Everyone who knows her, including the men who love her (Peter and Richard), wonders why she cares so much about the parties she throws (other than the fact that they're awesome.) Though she considers herself a kind and sympathetic person, Clarissa is clearly a big snob: she’s the wife of a government worker, which makes her part of the higher ranks she looks down at anyone who doesn’t abide by the correct social standards and having a country home and numerous servants are a big part of her identity.

She doesn’t really read and she's not interested in politics or anything outside of her Westminster neighborhood. On the surface, Mrs Dalloway seems like a pretty shallow lady. (Don't we all?) Usually Mrs Dalloway seems very disconnected, but her parties suggest the possibility of people not being completely and utterly isolated from each other. (6.17)Ĭlarissa wants her parties to be profound events, to have meaning for everyone involved. It was, she thought, partly their clothes, partly being taken out of their ordinary ways, partly the background, it was possible to say things you couldn't say anyhow else, things that needed an effort possible to go much deeper. She reflects:Įvery time she gave a party she had this feeling of being something not herself, and that every one was unreal in one way much more real in another. Her work as the 'perfect hostess' is her greatest pleasure. Her parties are all Clarissa really has they are her 'gift,' and they bring people like Ellie Henderson and the prime minister together.

This is a classic case of pot and kettle. Because really, even though she feels the oppression of society, she is still very much a part of the very world she critiques. Clarissa is a complex character in part because Woolf doesn’t make her totally sympathetic (that means we don't love everything about her). We don’t see through her eyes the entire time, but she’s the center of the action, especially as she plans the party where all the characters will come together that evening. It's no surprise that Clarissa Dalloway is our main protagonist – heck, the book is named after her.

Clarissa dalloway