In the very first sentence of Mrs Dalloway, our protagonist declares that “she would buy the flowers herself” and perhaps, in a bout of self-pity, you find yourself wishing that she may write this English essay analysis herself too. With our help, you’ll learn about Mrs Dalloway through our summary, list of key characters, explanation of themes, and more!
We’ve put together this guide tomake writing your essay on Mrs Dalloway a breeze and have even included a TEE table to help you with analysis and a sample paragraph.
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Mrs Dalloway Summary
达洛维夫人的关键人物
Context
Themes Explored in Mrs Dalloway
Dalloway夫人分析
Studying this Text for the HSC
Summary of Mrs Dalloway
Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novelfollows the titular character, Clarissa Dalloway over the span of a single day as she prepares for a party she is hosting that evening.当她回家时，她发现了彼得·沃尔什在她的地方。
他几年前他向她提出了向她提出，但克拉丽莎拒绝了，导致他问她是否对丈夫理查德感到满意。彼得离开并去摄政的公园。
Image sourced fromWikimedia Commons
我们首先被介绍给了Septimus Smithhere who is with his wife at Regent’s Park. They await his appointment with a psychiatrist to treat his shell shock.
Prior to the war,Septimus was a young poet and loved Shakespeare which is likely why much of his hallucinations involve Romantic imagery.在他的appointment, Dr Bradshaw doesn’t listen to Septimus and instead plans to separate him from his wife Lucrezia despite objection from the couple.
Richard Dalloway在用一束玫瑰回到克拉丽莎之前，与两个高社会成员共进午餐。在这段时间，he thinks about telling Clarissa that he loves her but finds it hard to do so as he has not told her for a long time。
It is in this section that the readers are given an impression thatdespite a seemingly happy marriage, there seems to be a lack of intimacy between Richard and Clarissa.
Image sourced fromWellcome Collection
然后我们被运送到Septimus和Lucrezia之间的平静和幸福的时刻，然后在他被带到庇护之前。当医生到达时，塞塞米斯担心医生会摧毁他的灵魂并从窗户跳到他的死亡。
彼得听到救护车通过来拿起塞塞米斯的身体。在这里，Clarissa估计塞皮摩的死亡，即使小说中没有人遇见他。Clarissa reflects on his death and understands why he decided to take his own life, yet feels partially responsible for his death in her class position.
达洛维夫人的关键人物
Clarissa Dalloway
The protagonist and titular character ofMrs Dalloway克拉丽莎是一个妻子和母亲，他在那天为她在那天晚上举办的派对准备这一天时重新夺回她的过去。
小说的溪流结构使我们能够直接洞察克拉丽莎的思想，我们可以看到她对别人对她的看法很担心，而且需要花时间来反思自己并考虑存在的问题。
在白天，她认为她决定嫁给理查德而不是彼得，并思考她曾经亲吻过的莎莉塞尔顿。
Richard Dalloway
理查德是Clarissa的丈夫，是保守政府议会议员。在看起来距离Clarissa遥远的时候，很明显他关心她，并为她提供她所需的安全和隐私。
彼得·沃尔什
彼得沃尔什是克拉丽莎的老朋友，先前已经提出过，但她已经把他拒绝了。他从英格兰回来，是夏天的克拉丽莎之一。彼得对每个人来说都非常批评，甚至是克拉丽莎。
莎莉塞曼
Sally is one of Clarissa’s guests for the evening. It alludes that she was Clarissa’s love interest although she is now married to Lord Rosseter with five boys.
While she enjoyed running around in her youth and was described as feisty, she has since conformed to societal expectations and appears to be a conventional woman in London.
Septimus Smith
A war veteran from WWI who suffers from ‘shell shock’ (now referred to as PTSD). He is detached from society, often hallucinating despite his wife’s best efforts to take care of him. Septimus may be seen as a mirror of Clarissa, viewing English society similarly.
在战争之前，他是一个对文学感兴趣的诗人，但他遭受了贝壳冲击，发现自己无法感受到。结果，他选择自杀而不是继续生活在英国社会中，无法感受到任何情绪。
Lucrezia Smith.
Septimus的妻子试图尽可能地照顾他，但是，她独自在伦敦，并照顾她的丈夫自己。由于她与祖国和塞塞米斯的精神疾病的距离，她感觉与伦敦其他地区的社会隔离。
Context
设置在内a single day in the middle of June in 1923,Mrs Dalloway是一种利用a的现代主义小说stream of consciousness style and flashbacks— a distinct departure from the traditional storytelling form of a novel.
The style of the novel allowed Woolf toexamine the rich interior of each character during their everyday and mundane lives。This change in style reflected changes in English society as religion’s influence began to fade and class systems began to break down as individuals began to view the world as chaotic and fractured following WWI.
Prior to WWI, the British Empire was extraordinarily rich and powerful, having colonised many countries. However,WWI meant that the power and wealth they had enjoyed was quickly undermined正如英国人担心被送到战争的人，以及他们自己的国家是否会被忍受。
战争之后，人民不再相信英国机构对血型系统的典型系统不同意。Each character inMrs Dallowayrealises that society has failed them in various ways.
Image sourced fromFlickr
The rapid changes in politics and society in Britain during this period meant thatindividuals were constantly in a state of flux.Colonised countries began questioning British authority.
短暂经历独立和自由的妇女开始要求平等的权利。The men who had gone to war had witnessed and experienced unspeakable horrors and questioned class relations as they saw their friends die but saw upper-class generals continue to live.
Themes Explored in Mrs Dalloway
Feminism and Personal Agency
在整个小说中，我们关注克拉丽莎，他们花了一天为她在晚上举办的派对准备。克拉丽莎似乎特别关注，党的成功，equating her self-worth and societal status with how her guests will receive her party.
During WWI, while most of the nation’s men and boys were conscripted to work in the army,many women took on roles and jobs that they were previously not allowed to in order to keep the country functioning。他们首次获得个人自由和机构。
However, when the men returned from war,许多妇女被迫回归其国内角色，他们的个人机构再次被带走。根据您选择如何解释Clarissa的性格：派对可能是她将她的个人机构断言反对对妇女的社会期望的个人机构，或者通过为她的客人投掷完美的派对来提交和遵守社会期望。
Another character who is deprived of personal agency is Septimus Smith. While Clarissa is oppressed due to her status as a woman in society,Septimus is a male and war veteran and should be well respected.
However, his state of shell-shock means thathe is not allowed by his wife and doctors to make his own decisions or to express himself freely.Ironically, the one and only decision Septimus is allowed to make is to throw himself out of a window — it is only in death that he is free.
Existentialism and Modernism
The passage of time is keenly felt throughoutMrs Dalloway。Despite being set within the span of a single day, the Big Ben tolls on the hour每次这样做，人物都被迫面对时间的流逝及其死亡率。
Septimus’ death emphasises this theme in the novel and is particularly interesting when examined against how it helped Clarissa to confront and accept her inevitable mortality.
The stream-of-consciousness style of the novel provides us withinsight into the rich, inner lives of each character in contrast to how the broader English society perceives the individuals。Clarissa对隐私进行矛盾的需求，但与他人联系 - 她抛出派对将人们聚集在一起，但在一个充满了人们的房间，她也似乎是孤独和寻求联系或亲密的。
Mental Illness and Oppression
在WWI的直接之后，Mrs Dallowaylooks atthe various ways society has oppressed the characters and their desires.Clarissa和Septimus都不适合英语社会。
虽然Clarissa符合 - 投掷派对，选择嫁给理查德，而不是追求她在莎莉的浪漫兴趣，成为完美的女主人 - 塞塞米斯彻底拒绝这选择死亡。
Septimus represents many of the post-war veterans who returned to London suffering from shell-shock.Woolf criticises the way patients of mental illness are treated through Septimus- 他通过他的妻子说话，他表达自己的尝试被驳回，他的医生对他不耐烦。如果您在整个生命中考虑伍尔夫自己的抑郁症斗争，这是一个特别相关的主题。
如何在3个步骤中分析Dalloway夫人
第1步：选择你的榜样
选择示例时，请确保您能够在文本中识别技术。为此，我们选择了以下Quote：
“Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”
第2步：识别您的技术
Ensure that the technique you choose for your quote supports your analysis or help you to build your argument.
In the above quote, there isan imperative and symbolism in the flowers.
You can check out our list of literary techniqueshere帮助您识别引号内的语言功能！
Step 3: Write the analysis
When writing your analysis of Mrs Dalloway, focus on the effect of the technique and how it supports your argument. Below is an example of how you may analyse the specific quote we’ve identified above:
The start of the novel declares that “Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”, this introduces the readers to the pervading theme of personal agency for women in 1920s England. It is a trivial action that Mrs Dalloway sets out to do and conforms to societal expectations for her, however it is also an act of personal agency as Clarissa is allowed to step into London society by herself and pick out the flowers she desires.
Studying this Text for HSC Advanced English Module A: Textual Conversations
Module A is a comparative study you’ll be studyingMrs Dalloway with小时。第一确定两个文本之间的共同主题，并思考它们如何类似或不同— this will help you to plan and structure your essay!
Link #1: Texts, Contexts and Values Shape Meaning
自1925年出版以来，世界和社会变化了很大。可以说，西方世界的妇女现在已经接近男性的平等机会和权利，因此重要的是考虑为什么我们继续阅读和学习Mrs Dalloway。
So when watching小时你应该考虑Daldry如何扩展或令临时的关键主题Mrs Dallowayso that it is easier for the modern audience to relate to.Septimus和Richard的特征是彼此的镜子，两者都是诗人，并且既感觉也是社会失败的。
However, where Septimus takes this time to reflect on himself and express gratefulness to his wife, Richard is manipulative and bitter.
Link #2: Considered Personal Perspective
Module A provides an opportunity for you toreflect critically on the text and consider which one you think is more effective and why.You can consider how the author/director’s personal context shaped the text that they have produced, but also how your own personal context may shape your response to the text and which one you relate to more.
最好的是pick a theme that resonates with you— for example feminism may be one that is relatable to many and the idea of equal rights and opportunities for all.
此外，存在主义和时间的流逝也可能特别可靠，因为伍尔夫和达尔德里都考虑了生活中的大问题，尽管他们从不提供答案。
Need some help analysing other texts?
Check out other texts we’ve created guides for below:
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- 杀死一只模仿鸟
- Amélie
- Pride and Prejudice
- 贾斯珀琼斯
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Macbeth
- Things Fall Apart
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Tiffany Fong.目前惠eting a double degree in Media and Communications with Law at Macquarie University. She currently contributes to the university zine, Grapeshot where she enjoys writing feature articles, commentary on current affairs or whatever weird interest that has taken over her mind during that month. During her spare time, Tiffany enjoys reading, writing, taking care of her plants or cuddling with her two dogs.
