Dalloway written by Virginia Woolf, and The Hours written by Michael Cunningham, the theme of failure arises in almost all of the characters in one way or an other. This theme is clearly represented evenly throughout both of the novels. It seems as if there is only one way to escape failure, through death. Failure seems to be a theme that ties the characters together, a theme that each one experiences. Woolf and Cunningham both do an excellent job of relating characters through this running theme. This theme relates to this quote by Virginia Wolf, .
"I have no time to describe my plans. I should say a good deal about the Hours, &my discovery; how I dig out beautiful caves behind my characters; I think that gives exactly what I want; humanity, humor, depth. The idea is that the caves shall connect, & each comes to daylight at the present moment." (Virginia Woolf, in her diary, August 30, 1923).
Failure is one of these "connecting caves" that Woolf and Cunningham have dug out beneath their characters. .
In the beginning of Mrs. Dalloway the theme of failure is brought to the attention of the reader quite quickly. When Clarissa remembers her girlhood days and it brings to her memory that Peter, her one love, has married a women who he met on his voyage to India. This upset Clarissa, along with the fact that Peter said that she would marry the Prime Minister and become the perfect hostess. Clarissa thinks that Peter has never accomplished anything he has dreamed of, and so she considers his life a failure. However, she is speaking not only from the perspective of someone who spurned his marriage proposal, but from the perspective of a British upper-class society wife. Her meeting with Hugh Whitbread further reveals the basis for her characterization of Peter as a "failure." Peter mockingly characterized Hugh as the unthinking representative and supporter of established social conventions.
