Mrs. Dalloway
Clarissa Dalloway is a major character from Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway, in addition to appearing in Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out, and five of her short stories. Those stories are:
- "The New Dress"
- "The Introduction"
- "Together and Apart"
- "The Man Who Loved His Kind"
- "A Summing Up"
Clarissa Dalloway, in the novel, is a 52-year-old wife and mother, a member of the upper class of post-War England. Her entire life is spent in high society, consumed with parties, fashion, and the glittering accompaniment, but she is desperately in need of deeper meaning in all of it. Concerned with appearances, Mrs. Dalloway rarely shares her feelings with anyone and maintains tight composure, an important theme of the novel. To those around her, this makes her appear shallow.
Mrs. Dalloway
In the plot, Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa is attempting to reconcile the past and the present, coming to an understanding that she chose the security of her upper-class existence by marrying Richard Dalloway, as opposed to the more unpredictable Peter Walsh. There is also the memory of a single kiss shared with Sally Seton, which Clarissa believes to have been the happiest day of her life. In many ways, Clarissa spends her entire existence consumed with throwing perfect parties as a way to distract her from the emptiness and depression she suffers on a daily basis.