Mrs. Dalloway 11

“And they went further and further from her, being attached to her by a thin thread (112).”

“How extraordinary is was, strange, yes, touching, to see the old lady...move away from the window, as if she were attached to that sound, that string. Gigantic as it was, it had something to do with her (127).”

Virginia Woolf uses the word “string” a couple different times in Mrs. Dalloway. Although the descriptions are pretty different, they are both alluding to the feeling of attachment or a certain connection to a person or thing. This is a large part of a main theme of the book, which seems to be the heartache of the simplicity of everyday life. And this is one of the heartaches-- connections that are hard to escape from, as if one is attached to these things by many small stretchy strings.

Mrs. Dalloway 10

“Pity for the loss of roses (27).”

“(as if some lovely rose had blossomed for her eyes only) (29)”

“...soft with the glow of rose petals for some.. (30).”

“Now he withdraws up into the snows, and roses hang about him--the thick red roses which grow on my bedroom wall, he reminded himself (68).”

“Every woman, even the most respectable, had roses blooming under glass... (71).”

Roses seem to be a very important symbol throughout Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia Woolf often uses this particular flower to describe feelings of beauty and love, complete perfection, or happiness. She also frequently uses it as a metaphor for these things. For example, on page 27 Virginia Woolf describes someone as feeling “pity for the loss of roses,” meaning a pity for the loss of happiness and love, possibly also innocence. On page 71, Woolf wrote “Every woman, even the most respectable, had roses blooming under glass....”  This might be saying that every woman has lust and love inside of her, even the respectable ones who try not to show it. The only difference between those woman and the less respectable ones is that the proper ladies keep it hidden under glass.

Mrs. Dalloway 9

“...Clarissa had a theory in those days--they had heaps of theories, always theories, as young people have (152).”

One of the major themes in Mrs. Dalloway is expressed perfectly in this one quote: growing old, aging, dying. Virginia Woolf expresses that here by emphasizing the past. She says that Clarissa used to have theories, “as young people have,” making is clear that she doesn’t consider herself a young person anymore. Clarissa is no longer fit to have theories. This also fits in well with the theme of fear of death. Clarissa is afraid of death, meaning she thinks about it more than she has to. Thinking about age and death surely would make a person notice the effects of their lost youth more, and it could even make them lose their youthful state of mind faster. For Clarissa's aging, the saying “a watched pot never boils” does not seem to work as it should. 

Mrs. Dalloway 8

“And she talked too about the war (130).”

In this quote, Miss Killman and Elizabeth are together talking. The War is mentioned briefly, for apparently it was talked about. This doesn’t seem very significant compaired to the effect that the War (World War I) had on Septimus (or people in general). By casually mentioning the war, Virginia Woolf is emphesizing the different effects that WWI had on different people. For a family living an upperclass life, the War was far away. Everyone knew it was happening, they knew the general idea of the significance, but they could never really know. Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum. Nobody could have been more influenced by this war than Septimus and his wife, for he suffered from severe post traumatic stress syndrome, which eventually led to his suicide. 

"World War I." About.com. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwari/World_War_I.htm>.

Mrs. Dalloway 7

“But there are tides in the body (113).”

Richard Dalloway has made the simple decision to join Hugh Whitbread in a shop, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. Why did he do it? Because he went with the tide of the day, because as Virginia Woolf says, “there are tides in the body”. Here, Woolf is using this simple and nondramatic decision to say something about people in general. Just like the ocean tide, people experience uncontrollable changes that occur throughout the day and throughout their lives. These changes, or tides, pull a person from one side to another, against their will, just as Richard Dalloway is going with the flow of his tide. If one doesn’t go with the flow, they will sink. And clearly Richard has mastered the art of not sinking. 

Mrs. Dalloway 6

“Lady Bruton herself preferred Richard Dalloway, who arrived at the next moment (104)”

The way in which Virginia Woolf transitions into different scenes is very interesting. Here is Lady Bruton, thinking and reminiscing, when suddenly she thinks of Richard Dalloway. He then arrives “at the next moment.” By doing this, Woolf is showing time moment by moment, rather than scene by scene (as in most novels). This is very important for the author to do considering the book takes place over the course of only one day. For example, if Woolf wrote “Lady Bruton herself preferred Richard Dalloway. When Richard arrived...” this would not create the same sense of time--as if no time has passed at all. 

Mrs. Dalloway 5

“The ideas were Sally’s, of course--but very soon she was just as excited--read Plato in bed before breakfast; read Morris; read Shelley by the hour (33)”

The character ‘Sally’ is a strong and intelligent girl who known just about everything. These characteristics become especially obvious when Woolf mentions famous and influential writers. Plato was a famous and extremely influential philosopher from 429 to 347 B.C.E.  He wrote about politics, intellectual movements, and raised provocative questioned that have changed ways of thinking around the world. Only a very intelligent and well read person would reading this before bed. Morris was an artist, designer, writer, and socialist (I spoke about it more above) who was also incredibly free thinking and intellectual. Then there’s Percy Shelley, a Romanic poet from the late 1700s and early 1800s who wrote some of the most famous English poetry there is today. Once again, Sally must have been intelligent and educated to be reading things like this. 

"Percy Bysshe Shelley." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley>.

"Plato." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Web. 25 May 2012. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/>.

The Literature Network. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/>.

The William Morris Society. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://www.morrissociety.org/>.

Mrs. Dalloway 4

“...When Sally gave her William Morris, it had to be wrapped in brown paper (33).”

William Morris was an English designer, artist, writer and socialist, most popular in the mid to late 1800s. He was especially influential after World War I. In this quote, Virginia Woolf mentions Sally giving Mrs. Dalloway something designed or written by him. She might have mentioned Morris in particular because of his radical ideas, reflecting those of Sally herself. Also, Mrs. Dalloway and Sally have a pretty radical relationship for the times, so the allusion to Morris might be expressing their relationship’s meaning even further.

The William Morris Society. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://www.morrissociety.org/>.

"William Morris." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 May 2012. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris>.

Mrs. Dalloway 3

“Fear no more the the at o’ the sun/Nor the furious winter’s rages (9).”

On page 9 of Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf quotes a section of prose from Cymbeline, by William Shakespeare. In this writing, Shakespeare says that one should not fear “the heat of the sun,” or “the furious winter’s rages,” or anything else for that matter because everyone is going to die eventually (“Golden lads and girls all must/as chimney-sweepers come to dust”). Mrs. Dalloway quotes this poem as she’s looking through a shop window, remembering her past and wondering if her life is as she would have wanted it. Perhaps Woolf chose this poem because of the realistic meaning-- don’t fear life because everyone must die. And this is exactly what Mrs. Dalloway might secretly be thinking (or trying to convince herself of) as she stares into that small shop window. This is also a theme that the book as a whole explores, for Septimus faces a similar train of though. In the end of his life, he truly takes the meaning of this quote to heart and accepts his death by throwing himself out of a window. 

"Cymbeline." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbeline>.

Shakespeare, William. "Fear No More the Heat O'the Sun." Poetry Foundation. Web. 25 May 2012. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176855>.

Mrs. Dalloway 2

“The hall of the house was cool as a vault (29).”

A vault is a something cold, dark, and damp like a basement in an old house or an ancient burial chamber. Needless to say, it’s an unhappy place. In this quote, Virginia Woolf is comparing Mrs. Dalloway’s house to a vault, suggesting that the house itself is metaphorically cold, dark, and damp. A vault is also an extremely inclosed area, so perhaps Mrs. Dalloway feels trapped and imprisoned in her own lonely house, just as one might be tapped in a cold vault. 

"Vault." The Free Dictionary. Farlex. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vault>.

Mrs. Dalloway 1

“The candle was halt burnt down and she had read deep in Baron Marbot’s Memoirs (31).”

The Memoirs of Baron de Marbot is a memoir from the Napoleonic era. It recounts Baron de Marbot’s life which was full of battle, power, and secret missions. Although nobody would say that this is an uninteresting read, it’s not full of meaning as other books. For example, Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, which Clarissa Dalloway quotes on page 9, is full of meaning about life and behavior and the human mind. Perhaps this is why Virginia Woolf chose Baron Marbot’s Memoirs as the book for Mrs. Dalloway to be reading. This Memoir is all surface excitement, not deeply meaningful like a play by Shakespeare or possibly the other things that Mrs. Dalloway read when she was young and thoughtful. Perhaps Woolf is trying to say something about Clarissa--she’s become uninterested in real things and has begun to only care about surface excitement like her parties and dresses. 

"The Memoirs of Baron De Marbot." Amazon.com. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://www.amazon.com/The-Memoirs-Baron-De-Marbot/dp/1417908556>.

"The Memoirs of Baron De Marbot." Napoleonic Literature. Web. 20 May 2012. <http://napoleonic-literature.com/Index-Marbot.htm>.