Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Mrs. Dalloway— Has Clarissa's life become exactly what Peter predicted?
In the beginning of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Dalloway recalls an argument she had with Peter Walsh when they were both young in which he said "She would marry a Prime Minister and stand at the top of a staircase; the perfect hostess he called her (she had cried over it in her bedroom), she had the makings of a perfect hostess" and she would never amount to more than a high society housewife (Woolf 7). This memory is ironic for Clarissa remembers this prediction on her way into town to retrieve flowers for a party she plans to host later that evening, so Peter's forecast appears to be more accurate than Clarissa expected. She also is married to some sort of politician or government official, though he is not the Prime Minister. Clarissa acknowledges that, sometimes, she feels as if she has lost her own identity, her self-worth, and her only purpose is to be her husband's wife, Mrs. Richard Dalloway. Some of Clarissa's thoughts come off as superficial and materialistic, such as her worries about her hat or that she is passionate about gloves, which emphasize that she is suited for her role as a high society housewife. Although Clarissa's life has become almost exactly what Peter Walsh had predicted, and she cried at first when he told her, she still has a great love for life.
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I agree that despite Mrs. Dalloway's initial sad reaction to Mr. Walsh saying "she had the makings of a perfect hostess" (Woolf 7) she still acts and thinks as a perfect hostess and wife. In some ways, I think she is even happy with her marriage and life. When Mrs. Dalloway arrives home from buying flowers, she notices her surroundings: the cook whistling, "click of the type writer" (29), and the "swish of Lucy's skirts" (29) and declares she "felt blessed and purified" (29). She is so overwhelmed with happiness that she expresses, "how moments like this are the buds on the tree of life...[she] must repay in daily life... to Richard her husband, who was the foundation of it all" (29). The expression of gratuity and joy from Mrs. Dalloway indicates that Peter's predictions of her future are accurate, but also that is now happy with her life of a hostess married to Richard.
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