MR.

DALLOWAY
INTRODUCTION:
Virginia Woolf, original name in full Adeline Virginia Stephen, (born January 25, 1882, London,
England—died March 28, 1941, near Rodmell, Sussex), English writer whose novels, through
their nonlinear approaches to narrative, exerted a major influence on the genre. While she is
best known for her novels, especially Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927),
Woolf also wrote pioneering essays on artistic theory, literary history, women’s writing, and the
politics of power.
EXPOSITION OF MRS.DALLOWAY:
In her fourth novel, Mrs Dalloway , the English modernist writer Virginia Woolf took on the
subject of the English middle classes in the aftermath of the 1914–18 war. She noted in her
diary that she wanted ‘to give life & death, sanity & insanity; I want to criticise the social
system, & to show it at work, at its most intense’. The novel has become one of Woolf’s most
famous works and one of the defining texts of literary modernism. It was published in 1925 in a
form of Prose.
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY:
Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway, the central character in the novel, is a woman of fifty one years. She
belongs to an upper middle class family. Her husband, Richard Dalloway, is a member of
Parliament. Clarissa is intelligent, cultured, educated and sensitive. As compared to her, her
husband is a mediocre person. Their social circle is wide and parties and get-togethers at
lunch and dinner are a common phenomenon of their circle.
A Party Loving Lady
Clarissa has developed a particular type of knack for holding such parties and they are a sort
of mechanical routine with her. These parties are arranged by her in a business-like manner,
as if they were a part and parcel of their life.
Her Sense of Feminine Freedom
Clarissa Dalloway has a strong sense of independence. She at least had this trait in her to a
pronounced degree before her marriage with Richard. Peter Walsh was her companion from
childhood and temperamentally she feels attracted towards him more than towards Richard.
But she selected Richard, and not Peter Walsh, when she was confronted with the question of
marriage, and never regrets what she had done. Her reason for so doing is to be traced in the
fact that Peter Walsh would not allow her independence: “With Peter, everything had to be
shared, everything gone into.” She would not hesitate sacrificing her love for the sake of her
independence.
A Vivacious Lady
She possesses an immense zest for life. She has wonderful capacity to enjoy life. “And of
course she enjoyed life immensely”, we are told in the novel.
A Queer Character
Apparently sociable and happy in the midst of the round of parties and get-togethers at her
home, Mrs. Dalloway seems to suffer from a sense of insecurity and strange kind of
inadequacy in her life. She is like Virginia Woolf, who too kept herself aloof from her
environment and even from the Bloomsbury Group of which she was an important member.
She is a woman of fast changing moods.
Septimus Warren Smith, A World War I veteran suffering from shell shock, married to an
Italian woman named Lucrezia. Though he is insane, Septimus views English society in much
the same way as Clarissa does, and he struggles, as she does, to both maintain his privacy
and fulfill his need to communicate with others. He shares so many traits with Clarissa that he
could be her double. Septimus is pale, has a hawklike posture, and wears a shabby overcoat.
Before the war he was a young, idealistic, aspiring poet. After the war he regards human
nature as evil and believes he is guilty of not being able to feel. Rather than succumb to the
society he abhors, he commits suicide.
Peter Walsh, A close friend of Clarissa’s, once desperately in love with her. Clarissa rejected
Peter’s marriage proposal when she was eighteen, and he moved to India. He has not been to
London for five years. He is highly critical of others, is conflicted about nearly everything in his
life, and has a habit of playing with his pocketknife. Often overcome with emotion, he cries
easily. He frequently has romantic problems with women and is currently in love with Daisy, a
married woman in India. He wears horn-rimmed glasses and a bow tie and used to be a
Socialist.
SUCCINCT OF MRS. DALLOWAY:
In Mrs. Dalloway (1925), the boorish doctors presume to understand personality, but its
essence evades them. This novel is as patterned as a Post-Impressionist painting but is also
so accurately representational that the reader can trace Clarissa’s and Septimus’s movements
through the streets of London on a single day in June 1923. At the end of the day, Clarissa
gives a grand party and Septimus commits suicide. Their lives come together when the doctor
who was treating (or, rather, mistreating) Septimus arrives at Clarissa’s party with news of the
death. The main characters are connected by motifs and, finally, by Clarissa’s intuiting why
Septimus threw his life away. Woolf wished to build on her achievement in Mrs. Dalloway by
merging the novelistic and elegiac forms.
Initial Situation: Party Like It’s 1925
The novel begins as Clarissa prepares for the party she’ll give that evening. First stop: a trip to
the florist. It’s a big deal that Clarissa is doing some of the work of putting the party together
rather than just planning it. Her parties mean a lot to her and she puts her heart and soul into
making them perfect.
Conflict: Peter’s Back
Clarissa’s old suitor, Peter Walsh, drops in on Clarissa unannounced and asks if she’s Happy.
They have a short visit in which it becomes clear that he’s nowhere near being over his love for
her. Clarissa thinks of Peter and another former lover, Sally Seton. Later that morning Peter
goes to the park and has a Suggestive dream. Recently returned from five years in India, He
notices many changes in London.
Complication: It’s Not as Sunny as It Seems
Septimus and Rezia see a new psychiatrist, Sir William Bradshaw. Septimus is considering
suicide and frequently Hallucinates, seeing his commanding officer, Evans, who died in The
war. Bradshaw recommends Septimus be taken alone to a Rest home.
Clarissa’s husband, Richard Dalloway, has lunch with politically Involved friends Lady Bruton
and Hugh Whitbread. They write a Letter to the newspaper about emigration (Lady Bruton’s
Project) and honoring the war dead. Richard returns home with Flowers for Clarissa. In the
afternoon Elizabeth, Richard and Clarissa’s daughter, goes shopping with her history tutor,
Miss Kilman. While Miss Kilman goes to the church at Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth rides the
omnibus to the Strand.
Climax: Suicide
Later that afternoon Septimus relaxes at home while Rezia Works. When Septimus becomes
alarmed by another Flashback, Rezia tells him nothing will separate the two of Them.
Septimus’s old doctor, Dr. Holmes, shows up at the House, agitating the couple. Feeling
cornered, Septimus jump Out of the window, hitting the fence below and killing himself. The
contrast between the joy of the couple’s conversation and Septimus’ suicide makes this scene
even more climactic.
Denouement: Party Foul
Peter receives a letter from Clarissa, expressing how glad she Was to see him. He decides to
attend her party. Feeling along Among the many guests, Clarissa hears from Lady Bradshaw
About Septimus’s death. Though she never met Septimus, Clarissa feels sympathetic toward
him. Reflecting on his death Makes her realize all she has and all her life with Richard has
given her.
After a few moments of reflection, Clarissa is no longer offended by Septimus’ suicide, but
rather identifies with it. She feels that he’s made a beautiful and sublime sacrifice that allows
her to see life with fresh eyes. She returns to the party a somewhat different person.
THEMES:
Mrs Dalloway is a rich and complex work of art. It has been interpreted by critics in different
ways. The views of critics in interpreting its basic theme differ widely.
Subtle Manipulation of Time:
David Daiches states that the theme of this novel as well as of others of Virginia Woolf is
“Time, Death and Personality”.
One of the amazing things about Mrs Dalloway is the creative use of time. The novel starts in
an early morning in June 1923 and ends the next day at 3am; that means fewer than twenty-
four hours pass during the course of the story. This compact use of time means that you have
to read closely because every moment counts. Because of this, a lot happens in the course of
just a few minutes.
For example, characters will flash back to the past at Bourton, and recall elaborate stories,
while in present time only a few minutes have passed. We are constantly reminded of time by
Big Ben, London’s giant clock tower, which is sounding off the hours through the entire novel.
This is particularly poignant for Clarissa whose preoccupation with time relates to her fear of
death. She’s deeply aware that as time passes, she gets closer to death, and she feels odd
that life will go on just the same without her. Just as she knows that time existed long before
her, she’s aware that it will go on long after her bones have turned to dust.
Dissolution of Common experience:
The basic theme of the novel, in the opinion of Karl and Magalaner is the “reality of life and
death, the significance of the flow of consciousness on which human beings are borne from
birth to death.”
Dissolution of experience into tenuous insights or short-lived glimpses into reality-inner reality
of man, which occurs when in moments of intensity, something happens to reveal his sub-
conscious thoughts, is the theme of Mrs. Dalloway. The experience of man is a sort of a
stream in which water continually flows and it is difficult to say which drop of water belongs to
what place, as all the drops are so mixed up that they belong to the whole stream. Human
experience likewise is the property of all mankind. Two persons completely differently in life
and total strangers to one another, can establish contact with each other in life also identify
themselves completely with one another.
Mrs. Dalloway goes into a kind of reverie when Sir William Bradshaw tells her that a young
man has committed suicide and in a moment of deep insight into her own life thus brought
about, she feels that the young man’s experience was like her own, although in life they were
not only different from each other, but also had never met. On bearing of his death she
suddenly suffers from a sense of insufficiency, of some inexplicable insecurity, loneliness and
fear, and a feeling how she would like to lock herself in the embrace of death.
At Clarissa’s party, Peter Walsh has the same experience of isolation for a while, as Ellie
Henderson has, though she is indifferent to her being neglected. Experience when dissolved
into insights has to be organized and the manner in which it is done has a close resemblance
to a lyrical poem.
Society and Class
Post-World War I British society was very conservative and hierarchical Throughout Mrs
Dalloway, we see how deeply aware characters are of their social standing. Those in the upper
class cherish their family history and often come from royalty or aristocracy; for those in the
lower class, it is very difficult to move up in the world. As Woolf clearly indicates, British people
were meant to admire the upper class and be very aware of their place in the social ladder.
Notice that most of Clarissa’s friends are of the same social status or higher –the prime
minister even comes to her party! On the other hand, people like Ellie Henderson and Miss
Kilman are loathsome to Clarissa in part because they’re beneath her socially. And it’s not just
Clarissa: almost all of the characters are concerned with social status and class – either
increasing it, holding onto it, or feeling inferior from it.
Age and memories of past:
Clarissa’s party stirs up memories for many of the characters, and memories are constantly
woven into the present-day thoughts of the characters. The past affects each character
differently in Mrs Dalloway. Certain memories are very keen (and much happier) for Clarissa,
such as getting a kiss from Sally Seton. She cherishes these moments as the best of her life.
For Peter, the past is mostly just painful: he still can’t get over his love for Clarissa and so he
constantly returns to the summers at Bourton in order to make sense of what happened. For
Septimus, memories are haunting and painful. He continues to hallucinate that he’s seeing
Evans get killed, and memories of the war dominate his mind. Though he struggles to see
beauty, the present is constantly interrupted by gruesome visions of the past.
Theme of Love, Death and the Evanescent Beauty:
On the poetic plane the theme of Mrs. Dalloway is love, death and evanescent beauty. Virginia
Woolf employed fundamental conflicts that lie beneath the life—such as the conflicts between
life and death, hope and despair, love and hate, social contacts and individual freedom,
contemplation and action, human misery and the exquisite joy of life.
The experience of love, as it is depicted in Mrs. Dalloway, is not simple and easily
understandable, it is a complex and mysterious experience, accompanied with all its joys and
sorrows, agonies and agitations.
Love is treated in all its immense variety in the novel. We have Clarissa’s love for Peter Walsh,
her love for Richard, her husband, and her love for Elizabeth, her daughter. We have also
Peter Walsh’s love for Clarissa and his love for Daisy, who is far away in India. We have
Rezia’s love for Septimus, the neurotic, for which she suffers pathetically and silently till he
dies and leaves her alone and helpless. We have also Septimus’ love for Miss Isabella Pole,
whose modesty he tried to outrage.
There are glimpses in the novel of the love of a woman for another woman like the love of men
for women. Clarissa feels for Sally what a man feels for a woman whom he loves. This can be
regarded as Lesbian love.
The news of the death of Septimus conveyed by Dr. Bradshaw to Mrs. Dalloway causes the
springs of universal love well up in her soul, making her long for death, death which is
mingling, which is coming together and which is communion. There is an “embrace in death”,
feels Clarissa. Death is “universal love”.
PLAUDITS:
David Daiches has praised it and remarked this novel as the first wholly successfully novel that
Virginia Woolf produced; and Joan Bennett has characterized it as “one of her four most
satisfying novels”. E.M. Forster has said in the Criterion, “it is perhaps her masterpiece, but
difficult, and I am not altogether sure about every detail, except when my fountain pen is in my
hand.”
INTRODUCTUON:
William Wymark Jacobs, usually known as W.W. Jacobs, was a prominent Edwardian horror and crime
writer, playwright, and humorist. (born September 8, 1863, London, England—died September 1, 1943,
London). Jacobs is remembered for a macabre tale, “The Monkey’s Paw”, (published 1902 in a short-
story collection, The Lady of the Barge) and several other ghost stories, including “The Toll House”
(from the 1909 collection Sailors’ Knots) and “Jerry Bundler” (from the 1901 Light Freights). The
Monkey’s Paw,” which James Harding in The Reference Guide to Short Fiction called “a little
masterpiece of horror by an unusually gifted writer.”
EXPOSITION OF ‘THE MONKEY’S PAW”:
Considered one of the foremost humorists in England at the turn of the century, W. W. Jacobs is best
known for his masterpiece of horror, ""The Monkey's Paw." “The Monkey’s Paw” is a chilling and
suspenseful short story by W.W Jacobs, first included in Harper’s Magazine and then published in
England in 1902 in his collection “The Lady of the Barge.” The story has been included in dozens of
collections, from horror and gothic anthologies to The New York Review of Books’ collection of classic
fiction.
SUCCINCT OF THE MONKEY’S PAW:

“Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it.” -Anonymous
The story revolves around a mysterious Indian adulate that was enchanted to grant three wishes to its
owners. In the first part of the story, Sergeant Major Morris shows Mr. White a mummified paw of a
monkey and tells about its properties. Mr. White stresses the fact that Morris no longer needs the
talisman and buys it in spite of the warning from the owner. Shortly after the visit, Mr. White decides
to test the paw and wishes for two hundred pounds. Nothing happens immediately; however, the next
day the factory pays the Whites the money, as their son dies in an accident at his workplaces. For the
second wish, Mr. White asks to return his son to life, as his wife insists on it. However, during the night,
when the family hears a knock on the door and Mrs. White rushes to open it, her husband reaches to
for the paw and the knocking suddenly stops. Therefore, Jacobs leaves the story open-ended, making
the reader wonder if the third wish was to return his son to his grave.
ANTICIPATION AND FORESHADOWING:

Jacobs uses foreshadowing to add more suspense to the story of what will happen next and to keep
Readers on edge.
At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Sergeant Major Morris, who Shows the Whites the
famous “monkey paw.” Morris tells the family that it is a talisman that can grant Three wishes but at a
price. He explains that the monkey paw, “Had a spell put on it by an old fakir, a Very holy man. He
wanted to show that fate ruled people’s lives and that those who tried to change it Would be sorry”.
This illustrates how the monkey’s paw was explicitly made to bring harm to whoever Tried to change
fate. Morris warns the family that the last man who had it, in the end, wished for death. He tells the
family about the dangers and the consequences of the monkey paw and how it will bring Harm to the
family if they were to use it.
Another foreshadowed event was the death of Herbert White: Mr. and Mrs. Whites’ son. Mr. White
Decides to use the talisman even after all the warnings he was told. For the first wish, he decides to
Wish for two hundred pounds; little did he know that his son would have to die to receive it. After he
Makes his first, the atmosphere of the house grows tense and dark like something terrible is about to
Happen. The wind picks up outside, and “a silence unusual and depressing settled upon all three.”
After Mr. and Mrs. White go to bed, Herbert sits alone in the dark watching the faces of the fire, and in
The last one, he sees “A face that was so horrible and so simian that he gazed at it in amazement”. The
face became so lifelike scaring him, so he reached for a cup of water to throw over it but ended Up
grabbing the monkey’s paw. This illustrates how Herbert may be the one paying the consequences Of
the first wish, preparing readers for the first horrible event, Herbert’s death. The next day Herbert Dies
at the manufacturing, and Mr. White receives two hundred pounds as compensation for his son’s
Death.
LITERARY ELEMENTS MAKES DARK AURA:
Jacobs uses literary elements to give the story a more robust and impactful meaning. After Mr. White
Makes his first wish, he says, “It moved, he cried, with a glance of disgust at the object as it lay on the
Floor. As I wished, it twisted in my hands like a snake”. The author compares the monkey paw to a
Snake to emphasize how dangerous it is and so readers know that whatever is about to come won’t Be
good. Snakes are evil, calculating, and traitorous animals; one never knows what to expect from them.
At the same time, though, they represent power, and some even say they are “magical creatures.”
They are animals that have been linked with good as well as evil, representing life and death, creation
and destruction. By comparing the two, Jacobs shows how mighty the monkey paw is. Readers can see
the double meaning, and what the talisman represents that though it may grant wishes, there will be a
price.
SYMBOLS OF THE STORY:

The monkey’s paw is used as a symbol of greed and desire, also representing the limitless power of
Fate. The author shows how wishing more than what is needed can be dangerous. Many people only
See the benefits of wishing; little do they know that its benefits always come with a hefty price. The
Misfortunes of the Whites, for example, is a result of wanting more than what they need. Mr. White
Already has everything he needs – a comfortable home and a happy family. However, he still decides
To use the monkey’s paw to wish for money he does not need in the first place. Before Mr. White
Wishes for the money, he acknowledges, “It seems to me I’ve got all I want”. This shows how he didn’t
Need or want anything, but his desire got to him because he wanted to be done paying for the house.
Mr. White is not precisely greedy in his desire for 200 pounds. It is more something he would like to
Have, and it is a desire that seems sensible. It is more a test to satisfy his curiosity than anything else.
However, this curiosity leads to deadly consequences for Herbert and absolute sadness for Mr. and
Mrs. White. It is teaching us the danger of taking curiosity too far. It also symbolizes the values of
Interfering with fate. Despite Morris’ objections and warnings, Mr. White is determined to try to
change Something about his life, rather than being satisfied with everything he already has. The
twisted irony Of the paw is that it does grant the desire. However, because magic interferes with the
way things are Supposed to be, wishes are awarded at a high price. The monkey’s paw was an
opportunity for the Whites to take advantage of any possibility in the universe, and to satisfy their
curiosity. However, it is Also a way to interfere with fate, and because of this, they are severely
punished. Destiny is Something that cannot be changed, and when they try to replace it with the paw,
fate finds a way to fix Things.

SETTING THE READER’S MIND FOR HORROR:

From the beginning to the end, Jacobs sets a very mysterious and ominous mood. Not knowing what
Will happen next and surprising us with what does happen. He never gives us all the information About
everything that happens. For example, we never find out if the paw does have magical powers, And if it
was responsible for Herbert’s death. Also, when Mr. White wishes for his son to be alive, There’s a
knock on the door, but we never know if it was undead Herbert White knocking on the door. Lastly, we
never know what Mr. White’s third wish is, leaving readers in a world of mystery and of What
happened was. Also, to add more effect to the mood, the author uses an endless cold wind Throughout
the story. The wind is an omen of bad luck, right at the beginning of the story we know that Something
terrible is going to happen. The author continually reminds readers of the cold wind setting Up a
somewhat scary mood, a mood that makes us think bad things will happen.
Climax
The Whites are shaken by how their wish came true and filled with grief from losing their only son.
Mrs. White persuades Mr. White to wish that Herbert was alive again. Mr. White finds the paw and
makes the wish; all of a sudden, there is a quiet, persistent knocking at the door.
Falling Action
The knocking becomes louder. Mrs. White wants to run to the door, frantic to let Herbert in, but Mr.
White holds her back because knows the wickedness of the paw and is afraid of what kind of “state”
Herbert might be in. She breaks free and runs to the door, but she can’t reach the bolt. Mr. White
searches hurriedly for the paw.
Resolution

Just as his wife gets a chair, climbs up, and slides back the bolt, Mr. White finds the paw and makes his
final wish. The knocking suddenly stops. Mrs. White opens the door, but there is no one outside.
PLAUDITS:
I have included this short story because it seems to me to illustrate the Leibnizian view of this world,
viz. that this is the best of all possible worlds – any attempt to 'meddle' with the world only makes it
worse. Enjoy the story. — Norman Swartz
CONCLUSION:
W.W. Jacobs wrote many short stories, but none like “The Monkey’s Paw.” It was a real horror story
About the dangers of wishing, teaching many life lessons along the way. By implying what will happen
Next, to comparisons and symbols, to creating an unknown mood, Jacobs was able to create a
Captivating and fascinating story.