Mrs Dalloway & The Hours Essay Guide (HSC Module A)

1Introduction

Today, we’ll be looking at Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway (1925) and Stephen Daldry’s film The Hours (2002) in the updated HSC Syllabus. Below is an unpacking of the new syllabus description for HSC Module A and how we can compare the two texts.

Students explore the ways in which the comparative study of texts can reveal resonances and dissonances within and between texts. Students identify, interpret, analyse and evaluate the textual features, conventions, contexts, values and purposes of TWO prescribed texts. By comparing TWO texts, students understand how authors are influenced by other texts, contexts and values, and how these shape meaning. Through their comparative study, they explore common or disparate issues, values, assumptions or perspectives, and the ways these are depicted. By responding imaginatively, interpretively and critically to the comparative study, students explore and evaluate individual and common textual features, concepts, ideas and values.

Important things to note:

• comparative study of texts can reveal resonances and dissonances between and within texts
• analyse and evaluate the textual features, conventions, contexts, values and purposes of texts
• common or disparate issues, values, assumptions or perspectives
• individual and common textual features, concepts, ideas and values

Let’s explore how main ideas are explored in the two texts and their resonances and dissonances:

2Mrs Dalloway

Female identity

Clarissa embodies the roles of the ‘perfect hostess’, yet she seems to be increasingly aware that her identity is inextricably linked to her husband’s and seeks out independence from social pressures. She sees her romantic experiences with Sally as invigorating before both of them settled down to conform to expectations of wifehood and motherhood.

Time, memory and legacy

The non-linearised structure reflects a liminal temporal passage as Clarissa reminisces on her own past passions, and the motif of Big Ben heightens her dread of ageing and the passage of time. She gradually ponders about her legacy as the perfect hostess and Richard’s wife, and ultimately desires to reassert her own identity, her own name, without any attachment to patriarchal figures. Similarly, Septimus seeks out his memories of before the war and compares it to his currently debilitated state. He is entrapped in an internal time and space as he becomes increasingly paranoid of societal judgement.

Meaning of life

Both Clarissa and Septimus attempt to seek out the meaning and beauty of life, away from the bleakness of their post-WWI epoch. Peter also presents his own cynical view of life in post-WWI London as he feels that he has wasted it, yet is fearful of death.

3The Hours

Female identity

While feminist movements prior to the 2000s instigated some female emancipation, patriarchal restraints still remain in an increasingly nuanced gender dynamic of the contemporary era. Such can be seen through the privileging of the voice of Clarissa in the 2000s timeline, who is sexually and financially liberated, yet still desperately embodying the façade of a ‘perfect hostess’. While Virginia Woolf in the 1920s timeline attempts to assert some form of control over her treatment, ultimately, her husband’s orders take precedence, and she commits suicide through the underlying unfulfillment. The 1950s timeline mirrors the domestication of women in Woolf’s novel through Laura’s abidance by roles in a nuclear family, yet diverges from her role as a wife and mother by eventually abandoning her son, Richard.

Mortality, time, memory

The non-linearised narrative structure of both texts emphasises the crucial influence that time and memory have over one’s view on mortality. The metafictive conventions of postmodernism are reflected in the 1920s opening scene. Throughout the film, Clarissa in the 2000s timeline repeatedly thinks about the times where she had some sort of fulfilment in her life, such as her relationship with Richard. Similarly, Richard reminisces about his times with Clarissa, a stark contrast to his diminished state in the present.

Meaning of life

Daldry presents the need to seek beauty within the ordinary minutiae of modern life, especially through Richard, who is increasingly paranoid of social judgement. Clarissa urges him to appreciate life, yet Clarissa’s own inherent dissatisfaction with her life as a perfect hostess prompts audiences to recognise that she too is unhappy due to her wariness of social judgement. Laura Brown is also dissatisfied with her life, and her brief encounter of the ‘beauty’ in her life is through her kiss with Kitty, a significant departure from the expectations of wives in the 1950s.

4Final thoughts

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