Who is Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway?

Clarissa Dalloway is the central character of Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel, Mrs. Dalloway. She is an upper-class London socialite married to a member of Parliament.12

The narrative follows a single day in her life as she prepares to host a party, a task she approaches as a means of affirming life and managing her own internal struggles. Clarissa is portrayed as a complex, often disillusioned figure whose fluctuating moods suggest suppressed symptoms of depression. While she appears to focus on the superficial expectations of high society, this behavior is interpreted by some as a coping mechanism to shield herself from uncomfortable realities, including the lingering trauma of World War I.1

Throughout the novel, Clarissa serves as a foil to Septimus Warren Smith, a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. By the end of the story, Clarissa’s identification with Septimus’s choice to preserve his soul through death leads her to reflect on the compromises she has made in her own life.1