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Unit 29: Virginia Woolf — Mrs. Dalloway: Detailed Study of Text

moments in the day, make Clarissa think about the past and the choices she has made. Clarissa’s Notes
husband, Richard, has meetings and lunches, and their daughter Elizabeth has similar plans
herself. Another Londoner, Septimus Warren Smith, is having a bad day, and so is his wife
Lucrezia.Septimus is obsessed with his memories of Evans, a friend who was killed in the war.
He is also convinced that unseen forces are sending him messages. Lucrezia is taking Septimus
to two doctors, neither of whom can do much to cure him. Septimus kills himself later in the
day, to escape his doctors, and because he feels he has no other alternative. clarissa’s party is
a success. The Prime Minister arrives, and this is considered a great honor. In the midst of her
success as a hostess, she hears of Septimus’ suicide. Although she never met him, the news
moves her to the core of her being.

29.1 Detailed Study of Text Part I Sections

29.1.1 Part I, Sections 1–3

Clarissa Dalloway took it upon herself to buy the flowers for the party that evening. Lucy had
so much other work to do and the morning air was fresh and inviting. Air like this always
reminded her of a morning when, at eighteen, she had burst open the French windows to the
terrace. Peter Walsh stood within and commented on vegetables. He still wrote to Clarissa,
very boring letters, and would be returning from India someday.
Waiting on the curb, Scrope Purvis noticed her, thinking to himself that she was charming.
Clarissa thought of the hush that fell over Westminster right before the ring of Big Ben. As the
bell rang out, she looked at the people around her, living in the moment, and loved life. It was
June and the Great War was over. Life sprang out all around her with a passion, dancing girls
and ponies and shopkeepers in their windows. Clarissa was a part of it. Entering the park, she
was met with a deeper silence. Hugh Whitbread, an old friend, walked toward her. He assured
her that he would attend the party even though his wife, Evelyn, was ill. The Whitbreads
always came to London to see doctors. Though she adored him, Hugh had a way of making
Clarissa feel underdressed. Richard, her husband, could not stand Hugh and Peter had hated
him. But Peter could be like that.
Thinking of Peter again, she looked at the scene around her and knew he would have been
lovely to walk with at this moment. She could not stop such thoughts and memories from
rushing over her. Peter would not have cared for the sights of the morning. He cared for
people’s characters and he often scolded her for her superficiality. She would be a perfect
hostess. Clarissa found herself arguing again with Peter about why she could not marry him.
She knew she was right, he would not have given her any independence, but still it bothered
her. Learning that he had married a flimsy Indian woman angered her greatly.
Clarissa knew now not to define or label anyone because she felt at one with the world, both
young and old, and omnipresent. Not that she was clever, simply knowing. She knew people
very well. Most of all, she loved living in the moment. Yet, she was not irked by the thought
of death. Clarissa felt that pieces of herself existed wherever she had ever been. Musing
among books, Clarissa could not find a suitable one to bring Evelyn. She wanted Evelyn to
look pleased when she walked in. She realized her baseness, always wanting to do things that
would make people like her instead of doing them for their own value, as Richard did. If she
could do life over again, she would look like Lady Bexborough. She disliked her own little
beaked face and stick body. She felt invisible at times.
Bond Street fascinated her. Her daughter Elizabeth was not fascinated by any of the delicate
gloves in the shops. Elizabeth was fascinated with Miss. Kilman, a callous Communist who

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