Literature teacher’s notes
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Before reading
1 Write on the board Mrs Dalloway. Ask students if they
have heard this name before, and explain that it is both
a title and a character in a novel. Ask students to read
About the story and About the author. In pairs, ask
them to imagine what sort of person Clarissa Dalloway
is. Encourage them to use their imaginations and think
about their answers to the questions. They then write
a short description of Mrs Dalloway, adding their own
ideas.
Answer
Students’ own answers.
2 Ask students to read About the author and About the
story again. Ask them to think about the character of
Clarissa Dalloway in more detail, and work in pairs to
answer the questions.
Answer
Students’ own answers.
CULTURAL INFORMATION
In Mrs Dalloway, Woolf discovered a new literary form
which she uses to great effect to explore post-war life.
This period in England was a time of great social change.
The British Empire was in decline and many traditional
values were being questioned. Women were a new
powerful force in the labour movement, and were about
to win the vote (1928). Mrs Dalloway is a key text in the
evolution of the novel. It rejects the realistic plots and
typical linear timeframe of the 19th century novel, using
one character’s thoughts to create a framework for the
narrative, exploring complex memories, emotions, and
the human condition. Mrs Dalloway is considered to be a
classic modernist novel. Other modernist writers include
T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce.
While reading
1 Before starting exercise 1, make sure that students
understand all the words and refer them to the
Vocabulary focus box. Ask students to read the excerpt,
then read and answer the questions.
Answers
1 In London, near a park, in Piccadilly.
2 She’s walking along the street.
3 To know people almost by instinct.
4 Two houses where she attended parties in the past.
2 Ask students if the excerpt is mostly about Mrs
Dalloway’s thoughts or what she is actually doing (her
thoughts). This activity focuses students on what she is
thinking. Students read the sentences and number them
in the order in which they occur.
Answers
1 f  2 c  3 g  4 a  5 d  6 h  7 b  8 e
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B2 Units
3 Students now think about the narrative style of the
excerpt. Explain that the ‘stream of consciousness’
style was something that Virginia Woolf had been
experimenting with, and which she uses to great success
in Mrs Dalloway. Explain that it is a narrative style in
which we hear the character’s every thought, however
small and insignificant it might be, one after the other.
Ask students to look at the excerpt again and find the
information.
Answers
1 her education (with Fräulein Daniels), parties at
Devonshire House and Bath House and a house with
the china cockatoo; people at the parties; dancing all
night, waggons going past; driving home across the
park; throwing a shilling into the Serpentine
2 Fräulein Daniels, Peter, Sylvia, Fred, Sally Seton
3 the park gates, (omni)buses, taxi cabs, a fat lady in a
cab, a shop window
After reading
1 Ask students to think about the narrative style, and the
effect that using a stream of consciousness has on how
the reader perceives events. Direct them to consider the
four points listed.
Possible answers
■ 
characters: these are presented mainly from the main
protagonist’s perspective. It’s a subjective view, and
the reader must bear in mind that the narrator may not
be reliable.
■ 
time: because stream of consciousness focuses on
every thought, time in the novel may be extended.
In the case of Mrs Dalloway, the novel focuses on a
single day, with no detail considered too small to be
mentioned.
■ 
emotions: because we are witness to each thought
and feeling in the protagonist’s mind, her emotions are
laid bare for the reader to see.
■ 
memories: these crowd into the narrative, randomly
interrupting and taking over the flow of thought.
2 This exercise focuses on understanding the mood of
the excerpt and the mood of the main character. Ask
students to work in small groups and discuss their
answers to the questions. In the second part of the
activity, students write their own paragraph, continuing
from the excerpt in the same style.
Answer
Students’ own answers.
3 Invite students to share their opinions about the
excerpt. Did they enjoy it and the style of narrative?
Encourage them to share their opinions, both positive
and negative.
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