Mrs Dalloway

Mrs Dalloway, written by Virginia Woolf, was first published in 1925 and is considered an excellent example of Modernist literature as it uses frequent themes which are characteristic of Modernism. Modernist techniques are not only employed in the narrative but also in the construction, themes and setting of the novel.

Mrs. Dalloway is set in 1923 post World War I Britain. The actions of the novel are simple, depicting the experiences and memories of the central characters over a single day. Clarissa Dalloway, who is hosting a party, her husband Richard Dalloway and their daughter Elizabeth are busy with their day. During the day Clarissa meets Peter Walsh, a former suitor, who has just come back from India. Another character, Septimus Warren Smith, who has lost his friend Evans in the War, struggles with the memories of his dead friend. He commits suicide to escape his doctors, but particularly because he feels disillusioned with understanding the world and its structures. On the party, as Clarissa learns about Septimus’ suicide she is deeply hurt by the news, despite the fact that she had never met Septimus. Thus, the novel expresses the new realities of a society and its individuals after the war and shows the characters thinking and reacting to their surroundings in ways that resembled actual individual experience. Also the pessimistic view that resulted from the modernist era is showcased in Mrs. Dalloway. Characters like Peter Walsh portray the shifting political atmosphere; but on the same time the novel also focuses on the existing social mood through the character Septimus Warren Smith for instance. Within this changing world, Woolf focuses on modernist issues such as loneliness and isolation as well which is related to the doubtful period Britain went through in history. This is established through the stream of consciousness technique, which captures the thought process of a character uncovering emotional and psychological processes.

Mrs. Dalloway is a complex novel which tries to emphasize, amongst other themes, on the subconscious and address the role of the individual within society for instance by indicating the modern city and the mental illness form which Septimus Warren Smith and Clarissa suffer.