The Characters of

Mrs Dalloway
Clarissa Dalloway

 Vivacious
 Cares about other’s thoughts
 Questions life, happiness
 Both happy and sad
 Balance  wants privacy & communication
 Wants to find out deeper meanings
 Ups and downs  past and present
 Questions her decisions
 Suicidal tendencies, but endure to live
 Represents “sane truth”.
Septimus Warren Smith

 WWI veteran, shellshocked

 Insane, also struggles
 Privacy vs communication
 Similar to Clarissa
 Poet before the war
 After the war, thinks mankind is evil
 Represents “insane truth”
 Troubles represent the legitimacy of English
values
 His suicide helps Clarissa accept her life
Peter Walsh

 Friend of Clarissa
 Once in love with her (mutual)
 Highly critical and conflicted, emotional
 Cannot make decisions about his life, his
feelings
 Blames Richard for making Clarissa an upper-
class lady
Sally Seton

 Friend of Clarissa and Peter

 Outspoken, rebellious
 Was sexually attracted to Clarissa (mutual)
 Married now
 More distant to “upper class” than Clarissa
Richard Dalloway

 Clarissa’s husband
 MP – Conservative
 Sportsman, loving father and husband
 Appreciates English traditions
 Built a stable life for Clarissa
 Shy – cannot say he loves her
 Thinks England joined war to keep traditions
Others

 Elizabeth Dalloway Seventeen years old; the

daughter of Clarissa and Richard Dalloway.
 Lucy Maid in the Dalloway house.
 Scrope Purvis Neighbor of the Dalloways.
 Hugh Whitbread Old acquaintance of
Richard and Clarissa; has a minor position at
Court.
 Evelyn Whitbread Sickly wife of Hugh
Whitbread.
Others

 Doris Kilman Tutor to Elizabeth Dalloway.

 Lucrezia Warren Smith Young Italian wife of
Septimus.
 Justin Parry Clarissa's father.
 Helena Parry Clarissa's aunt.
 Isabel Pole Septimus' first love.
 Evans Sturdy, red-haired comrade of Septimus;
killed in Italy shortly before the Armistice.
 Daisy Twenty-four years old; plans to marry Peter
Walsh; has two children.