CHARACTER OF CLARISSA DALLOWAY/ FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

Of all the novels of Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925) is one of the most personal books,
expressing the feelings, which lie deep in Virginia Woolf's heart. Creativity and madness are
the two central themes of the novel, representing the two impulses within Virginia Woolf.
Clarissa Dalloway, the wife of Richard Dalloway, conservative, Member of Parliament,
and mother of seventeen-year-old daughter Elizabeth, is the heroine of the novel. She is in
her fifties and giving parties is her hobby. The novel celebrates the single day of her party for
which in the morning she goes to buy flowers, speaks to her servants about the final
arrangements, and entertains for a few moments her former suitor, now elderly, back from
India, Peter Walsh, stitches her dress and ruminates on her past, present as well as the
meaning of existence. In the novel, there is another set of characters who apparently seems
to have no connection with Clarissa's world: Septimus Warren Smith, a victim of the First
World War, and his wife Lucrezia, a hat maker by trade. Septimus who is shell-shocked is
being treated somewhat brutally by Dr. Holmes. On the day of Clarissa's party he visits Sir
William Bradshaw, an eminent psychiatrist, who recommends that Septimus be taken to his
sanitorium. In the late afternoon, as Dr. Holmes comes to take him, Septimus jumps from the
window of his room and kills himself. At the end of the novel Sir William Bradshaw comes to
the party of Clarissa and apologizes for being late due to Septimus's suicide. This is the only
superficial link between Clarissa and Septimus, although at heart they are just like the two
sides of the same coin.
The novel is a celebration of life, in general and of a woman's life, in particular. Virginia
Woolf was not a feminist in the sense that she wanted women to have more rights and
opportunities, but she was feminist in the sense that she wanted a psychological
acceptance, with due reverence, of women and their world, by men.
Clarissa takes an active perception of the things surrounding her. In order to enjoy
life one should also be able to create it, just as Clarissa Dalloway does, Clarissa's
habit of giving parties, of 'kindling and illuminating', of drawing people together, is
something more than a social gift. She is like a creative artist, creating a world of her
own wherever she happened to be. Feminine creativity and feminine modes of
perception are the basic themes of the novel Mrs. Dalloway, and Clarissa has "that
extraordinary gift, that woman's gift of making a world of her own wherever she
happened to be".
Clarissa is creative, fighting a battle against man's world, the world of self-importance and
destructive activities, of wars and politics. The image of sewing in the novel reflects the
invisible ties between people woven by Clarissa.
. As Clarissa was of assertive temperament she did not mind sacrificing her love for the
sake of independence. Although sometimes she does regret her choice, but it is for the first
time in the field of English novel, that we see a woman who has not surrendered before any
man and who without any clash, has tactfully maintained her independence. Clarissa loves
the privacy of soul. The mysterious old lady whom Clarissa sees twice through the window
performing her lonely domestic works symbolizes the theme of the privacy of soul which
could be destroyed by love (i.e. Peter Walsh) or by religion (i.e.) Miss Kilman).
. On the other hand, Richard's passivity his willingness to honour the gulf between people,
is endearing to Clarissa. Sleeping in separate rooms and asking almost nothing from one
another Clarissa and Richard live a peaceful life undisturbed by passion.
 If Clarissa can ever be said to be in love passionately, it was with Sally Seton, when they
were growing up. This was something new in English fiction, a woman falling in love with
another woman, and one of the finest achievements of the novel is the presentation of depth
and delicacy of Clarissa's feelings towards her friend Sally Seton.Clarissa still cherishes the
memory of a kiss bestowed by Sally on her lips.
Although a social creature, Clarissa also has a perpetual sense of being lonely, alone.
This sense of loneliness is one of the main characteristics of novels of Virginia Woolf. It
conveys a sense of human isolation.
The most striking example of this kind of isolated soul is the example of Septimus Warren
Smith, a young war victim who commits suicide before Clarissa's party.
It is in this sphere that Clarissa and Septimus are like two sides of the same coin. They
share an oneness of vision, and Clarissa's deep intuitive understanding of Septimus's death
shows the extent to which two souls are one. The line "Fear no more the heat of the sun"
which passes through the minds of both Clarissa and Septimus shows the wish of suicide in
both of them, Clarissa, finding life too shallow, is also tempted towards suicide and which
she finds as compelling as Septimus. But her relationship with Richard, however sterile,
provides her with a kind of protection and security, which Septimus cannot get from his
bewildered wife Lucrezia.
The novel Mrs. Dalloway is a strong protest against the violence practiced by the
masculine civilization. The novel shows how women preserve a civilization, which is nearly
destroyed by men. There is Lady Bexborough She shows the heroism of the society, a willed
determination to preserve civilization in face of death. Same thing is done by Clarissa,
through her parties and also when hearing about Septimus's death she goes on with it,
showing a reaffirmation of life an creativity against chaos and death.
In the novel Virginia Woolf has sharply contrasted the Prime Minister, the symbol of male
authority, with Clarissa Dalloway, who represents the feminine power. The Prime Minister is
known only by the clothes and car and is capable of exerting his power only up to the
externals of life, whereas Clarissa is capable of influencing the inner flux of the people.
Virginia Woolf makes an open mockery of the masculine authority when she brings Clarissa
and the Prime Minister together in Clarissa's party.
Dr. Holmes and Sir William Bradshaw are an adequate representative of the mentality
which lies behind the wars, quest for empires etc. Bradshaw, instead of curing his patients,
makes them his victims and forces them to accept his singular version of health and
proportion. There is a close relationship, says Virginia Woolf, in preaching proportion and
being a converter.Even Septimus, in the end, realizes that life is good; it is only people who
ruin int. He kills himself forcibly, unwilling to leave life, yet finds no other way to avoid the
"human nature . . . . the repulsive brute with blood red nostrils (i.e. Dr. Holmes)".
Miss Kilman also is a worshipper of the Goddess Conversion. Outwardly grateful to
Dalloway’s for the employment they have given her, as a tutor to their daughter Elizabeth, at
heart, she feels jealous of Clarissa's richness, beauty, grace and leisure. She envies her
femininity, and wants to subjugate her on God's name, i.e. Clarissa's beauty is a sign of her
triviality whereas her simplicity is a clear evidence of her moral ascendancy. But Clarissa is
not at all vulnerable. So Miss Kilman's effort to overcome her are directed into an effort to
possess the soul of her daughter. Elizabeth becomes the battleground on which the two
women fight - Clarissa to keep her affections and Miss Kilman to lure her into the ways of
communion, prayer books and God.
 In contrast to Miss Kilman, there is Lucrezia, who, although sometimes feels lonely, has
some of the Mrs. Dalloway's gift of active participation in life. Through her, Septimus is able
to revive his power of feeling and is able to enter into the real life around him.
All the relationships of Clarissa converge at the party, which she gives at the end of the
day and at the end of the novel. She meets Bradshaw and hears of Septimus's death. She
meets Sally, and feels that the magic and potential of her youth have deserted her and that
now she is Lady Rosseter married to a Manchester mill owner and is a mother of five sons.
There is Peter Walsh struggling with his own sense of failure and his overwhelming
adoration for Clarissa. We see Clarissa herself playing the role of a perfect hostess: at once
a part of the superficial world of Whitbreads and Lady Bruton and others and at the same
time removed from them, living in the depths of her own soul-unimagined by those on the
surface - with the old lady (symbol of privacy) and with the young man who committed
suicide in order to maintain his independence of soul. Clarissa's parties are something more
than merely social affair. They are, as she herself says, offerings; attempts made to bring
people together from far off places and establish order and communication in place of chaos
and indifference.
Thus we see that the novel Mrs. Dalloway is a celebration of life and creativity and also
of Virginia Woolf”s feminism.