Mrs. Dalloway Summary

Mrs. Dalloway Summary

Mrs. Dalloway Summary by Virginia Woolf

Setting

The novel is set in London, England.

Main Characters

Clarissa Dalloway- is the protagonist in the novel. Clarissa is a middle-aged, upper-class lady throwing a party and is married to the conservative politician Richard Dalloway but is deeply affected by her past love for Sally Seton and her rejection of Peter Walsh.

Septimus Warren Smith- he is A World War I veteran in his thirties, who suffers from PTSD. Septimus was once an aspiring poet but became unable to feel emotion after enlisting in the war for idealistic reasons and the death of his close friend and Officer Evans.

Peter Walsh- he is Clarissa’s closest friend who was once passionately in love with her. They are very similar intellectually, but always critical of each other.

Plot Summary

Clarissa Dalloway is an upper-class housewife married to Richard. She is throwing a party at night, and in the morning she walks about London on her way to get flowers. She enjoys the small sensations of daily life and often muses on her late teenage years at Bourton. She passes by a car with an unknown but important personage, and an airplane skywriting an advertisement. When Clarissa returns home, Peter Walsh, an old friend from Bourton visits her. Peter was once passionately in love with Clarissa, but she rejected his offer for marriage. Peter leaves when Clarissa’s daughter Elizabeth enters, and he walks to Regent’s Park, thinking about Clarissa’s refusal of his marriage offer. He follows a young woman, idealizing her from afar.

The point of view shifts to Septimus Warren Smith, a World War I veteran who is suffering from PTSD. Septimus and his Italian wife, Lucrezia, wait in Regent’s Park. Septimus imagines that he is a kind of prophet and has hallucinations of his dead soldier friend Evans. Septimus was once an aspiring poet, but after the war, he became numb and unable to feel. He believes his lack of emotion is a crime for which the world has condemned him to death, and he is often suicidal. Lucrezia has been taking Septimus to Dr. Holmes, who is convinced that Septimus has nothing wrong with him and is "in a funk.” That afternoon the Smiths visit Sir William Bradshaw, a famous doctor who subscribes to a worldview of "proportion” and is a psychological bully to his patients. Sir William plans to send Septimus to a mental institution in the country.

Richard Dalloway has lunch with Lady Bruton and Hugh Whitbread. The men help Lady Burton write a letter about emigration. After lunch, Richard gets roses for Clarissa and plans to tell her he loves her, but when he sees her finds he cannot say it out loud. Clarissa considers the privacy of the soul and the gulf that exists between even a husband and a wife. Richard leaves and Elizabeth emerges with Doris Kilman, her history tutor. Doris Kilman is poor, unattractive, and bitter, and has been trying to convert Elizabeth to Christianity. Miss Kilman and Clarissa hate each other and are jealous of the other’s influence on Elizabeth. Miss Kilman and Elizabeth go shopping and then Elizabeth leaves, leaving Miss Kilman to wallow in hatred and self-pity.

 

Septimus suddenly grows lucid while Lucrezia is making a hat. The couple designs the hat and jokes together, sharing a moment of happiness. Dr. Holmes arrives then to visit Septimus. Lucrezia tries to stop him, but Holmes pushes past her. Septimus thinks of Holmes as a monster condemning him to death, and Septimus jumps out the window, killing himself as an act of defiance. Peter hears the ambulance pass by and marvels at it as a symbol of English civilization. He lingers at his hotel and then goes to Clarissa’s party, where most of the novel’s upper-class characters eventually assemble. Clarissa acts as a "perfect hostess” but is worried the party will fail, and she is aware of Peter’s silent criticism. Sally Seton, a woman Clarissa had loved passionately as a teen at Bourton, arrives unexpectedly.

The once-radical Sally has married a rich man and settled down. The Prime Minister visits briefly but his appearance is anticlimactic. Sir William Bradshaw arrives late, and his wife tells Clarissa about Septimus’s suicide. Clarissa goes off alone to consider the sudden arrival of death at her party, and she feels a kinship with Septimus. She admires the purity of his soul and considers her own often shallow existence. She sees Septimus’s suicide as an act of communication. Peter and Sally reminisce, waiting for Clarissa to join them. Clarissa finally appears and Peter is filled with ecstasy and terror.

Themes

1. Death. Thoughts of death lurk constantly in the novel especially for Clarissa, Septimus, and Peter, and this awareness makes even ordinary events and interactions meaningful, sometimes even threatening. At the very start of her day, when she goes out to buy flowers for her party, Clarissa remembers a moment in her youth when she suspected a terrible event would occur.
2. Oppression. Oppression is a constant threat for Clarissa and Septimus in the novel. Septimus dies in order to escape what he perceives to be an oppressive social pressure to conform. It comes in many forms, including religion, science, or social convention. Miss Kilman and Sir William Bradshaw are two of the major oppressors in the novel: Miss Kilman dreams of felling Clarissa in the name of religion, and Sir William would like to subdue all those who challenge his conception of the world.