Modern Mental Life: Clarissa and Septimus in Mrs. Dalloway Anonymous College

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf follows one day in the life of her protagonist, Clarissa Dalloway, though Clarissa is not the only important character. The novel also follows Septimus Smith, a traumatized soldier attempting to navigate his life back in London after the war. Clarissa lives through the day, while Septimus takes his own life. At the surface level these events are unrelated, as the two characters never even meet, but Clarissa and Septimus have a stronger connection than any other two characters in the entire novel. Clarissa can only continue to live through the death of Septimus. Septimus dies for the oppressive confinements of modernity that hold both of them back, such as marriage and love, war and death, and the struggle with mental illness. Through this, Clarissa can either embrace or move past these aspects of her life.

Love is a difficult subject for both characters. Clarissa and Septimus are both trapped in their marriages, though both have very different circumstances. Clarissa is married to Richard, though she does not love him, at least not in a completely romantic way. She laments that she has only known love once in her life, and it was not with Richard, but with Sally Seton: “Take Sally Seton; her...