Essay Questions

In what ways do each of the women find themselves constrained by society?

Each of the three key female characters in the novel is constrained by society to some degree. Virginia Woolf is in a slightly stronger position than many women if her generation because she is well-known and because her husband is reliant upon her success for his own, which does give her some leeway when it comes to asserting her wishes. For example, she hates the suburbs and never wanted to move to them but her generation of women were not considered equal within a marriage and his word was law. However because her writers block was worse in the suburbs she was able to convince Leonard to move back to London. Laura is constrained by a society that offers women little stimulation outside the home; it was her "duty" to welcome back her husband after the war and she was expected to be fulfilled by taking care of him and her son; this never fulfilled her but at the time society didn't care about that predicament and she is trapped with no way out. Clarissa is stuck living a far more traditional and domesticated life than she ever intended. She is somewhat disturbed by this and clearly hoped that her choices would have given her a life hat was more outside the box society expected for women.

Why is it surprising when we find out that Laura is Richard's mother?

It is surprising for several reasons that Laura is Richard's mother. The first reason is basically semantics in that as a little boy he goes by the name "Richie" which we don't associate with his adult name of "Richard". The second reason is that he seems such a peripheral character that we really take little notice of him. He is Richie, an encumbrance to the female character we are concentrating on rather than a character whom we will meet later on. Finally we are surprised because the women seem connected only by the literary and the theoretical rather than in their lives. They all stem from Virginia's book and seem to have no personal connection beyond that; finding that Clarissa and Laura have been connected all this time is a clever device and a shock to the reader.

How does Virginia use her characters to hide from her own suicidal feelings?

Virginia is thinking a lot about suicide under the guise of making one of her characters suicidal. At first she wants to make Clarissa Dalloway commit suicide but after having a nice, happy day with her sister she decides that Mrs Dalloway is too happy to commit suicide and that another more highly strung and sensitive character should take their own life instead. This shows that she is actually putting her own emotions onto Mrs Dalloway and that she is reasoning with herself; she cannot be suicidal because she is feeling happy. By hiding behind Mrs Dalloway she hides from her own feelings of wanting to kill herself and also knows that she is intrigued by the inevitability of it.