Woolf's Elements of Character Importance in Mrs. Dalloway

 Aakash Vasireddy | 20th Century Blog Post #2 | September 18th, 2020

Today's post: Woolf's Elements of Character Importance in Mrs. Dalloway

In today's post, I would like to go over some of my thoughts about Virginia Woolf's 1925 Mrs. Dalloway regarding how Woolf focuses so much on the importance of developing these characters and really allowing the reader to see into their mind. In addition, I would like to add some of my observations about a couple of the main characters in this book thus far. 

From the beginning in Woolf's essays, we've seen the importance of bringing out character in her writing. The reader should know just as much as the writer when it comes to the characters in the story. Woolf also focuses on the fact that writers must dive deeper into their characters. This would mean showing their emotions, inner thoughts, and personalities, rather than being "materialistic" and describing their physical appearances, their clothes, etc.  I agree with her. Although showing aspects of materialism does not hurt a story's narrative, in my opinion, the personal thoughts and emotions of the characters and how those thoughts and emotions interact between characters is what makes a novel or a story really powerful and compelling to a reader. The adrenaline that actions have in a story may give me an "on-edge" feeling, but the character descriptions on a personal level and the development of those characters is what makes me stick with a novel in the first place. Woolf has titled her story Mrs. Dalloway: right away, Woolf makes it clear to her audience that the centerpiece of her work Mrs. Dalloway will revolve around character. Through the passages we have read up until now, the thought processes of the characters are revealed in full-fashion to the readers. For any event or aspect of "the physical", it is always associated with a personal connection, a story, an emotion, etc. For example, in our most recent reading, Peter Walsh's recollection of the events at Bourton involving Clarissa are not told as a third-person description of his experiences. Rather, they are told by Peter taking us back to this time and him reflecting on his emotions in the past. 

I think Woolf has developed some very interesting characters through the progression of her novel. Clarissa Dalloway, her title character, has become a very unique character for me as a reader. She has come to the point where she is trying to re-establish what her role should be in this largely male-dominated society. At this point in the timeline of Mrs. Dalloway's life, her identity as a mother is slowly fading. Her daughter Elizabeth has basically grown up now and doesn't really require her mother for stability - she is becoming more independent. Thus, Clarissa really has to consider: what is my role in the world? I believe she sees her role as being a sort of "meeting-point" - for being a bridge between people, allowing them to meet and interact one another. Although Peter Walsh criticizes her for being "the perfect hostess" as she now has become, Clarissa takes a lot of pride in planning and hosting these parties. I believe a part of this role is also being able to put other people's troubles ahead of herself. We know that Clarissa does have some doubts and a "negative" sort of side to her where she thinks about her mortality and what her possible other life-paths could have been. However, she puts on a positive appearance for the people around her. For example, right before Peter comes into her house to talk about his new marriage/love, she is troubled and deep into thought. However, when Peter walks in and describes his story (which includes tearing up in front of her), Clarissa does her best to comfort him. 

Peter Walsh, another extremely essential aspect of the novel, is also a very unique character. Unlike Mrs. Dalloway, we don't get inside Peter's head until later on in the story when Peter shows up at Clarissa's doorstep. In addition to that, we as readers get our first impressions of Peter through Clarissa. We have seen that Peter has deep regards for Clarissa, even after all these years. You could even say that Peter has an "obsession" with Clarissa in some respects. For example, Peter spends all this time thinking about why Clarissa said "MY Elizabeth" instead of simply "This is Elizabeth", and everything that Clarissa does Peter reflects upon. These two characters have such an interesting relationship. They constantly criticize each other, but are also on each other's mind often. It wouldn't be a marriage-relationship nor really a best-friend relationship. The two characters do also hold many similarities. Like Clarissa, Peter also is trying to establish what his role - his identity - is in society. Not knowing his identity kind of makes Peter push everyone away from himself, or along the same lines, makes Peter distance himself from others. However, what's interesting is that Clarissa is an exception. Even after being turned down by Clarissa, his spirits rise when Clarissa asks him to go out with them on the boats. Even though his main objective for returning to Clarissa's place was to explain his new love for Daisy, we have rarely seen from Peter anything not related to Clarissa.

I enjoy seeing this new perspective of the meaning of "character" in a novel, even if it may be confusing to follow all the time. 

~Aakash V.