In the prologue the novelist describes the set and the first character: Virginia Woolf and her suicide. The set is the city of Richardson at the beginning of the 2nd World War. In the prologue the intelligent reader can already recognize two tragic events: Virginia Woolf's suicide and the war; and he can also imagine how the novel will continue. In the prologue is also reported the original letter written by Virginia Woolf to her husband, Mr Leonard, whit this the writer makes the novel more realistic.
The prologue function is to involve the reader and makes him curious to go on to read the novel.