‘Mrs. Dalloway’ Review: Virginia Woolf’s Stream of Consciousness

“Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1925. Woolf’s short yet dense novel greatly furthered the development stream-of-consciousness style and the subgenre of stories that take place in one day. Since its publication, the book has been critically acclaimed over the years for its narrative structure and exploring the interiority of its characters, being included in lists such as Time Magazine’s 100 Best English-language novels in 2005 and The Guardian’s 100 Best English novels in 2015.

This book review explores “‘Mrs. Dalloway” to see whether it still speaks to readers, 100+ years after its initial publication. Dive into our ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ review and explore Virginia Woolf’s timeless modernist classic.

‘Mrs. Dalloway’ Summary: A Day in the Life of Clarissa Dalloway (and Others)

“Mrs. Dalloway” follows a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman carrying out last-minute preparations for the party she is hosting one June evening, a few years after World War I. As she walks through the streets of London and around her house, Clarissa reflects on what is happening around her at the moment. At the same time, she reminisces about her past and current relationships with various people and locations. She also thinks about life, death and growing old.

Meanwhile the book focuses on thoughts and perspectives of other characters in London, especially Clarissa’s old lover, Peter Walsh, and traumatized war veteran Septimus Warren Smith. These characters also look back at their past and react to the present world around them.

Books Like Mrs. Dalloway

“To the Lighthouse,” another novel by Woolf, has a similar style of “stream of consciousness” narration, where the narration switches between the point of view of different characters. The passage of time is portrayed flexibly. A day can be portrayed as a long section, and years in a matter of several paragraphs.

“Ulysses” by James Joyce is another book that similarly has a stream of consciousness writing style. Interestingly, Woolf’s Wikipedia page cites her essay, “Modern Fiction,” and her private writings showing that Woolf ultimately did not enjoy Joyce’s book. “Dubliners,” also by Joyce, is a similar study of a city and its people in the early 20th century.

Audience and Genre: People with Upper High School Reading Level and Above, Women in Various Walks of Life

“Mrs. Dalloway” would be best appreciated with those with a reading level of Grade 11 and above. The stream of consciousness narrative flowing through multiple characters, as well as Woolf’s complex sentence structures, require more concentration and skill in parsing passages.

While anyone with this reading ability could enjoy reading Mrs. Dalloway, it offers women readers a particular showcase of women’s impressions of post-World War I England and the societal changes among men and women that became more pronounced after 1918. More often than not, the book considers the different ways of dealing with the societal confines of womanhood at the time. These limitations may still be relatable to women across the world today.

Early in the book, as Clarissa prepares for her party, she suddenly feels “the oddest sense of being herself invisible, unseen; unknown” as she reflects on being middle-aged, past marriage and childbirth. She thinks to herself “this being Mrs. Dalloway; not even Clarissa any more: this being Mrs. Richard Dalloway.”

Another prominent example is Lady Bruton, another upper-class woman who is depicted as being involved in political affairs. Richard Dalloway thinks Lady Bruton “should have been a general of dragoons herself” like her male ancestors, and Lady Bruton herself often feels “the futility of her own womanhood” when she employs other men in society to aid her endeavors.

Perspective: Characters and Events Pass Each Other the Baton of Third-Person Narrator and Stream of Consciousness

“Mrs. Dalloway” is written in a constantly changing third-person narrative. The narration mainly focuses on Clarissa Dalloway, Peter Walsh and Septimus Warren Smith, but also shows perspectives of a dozen or so recurring characters and a handful of one-time perspectives of miscellaneous London residents. The narrator also occasionally switches to providing an omniscient description of different parts of London.

In addition to mentioning who the perspective shifted to, Woolf also often uses various events as a center point to jump between different character perspectives, which shows how the same event can trigger different responses in individuals based on their situation. Early in the book, when Clarissa is out buying flowers, the sound of a motorcar engine startles her, and the narrator reveals that it came from a car carrying an important political figure. For most witnesses, the car is merely a topic of amused speculation. To the mentally unstable Septimus Warren Smith, it becomes a sign that he was being “looked at and pointed at,” which sends him into terror. The car also evokes feelings of patriotism to others as it drives past various streets of London.

In another instance, an advertising aeroplane flies across London, spelling out the name of a toffee product. The sight of the aeroplane again triggers Septimus, which distresses his wife, Lucrezia. They are seen by a passerby named Maisie Johnson, who feels overwhelmed by the sights and surroundings in London and yearns for her home in Edinburgh. A Mrs. Dempster sees Maisie and envies her youth while she reflects on her “hard life.” Meanwhile the aeroplane flying over Greenwich catches the eye of a Mr. Bentley, who thinks of mathematical theories, and when it flies over St. Paul’s Cathedral, a “seedy-looking nondescript man carrying a leather bag” notices and decides to enter the cathedral to seek respite and a sense of belonging. The aeroplane scene ends with Clarissa returning home from her errands, oblivious about what has happened both in the sky and within the minds of the people across London. She asks her maid, “What are they looking at?”

Three Cs: Compelling, Clear, Concise

Editorial Note: We believe these three factors are important for evaluating general writing quality across every aspect of the book. Before you get into further analysis, here’s a quick breakdown to clarify how we’re using these words:

• Compelling: Does the author consistently write in a way that would make most readers emotionally invested in the book’s content?
• Clear: Are most sentences and parts of the book easy enough to read and understand?
• Concise: Are there sections or many sentences that could be cut? Does the book have pacing problems?

Compelling: Story Enjoyment May Depend on Appreciating Writing Style

Plot-wise, “Mrs. Dalloway” happens in the span of a day where Clarissa throws a party and Septimus suffers from his mental illness until he (spoiler alert) jumps out the window. A single day is stretched out to the span of a whole book that wanders between space and time. The narrative is focused on exploring what happened to different characters in the past that led to their present-day situation, and how they think and feel in a given moment. Enjoyment of the book would greatly depend on whether one appreciates the stream of consciousness writing style.

Clear: Stream of Consciousness Narration Requires Careful Reading

Although its plot is simple, “Mrs. Dalloway” requires readers to carefully go over its prose. The stream of consciousness narrative structure comes with very long sentences that are only divided by occasional colons, semicolons and parenthesis in the middle of the sentence. These punctuation marks begin an additional tangent regarding a subject matter.

Some parts of the book may require inference or additional research material to fully understand what is happening. For instance, it is clear that Septimus feels guilty for being unable to feel anything about the death of his close friend, Evans, from the war. Some scholars argue that the description of Evans as “a sturdy red-haired man, undemonstrative in the company of women,” suggests there may have been more than friendship between Septimus and Evans during their time together.

Concise: Less Than 200 Pages, No Chapters

“Mrs. Dalloway” is only 194 pages long. Nonetheless, the reading experience feels longer than other books of similar lengths because it is not divided into any arcs or chapters. Woolf only details the passage of time and story beats through descriptions of when and where the characters are during the day. The stream of consciousness writing style makes readers have to read more slowly and carefully to fully absorb the story.

The stream of consciousness writing style of “Mrs. Dalloway” is lengthy and descriptive by design. Woolf intended to capture how a person’s inner thoughts can wander through time and space, how it can both meander on a single subject or speed through many things at once. A given amount of time can feel incredibly short or long depending on how one sees things. There are not that many difficult words, but the incredibly long sentences and passages require much concentration when reading.

‘Mrs. Dalloway’ Character Development: Readers Get to See Sides of Characters That Others Cannot

“Mrs. Dalloway” shows an interesting way to view characters through the stream of consciousness narration. The characters themselves have a limited perspective on assessing their friends and family based on what they see from the outside, but the readers get to see different parts of a character that they keep to themselves and do not reveal to others. For instance, Clarissa is described by other characters to be snobby, cold-mannered or frivolous for caring about her parties. But when she is resting alone after running errands, she looks at herself in the mirror and thinks to herself how she tries to perse her lips and appear imperceptible in front of others, “never showing a sign of all the other sides of her – faults, jealousies, vanities, suspicions.”

Because readers get to explore the full depth of a given character’s interiority through the third-person narrator, they get to have the most in-depth look of a character compared to the other characters in the story. This fleshed out perspective provides an interesting contrast to how different characters perceive each other.

Story: Iconic Look at a Single Day

Woolf explores the complex thoughts and feelings of different characters throughout time and space during a single day. The story begins early in the day and ends late into the night without any grand narrative conclusion, ending with Peter seeing Clarissa at the stairs toward the end of the party. The arguably anticlimactic end to the story highlights how time keeps marching on, despite exploring the interiority of so many characters and (spoiler alert) a man jumped to his death.

This unconventional structure is part of what has kept the book influential a hundred years after its publication. Regardless of whether the reader enjoys the story, the writing style in the book is unique and part of a movement that was popularized and perfected in its era. There were no visible plot holes or story structure problems in the book.

Prose Style: Stream of Consciousness Both Tells and Shows

There is an equally abundant amount of telling and showing in the book, which is typical of the stream of consciousness writing style.

A great example is from an early passage in the book when Clarissa is walking about in the streets of London to pick flowers for her party. The various sights and sounds of London are described with visual and audio descriptors, which Clarissa reacts to inwardly. This pattern repeats several times in a long-winded passage only divided by colons and semicolons, giving off the effect of a person’s thoughts wandering about as they walk down the street:

“One feels even in the midst of the traffic, or waking at night, Clarissa was positive, a particular hush, or solemnity; an indescribable pause; a suspense before Big Ben strikes. There! Out it boomed. First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. Such fools we are, she thought, crossing Victoria Street. For Heaven only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making it up, building it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment afresh; but the veriest frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drink their downfall) do the same; can’t be dealt with, she felt positive, by Acts of Parliament for that very reason: they love life. In people’s eyes, in the swing, tramp, and trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment in June.”

Dialogue: Blurred Lines Between Dialogue and Narration

When reading “Mrs. Dalloway,” it is occasionally difficult to determine where a character’s internal narration ends and their speaking aloud begins, which is another characteristic of stream of consciousness writing. While most of the characters’ dialogue is denoted in quotation marks, some are not. It is only when another character has reacted to the previous statement that the reader realizes the particular statement without quotation marks had also been spoken aloud. The blurred lines between dialogue and narration evoke the feeling of being lost in thought and occasionally speaking those thoughts aloud.

A character might speak or think to themselves in great detail, until there is an abrupt change in their circumstances. Most commonly, a character would begin their internal monologue in one location and finish it in another, giving off the impression that the character themselves had woken up from being deep in thought and only now realized that they are in a different location.

Setting: June 1923, London, England — Post World War I

The story takes place in a day in June, 1923 in London, England. The fact that the characters are in London is incredibly evident with mentions or descriptions of famous London landmarks such as the Big Ben, Westminster and Regent’s Park. The narration also wanders throughout different parts of London to focus on its residents, making the setting seem realistic and lived in. Given the extreme details in which London and its inhabitants are described throughout the story, one could argue that London itself is a character and subject of the book as well.

The setting dates itself with frequent mentions of the British Empire and its colonies, such as Peter Walsh having lived in colonial India, and Lady Bruton setting up an expedition to South Africa or an emigration program to send youths into Canada.

The story takes place five years after World War I has ended, and the narration spends time emphasizing the effects of the war on the general populace and characters. Septimus, who lost his ability to feel after the death of his friend in the war, trying to make sense of the world in his mental condition is one of the central characters in the book. In the case of Miss Kilman, she is restricted from her career, being barred from teaching due to her German heritage clashing with British post-war sentiments, namely “because she would not pretend that the Germans were all villains — when she had German friends, when the only happy days of her life had been spent in Germany.”

Even the upper-class individuals Clarissa knows are affected by the war. Clarissa thinks to herself how the war was over, “except for some one like Mrs. Foxcroft at the Embassy last night eating her heart out because that nice boy was killed,” as well as “Lady Bexborough who opened a bazaar, they said, with the telegram in her hand, John, her favorite, killed.” Although London and its inhabitants appear to have gotten over the war from the outside, various characters’ remaining struggles show that people are merely holding it together to keep moving on.

Rhetoric: Womanhood, Mortality, Mental Health and Forbidden Gay Relationships

“Mrs. Dalloway” has several recurring themes in the story. One of the more prominent themes is the role of women in English society. Clarissa and other women characters in the story are seen as limited or confined in their role as wives. Peter Walsh laments that “there’s nothing in the world so bad for some women as marriage” on Clarissa’s marriage to Richard, also thinking, “With twice his wits, she had to see things through his eyes—one of the tragedies of married life.” Meanwhile, Clarissa herself wonders about romance between women as she remembers her friend Sally Seton, and how she often felt “what men felt” towards her, and remembering her kiss with Sally as “the most exquisite moment of her whole life,” something she knew she could not pursue further.

Other minor women characters are also seen being constrained by their marriage; Lucrezia is unable to seek proper help to assist Septimus. Lady Bradshaw, Dr. Bradshaw’s wife, is described as having had interests and ambitions, which she “cramped, squeezed, pared, pruned, drew back, peeped through” to the whims of her husband, and has to bribe the sexton to continue her hobby of taking photographs “which were scarcely to be distinguished from the work of professionals.”

Many characters also often think of mortality, expressing a sort of fear and fascination toward death. Clarissa and Peter both refuse to consider themselves as aged, and say that in their fifties they are “not old yet” and “[months] and months of it were still untouched.”

Clarissa reflects on her conflicting feelings toward death, thinking, “did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely; all this must go on without her; did she resent it; or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely?” When Clarissa hears of (spoiler alert) Septimus’ suicide, she has to excuse herself to an empty room in horror, but also feels relief in the idea of death, thinking, “[she] felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away […] He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun.”

Mental health is also a prominent theme in the story as Septimus goes through hallucinations and expresses being unable to feel emotions. His symptoms — which we would now associate with post-traumatic stress disorder, after going through combat in World War I — show how the war has affected people and how their conditions should be addressed.

The book criticizes the standard treatment of mental illness at the time by showing his wife Lucrezia left feeling helpless as she receives inadequate feedback on Septimus’ condition: “She was close to him now, could see him staring at the sky, muttering. Yet Dr. Holmes said there was nothing the matter with him.” Even when they go to Dr. Bradshaw, who correctly assesses that something is wrong with Septimus, he proposes that Septimus be sent to an institution separated from Lucrezia against the couple’s wishes, which ultimately ends with (spoiler alert) Septimus jumping out of a window to his death. Upon hearing of the death, Clarissa, who had never met Septimus, thinks to herself that Dr. Bradshaw may be partly to blame for the suicide: “if this young man had gone to him, and Sir William had impressed him, like that, with his power, might he not then have said (indeed she felt it now), Life is made intolerable; they make life intolerable, men like that?”

Cultural and Political Significance: Navigating Life Amidst Changes

Although written a century ago, the themes of the book and the feelings the characters go through — contemplating about one’s place in society, mortality, and grappling with mental health issues — are universal and timeless.

The book also seems relevant in the sense of showing people learning to navigate the world after a great change. In the book, Peter Walsh feels that post-war London had changed considerably from how he remembered it previously: “Those five years — 1918 to 1923 — had been, he suspected, somehow very important. People looked different. Newspapers seemed different.”

In the past five years, people have similarly experienced a rapidly changed world after a global pandemic, rise in new international conflicts, the advent of AI, and increased global connectively paired with increased misinformation online.

‘Mrs. Dalloway’ Reviews: Critiquing the Critics

The New York Times reviewed the book in 1925 when it was first published. The review praises Woolf’s ability to provide the subtleties of Clarissa’s personality, saying that it “rendered possible a more precise and more evocative agglutination of complicated ideas in simplicity of expression.” Author Michael Cunningham also wrote a review for the Times in 2020, saying that the book is a “masterpiece created out of the humblest narrative materials”, comparing it akin to the discovery of human physics in literature.

Amazon reviews of the book are also positive, with different published versions of the book usually scoring around 4.2 ~ 4.5 out of 5 stars. The book is scored at 3.78 out of five stars on Goodreads. While over half the readers (63%) rated the book at 4 or 5 stars, the other half rated it at 3 stars or below, which brought down the average score.

The discrepancy in review scores in the websites may be due in part to there being multiple versions of the book available for purchase on Amazon, which divides the reviews across different locations and makes it appear to have a higher average. Conversely, all Goodreads reviews exist on a single consolidated page in the website. Goodreads reviewers also tend to be more critical. It’s rare for an Amazon average to be higher than a Goodreads average.

Consumer reviews are largely positive, but there is a clear divide between those who have enjoyed the book and those who have not. Those who enjoyed the book praise Woolf’s skill of moving between the interiority of different characters and exploring themes such as war, empire and gender roles. On the other hand, those who did not enjoy the book say they found it difficult to follow, due to getting lost, impatient or bored with the long sentences and descriptions, and gave it a low rating despite acknowledging the book’s importance in the literary scene.

I agree that the book’s writing style requires much concentration and that the stream of consciousness narrative could be polarizing. However, it seems unfair to simultaneously praise the book as important and then rate it based solely on personal enjoyment. In that respect, there is more to be drawn from the NYT reviews and their focus on the novelty of Woolf’s exploration of Clarissa and the narrative movement through multiple characters’ minds.

Book Aesthetic: Recurring Themes in Cover Images Over the Years

Because “Mrs. Dalloway” is a book published in 1925, it has gone through numerous reprints and book covers over the past century. My copy is the Library Authorized Edition by Mariner Books Classics that shows part of a repeating flower pattern drawn in either oil paint or pastel, giving the impression of looking at flower-patterned wallpaper. The flower pattern evokes both the décor of an upper-class house appropriate to a woman of standing such as Mrs. Dalloway herself, as well as the beginning of the book where Clarissa is out in London picking out flowers for her party.

While it would be virtually impossible to assess all the preexisting iterations of the book’s cover, there is an ongoing pattern in the book covers when searching for the book on Amazon. The book cover images can be largely divided into those with a person’s image on the cover and those without.

The book covers with a person’s image most often depict a well-dressed woman, presumably Clarissa Dalloway. The women in the image, whether they are stock photos or illustrations, are usually wearing a fancy dress, some jewelry and, more often than not, a hat indicating her class. While the women’s faces are those of an adult, many appear younger than fifty-one, Clarissa’s age in the book. The portrayal of a younger Clarissa may be a reference to her younger days in Bourton, which is often referenced in the book. A small number of the covers with a person display Virginia Woolf’s photograph instead.

Covers without a person usually depicts flowers, referencing the scene of Clarissa picking out flowers. Cityscapes and abstract images are also a popular choice, which reflects the book’s depiction of London residents, as well as the unique narrative structure of the novel.

‘Mrs. Dalloway’: Book vs. Movie

“Mrs. Dalloway” has a 1997 film adaptation directed by Marleen Gorris and screenplay by Eileen Atkins, available on Prime Video.

I believe the movie succeeded overall in adapting the book in a way that makes sense for a film. It is incredibly difficult to portray a stream of consciousness writing that constantly travels between character POV, space and time. The movie chooses to focus only on Clarissa’s and Septimus’ story. It makes use of flashbacks to approximate the structure of the novel by constantly shifting between the present and past with both Clarissa in her younger years at Bourton and her party preparation as well as Septimus witnessing Evans’ death while attempting to survive in London. Several passages that were purely said by the narrator also shifted into being spoken or thought out loud by the characters during the movie to provide plot-necessary context.

The movie also reinforces the parallels between Septimus and Clarissa with an original scene where they meet, something that does not happen in the novel. In the scene where Clarissa is picking out flowers at the store and a car engine startles her, she sees Septimus outside the flower shop window jumping in alarm because the engine reminded him of explosions. Clarissa is affected by seeing Septimus’ distressed face, to the point where his image is still on her mind when she returns home. This original scene where Clarissa physically sees Septimus provides an interesting contrast to the corresponding scene from the book, where Septimus thinks that the car horn is a sign he is being “looked at and pointed at” by people around him, which did not include Clarissa.

The film also makes many subtle moments in the book much more explicit. In the book, Clarissa and Miss Kilman are outwardly polite while keeping their mutual dislike unspoken in their minds. In the movie, however, Clarissa passively aggressively makes jabs at Miss Kilman while Miss Kilman outwardly criticizes Clarissa while she is with Elizabeth. Later, when Clarissa hears about Septimus’ death, in the novel she looks out the window and sympathizes with him. In the movie, she opens the window and intensely stares at the fence railings while thinking, as if she is also ready to jump out of the window herself.

The film unsurprisingly cuts out the parts exploring the inner thoughts of the denizens of London but, in a nod to the book, does focus its establishing shots on them. The camera often lingers on people walking around the streets, chatting, and living their lives. On occasion, the main characters interact with other people outdoors, showing their connection with London. The movie also has a few visibly disabled men in the crowd who had served in the war, showing how remnants of World War I still linger among the British public.

Reviewer’s Personal Opinion: Brilliant Depiction of Stream of Consciousness

I previously read “Mrs. Dalloway” in college and rather enjoyed reading it at the time. This book was my introduction to the stream of consciousness writing style, and I still greatly appreciate the artistry of the language used to express a person’s thoughts wandering across time and space.

Reading it again for this review made me appreciate the value of re-reading books from your past. I found myself discovering certain details that I had missed in my first reading due to its density (such as the homoerotic undertones between Clarissa and Sally), as well as a renewed appreciation toward themes such as aging and mortality. Clarissa and Peter declaring they are not so aged yet in their early fifties hit harder to me in my mid-thirties compared to my late teens and early twenties. I also felt more sympathetic toward Septimus not receiving adequate care after the traumas of war, having experienced mental health issues myself. This is a book one can revisit over and over again at different points of their life and find something new to appreciate.

‘Mrs. Dalloway’ Review: A Snapshot of the Past, But Still Relevant Today

“Mrs. Dalloway” is a story that provides a snapshot of post-war London through the eyes of its residents across both social class and gender, but the themes explored still resonate. The continued relevance of these themes is what has led to the book’s endurance as a modernist classic 100 years after its initial publication.

I gave the book five stars as it does not have any significant problems with its story, structure or rhetoric. Readers may find themselves at odds with the stream of consciousness writing style, but that is more a matter of taste than an objective flaw.

‘Mrs. Dalloway’ FAQs

What is ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ about?

“Mrs. Dalloway” takes place one June day in 1923, as Clarissa Dalloway prepares to host a party in the evening. She spends much of the day thinking back on her younger days in the countryside and the people in her life.

What is the writing style of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’?

“Mrs. Dalloway” is written in a “stream of consciousness” writing style that attempts to depict the passing thoughts and feelings of a narrator. It is often in the form of an interior monologue and can be characterized by having disjointed or irregular punctuation. Although previous examples of this style exist in the nineteenth century, it became more developed and best known in the English modernist literature of the early twentieth century.

What are the themes of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’?

Recurring themes in “Mrs. Dalloway” include women’s position in society, life and death, and mental health.

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