Mrs Dalloway

The extract is taken from “Mrs Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf

STRUCTURE

We can’t notice a particular structure: the extract is organized into paragraphs.

The first paragraph describes the situation, the main character: Mrs Dalloway and her thoughts.

The second paragraph analyzes Scopre Purvis’s point of view about Mrs Dalloway.

DENOTATION

The extract speaks about Mrs Dalloway. She goes out to buy flowers for a party, to night, in her house. She remembers when she was eighteen, when she lived in Bourton and she remembers Peter Walsh, a friend. She remembers when Peter Walsh said: “Musing among the vegetables?”- was that it? – “I prefer men to cauliflower” – was that it?. She says that he would be back from Indiaone of these days but she is forgotten which because his letter is dull. She remembers of him only his smile, his grumpiness, his eyes, his pocket-knife.

She is in the sidewalk and she is waiting for Durtnall’s van passes. Scopre Purvis thinks that Mrs Dallowaw is a charming woman. He knows her because he is her neighbour.

SETTING

In the extract there is reference to space and time when the scene takes place.

The scene takes place in London(as a matter of fact Clarissa lives in Westminster and she hears the Big Ben) and it is morning.

CHARACTERS

In the extract there are three characters: Mrs Dalloway, Peter Walsh and Scopre Purvis.

  • Mrs Dalloway (Clarissa) is a middle-aged woman and she is charming. She goes out to buy flowers for a party.

She is described as “positive” “particular hush” “an indescribable pause” “a suspanse”. She is described by Scopre Purvis as: “a touch of the bird about her, of the jag, bluegreen, light, vivacious, though she was over fifty, and grow very white since her illness”

  • Peter Walsh is a Clarissa’s friend when she lived in Bourton.
  • Scopre Purvis is a Clarissa’s neighbour in Westminster.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE

Virginia Woolf uses a third person narrator and the interior monologue, so she can explore the thoughts of Clarissa, as a matter of fact Mrs Dalloway remembers when she lived in Bourton and remembers Peter Walsh.

She adopts even the use of the flash back and the use of the flash forward in space and time. We can notice the first flash back when she hears the air of the early morning and she remembers when she live in Bourton; the second flash back when she remembers Peter Walsh.

LANGUAGE

Virginia Woolf uses in the extract many figure of speech. Important devices used in the extract are simile and metaphor. They are used to describe the air of early morning: “ like the flap, of a wave, the kiss of a wake; chill and sharp yet solemn”.

Mrs Dalloway is described as: “positive” “a particular hush” “an indescribable pause”; she is described by Scopre Purvis as a charming woman and he says about her: “a touch of the bird about her, of the jay, bluegreen, light, vivacious, though she was over fifty, and grow very white since her illness”.