Clarissa Dalloway is a complex character that is perceived differently by many readers. Her interactions with people throughout the book reveal many things about her personality, but it is hard to decipher her true intentions; is she a deep, thoughtful woman, or a shallow, upper-class snob? Her deep relationship was more than just friendship with Sally Seton; however, her harsh feelings towards other characters like Miss Kilman, Lady Bruton and Ellie Henderson show a shallow side of Clarissa. .
Sally Seton was the most influential character in the book for Clarissa. In her younger years she was a free spirit, Clarissa admired this and wished she could be as sure of herself as Sally was. When she appears at Clarissa's party, it is almost a disappointment because she has become the exact opposite of what she was, and has conformed to the ways of a traditional female of that time. .
Sally affected Clarissa's life in many ways, but mostly in the physical sense. She made Clarissa see a side of herself that she may have never experienced, her sexuality. For them to marry would be out of the question, but Woolf showed how their relationship was more intimate than merely friends. "Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! The others disappeared; there she was alone with Sally (Woolf, 35). To describe this as the most exquisite moment of her life is the answer to why she never felt that kind of satisfaction with Richard.
Clarissa is not a lesbian, but clearly her marriage to Richard is merely for convenience, and her need and want to conform to the strict society. Maybe she could have experienced the same kind of happiness with Peter Walsh. They shared a stronger emotional bond, but Peter was seen as a failure. She gave up happiness so she could fit in with the ways of the upper class.
The names used when referring to Clarissa Dalloway in this novel signifies different things. Mrs. Dalloway is used in the novel to signify a lady of class. Somebody that is distinguished, who has responsibilities and power. It is also used so the reader sees her as Mrs.Dalloway the other half of...
The Failures of Life in a Modern Society A common theme in many novels is for the protagonist to come to some sort of realization about life, therefore enriching and fulfilling some goal or desire in his own life. Most of the time he will learn a lesson, realize some truth, or derive some meaning ...
In Virginia Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway, she portrays numerous complicating and intriguing passages in which she presents the readers with many questions and confusing scenarios. One particular section that I feel is very problematic and controversial, but also very interesting, is the passage in w...
Upon viewing "Mrs. Dalloway" I was not impressed. The movie seemed to jump from the present to the past. The character Septimus didn't appear to have any purpose in the storyline. Clarrisa also seemed to be tightly bound by the Victorian lifestyle of the day to make her interesting to me. The plot j...
Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway-. ... And "Mrs Dalloway- is a typical work dealing with women's difference from men. (If we already might go into detailed examples, one such but not the only is Mrs Dalloway's relationship with Sally. When she recalling it, Mrs Clarissa Dalloway admits to herself: "It was not like one's feeling for a man. ... The problem in "Mrs Dalloway- is that actually it is rather hard to state to whom and what belongs the voice of the narrator. ...
1 Everyone passes strangers throughout life. Each stranger has a life completely different than the people we pass each day. But every now and again we are similar in thought. Although we know not what each thinks, our thoughts converge in similar fashions. Whether it be something in the sky...
Virginia Woolf attaches great importance to this phenomenon in her novel Mrs. Dalloway, and throws the reader into a storyline consisting of accounts and thoughts of characters. ... Being published in 1925, Virginia Woolf´s novel Mrs. ... Such a connecting device is presented when Clarissa Dalloway is at the flower shop, when suddenly a car backfires in front of the flower shop. ... So the car serves as a connection point insofar as the narrator shifts between the minds of Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus, allowing the reader an insight of how both of them experience this situation. ...
Septimus Warren Smith and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway Works Cited Dowling, David. Mrs. Dalloway: Mapping Streams of Consciousness. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishing, 1991. Gilbert, Martin. The First World War: A Complete History. New York, NY: Henry Ho...
Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" is an account of one day in the life of an upper class British woman, her husband, her daughter and her circle of friends. Woolf's narration of Clarissa Dalloway's day begins with her protagonist's preparations for a party she is holding at her house that evening, an...
