Mrs Dalloway

Mrs Dalloway Review

Mrs Dalloway written in 1925, perhaps the most famous work of the modernist writer Virginia Woolf, is a complex and intricate specimen. It follows the ‘communal spirit of London’, centering on the Tory housewife Clarissa Dalloway and her dinner party, an event which links together many of the more minor characters. As a sub-plot the reader also faces is the distressing story of Septimus Smith, a clearly mentally ill individual still recovering from the trauma of the recent war, and eventual his tragic suicide.

A central theme in the novel that rather spoke out to me was the complete hold that time has on life. Throughout the work, which occurs over a twenty-four hour period, the reader is reminded of her overbearing presence, for example ‘Big Ben struck the half hour’, ‘the clock was striking’ and the sense of despair seen in Clarissa, as she reaches middle age, losing her years of freedom and beauty. As a result I have been rather moved towards the moto ‘carpe diem’. Another interesting part of Mrs Dalloway is Woolf’s take on the gender norms of her time. The book contains several strong female characters such as the fiercely independent Lady Bruton, true she does require male support from Mr Dalloway and Mr Whitbread in writing a certain letter to a newspaper editor, but her magisterial presence is such that one gains the sense that they are merely being employed for her use. Equally although Mrs Dalloway is portrayed as the traditional conservative housewife repressed completely by gender stereotypes, Peter Walsh notes that she has been ‘mending her dress as usual… sitting the whole time [that he had] been in India’, she is simply excellent at what she does, being presented as the perfect host and ultimately acts as the centre piece for the novel. Equally the reader does by no means gain a  sense that she is not free. Thus although Woolf’s stance on the gender norms of the time is rather oblique in Mrs Dalloway her breaking away from the stereotype of the weak wife 
speaks volumes.
Another theme integral to Mrs Dalloway is society and class, all the characters throughout the novel being incredibly aware of their standing on the ladder of society. It seems that Woolf finds means to challenge this as well. For instance, one of the few times that the reader is physically repulsed by Clarissa comes in her attitude towards a certain Miss Kilman, the working class tutor to her daughter. She describes her as ‘heavy, ugly, commonplace, without kindness or grace’ and the saturation of negative adjectives and nouns here creates a distasteful level of disgust, though it could be seen to reflect mere mockery on Woolf’s part. Indeed Miss Kilman’s jealousy for Clarissa’s higher social status is highly evident, something that she struggles to hide behind her faith as seen in ‘she did not envy women like Clarissa Dalloway, she pitied them’. The maltreatment of characters such as Ellie Henderson, lower in social status than Clarissa, also supports the case for Woolf’s own prejudice. Ultimately however, it must noted how well Woolf identifies with characters lower down on the scale of class, namely Septimus Smith. The fine, specific descriptions of his sensations and trances, as seen in ‘the leaves being connected by millions of fibres within his own body’, seems to really be Woolf’s own voice. Furthermore, mental illness, something that Smith clearly suffers from, is placed in an

interesting light in the novel. The cold, intrusive and clinical nature of the doctors that treat Septimus, one of them Bradshaw obsessing over ‘proportion’ and aligning strict time limits for his despairing patients, reveals a blatant disappointment over the current medical institutions of the time.

The writing style and structure of Mrs Dalloway are also rather worthy of praise. I loved the interconnection between the various characters by, as Woolf herself stated, ‘[the digging out of] beautiful caves behind [her] characters…[which eventually] connect, each [coming] to daylight at the present moment…’, and the great sense of community this suggested. For example, Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith, the two main protagonists, are connected right near the novel’s end when Clarissa hears of his tragic end and remarks that ‘she felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away while they went on living’.  A real sense of the beating heart of London life is suggested and the novel as a consequence has a rather flowing, continuous feel to it as the separate streams of conscienceness of the various characters interlinked. Equally Woolf’s use of rich, luxurious and emotive imagery over reminisces of time’s past, which occupies much of Mrs Dalloway’s content also gave the novel a certain momentum, along with the many deep, three-dimensional characters littered around it. My few complaints would be the fact that practically every section was dense with importance, requiring rather detailed reading for comprehension along with how Septimus’ story was rather overshadowed by the ongoings higher up on the social scale. However, perhaps this has a useful effect, adding to the sense of tragedy in his story as he is soon forgotten.

Overall I found Mrs Dalloway to be a wholly fascinating piece, though one which I would recommend reading twice to really appreciate it (something that I shall endeavour to do) and a great way to ingratiate oneself with the work of Woolf.