A Level English Literature
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
Themes
1. Feminism and Personal Agency
Throughout the novel, we follow Clarissa who spends the day preparing for a party that she is
hosting in the evening. Clarissa seems especially concerned that the party is a
success, equating her self-worth and societal status with how her guests will receive her
party.
During WWI, while most of the nation’s men and boys were conscripted to work in the
army, many women took on roles and jobs that they were previously not allowed to in order
to keep the country functioning. For the first time, they were granted personal freedoms and
agency.
However, when the men returned from war, many of the women were forced to return to
their domestic roles and their personal agency was once again taken away from
them. Depending on how you choose to interpret Clarissa’s character: the party may be a
means for her to assert her personal agency rebelling against societal expectations of women,
or Clarissa has chosen to submit and conform to societal expectations by throwing the perfect
party for her guests.
Another character who is deprived of personal agency is Septimus Smith. While Clarissa is
oppressed due to her status as a woman in society, Septimus is a male and war veteran and
should be well respected.
However, his state of shell-shock means that he is not allowed by his wife and doctors to
make his own decisions or to express himself freely. Ironically, the one and only decision
Septimus is allowed to make is to throw himself out of a window — it is only in death that he
is free.
2. Existentialism and Modernism
, The passage of time is keenly felt throughout Mrs Dalloway. Despite being set within the
span of a single day, the Big Ben tolls on the hour and every time it does, the characters are
forced to confront the passage of time and their mortality.
Septimus’ death emphasises this theme in the novel and is particularly interesting when
examined against how it helped Clarissa to confront and accept her inevitable mortality.
The stream-of-consciousness style of the novel provides us with insight into the rich, inner
lives of each character in contrast to how the broader English society perceives the
individuals. Clarissa has contradictory needs for privacy but to connect with others — she
throws the party to bring people together, yet in a room full of people she also appears to be
lonely and seeking connection or intimacy.
3. Mental Illness and Oppression
Set in the immediate aftermath of WWI, Mrs Dalloway looks at the various ways society has
oppressed the characters and their desires. Both Clarissa and Septimus do not naturally fit
into English society.
While Clarissa conforms — throwing a party, choosing to marry Richard and not pursue her
romantic interest in Sally and being the perfect hostess — Septimus radically rejects this
choosing death.
Septimus represents many of the post-war veterans who returned to London suffering from
shell-shock. Woolf criticises the way patients of mental illness are treated through
Septimus — he is spoken through his wife, his attempts to express himself are dismissed and
his doctors are impatient with him. This is an especially pertinent theme if you take into
consideration Woolf’s own struggle with depression throughout her life.
Extract from the novel (the opening chapter)
“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
For Lucy had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges;
Rumpelmayer’s men were coming. And then, thought Clarissa Dalloway, what a
morning – fresh as if issued to children on a beach.
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
Themes
1. Feminism and Personal Agency
Throughout the novel, we follow Clarissa who spends the day preparing for a party that she is
hosting in the evening. Clarissa seems especially concerned that the party is a
success, equating her self-worth and societal status with how her guests will receive her
party.
During WWI, while most of the nation’s men and boys were conscripted to work in the
army, many women took on roles and jobs that they were previously not allowed to in order
to keep the country functioning. For the first time, they were granted personal freedoms and
agency.
However, when the men returned from war, many of the women were forced to return to
their domestic roles and their personal agency was once again taken away from
them. Depending on how you choose to interpret Clarissa’s character: the party may be a
means for her to assert her personal agency rebelling against societal expectations of women,
or Clarissa has chosen to submit and conform to societal expectations by throwing the perfect
party for her guests.
Another character who is deprived of personal agency is Septimus Smith. While Clarissa is
oppressed due to her status as a woman in society, Septimus is a male and war veteran and
should be well respected.
However, his state of shell-shock means that he is not allowed by his wife and doctors to
make his own decisions or to express himself freely. Ironically, the one and only decision
Septimus is allowed to make is to throw himself out of a window — it is only in death that he
is free.
2. Existentialism and Modernism
, The passage of time is keenly felt throughout Mrs Dalloway. Despite being set within the
span of a single day, the Big Ben tolls on the hour and every time it does, the characters are
forced to confront the passage of time and their mortality.
Septimus’ death emphasises this theme in the novel and is particularly interesting when
examined against how it helped Clarissa to confront and accept her inevitable mortality.
The stream-of-consciousness style of the novel provides us with insight into the rich, inner
lives of each character in contrast to how the broader English society perceives the
individuals. Clarissa has contradictory needs for privacy but to connect with others — she
throws the party to bring people together, yet in a room full of people she also appears to be
lonely and seeking connection or intimacy.
3. Mental Illness and Oppression
Set in the immediate aftermath of WWI, Mrs Dalloway looks at the various ways society has
oppressed the characters and their desires. Both Clarissa and Septimus do not naturally fit
into English society.
While Clarissa conforms — throwing a party, choosing to marry Richard and not pursue her
romantic interest in Sally and being the perfect hostess — Septimus radically rejects this
choosing death.
Septimus represents many of the post-war veterans who returned to London suffering from
shell-shock. Woolf criticises the way patients of mental illness are treated through
Septimus — he is spoken through his wife, his attempts to express himself are dismissed and
his doctors are impatient with him. This is an especially pertinent theme if you take into
consideration Woolf’s own struggle with depression throughout her life.
Extract from the novel (the opening chapter)
“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
For Lucy had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges;
Rumpelmayer’s men were coming. And then, thought Clarissa Dalloway, what a
morning – fresh as if issued to children on a beach.
