Analysis of Mrs Dalloway Novel by Virginia Woolf - Research Paper Example

 Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Mrs Dalloway, a novel by Virginia Woolf was published in 1925. The novel was written and published at a time when some landmark masterpieces such as Eliot’s The Waste Land, James Joyce’s Ulysses, Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, and Forster’s Passage to India were written. Also writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Wallace Stevens and Ernest Hemingway of the United States and W.B.Yeats and D.H. Lawrence of Great Britain were at their peak at that time. Woolf has managed to hold her own and create a masterpiece. The novel describes a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper class British woman belonging to post-World War I England. In the novel Virginia Woolf uses the stream of consciousness narrative to explore problems of relationships, personal identity and the significant role memory and time play in the life of human beings. Woolf was one of the first proponents of the stream of consciousness technique and in this novel we find her moving from one character to another revealing their inner thoughts. In Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf details one day and one night in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, her husband Richard Dalloway and her friends. The story takes place in London on a day in June 1923, a day when Clarissa is giving a dinner party at her house. The novel begins with the description of Clarissa Dalloway preparing and running errands for the party and the novel ends as the party progresses. The focus of the novel is on Clarissa Dalloway’s party. In the course of her preparation she meets people who have touched her life. In between her preparations she goes to the florist to buy flowers for the party. While at the florist a car backfires. This evokes suicidal thoughts in Septimus Smith, a depressed war veteran who is there in a nearby park with his Italian wife Lucrezia. His wife is unable to handle his suicidal depression and his ramblings. Clarissa unaware of all this blissfully goes through her day. Clarissa and Septimus never meet, but their lives are connected by external events and by the fact that both are sensitive people with a feeling of emptiness in their lives. Later, Peter Walsh, an old friend, visits Clarissa and her mind goes back thirty years. At that time she had considered marrying Peter Walsh. Instead, she chose the sober Richard Dalloway. Richard Dalloway is at the home of a fashionable aristocrat, Lady Millicent Bruton. Elizabeth her daughter who is seventeen years old goes to lunch with an older friend and tutor, Doris Kilman As she goes about carrying on her duties Clarissa begins to reflect on the choices she has made in her life and the significant moments that have influenced the course of her life. The news of the death of Septimus is casually mentioned at the party by a guest. This provokes Clarissa to think of her own loneliness and isolation. Here she says, "Death was an attempt to communicate, people feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded; one was alone." (Woolf, 1925) Through these thoughts and events Woolf tries to explore the meaning of life and death. The novel’s central theme is the reality of life and the truth inherent in it. Woolf believed that there was a world beyond the material and that this world needs to be explored. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf tries to do just that, explore this other spiritual world. She succeeds in doing this and in the process gives a fascinating account of the possibilities that are present in the other spiritual realm away from the daily realm of social interactions. Another theme of the novel is the conflict and the consequences of the choice one makes between conventionality and unconventionality. Clarissa, in this novel, instead of acting according to her feelings chooses conventionality, and is left with a feeling of emptiness and unsure of herself in the end. Peter Walsh, another character who chooses unconventionality is also left feeling empty and unsuccessful. Septimus commits suicide in order to escape from being crushed by conventionality. The novel exposes the shallowness and superficiality of conventionality that was followed by the upper-class English society at the time the novel was written. Woolf also explores the relationships between women and men, and also between women and between men. Relationship between women is seen when Clarissa contemplates over her relationship with Sally, "It was something central which permeated; something warm which broke up surfaces and rippled the cold contact of man and woman or of women together.... Had not that, after all, been love?" Woolf, 1925) Similarly Septimus reflects on his relationships with another man when at war. As the author delves into the inner life and thoughts of the characters she portrays painful images of the past merging into the present. The text of the novel focuses on the author’s views of the world around her. There is no central plot in the novel. Woolf puts many sub-stories within the main story. Certain events have no connection with Clarissa, the main protagonist, such as that of Septimus or the party at Lady Bruton’s mansion. But they are all part of the novel. Woolf does this to emphasize Clarissa’s character and the story of her life. The characters in these and other tangent stories are parallel to the main characters and provide the reader more information about the background of the lives of the main characters. The reader is able to contrast these parallel characters with the main characters. Woolf has tried to bring in several characters in the course of a single day and used their thoughts to narrate the story. The novel is not divided into sections or chapters but is one continuous narrative. The time covered in the novel is just one day. But Virginia Woolf succeeds in narrating a lifetime of experiences and in the process exposes the mysteries surrounding the human personality. She succeeds in creating for the reader an enjoyable reading experience even though there is no central plot. This novel is a character-driven novel. Almost all of the action takes place in the minds of the characters and through their thoughts and reminiscences. The reader is given the challenging task of piecing together the story from the bits of information provided by each character. The characters are complex and the reader may not be able to get a clear picture or impression of any one of the characters. But then, this is the essence of the novel that it is impossible to describe any person in a simple phrase or sentence or by using adjectives. A person may mean many different things to many people. The central character of the novel is Clarissa Dalloway who has been portrayed as a conventional, upper class lady. She is aware that her life is shallow and empty. She is unsure of her feelings towards others including her husband and her daughter. Clarissa longs to be successful and wants to be liked by everyone. Through Clarissa Woolf makes us aware of what it is to live one day in time and the complexities each day can bring for an individual. Here Clarissa says, that she "had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day". (Woolf, 1925) Events that unfold as the day progresses trigger recollections and memories in Clarissa. Woolf portrays Clarissa’s character through this. The reader also learns more about Clarissa through the thoughts of other characters. In contrast to her character is Septimus Warren Smith, the second central character in Mrs. Dalloway. Septimus is an ex-soldier whose world is chaotic and crumbling. He was in love with a fellow soldier called Evans during the war. This haunts him throughout the novel. His mental state is because of the fear and the suppression of forbidden love. In the end he commits suicide tired of the world which he thinks is false and unreal. Then there are other characters such as Richard Dalloway, her husband, Peter Walsh, who has returned from India after five years, her daughter Elizabeth and her tutor Doris Kilman, and a political hostess, Lady Bruton. Miss Kilman is a poor and unattractive girl who resents the upper-class Mrs. Dalloway. Then there is Sally Seton, Clarissa’s childhood friend and with whom Clarissa was in love at one time. Although some characters in this book may, at first, appear to be one-dimensional, we soon learn that all are extraordinarily complex. Sally is considerate and at the same time impulsive, Richard is shy and timid; Peter is reserved yet adventurous; Septimus is insane but yet credible. Clarissa is even more complex possessing having most of these characteristics. Also the characters are connected to each other in some way or the other. This is evident in the connection between Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus. They never meet but their thoughts are connected by external events such as the sight of an airplane or the sound of a car backfiring, or the sound of the Big Ben clock. This is evident again in the way in which Hugh and Richard remain in Lady Bruton’s thoughts even after they leave. Here Lady Burton muses, "as if one's friends were attached to one's body, after lunching with them, by a thin thread, which became hazy with the sound of bells, striking the hour". (Woolf, 1925) This further emphasizes Woolf’s contention that there is a” thin thread”, an innate spiritual connection that connects human beings. Woolf develops the character of Clarissa Dalloway and other characters by portraying their interior thoughts and using the innumerable threads of their thoughts to spin a web of thoughts, if one may say so. Sometimes the threads of thought cross making people communicate with each other. At times, the threads do not cross, and the characters are left alone and isolated. More than the narrative technique it is Woolf's stream-of-consciousness style that is responsible for making this novel a masterpiece. Here we find her exploring a new style of writing. Woolf was one of the foremost proponents of what came to be known as "stream of consciousness" style. She explored the minds and hearts of her characters. In this method the experiences, emotions, thoughts and the inner lives of characters are as important as their stories. The characters in the novel reflect on their experiences as their thoughts travel back and forth in time. This form of writing creates complex portrayals of the characters and their relationships. This style of writing evolved during the beginning of the 20th century and writers used this style to portray in words the thoughts and feelings of a character. William Faulkner, Katherine Mansfield, William Faulkner and James Joyce were some of the other authors well known for this style. This style makes the readers feel that they are inside the mind of the character. There is very little action in the novel. Instead there is a whole host of impressions and emotions. Woolf weaves them together to make a whole novel. The author enters into the consciousness of the characters as it were and by exploring their inner thoughts creates a powerful effect There is realism in this novel, a realism that novels of the Victorian age could never achieve. This she does by seeing everyday life in a new light. Thoughts and memories, even trivial ones, of the characters are given utmost importance. She focuses on the commonplace daily activities and tasks like organizing a party, shopping having dinner and so on giving the novel a touch of realism. In conclusion it can be said that Mrs. Dalloway is one of the most famous modernist novels. Woolf uses the literary style of stream of consciousness to great effect. The reader throughout the novel is able to delve into the depths of the thoughts or consciousness of the characters as the thoughts of the characters fly here and there. Woolf also uses this novel to criticize the society of her day. The main characters raise issues of personal and social concerns. Clarissa represents the suppressed social and economic condition of women, and through the character of Septimus Woolf shows how depression can drive people to insanity. References 1. Virginia Woolf (1925), Mrs. Dalloway, Harvest Books, 1990 Read More