Mrs Dalloway — Chapter-by-Chapter Notes
Use this as you read - important points and questions for each section
Note: Mrs Dalloway has no formal chapters. These notes are divided by the major movements of the day.
🕒 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM: The Morning Walk
Section 1: Clarissa and the Flowers
What Happens
- Clarissa Dalloway leaves her house to buy flowers for her party.
- She enjoys the bustle of London and reflects on her life, her husband Richard, and her past at Bourton.
- She remembers Peter Walsh, who she refused to marry, and Sally Seton, with whom she shared a passionate friendship.
- A mysterious car (possibly containing a member of the Royal Family) passes by, and an airplane writes a message in the sky, drawing the attention of all onlookers.
Important Points
- The “Plunge”: The novel begins with Clarissa “plunging” into the morning, a metaphor for life and consciousness.
- Bourton: This is the site of Clarissa’s youth. It represents a time of potential and intense feeling that she constantly compares to her present “settled” life.
- The Airplane: A shared sensory event that links the high-society world of Clarissa with the traumatized world of Septimus.
Questions to Consider
- Why does Clarissa feel that it is “very, very dangerous to live even one day”?
- How does Woolf use the airplane to shift the perspective from one character to another?
Section 2: Septimus in Regent’s Park
What Happens
- We meet Septimus Warren Smith and his wife Rezia.
- Septimus is hallucinating; he sees his dead friend Evans and believes he is receiving messages from the birds and the sky.
- Rezia is desperate and embarrassed, trying to pull him back to “reality.”
- They sit in Regent’s Park, waiting for an appointment with a doctor.
Important Points
- Shell Shock: Septimus’s madness is a direct result of being “anaesthetized” by the war. He can’t feel grief or love, only a terrifying connection to everyone and everything.
- The Double: Septimus acts as a “double” for Clarissa. While she handles social reality with ease, he is overwhelmed by the inner reality she keeps hidden.
Questions to Consider
- How do Septimus’s hallucinations mirror Clarissa’s intense memories?
- Why is Rezia’s perspective just as important as Septimus’s?
🕛 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM: Encounters
Section 3: Peter Walsh’s Visit
What Happens
- Clarissa returns home and finds Peter Walsh has unexpectedly arrived from India.
- They have a tense, awkward, and deeply emotional conversation. Peter is still obsessed with her; Clarissa is both annoyed and moved by him.
- Peter leaves and walks to Regent’s Park, reflecting on Clarissa’s “coldness” and his own “romantic” failures.
Important Points
- The Pocket Knife: Peter is constantly opening and closing his knife—a symbol of his nervous energy and his “intellectual” defensiveness.
- Refining the Self: Both characters are performing for each other while their “true” thoughts run underneath.
Questions to Consider
- Why did Clarissa choose Richard over Peter? Was it a mistake?
- How does Peter view the changes in London since he’s been away?
Section 4: The Doctors
What Happens
- Septimus and Rezia visit Sir William Bradshaw, a prestigious psychiatrist.
- Bradshaw is cold and arrogant. He diagnoses Septimus with a “lack of proportion” and orders him to be sent to a rest home, separated from Rezia.
- Septimus feels his “soul” is being threatened by the doctor’s “conversion” and “proportion.”
Important Points
- “Proportion” and “Conversion”: These are Woolf’s code words for societal oppression. Bradshaw doesn’t want to heal Septimus; he wants to force him to conform.
Questions to Consider
- Why does Woolf portray Sir William Bradshaw so negatively?
- What does Septimus mean by “the crime” he has committed?
🕒 1:30 PM – 6:00 PM: The Shadow of Death
Section 5: Richard and Elizabeth
What Happens
- Richard Dalloway has lunch with Lady Bruton. He tries to buy flowers for Clarissa as a way of saying “I love you,” but he can’t bring himself to say the words.
- Clarissa’s daughter, Elizabeth, spends time with her tutor, Miss Kilman.
- Clarissa and Miss Kilman despise each other; it is a battle between upper-class social grace (Clarissa) and bitter religious poverty (Kilman).
- Elizabeth takes an omnibus ride alone, enjoying the city and her budding independence.
Important Points
- Communication Breakdown: Richard’s inability to speak his love echoes the general difficulty characters have in truly connecting.
- The “Manon”: Miss Kilman represents the soul distorted by self-pity and religious dogma.
Questions to Consider
- Why does Clarissa fear Miss Kilman so much?
- What does Elizabeth’s omnibus ride represent for the future of women?
Section 6: Septimus’s Suicide
What Happens
- Septimus and Rezia share a brief, happy moment making a hat together.
- Dr. Holmes (Septimus’s other doctor) forces his way into their home.
- Rather than let the “human nature” (embodied by the doctors) take him, Septimus jumps out of the window shouting “I’ll give it you!”
Important Points
- Autonomy: Septimus’s suicide is portrayed not just as an act of madness, but as a “defiance.” He kills himself to protect the privacy and integrity of his soul.
Questions to Consider
- Was Septimus’s death avoidable?
- Why does Septimus say “I’ll give it you” before he jumps?
🌙 6:00 PM – Late Night: The Party
Section 7: The Party
What Happens
- The party begins. Many minor characters from earlier in the day reappear.
- Sally Seton (now a mother of five) and Peter Walsh wait for Clarissa.
- Sir William Bradshaw arrives and mentions that a young man (Septimus) has killed himself.
- Clarissa retreats to a small room to think about this death. She realizes he has “preserved” something in death that she has lost in her social life.
- She returns to the party, and the novel ends with Peter’s observation: “For there she was.”
Important Points
- The Recognition: Clarissa sees Septimus’s death as an act of communication. She “feels” his death in her own body.
- The Old Woman: Clarissa looks out the window and sees an old woman going to bed. This represents the “privacy of the soul”—the part of us that remains untouched by society.
Questions to Consider
- Why is Septimus’s death the most important event at Clarissa’s party?
- What is the meaning of the final sentence: “For there she was”?
📝 Your Notes
Write your observations about the “leaden circles” of time and the connection between the characters here:
Chapter-by-Chapter Notes created: 2025-12-25
For Great Literature 101 - Book 6 of 10