An Obligatory Interpretation of Mrs Dalloway and The Hours
Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs Dalloway, is a classic in the literary world, with various interpretations of it, such as Conner’s (2015) work, the analysis of which tends towards the philosophical exploration of power, trying to find meaning in this woman’s life-in-a-day. The Hours is both an award-winning book by Michael Cunningham and a film produced by Stephen Daldry (released in 2002), although only the film adaption is considered here.
The Hours offers new and provocative criticisms of society that serve to intensify the themes of Woolf’s novel. In particular, it extends and reforms our original perceptions of Mrs Dalloway, offering us a different interpretation of the book’s messages.
One of the major themes within the book was death, whether it be in the suicide of Septimus or Mrs Dalloway’s contemplations of the “profound darkness”. “Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death.” While death in Mrs Dalloway is reasonably in-depth, such as Septimus’s ramblings about death — his thinking about “how there is no death” — the perspective The Hours presents is nuanced. Three people consider life and death, and two of those consider suicide; these are opportunities to show how these themes can apply in different situations.
It could be argued that another aspect in which The Hours complements and supplants Mrs Dalloway, especially in the modern analysis of themes present in the novel, is the usage of contemporary illnesses. PTSD was used specifically because it was a stigmatized condition during or after WW1, the period in which Mrs Dalloway was written. AIDS as used in The Hours fulfils a similar niche, acting as its contemporary equivalent. By doing this, The Hours can better offer criticisms of modern culture in the aspect of stigmatized illnesses.
This argument is used by Conner (2015) who interprets Mrs Dalloway through a post-war trauma lens. They suggest that the effects of World War I are evident in the mental illness that Septimus expresses and the repressed emotional pain of Mrs Dalloway in Woolf’s novel. It can be concluded that the successful successive interpretation of Mrs Dalloway succeeded by The Hours is contributed by the introduction of a contemporary illness, portraying, and interpreting Woolf artistically.
Although the theme of death may have been chosen by the directors to captivate the viewer, The Hours was still able to offer contemporary ideas and comparisons which contrast with that of Mrs Dalloway.
Furthermore, Lucrezia’s attitude to Septimus’s life is also expanded upon and improved in The Hours in contrast with Mrs Dalloway. Lucrezia in Mrs Dalloway said to herself, “[this way of living] is wicked; why should I suffer? … No; I can’t stand it any longer,” which indicates that she did not like her current situation as it is greatly affected by the mental illness that Septimus was afflicted by. One way of removing this anguish experienced by Lucrezia is by removing the source of pain such as the suicide by defenestration that Septimus eventually performs. While there is no moment of clarity experienced by Septimus (aligned with the fog of PTSD), it can be deduced that Lucrezia, while not explicitly saying that Septimus should kill himself, does not mind if Septimus were to die.
This idea is conveyed by Septimus’s eventual suicide. Lucrezia thought, “far rather would she that he were dead!” She also said, “he is dead” while “smiling at the poor old woman who guarded her” in the minutes after his suicide. This unperturbed attitude arising from his death gives credence to the continuity of the theme of mental strain and the casual acceptance of death in both Mrs Dalloway and The Hours.
Additionally, this idea is paralleled between the relationship between Lucrezia and Septimus and the one linking Clarissa Vaughn and Richard. This connection between the two relationships explores the recurring idea of living for someone else’s benefit, yet the one portrayed in The Hours is opaquer. “I think I’m only staying alive to satisfy you.” This is a blatant statement which Richard asserts with conviction. This statement is demonstrated further by the subsequent reaction of Clarissa Vaughn. Her reaction is considerate and its delivery wavering. Her accented voice betrays her emotional reaction. “Well, so that is what we do”. The most important observation of this short dialogue is in Clarissa Vaughn’s reply: by not answering the question outright, she gives herself plausible deniability for any inferred answer. This has the corollary of invoking interest in the viewer as to her actual beliefs, as an important part of film is in viewer retention and engagement. In Mrs Dalloway, this aspect is much less clear as reader retention lies in the ability for the author to create a realistic situation and explore its ins-and-outs. Lucrezia reflects on her own happiness with this: “…and he was happy without her. Nothing could make her happy without him! Nothing!”
This comparison continues. In The Hours, there is a scene where Richard is about to commit defenestration, Clarissa Vaughn tried to blame “the voices”, the same illusion to mental illness. (This is mentioned in Mrs Dalloway by Lucrezia who could not stand that Septimus “saw faces laughing at him, calling him horrible disgusting names… and making her write things down.”) This blame is shaken off by Richard who says that “no, Mrs Dalloway, it’s you”, forcing her to reconsider the truth in his statement. The film acknowledges this shift by immediately focusing on her face, the remnants of words which sought to deflect his words falling silent as she stutters inaudibly.
This apparent truth, that it was her who was in pain and wanted it to stop, could not be avoided as the culmination of Clarissa Vaughn’s journey. This can be compared to the beliefs that tormented Lucrezia, why “she was so unhappy, for weeks and weeks now”. The thematic idea of fatigue after looking after someone until the point where it becomes detrimental to both the dependent and the caregiver is intensified in The Hours, both with mental illness and the pain that haunted Clarissa Vaughn for so long. This can be attributed to the ability for the medium of film to better express the complexities of emotion and mental stress. Hugh the doctor’s own words are apt here, he who played a part in Septimus’s demise: “The people we are most fond of are not good for us when we are ill”.
The idea of living for someone else is explored better in The Hours because of the multiple timelines. In the film, this parallel is also drawn between Leonard and Virginia. One specific scene comes to mind: at the train station. In this, Leonard implores Virginia to “go home now, [as] Nelly’s cooking dinner. She’s already had a very difficult day. It’s just our obligation to eat Nelly’s dinner.” Virginia cuts in with a forceful, “there’s no such obligation.” The theme of living for someone else is apparent here. Continuing, Leonard explains that they “set up the printing press not just for itself … but so that you might have a ready source of absorption and a remedy! … It was done out of love! If I didn’t know you better, I would call [the lack of obligation to both Nelly’s dinner and her own betterment] ingratitude!”
This quote is reasoning from Leonard which sought to appeal to Virginia’s judgement. However, this quote implies that Virginia is being coerced. She fires back with: “My life has been stolen from me… I am living a life I have no wish to live.” Virginia points out that she has no reason to comply, no reason to live. The Hours can tackle the theme of living for the benefit of others in two ways: living without a choice and living for the “good days”. This is an extension of the original exploration by Woolf.
The themes tackled in The Hours and Mrs Dalloway are linked, with allusions such as the term of endearment Richard called Clarissa Vaughn (“Mrs Dalloway”, in a way that breaks the fourth wall) essential to the connection of these two films. The adaption of The Hours to film complemented the initial consideration in Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway. It acted as a contemporary lens with which to view the classic work Mrs Dalloway.
As an aside: I found the scene after Richard’s death particularly intriguing. After Vaughn begins to function again at her apartment, one of her actions included tipping a flat bowl of crustacean foodstuffs into the bin. While this is not interesting alone, there was a short interaction between Richard and Vaughn at the start of the movie where Richard said, “I love the crab thing.” This food item represents an artifact of Richard. With her disposal of this, it could signify something significant. However, the camera work during this section stood out to me. There was no zooming in. This suggested that the scene was intentionally vague and therefore insignificant, a claim which contradicts the initial assumption. Looking into this fact, I noticed that this this movie tends to zoom into faces a lot, but not often onto inanimate objects. This might have to do with the importance of facial expressions in determining the emotional state of each character.
