clarissa‘s inspiration to think beyond the walls of Bourton and even beyond the
conventional society. Her relationship with Sally contrasted to those of Peter and Richard.
Thus, Clarissa broke the authorial patriarchal voice as uniting with women result in an equal
relationship. This kind of relationship was a reaction against patriarchy and for the creation of
a society for women.
Sally Seaton is perhaps the most obvious advert for feminism in the novel. She enters the
narrative as the embodiment of 20th century feminism, personifying independence and
instinctively arguing over women‘s rights with the patriarchal Hugh Whitbread. Peter Walsh
reminisces describes the topic as ―antediluvian‖ and suggested that Sally was unreasonable in
the way she ―flared up‖. During the early 20th century women‘s rights were still very limited,
and Mrs. Dalloway takes place in the recent aftermath of women‘s suffrage. Despite
obtaining the vote in 1918, women‘s rights were far from equal. In the wake of the suffragette
movement, feminist literature was becoming more and more integral in the promotion of
equality.
Sally also adopts an open and liberalist ideology. She lives life in the moment, and appears
not to be governed by politics nor politeness. She is a rare example of a woman showing
independence. However, in many ways the somewhat anti climatic subduing of Sally‘s once
free spirit is very much reflective of the tight patriarchal grip that was ever closing around
women of the period. Sally portrays a very different image to the one Clarissa paints when
she arrives at the party. Once idolized and admired for her outrageous and shocking nature,
now seems to be tamed by the patriarchal society she once detested. Once sally referred to
marriage as a ―catastrophe‖ for women, now she has adopted her husband‘s name, referred to
as ―Lady Rosseter‖, a mother of five. Even Peter Walsh struggles to align with Sally‘s new
found maternal role, ―he really could not call her ‗lady Rosseter‘‖ being shocked that Sally
has surrendered to the male governed society. This is indicative of the way in which the
culture of the early 20th century overturned and consumed the spirit of feminism. Sally‘s
personality seems far more dry and dull now that she has been tamed under the thumb of her
male companion, in comparison to her once exciting and engaging traits.
She portrays the impact of the patriarchal English society on women‘s lives, the loneliness
and frustration that had been shaped by the moral, ideological and conventional factors.
Woolf reveals the physical as well as the psychological world of womanhood – their
dilemmas, subjectivity, sexuality and conditioning in the traditional patriarchal society.

Woolf fought for women‘s individual identity, privacy and freedom in the male-dominated
society. These views bloom in the novel Mrs Dalloway. The relationship between Clarissa
and Peter underwent a constant tension between love and freedom. Clarissa though craved for
love and to be loved, she also wanted privacy and independence of her own. She wanted to
preserve her privacy and equated it with freedom as result of an aggressive society where
women were snubbed and despised. So, instead of Peter, she chose to marry Richard because
she thought Peter would not give the kind of freedom which was essential for her happiness.
Again, Peter couldn‘t understand the importance of her emotional need. So, Clarissa thought
if she would marry Peter, he would have engulfed her and forced her soul. ―For in marriage
a little license, a little independence there must between people living together day in
day out in the same house; which Richard gave her, and she him…But with Peter
everything had to be shared, everything gone into.‖ Thus, in her decision to marry
Richard, she chose privacy over passion.

Clarissa‘s relationship with her husband proved to be a failure. Richard was more
preoccupied with politics than his wife. In response to his loyalty to the social duties of
upper-class, he left his wife for a meeting that he did not care about. Again, we find Richard
was invited to Lady Bruton‘s party without his wife. At this Clarissa felt a sense of emptiness
and insignificance. Clarissa mocked her husband‘s attempt at taking a hot water bottle as a
substitute for her warmth. Through the Clarissa – Richard relationship, Woolf emphasizes
that marriage is not a guarantee of a happy relationship, or of a mutual understanding
between a husband and a wife in a patriarchal society - even while living under the same roof.
Again, these two relationships – Clarissa-Peter and Clarissa-Richard – reveal women‘s
existence in the society. Both the males, Peter and Richard, viewed Clarissa as a woman,
inferior and insignificant. Peter never wanted to understand Clarissa. Rather he was deeply
interested in the affairs of the world. He always scolded her and said sarcastically that she
would marry a Prime Minister and stand at the top of a staircase. Clarissa felt such comments
were pretty hurtful and often wept. Her husband Richard with all his politics viewed Clarissa
as a typical wife, a perfect hostess as had been thought by Peter.
In Mrs Dalloway, the terrible influence of patriarchy is effectively portrayed through the
presentation of Lucrezia, a victim of the cruelty of the social and political doctrine of the
English society. What is really tragic about Rezia is not her husband‘s insanity or death but
the unfriendly manner in which the world treated her. She suffered silently and alone. Even
her husband Septimus for whom she left her relatives and country was indifferent to her.
Though his had more to do with PTSD. “She was very lonely, she was very unhappy! She
cried for the first time since they were married. Far away he heard her sobbing; he
heard it accurately, he noticed it distinctively; he compared it to a piston thumping. But
he felt nothing. His wife was crying, and he felt nothing.”
Miss Kilman is a psychological victim of the male-dominated society. Her inability to avenge
the injustice she suffered drove her to deny her femininity and adopt aggressive masculine
values. She turned to be a ruthless woman and her life turned to be darkness and bitterness.
She hated Clarissa because she viewed her as a product of the patriarchal society by which
she was victimized.

Apart from these frustrated, lonely women characters, Woolf portrayed the character of
Elizabeth Dalloway as an example of the unconventional woman. She lacked the enthusiasm
in the trivial feminine society of her mother. She had ambitions to have a career and a
professional life. She has planned to be doctor, farmer, or to go into parliament.
Lady Bruton is another character whose strong independence as a leader shows the
movement towards tolerance of women being in power. Her taking part in politics, hosting
business luncheons, ideas of social reformation and her reaction against parties Clarissa threw
set forth the idea that not only could a woman take on acts and responsibilities that were
traditionally masculine, but she could also reject those that were traditionally feminine.

Therefore, Mrs Dalloway portrays a picture of a patriarchal and imperialistic society, and
details the factors that have limited women‘s opportunities for a meaningful life. In the novel,
women suffer alone, have no individual identity, lack warmth and are compelled to suppress
their needs. By writing Mrs Dalloway, Woolf meant to send out a cry against patriarchy and
its representatives. She called to destroy the patriarchal structures to give women female
identity, to re-write the history of women through female eyes and talk about themselves and
their experiences truthfully. Woolf ends the novel with a hope for the new woman. Her point
is that women shouldn‘t lose their femininity, and also shouldn‘t be limited to it.
One of the less obvious ways that Woolf promotes feminism, is not through her promotion of
the female characters, but her criticism of the male ones. In particular, the physicians. Being a
predominantly male profession, their arrogance and ignorance is almost comical. Woolf
herself suffered a history of mental illness, and there is no doubt that her own experiences
with the ignorance of male physicians had inspired her writings. She has been described by
Stephen Trombley as being a “victim of male medicine”. Her own failure to have her
depression successfully treated is arguably what lead to her suicide in 1941.
Through Doctor Holmes and the “extremely evil” Sir William Bradshaw, Virginia Woolf
promotes her own feminist views, by presenting these characters in an unfavourable light. It
is the hounding from the male Doctors that drives Septimus to suicide, as the narrator says
moments before his death “he didn‟t want to die”. There is almost a predatory aspect to the
encounter that the Doctors want to devour his soul. Behaviours that are inherent of a
primitive desire to peak their masculinity. Woolf writes: ―Life is made intolerable; they
make intolerable, men like that”. Here Woolf presents very plainly that male ignorance and
arrogance has caused the suffering of the otherwise innocent.
We find that the majority of men belong to the public sphere, as all of them possess an active
role within their society. Nevertheless, most of women belong to the private sphere, as they
are the ones bound to take care of the household or some domestic issues such as sewing,
teaching manners and taking care of their children. However, there are some characters,
which have suffered a transformation and, as a consequence, their role in their society has
changed from active into passive or vice versa.

Septimus Warren Smith, an ex-officer who fought in World War I, illustrates these
circumstances. He is depicted as the prototypical man who went to war in order to defend his
country. Despite the fact that he belongs to the public sphere, we can see how his active role
evolves into a passive one as a result of the post-traumatic experience of war. Lucrezia Smith,
who is his wife, suffers as well an evolution, as she is now bound to take some new
responsibilities and power, which were previously owned by her husband. Although she
keeps belonging to the private sphere due to the mentality of her society, now, she must
undertake a more active role in her matrimony because she has to take care of both her
husband and the household.

On the other hand, we can also find how some women hold a significantly active role in their
lives, rather than a passive one, even though they should still be placed within the private
sphere. This is the case of Lady Bruton, Sally Seton or Doris Kilman. They are cultivated
women who devote their lives to either politics, fighting for women‘s rights or teaching
modern history, respectively. In fact, all of them have a pronounced interest in reading, what
denotes that they have a manifest concern for imbuing themselves with knowledge. Hence,
Woolf is characterizing common women with concerns that are thought to be only a male
hegemony, in order to emphasize her feminist point of view, which implies that women are as
equally capable of performing such roles despite of their female gender.

Independently of the social sphere to which they belonged, both men and women are
conditioned to end up achieving a life in matrimony. It is necessary, then, to take a close look
at the correlation between marriage and authority. There can be distinguished two main kinds
of supremacy: the authority of men over women or the female authority over the male one.

In the case of Dalloway‘s couple, they conform a liberal couple who does not oppress their
correspondent partner by imposing useless boundaries to each other. However, they are not
illustrated as a relationship based on love; instead, it seems that the mere reason why they
remain together is marriage, as a social bond that inevitably joins them. For instance, at the
beginning of the novel, Clarissa is told that her husband is going to attend a meeting with
Lady Bruton. Instinctively, she feels a tremendous loneliness and disgust about it: ―there was
an emptiness about the heart of life; an attic room‖ (Woolf 1925: 33). However, she does not
express it openly to Richard; she rather cares for her reputation and gets nostalgic about her
past. She remembers her youth, because it was the time when she was truly free and,
presumably, she even had an affair with Sally Seton. Nonetheless, there is a lot of
disagreement concerning whether or not Clarissa and Sally were lovers or just friends. But
the way in which Clarissa portrays the intensity of her feelings as ―a kind of ecstasy‖ and the
devotion that she processes for her, suggests that they had something more than mere
friendship. Then, what cannot be denied is that Sally Seton is the only person with which she
can truly feel what freedom and pleasure means whereas Richard represents for her the prison
that society has imposed on her, her lack of affection and disinterest and the convention of
her life. In fact, according to Butler‘s view, her heterosexuality may be understood as ―an
unquestioned and forced social contract, or in Butler‘s term, melancholic heterosexuality".

Nonetheless, it is interesting to notice that Richard somehow feels proud of Clarissa, but he
also feels her distance towards him. This is depicted when Richard states that: ―he never gave
Clarissa presents, except a bracelet two or three years ago, which had not been a success. She
never wore it‖. This fact deceives him and makes him feel her apathy and indifference
towards him. What he does not know is that Clarissa prefers roses rather than jewelry.
Consequently, this denotes the lack of communication that exists between them and the great
ignorance that they possess about both the delights and the opinions of the other. Hence, in
this couple, we can notice that there is a clear prevalence of male authority. Although it may
resemble that they are carefree on their decisions and they openly respect the way in which
the other behaves, even when we do know that interiorly they do not approve it in most of the
cases, Richard is the one who always has the authority, the power to decide what is approved,
and what is not. While sometimes it appears implicitly, in other cases we can see it explicitly,
as it happens with the parties of Clarissa, to which he is in command to give the
correspondent approval to organize such parties. Nevertheless, when it comes to the authority
that they have towards Elizabeth Dalloway, their daughter, both care for her equally. During
that period, the mother was in charge of teaching good manners to their daughters whereas
the husband had no kind of indoctrination towards their daughter because of her female
gender. It can be illustrated by the thoughts of Richard when he states that: ―if he‘d had a boy
he‘d said, Work, work. But he had his Elizabeth; he adored his Elizabeth‖. This quote implies
that as Elizabeth is a woman, she cannot work as men would. As a woman, she is only
allowed to know how to behave and socialize as her mother does, what implies, that all the
education she received was centered towards marriage.

In a secondary place, we can find the Smith‘s couple. They represent a conservative
matrimony of the beginning of the 20th century, which is concerted, as suggested by the great
difference of age between them. Septimus develops a mental illness provoked by this
traumatic experience at war. By means of the stream of consciousness, Woolf allows us to
perceive how Septimus can no longer keep maintaining a common life because he is
constantly haunted by Evans‘ presence. In fact, he marries Lucrezia as a desperate escape
from his depressing feelings rather than marrying for love, because he is convinced that it
may solve his problem. However, his uneasiness increases, as he perceives how Lucrezia and
the other people feel comfortably in places where he cannot help but feeling displaced.
Therefore, we find a couple made up of a common lady who, suddenly, has to take care of
both the household and her husband‘s sanity. Despite the adversities and the fact that their
marriage is concerted, she is comfortable with the role that has been assigned to her and she
does not doubt to fulfil her active role of caring for her husband. In fact, Lucrezia is depicted
as a devoted woman who loves her husband deeply and she is even completely submitted to
him. For instance, this can be illustrated when Sir William Bradshaw tells her that her
husband must be sent to a home because he has lost his ―sense of proportion‖ and she reacts
to this news by thinking that ―no one could separate them‖. Consequently, once again, we
find that in this couple it prevails a male dominance. In this case, despite the fact that it
resembles that Lucrezia is the one who exerts the authority in her matrimony, in reality,
Septimus still possesses the whole control over her. As he requires an incessant supervision
in order to keep him from killing himself, Lucrezia is submitted to him because she cannot do
anything but overseeing him. Similarly to Clarissa, she is imprisoned within her marriage
because she is constrained by the marital bond that joins them together and, in her particular
case, she also has to help her husband to reach the mental balance of his sanity. In fact, the
tough adversities that Lucrezia has to go through are more pronounced if we compare her
with any other woman of her age; for instance, Elizabeth Dalloway. As a consequence of
being a married woman, Lucrezia has been denied the opportunity to have some sort of
education, whereas Elizabeth can have access to it by means of her personal governess, Doris
Kilman. It is not going to be until the end of the novel, when Septimus ends up committing
suicide as an escape of Dr. Holmes, that
she is going to be completely free.

The final couple that we can find is the Whitbreads. They represent the most conventional
matrimony in this novel because the few information that we possess about them tells us that
they belong to the highest social class and, possibly, that suggests that their marriage was
concerted as happened with the previous couples. Although their role within the novel comes
in a second place, we can also distinguish the workings of the male patriarchal authority
between them when Hugh Whitbred, accompanied by Richard Dalloway, attends a meeting
with Lady Bruton in order to talk about significant topics such as politics, without asking for
the approval of his wife.

Lady Bruton figures among some of the most peculiar characters of this novel. She is an
unmarried woman who is represented as sensible and cultivated rather than a woman who
stands out for her exuberant beauty. She is highly keen on history and politics, what denotes
that she holds some common male concerns. It was unusual that a woman had such interests
and influence on people as they were exclusively taught the basic accomplishments in order
to marry, as we have previously seen with the instance of Elizabeth Dalloway. Therefore,
Lady Bruton represents one of the most feminist characters in Mrs. Dalloway as she breaks
with the standards of her society by remaining unmarried, and also, by either organizing or
taking part in some meetings that concern topics of such extent, which are usually merely
connected with men. In fact, she does not have to comply with any male boundary at all, as
she possesses the whole authority of her life.

Doris Kilman, who is the governess of Elizabeth Dalloway, is another character that
resembles Lady Bruton in her feminist attitude. It seems that she is an unmarried woman as
well, who is fond of modern history. Despite the fact that she does not organize nor attend
meetings with men, as Lady Bruton does, she also holds the total authority of her life and has
an actual job, that is, teaching Elizabeth Dalloway about some cultural aspects.

Moreover, we can also find Sally Seton, one of the most significant characters of this novel.
Apparently, she represents one of the most feminist characters because she is depicted as free,
jovial and courageous. Indeed, she represents the most reckless years of youth of Clarissa
because both behaved well beyond the standards of the society of the 20th century. The
plainest example is the close relationship that they had which, as previously stated, it is
unclear whether they were in love or not. In addition, the fact that they smoke cigarettes when
alone or go out completely naked in one occasion, are some other instances of their wild and
thoughtless behavior. Certainly, the fact that she gets pregnant without having got married
highlights this wild aspect of her. Nevertheless, even though all of these events suggest that
she was one of the most liberal characters of Mrs. Dalloway, she ends up marrying her master
because of her pregnancy. Hence, in the end, Sally Seton falls within the conventions of her
society in the same way as the other characters do, even though apparently they are more
conservative than her. We cannot determine whether she has the authority over her husband
or not because Woolf does not provide us enough with information about their marriage;
however, it seems that she has a certain freedom in her matrimony, as she has not asked for
permission nor approval of her husband to attend Clarissa‘s party.

Peter Walsh is a sensitive man who leads his life by his passions rather than his reason. In
fact, this obsessive behavior can be understood as a necessity to marry in order to fill the void
of solitude he possesses. He behaves as a conservative man who needs to marry to achieve a
happy life, instead of breaking with those conventions and manage to be happy on his own. In
fact, even though, supposedly, he has no wife who can impose on him some pressure or
authority, he has lived most of his life submitted to Clarissa‘s behavior, and he still does,
somehow. He always cares about both, her feelings and her opinions, rather than thinking of
his own benefit and what is best for him. He is still submitted to those conventions, as he is
not able to accomplish a blissful life without being committed to a woman. Hence, although
he seems to be the main authority of his life, his passions as Clarissa asserts, lead him to
follow social conventions and to be constantly psychologically submitted to women.
In conclusion, in the majority of circumstances, the male supremacy prevails over the female,
which refracts the real situation of the 20th century. As a consequence of this patriarchal
society, we can find how some characters, either male or female, make some sexist
comments. The fact that even some women can appear within this section is not surprising at
all, because we must take into account how both genders have been, since ancient times,
highly influenced by this patriarchal mentality. We can see how men treat women as mere
objects, while women, in a similar way, criticize other women. The first character that makes
relevant objectifications of women is Peter Walsh. As we have previously seen with
marriage, he uses Daisy Simmons, the Indian woman he intends to marry, as a mere object to
fulfill his preconceived idea of marriage. This must be understood as a sort of benevolent
form of sexism because even though he is not explicitly objectifying Daisy Simmons, it is a
way of using her as his mere complement. Moreover, in the novel there is a scene in which
Peter behaves as a stalker of a strange girl, who is walking down the street. Although he does
not know her, he does not hesitate and pursues her with desire and a sort of instantaneous
infatuation. He sexualizes the girl on his mind, wondering what he would tell her so as to get
to know her. Indeed, he calls himself ―a romantic buccaneer‖ and we can sense while he
follows her how his imagination even ends up believing that the girl likes him too and is
unmarried: ―But she‟s not married; she‟s young, quite young, thought Peter‖. This
specific event emphasizes the desperation that Peter felt to find a woman to marry. However,
he states that ―one doesn‟t want people after fifty; one doesn‟t want to go on telling
women they are pretty‖. This assertion is completely contradictory with the previous scene
in which he actually did what he criticizes, that is, sexualize women.

Hugh Whitbread, who appears sexualizing both Miss Brush and Sally Seton. As the
traditional and prototypical character of his society, Hugh makes several comments
concerning Miss Brush that make her feel uncomfortable. The most denigrating aspect is not
only that his attitude towards her is deplorable because he disturbs her with such sexist
comments such as ―‘Wouldn‟t they look charming against your lace?‖ rather the main
thing is that he is already married to Evelyn Whitbread and he does not avoid flirting with
other women. On the other hand, he also objectifies Sally Seton by seemingly inventing that
he has kissed her in order to justify her disgust towards him. They have had an argument
about the rights of women and Sally accused him of being ―responsible for the state of
„those poor girls in Piccadilly‟‖.

Richard Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith - Both marry in order to follow the
conventions of their society, instead of doing it for love. In the case of Richard Dalloway, he
only cares for Clarissa in the same way as she cares for him, as a mere role that they have to
fulfill to maintains the composure in front of people so as to confirm the good status of their
relationship. Septimus, marries Lucrezia as a sort of remedy for his problem; however, by
marrying her he does not solve his mental illness. He marries her even when he knows that he
does not love her and he is significantly older than she is: ―how he had married his wife
without loving her; had lied to her; seduced her (…). The verdict of human nature on
such a wretch was death‖.

The sexism between women is mostly portrayed by Clarissa Dalloway. She constantly
criticizes other women, the way they dress, their behavior and she always compares them to
her, particularly, both Lady Bruton and Doris Kilman. In reality, as they are cultivated
women who are devoted to their passion for reading and politics, she feels inferior to them,
although she is not able to recognize it. In fact, the main problem that Clarissa has with Lady
Bruton is that her husband meets with her, instead of passing time with her. Similarly, she
compares to Doris Kilman and highly criticizes her because she passes a lot of time with her
daughter Elizabeth. She describes her with some attributes such as the following: ―hot,
hypocrital, corrupt, with all that power; Elizabeth‟s seducer‖. In fact, both Clarissa and
Doris Kilman are engaged in a kind of constant argument for obtaining the affection of
Elizabeth. With such behavior, unconsciously, they objectify Elizabeth because they make
their lives a competition for gaining her, as if she symbolized a prize to be won. This
competition is highly symbolic because, in my opinion, Virginia Woolf is criticizing the
attitude of those women who waste their time in devaluing the worth of others rather than
trying to empower each other.

Virginia Woolf was not a feminist in the sense that she wanted women to have more rights
and opportunities, but that she wanted a psychological acceptance, with due reverence, of
women and their world, by men. Women because they are women see the world different
from men, but their outlook is equally important and considerable as that of men. Clarissa has
"that extraordinary gift, that woman's gift of making a world of her own wherever she
happened to be". Feminine creativity, female artist - Her creativity is the creativity of
everyday feminine life. Its goal is establishing relationships rather than making monuments,
going to wars and destructive manly things. The image of sewing in the novel reflects the
invisible ties between people woven by Clarissa.

In presenting Clarissa as a creative artist, Virginia Woolf gives a critical view of the
various kinds of masculine creativity - law making, soul curing and empire building. The
feminine power stands in sharp contrast to the masculine power. The novel shows how
women preserve a civilization, which is nearly destroyed by men. She shows the heroism of
the society, a willed determination to preserve civilization in face of death. Same thing is
done by Clarissa, through her parties and also when hearing about Septimus's death she goes
on with it, showing a reaffirmation of life and creativity against chaos and death.
In contrast to Miss Kilman, there is Lucrezia, who, although sometimes feels lonely,
has some of the Mrs. Dalloway's gift of active participation in life. Through her, Septimus is
able to revive his power of feeling, and is able to enter into the real life around him. Septimus
watches Lucrezia sewing a hat and becomes absorbed in her activity. This building is an echo
of life and sewing is symbolic like that of Clarissa's sewing i.e. of uniting people, attempts
made to bring people together from far off places and establish order and communication in
place of chaos and indifference. They symbolize female constructivity as opposed to make
destructivity.
The last lines of the novel, 'For there she was, 'suggest the full metaphoric weight of
Clarissa's presence throughout the novel. Clarissa is the centre of the novel not because of
any intensity in her love for others, but as the focus of their own warmth: "Women sew,
weave, kindle, create, create possibilities of emergence, possibilities of love, possibilities of
seeing 'life' as it is, moments of vision which they as women can offer to a world in which
everything seems in a state of disintegration,"
Although sometimes she does regret her choice, but it is for the first time in the field of
English novel, that we see a woman who has not surrendered before any man and who
without any clash, has tactfully maintained her independence. Clarissa loves the privacy of
soul. The mysterious old lady whom Clarissa sees twice through the window performing her
lonely domestic works symbolizes the theme of the privacy of soul which could be destroyed
by love (i.e. Peter Walsh) or by religion (i.e.) Miss Kilman). To experience life as a whole
one must be left alone. Clarissa's obsessive concern for the privacy of soul is at once her vice
as well as virtue. Continuously playing with the pocketknife, Peter embodies a masculine
threat to Clarissa's psychic autonomy, which she cannot endure, and so she chooses Richard,
where they can even sleep in separate rooms as individual entities.

Septimus can act out the instincts suppressed in Clarissa. He represents "the irrational
withdrawn tormented side of the serene outgoing heroine".