Mrs Dalloway Part 1
Clarissa Dalloway is a middle-aged woman living in central London with her politician husband, Richard Dalloway. Clarissa decides to head out into the London streets on a Wednesday, five years after armistice day. She is looking to buy flowers for the party she is organizing that evening and has decided to fetch the flowers herself rather than trust the matter to a servant. The scenes of a pleasant morning on the London streets cause her to remember the happier days of her childhood when she had spent her time roaming freely on her father’s estate in Burton. Throughout her life, Clarissa has been able to know people by instinct, which is something that’s always aided her. She suddenly comes across an old childhood friend, Hugh Whitbread, who like always is dressed to perfection. The presence of the handsome man in his proper clothes, makes Clarissa feel self-conscious about her hat. However, Hugh probably had that effect on everyone, and he only dressed so well because of how closely he worked with the British royal family.
They made polite conversation about Clarissa’s party, and she learned that Hugh was out to see the doctor due to his chronically ill wife, Evelyn. As Clarissa leaves Hugh and continues on her way, she recalls another friend of hers from childhood, Peter Walsh. Peter had never liked Hugh or any of his friends, but he had loved Clarissa. He had even asked her to marry him, but Clarissa had chosen to marry Richard. She recalls Peter’s stinging criticism that she would one day be the wife of a prime minister, and have her revolve around parties. She feels angry at him since, despite his high promises, Peter had failed to fulfill any of his dreams. Her thoughts turn towards death, as she browses the shop fronts in the market. She realizes that she would live on through her friends and even the strangers with whom she crossed paths. Just as she is thinking about death, she has a sudden revelation that she had made most of her decisions in life to affect the opinion of those around her.
She thinks about her only child, Elizabeth, a young eighteen-year-old who doesn’t quite get along with her mother and prefers to spend with the religious, Miss Kilnman, her governess. Mrs. Dalloway has a severe dislike for the governess, and she understands that her dislike is irrational. The hurried bustle at the markets is suddenly interrupted when a car backfires in the street. The appearance of the car indicates a person of great importance, and bystanders believe that it carries either the monarch or the prime minister.
Septimus Warren smith stands in the same market with his young Italian wife, Lucrezia. Septimus is shell-shocked and has been so since he returned from the war. He hears voices, and whenever Rezia tries to speak to him, he feels angry at her for interrupting his conversation with the voices. Rezia takes him to a nearby park to calm down after he becomes aggravated by the sound of the engine's backfire. Rezia has a moment of weakness, as she feels frustrated by Septimus’s condition and continues to behave oddly despite Dr. Holmes’s belief that there was nothing wrong with him. These doubts soon fade, and Rezia returns to Septimus. Both of them are observed by several park-goers, who note their expressions of heightened emotions.
Clarissa returns home slightly before midday and realizes that she has been living her life like a nun. She learns that Richard has been invited to lunch at lady Bruton’s house, but she has been conspicuously left out. As she goes into her bedroom, she reflects on her marriage with Richard. She has been sleeping alone since she got ill with the flu, and she feels like she has failed to please him as a wife. She reflects that the person who truly incited any passion had been her friend, Sally Seton. She thinks about a quote from Othello as she remembers a stolen kiss on the terrace. Clarissa likens the kiss to a holy experience, but she and Sally had been interrupted by the arrival of Peter Walsh. Clarissa seats herself in a chair and begins to repair one of her party dresses. She tries to treat all her servants with fairness and grace, the quiet sounds of the servants moving through the house are shattered by the sound of a doorbell. Clarissa is shocked to receive an aged Peter Walsh, who like always plays with a pocket knife as he talks to her.
Peter is transfixed by the sight of his old love, and he tries to be casual as he tells her about the reason for his travel to London. He had been in India when he had fallen in love with the wife of an officer in the army, her name was Daisy. Peter stares around at the luxury in which Clarissa is surrounded, and feels sad that she had chosen to marry Richard instead of him. Clarissa feels as if she is talking too much, and she continues to talk, Peter suddenly bursts into tears as he is moved by the memories of the past. Clarissa comforts him, and just Peter asks her whether she is happy, Elizabeth enters the room.
Analysis
Virginia Woolf employs the stream-of-consciousness narrative method for the novel and excludes the use of quotation marks. This second stylistic choice is an interesting way of joining the inner thoughts of the characters to the things that they say. The primary characters in the book are Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith. The author’s language for Clarissa serves to give us a deeper insight into the character, as the run-on sentences indicate a tendency to be completely immersed and overcome by thoughts as well as emotions. Clarissa struggles to find a role in English society, which places a great emphasis on gender roles. Clarissa is suddenly an older woman who is done with birthing, and mothering children, given that her eighteen-year-old daughter has begun to act independently. She feels flustered and self-conscious when she talks to men like Hugh, and Peter Walsh. Furthermore, she has little to no sexual relationship with her husband and has only ever felt passionate about Sally Seton, a childhood friend.
