analyzing the characters in the book of Mrs. Dalloway written by Virginia Woolf

An analysis of Mrs . Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs . Dalloway is a novel which was written in 1925 by English novelist Virginia Woolf and it was with her fourth novel . Virginia Woolf wrote another novel after Mrs . Dalloway called to the To the Lighthouse and both were well received well by critics and continue to be studied even today (Novels for Schools , 86-8 . For starters it must be noted that the action in Mrs . Dalloway takes place in one day only - from morning till evening

The story revolves around the day in

the life of an upper-class housewife called Clarissa Dalloway . It is through Clarissa the thoughts and actions that the story develops and we get to meet all the other characters in the story . Clarissa voice is prominent in the story . As the story just takes in a single day it was assumed that it would present such a challenge to the writer because there was a danger that the plot may be well developed . But Virginia was able to overcome this apparent challenge making the characters recall events that took place in their past lives and so the story was able to grow . This is called the tunneling-technique . This made it easy for the readers to get to understand the characters better and make sense of their unique behaviors (Novels for Schools , 86-8

The novels uses both the first person narration , with Clarissa telling the story herself , and the third person narration an external narrator tells us the story . The book is written not many years after World War I when in England there are a few significant changes taking place . First the Labour Party is growing to be a major force in British politics and this meant England was on the path to becoming a full democracy

Many who fought in the war are still recovering from the psychological wounds inflected by this war . They are fighting trauma . Another change taking place of the Aristocrats (ruling class ) losing control of leadership to the middle-class (the bourgeoisie ) because they now own and control the capital . Characterization and how it helps elaborate the story further Characters in any story play a very important role in shaping the story . Their actions and utterances enable to the writer to pass the message he /she intended for the readers to get . In Mrs Dalloway there are two characters who stick out more forcefully than the rest . Their actions , thoughts and speeches that plot of the story are weaved around

First there is Clarissa Dalloway who is the wife of Richard Dalloway who happens to be the Conservative Party Member of Parliament . Clarissa leads a privileged lifestyle but the question is , is she happy on the inside (Sparknotes : Literature 101 , 21-3 . Clarissa comes to us as lonely and an isolated person . In the story we are told she sleeps alone in a bed that looks like a coffin . The image of the coffin is strong in showing the reader the deep seated loneliness...