Mrs Dalloway critical quotes

doubles, Perry Meisel

under the rubric of ‘Clarissa’… her memories of Bourton, her relationship with Peter Walsh, her sexual fascination with other women and… under ‘Mrs Dallway’ her marriage to Richard, her daughter Elizabeth, the role of hostess

where may we see influences of Virginia Woolf’s life in Clarissa Dalloway’s resentment towards Miss Kilman?

‘Memories of a Working Woman’s Guild’ (1930). Woolf was put off by the meetings’s ‘rigid, almost military structure’ and its ‘pedestrian concerns’ made her feel guilty in her class privileges.

the governing class, A.D. Moody

the impulse of the class to turn away from the disturbing depths of feeling, and towards a conventional pleasantness or sentimentality or frivolousness'

doubles, Virginia Woold

Clarissa sees the truth, Septimus Smith sees the insane truth

doubles, Hermione Lee

it is as if Clarissa’s dangerous and unstable impulses have been projected onto someone else- someone who can die for her

as a novel, Virginia Woolf

I want to criticise the social system and to show it at work at its most intense.

structure of the novel, Phyllis Rose

the most schizophrenic of English novels

structure of the novel, Dr Nathan Waddell

Free indirect discourse establishes an intimacy between narrator and character that ehoes the intimacy between Clarissa and Septimus

youth, elaine showalter

while women relive their lives vicariously through their daughters, mean have the chance to renew their lives through action

youth, susanna hislop

almost all the characters havefailed to live up to their youthful dreams

marriage, Jacqueline Rose

the name of the husband is one of the strongest insignia of partriarchal power

marriage, Rachel Bowlby

the death of Clarissa’s soul began the moment she married Richard Dalloway

the governing class + the party, Alex Zwerdling

Mrs Dalloway is a sharply critical examination of the governing class…the party… reveals the form of power without its substance

the governing class + C’s identity, Julia Courtney

Clarissa’s world is under threat, as is the identity she bases on these social certainties

the party, Alex Zwerdling

described as ‘a kind of wake…they are living on borrowed time’

the party, Hermione Lee

emphasises the ironic dichotomy between youthful aspirations and middle-aged resignation

internal life, Kristina Groover

Clarissa has chosen this life, not only for its privileges and protections, but for the deep sense of privacy it affords her

internal life + C’s bedroom, Kristina Groover

Woolf’s characterisation of Clarissa’s bedroom as ‘nun-like’ casts it as a sacred space and suggests the spiritual nature of her seclusion

sex in jane eyre and mrs dalloway, barbara hill rigney

sex and love, for both Septimus and Clarissa as for Jane Eyre, threaten a violation of the inner self which one must struggle to keep intact

medical systems, Dr Manjeet Rathee

using Septimus as Clarissa’s double ‘reaffirms Virginia’s ‘vehement indictment’ of the horrors of women’s psychiatric incarceration, which she herself has experienced on more than one occasions’

Medical systems, elaine showalter

in the 1920s, menopause was seen as a mental disorder

Holmes and Bradshaw, Michael Whitworth

cultural policing of normality through medical and psychiatric discourses

dorris kilman + human connection, Elaine Fulton

Miss Kilman searches for human connection in a world that has rejected her

miss kilman + status, elaine fulton

Miss Kilman’s status as a working, unmarried woman, places her outside the acceptable realm of society

Clarissa Dalloway, Paul Bailey

at her most interesting… a snobbish, vain, repressed lesbian

Clarissa Dalloway, Gilbert and Gubar

a kind of queen… with a divine grace

Septimus and Clarissa + femininity, Barbara Hill Rigney

Clarissa and Septimus… may also be seen, in their relationship to sciety, as essentially ‘feminine’ in that both are victimised, to varying extens, by a male supremacist system

septimus, barbara hill rigney

Septimus does not want to die, but society demands his sacrifice

Elizabeth Dalloway, Rachel Bowlby

Elizabeth’s imaginative venture could be taken as a positive sign of women’s progress but she readily returns for the time being, to her domestic calling, as a good civilised daughter

Peter Walsh + masks, Elaine Showalter

‘behind his mask of masculine bravado is an immature man who cannot reconcile alleged ideals with his real feelings and acts’

Peter Walsh + pocket knife, Elaine showalter

notes how the pocket knife symbolises his masculinity as a phallic symbol

Sally Seton, Elizabeth Abel

Sally’s uninhibited warmth and sensuality inspire 18-year-old Clarissa’s love… Sally replaces Clarissa’s dead mother and sister, her name even echoing the sister’s name, Sylvia

figures of power, Malcolm Hebron

traditional images of power are undermined: the great and good suffer from backfiring car engines, Queen Victoria ‘billowing on her mound’ looks ridiculous, and in a huge anticlimax, when the prime minister arrives at the party we are told ‘He looked so ordinary’

the governing class, Malcolm Hebron

we see a powerful class, bought up on imperial values, faced by various threats: the imminence of a Labour government, unrest in India, a young generation with different values, and above all, the psychic scar of the War, to which the distinguished Bradshaw is an utterly inadequate response.

the governing class + exculsion, Malcolm Hebron

the class uses its influence to ‘exclude and sequester’ threatening forces, and when the threat becomes to large, they are ‘dealth with’ by ‘authorities’, ‘agents’ of the governing class like Sir William Bradshaw

The governing class as unfit for the present, Alex Zwerdling

the sense of living in the past, of being unable to take in or respond to the transformations of the present, makes the governing class… seem hopelessly out of step with its time

the governing class in society, Alex Zwerdling

the picture of a class impervious to change in a society that desperately needs or demands it… worships tradition and settled order but cannot accomodate the new and disturbing

stream of consciousness, Nanacy Ann Watanabe

uses elliptical metaphorical language to represent fragmented, inchoate sensory and cognitive data as these flow and flit in the mind

Big Ben and London, Margaret Blanchard

the strike of Big Ben ‘intrudes into the genuine moments, echoing leaden circles of chains’ and the map of London ‘situates everyone in a strictly defining locale: the Dalloways in Westminster, Septimus near the Strand, Peter in Bloomsbury, Lady Bruton in Mayfair’

memory, Kirsty Hewitt

Clarissa Dalloway embraces the past, Peter Walsh wallows within it, and traumatised Septimus Smith tries his utmost to repel it

marriage, Jacqueline Rose

the name of the husband is one of the strongest insignia of patriarchal power

the soul, Virginia Woolf, ‘A Writer’s Diary’

she wondered how ‘one captures in language the delicacy and complexity’ of the soul and its ‘slipperiness’

When was A Writer’s Diary published, and what is it

published 1953. contains diary extracts from 1918-41.

Characterisation, Virginia Woolf, a Writer’s Diary

I dig out beautiful caves behind my characters: I think that gives exactly what I want; humanity, humour depth. The idea is that the caves shall all connect and each comes to daylight at the present moment.

Marriage, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, 1929

Women have served all the centuries as looking-glasses, possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of the man at twice its natural size

when was ‘A Room of One’s Own’ published

1929

female sexuality, marie stopes, ‘Married Love’ (1918)

argued that women too had sexual desires, it was banned it many places and criticised by conservatives

when was and who published ‘Married Love’

Marie Stopes, 1918

masculine vs feminine spheres, Margaret Blanchard

men are geared into qualities of work (efficiency and production) while women are channelled into qualities of relationships (self-sacrifice and sensitivity)

Agency, Rachel Bowlby

Clarissa’s walk through London is not liberatingbut symbolic- she can move through the public space but has no real agency within it.