I feel as if Clarissa Dalloway is a very tragic character. I don't know the formal literary definition of "tragic", but she certainly appeals to my sympathetic side, and I feel as if she is not content with her life, even if she tries to convince herself otherwise. This is shown through her relationships with other people.
First, Sally Seton. Clarissa admires Sally a lot (at least young Sally), chiefly because of her free spirit. The reason Clarissa is so attracted to this is because she wishes she could be that way as well, but is too focused on being "successful". I refrain from defining successful, because Hugh Whitbread's success is much different from what Sally considered success 30 years ago. I feel as if Clarissa is held down by what other people think. She puts her own pleasure behind other people viewing her with respect. (A silly idea to me, since how does she know what theyll think?) I think that Clarissa has also managed to convince herself that she does take pleasure in keeping her hair up and being respectable, but deep down, reminisces nostalgically about her time with Sally, wishing that she could be in a relationship like that again--that is, one in which she can let her hair down through someone else.
With Richard Dalloway, that is impossible. He, too, is trapped in the pretentious world of the London upper-class, although he may actually enjoy it (as he is in a position of power and seems to be cut from a different fabric than Clarissa). Clarissa, of course is attracted to him. He represents everything she aspires to be associated with. I won't get into my personal philosophies, but I feel for Clarissa because she doesn't realize that being a snob is not the only way to get respect.
Of course, she does have Hugh as an example. The Admirable Hugh is one of those "perfect humans" with the possible exception of being chubby. When Clarissa sees Hugh, she forgets any doubts she might have had about taking a different path. He is the epitome of respectable. All those in power idolize him; who cares that Peter dislikes him-- the opinions or laypeople hardly matter!
Which bring us to Peter Walsh. The big What If of Clarissa's life. He represents the other path-- the carefree path, living his life for himself, not others. Of course, she looks upon Peter with disdain now, but still imagines an alternate life with him.
My base argument is that Clarissa has very conflicting thoughts deep inside her, and when she was forced to make a final decision, she could not be completely happy with either outcome. For her, the choice was between control over her own life, or having to continually check herself to make sure her actions fit what was "respectable" to the upper class. For this reason, Mrs. Dalloway strikes me as a very tragic character.
1 comment:
I'm not sure what I think about this. There is definitely a tragic potential in the image of Clarissa as a middle-aged woman feeling as if here life has been wasted, or not lived in the way it might have been, and there's plenty of evidence to back this up. (Her feelings about her newly adult daughter, for a start--she feels "replaced" by Miss Kilman and her values rejected by Elizabeth, but it's also no coincidence that Elizabeth is the age Clarissa was back at Bourton. She literally *embodies* the stage of life Clarissa can't stop thinking back to, when all these possibilities were open to her.) And yes, she does care about "society" very much, and this means caring what others think of her, and yes this constrains and shapes the type of life available to her. But we also have to understand "society" as a buouying force in Clarissa's life--it doesn't simply "repress" her, it's the context within which all the "magic" she calls "life" can happen, and this is why "her parties" are so important to her.
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