“Mrs. Dalloway” is a novel written by Virginia Woolf published in 1925 by Hogarth Press in United Kingdom. It is one of the best known novels in the history of fiction, and a best from Virginia Woolf. The novel is basically a combination of two earlier short stories from the writer named “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street” and “The Prime Minister”. The novel discusses the preparations made by Clarissa for a party she is hosting in the evening. While reading the novel, the story travels in the past that gives reader an understanding of the past life of Clarissa. The flashback also projects different people who have been part of the Clarissa’s past and played a role in her life. The story also highlights the horrors of war and its psychological impacts on the people who participated in the First World War. The paper attempts to analyze Mrs. Dalloway character in terms of hope and despair with a view to identifying the source of optimism and ways to find meaning in the life.
The relationship between Clarissa and Richard is a source of hope for the couple and projects the positive side of the relationship. Clarissa allows her husband the liberty to preserve his personal privacy by not interfering into his routine matters. As highlighted in the novel by Woolf, “For in marriage a little licence, a little independence there must be between people living together day in day out in the same house; which Richard gave her, and she him.”(9). On the other hand, Richard who feels like saying “I Love You” to Clarissa feels hesitant to do so because he did not say it for quite some time. The distance between the two maintain their relationship in a normal state of affair and allows them to be positive about each other thus projecting hope. Both the characters of Clarissa and Septimus are haunted by the memories of the past, by the same words and by their readings. The phrase used by the writer for Clarissa is comforting that offers a sense of association to the collective. It makes Clarissa a survivor. However, she fails to some extent as she denies her feelings of being a homosexual. On the other hand, Septimus connection with the world brings horror, anxiety and madness from social perspective in terms of survival. If seen from the perspective of preserving the privacy, Septimus succeeds in retaining his privacy that could not be spoiled by the human nature.
Traditional notions of redemption such as love, faith, and friendship lack redeeming power in a variety of ways. The notion of love is absent to an extent where Mr. Dalloway is unable to say her wife Clarissa that he loves her. The expression of love between the two has diminished over the period as Mr. Dalloway did not express her love since years. However, even after 30 years of marriage, love between Mr. Dalloway and Mrs. Dalloway exists. Love exists in the shape of Clarissa’s memories about her past, her love with her friend Sally Seton, her love and her consciousness about her status in the high society of London. As expressed by Woolf “It is probably the queen coming out of Mulberry’s with her flowers; the queen. And for a second, she wore a look of extreme dignity standing by the flower shop in the sunlight.”(17) She maintains her social dignity at the required places. But love exists in different forms between Septimus and Evans in the shape of their memories of the First World War. It is because of the memories of love and the pain of being without love that compels Septimus to jump out of the window. Traditional notion of faith is found present in case of Clarissa whereas the same notion is not present in Septimus. Clarissa has faith in her husband and does not meddle in the routine affairs of her husband. She allows him the liberty required to maintain the personal freedom of each person. She has faith in him and trusts him; still she wants him to know her more.
Septimus does not have faith in anything around him as life means nothing to him. He does not have faith in the doctor who diagnoses him for involuntary admission into the hospital, and before the hospital people take him to the hospital, he jumps out of the window. He does not believe in sharing his pain with the people around and therefore keeps his privacy intact by committing suicide. Notion of friendship dominates the whole story; it may be the Clarissa’s friendship with friends from the past or Septimus friendship with Evans. The theme of friendship prevails in the story. Clarissa remembers the kiss she had with Sally some thirty years back, she remembers Peter who was his best suitor and she remembers her status as a friend in the high society of London. Character of Septimus has even dominant notion of friendship that keeps him disturbed and under hallucinations. Both the main characters of the story keep the traditional notion of friendship alive. Richard Dalloway’s friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Burton and other members of the high class is also present in the novel.
The novel offers the source of optimism in some ways. The survival of Clarissa despite all the thoughts of death is a source of optimism. When Clarissa accepts the responsibility of death of Septimus, she show hope to the audience. She accepts the responsibility being part of the higher class of society who are responsible for the provision of comfortable living environment to the people of society. It enhances the stature of the character of Clarrisa and project optimism and hope. Mr. Dalloway’s desire to express his love for his wife also projects optimism and hope for the readers of the novel. There is no optimism in the story of Septimus as he surrenders himself to the death. As highlighted in the novel by Woolf, “And it was cowardly for a man to say he would kill himself, but Septimus had fought; he was brave; he was not Septimus now. However, Clarissa’s interpretation of her love as optimism is altogether a different standpoint that does not sound logical. (13).
The story is a mix of hope and despair that projects optimism and pessimism at the same time. Two different stories interweaved together by the writer and finding resemblance between the two indicates the writing skills and mastery of the Virginia Woolf. The novel is a good read that projects variety of emotions and notions.
Work Cited
Virginia Woolf. Mrs.Dalloway. 1925. Web. 2 October. 2014.
Groover, Kristina. Enacting the sacred in Mrs. Dalloway. 2011. Web. 2 October. 2014.
