Analysis

The extract has a particular structure: the novelist alternates descriptive parts and reflective ones. It is organized in six paragraphs each representing a different topic. The first one render Clarissa's reaction in front of the news of Septimus's death. Virginia Woolf adopts the language of sensitive impression in order to describe the emotions that Clarissa feels through her body. Mrs Dalloway experiences Septimus's death physically: her dress feels like burning, her body burns , she sees the ground rising and the rusty spikes and she hears the thud in his brain. The second paragraph deals with Clarissa's internal monologue and her reflection on the difficulties of life: the narrator explain at the same time Clarissa's thoughts and what is happening at the party. In the third paragraph the narrator present Mrs Dalloway's idea of Sir William Bradshaw and his treatment; in her opinion he is polite with women but at the same time capable of extreme atrocities. In the following one Mrs Dalloway starts talking about her husband Richard who always reads The Times.

During the party Mr and Mrs Bradshaw start to talk about Septimus's suicide, a young man and Clarissa decides to go to another room in order to think about death and meaning of life. The short time Clarissa spends in the little room is saturated with significant allusions and images. Because of Septimus's death and the old lady, Mrs Dalloway steps out of the social circle of her party and connects to the larger sense of life and death occurring around her. The old woman in the window across from Clarissa's house represents the privacy of the soul and the loneliness that goes with it. Clarissa in the old lady sees her future. After the reflection, in the last paragraph, she returns to the party with a sense of life and a need to stay together with the people who are important to her. She has conquered the sense of isolation and returned to social connection. In this extract there are two quotations from Shakespeare :”If it were now to die, 'twere now to be most happy“ from Othello and ”Fear no more the heat of the sun“ from Cymbeline. The many appearances of Shakespeare specifically and poetry in general suggest hopefulness, the possibility of finding comfort in art, and the survival of the soul. Clarissa quotes Shakespeare's play many time throughout the day. 

Comprehension

1. Clarissa is told of Septimus's death and imagines him throwing himself from a window;

2. She thinks of her happiness at Bourton and of the pleasure one derives from the activities of day-to-day life;

3. She reflects on life and death;

4. She imagines the meeting between Septimus and Sir William Bradshaw;

5. She thinks life can be difficult, but she has the support of her husband;

6. She contrasts her easy and successful life with the death and suffering of other people;

7. She walks to the window;

8. She parts the curtains and sees an old lady looking at her;

9. The sky is not as Clarissa had imagined it;

10. She watches the old lady going to bed;

11. She thinks of Septimus again but does not pity him;

12. She decides to go back to her party.

Interpretation

>> The break in the mood of the party occurs with the arrival of Mr and Mrs Bradshaw. After hearing of Septimus's death, Clarissa is no longer worried about making sure everyone is happy or leading around the prestigious members of the crowd. She goes to a small room in order to deal with the feeling of death that has invaded her party and her being. Clarissa identifies herself with Septimus's views on meaning of life, they can't accept their reality for what it is; but they make different choices. Clarissa is always keeping herself busy with parties and such things just to escape from the reality while Septimus faces the horrible reality that Clarissa keeps escaping from and he loses his mind.

>> Clarissa doesn't know the stranger who committed suicide but she is equally upset for what has happened even if she doesn't feel nay remorse for this young man. “Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate”: life could obviously be inserted in this reflection on death but the essence of life, the thing that matter, is impossible to define. This extract forces the reader to think about the relatives of death and how people must deal with this knowledge on their own.

>> Clarissa sees Mr Bradshaw as a great doctor and a person extremely polite to women but capable of some indescribable outrage. He is a psychiatrist and he doesn't do his job well because when Septimus felt bad Mr Bradshaw doesn't help him.

>> Mr Dalloway struggles constantly to balance her internal life with the external world. Her world consists of parties, fine fashion and high society but as she moves through this world she starts thinking about death and important of life. Clarissa has a tendency toward introspection that gives her a profound capacity of emotion so she feels bad for others' weakness.

>>Clarissa is at the center of the contrast between her social life and the world outside. She in particular struggles to open the pathway for communication and throws parties in an attempt to draw people together; at the same time she feels shrouded within her own reflective soul and thinks the ultimate human mystery is how she can exist in one room while other people live their lives in other places.

>> The two quotation from Shakespeare are: “If it were now to die, 'twere now to be most happy” from Othello and “Fear no more the heat of the sun” from Cymbeline. The many appearances of Shakespeare specifically and poetry in general suggest hopefulness, the possibility of finding comfort in art, and the survival of the soul. Clarissa quotes Shakespeare's play many time throughout the day. She quotes Othello because she identifies with the main character of the play, who loves his wife but kills her out of jealously. Mrs Dalloway shares with Othello the sense of having lost a love.

>> In the extract Virginia Woolf puts lots of repetitions and conjunctions to better explain Clarissa's feeling. The sentence are not connected to each other as if they would represent the thoughts which arise in the human mind.