Mrs. Dalloway

Amy Hoagland

Mrs. Dalloway was published in 1925 and written by Virginia Woolf, an English writer and critic. One of the most interesting things about Mrs. Dalloway, and all of Virginia Woolf’s work is the culture in which it was written.  In England in the early nineteen hundreds, writing was a profession that was left for the men. Women were not encouraged to educate themselves rather their place in society was to marry and provide care to children and their husbands. She is a revolutionary and a feminist idol because of her persistence to write, despite the culture in which she lived. Virginia Wolf started publishing her writing in 1904. Her experience as woman living in this society shows in her writing, and perhaps Mrs. Dalloway is one of the best examples of the this perspective. Mrs. Dalloway is set in 1923 and exposes realities about gender roles, and many other themes surrounding post-war England.

Throughout this novel there were many references to the British Empire. The 1920’s and even the 1930’s was a tumultuous time for the British Empire and this was seen in Mrs. Dalloway. Clarissa Dalloway is the man character of especially the beginning of this book. When learning about this character, in conjunction with my previous knowledge of Virginia Woolf, I couldn’t help but see similarities in the two women. Both trapped by a society that refuses to give them any respect of treat them like equals to the men they do so much for

 For this assignment I want to focus on the role culture and society plays in the novel, particularly in the characterization of Clarissa and Septimus. Both of these characters seem to view the English society in a similar way, despite their extremely different backgrounds. It seems as though both characters had lost the illusion they once had involving the British Empire. Perhaps this is less the case with Clarissa; however Septimus is a WW1 veteran and feels as though the war has changed him as a person and utterly made him numb to the world around him.  “It is I who am blocking the way” (206). It is clear that Septimus knows he has been wounded by the war and this has changed his opinion of the British Empire, as well as his opinion of himself and his capabilities. Septimus is very private and introspective, searching for meaning and a solution to his PTSD. Which is this period would not have been a possibility nor would anyone have any idea how to treat it. Ultimately, Septimus was a victim of the British Empire, and seen in the novel as a long-term casualty of the war.

Clarissa Dalloway, much like Septimus struggles with how to match her outside appearance and her inner strength and feelings about the world around her. She is trapped in a revolving door of parties, shopping and cleaning. However this lift does not satisfy her in the way she would like and she struggles internally with keeping up appearances, while being herself. She is plagued by her decisions, especially her decision to marry Richard instead of Peter Walsh. She feared that she chose passion over financial stability. Perhaps this is her feeling as though British culture had impacted her decision. Thus leading to her unhappiness and uncertainty

One thing I took from this Novel that I would like to incorporate into my own writing is her brilliant use of stream of consciousness. She truly mastered this technique in Mrs. Dalloway as she was able to convey a sense of plot an organization while keeping the sense of stream of consciousness.