Mrs Dalloway

Stream of consciousness

Themes

Characters

Author

Summary

Book review

MRS DALLOWAY

• time: beside the real time of the story there is also the time of the mind, in which characters can continually skip, pass, move from past to present to future then back to past.
• contrast between sanity and insanity: Septimus, despite his mental insanity, represents a deeper awareness of reality than many of the characters around him
• society and identity: Clarissa wants to reflect the expectation of society
• death: While Clarissa lives a privileged and superficial life, Septimus faces the dark realities of death brought about by war. His death brought Mrs. Dalloway back to reality.
• gender role and feminism: this theme is explored through the character of Clarissa

Themes

she was born in London in 1882. During her teenage years she suffered from depression and was sexually abused. she committed suicide in 1941 by throwing herself into the river Ouse.

Virginia Woolf

Author

the plot of the novel describes:

• a day in London lived by a middle-aged woman, Clarissa Dalloway, who is organising a party for the night,
• a day in London lived by a veteran of World War I, Septimus Warren Smith, who is mentally tormented and is suffering from shell shock because of what he lived during the war. he commits suicide at the end of the novel.

Summary

stream of consciousness: the narration just follows disordered and incoherent thoughts. The story is told from the point of view of the characters, allowing readers to experience the world as the characters do, but also the depths of the characters' minds and the complexities of human consciousness.

Clarissa DallowayShe was a middle aged woman, described as charming and vivacious. During the story she understands that she does what she has to do just to please society. She tries to fit the expectations of the society because she doesn't even feel a woman with an identity anymore but only her husband's wife.

Septimus Smithhe is a veteran of World War I, haunted by his past. He is the opposite of Clarissa, he doesn't care about society because he has lived a troubled life, which is the reason why at the end of the story he kills himself.

Characters