Mrs Dalloway-Time
Mrs Dalloway
In Virginia Woolf 's Mrs Dalloway, the representation of time and attitudes towards history, are one of the central experiences within her novel. Originally called The Hours, Woolf explores the existence of different time frameworks. The four main frameworks explored in the novel are clocktime, subjective time, historical and evolutionary time. Woolf deals with the transience of time in human existence. Life is portrayed in a state of constant creation, changing endlessly from moment to moment. The characters are pre-occupied with the essence of time. They are acutely aware of the moment as it passes, compounding their thoughts, feelings and apprehensions of the physical world in which the character moves. Others who live simultaneously yet individually also correlate the intimate connection of the moment to their own existence. At the same time, these experiences capitulate moments of similar experiences of the past through links of association. Through analysing the connection between the time frameworks, Woolf attempt to make a statement of human existence, and their ability to value the acts of war and patriotism, rather than acknowledge their true identity. The first and perhaps most noticeable, is the existence of an objective or clocktime framework. As we follow the lives of the characters, particularly the world of Clarissa Dalloway, we are constantly reminded of the regular passage of time, signaled by the striking of the clocks. Apart from the obvious usefulness it has in the daily lives of the characters ', namely in the planning of Clarissa 's party, there is a second more prominent reason for its inclusion in the novel. The narrator 's function by announcing the chiming of the bells acts as a reminder of the ungoverned nature of time, and its inability to be restrained regardless of human desires.
..First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air ' (pg6)
The clear distinctions in
In Virginia Woolf 's Mrs Dalloway, the representation of time and attitudes towards history, are one of the central experiences within her novel. Originally called The Hours, Woolf explores the existence of different time frameworks. The four main frameworks explored in the novel are clocktime, subjective time, historical and evolutionary time. Woolf deals with the transience of time in human existence. Life is portrayed in a state of constant creation, changing endlessly from moment to moment. The characters are pre-occupied with the essence of time. They are acutely aware of the moment as it passes, compounding their thoughts, feelings and apprehensions of the physical world in which the character moves. Others who live simultaneously yet individually also correlate the intimate connection of the moment to their own existence. At the same time, these experiences capitulate moments of similar experiences of the past through links of association. Through analysing the connection between the time frameworks, Woolf attempt to make a statement of human existence, and their ability to value the acts of war and patriotism, rather than acknowledge their true identity. The first and perhaps most noticeable, is the existence of an objective or clocktime framework. As we follow the lives of the characters, particularly the world of Clarissa Dalloway, we are constantly reminded of the regular passage of time, signaled by the striking of the clocks. Apart from the obvious usefulness it has in the daily lives of the characters ', namely in the planning of Clarissa 's party, there is a second more prominent reason for its inclusion in the novel. The narrator 's function by announcing the chiming of the bells acts as a reminder of the ungoverned nature of time, and its inability to be restrained regardless of human desires.
..First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air ' (pg6)
The clear distinctions in
Bibliography: Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway. England: Penguin, 1925. York Notes. Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf : York Notes. Harlow England: York Press 1986. Reprint 1997. Lee, Hermione. The Novels of Virginia Woolf. Methuen London. 1977 Rose, Phyllis. Woman of Letters: A life of Virginia Woolf. Routledge and Kegan Paul London: 1978 (Ch7) Guiguet, Jean. Virginia Woolf and her Works. Hogarth Press London: 1965. Allen, Walter. The English Novel. Harmondsworth: England. 1954. Pg 348-351