Nina G. 20th Century Novel

Brett and Clarissa can be viewed as complete opposites yet they have subtle similarities much like Septimus and Jake. Brett is viewed as a bachelorette. She goes out with many men and is introducing many styles for women that haven’t emerged yet in that time period (short hair and loose clothes). She is very confident in who she is and is just there for a good time. Clarissa however is married and is extremely self-conscious. She, like Brett, enjoys parties however becomes very stressed with the people at the parties. Clarissa is constantly second-guessing herself and her “role” in society. She hates being criticized of extreme femininity (when Peter calls her a “perfect hostess”) yet she is worried about pleasing Richard and satisfying her role as a wife. Brett, quite frankly, isn’t worried about any of this. She married her first husband for his money, divorced him, is going to marry another man whom she doesn’t love, and is going out with many other men. She also doesn’t care a...

I was very surprised with this movie. To start off, I didn’t know what to expect and was a little confused in the beginning. As the movie continued, I noticed the stark similarities between the movie and the book. The book transitions smoothly between characters and this was an aspect that I was concerned about in the movie. However, the movie did a great job of connecting the characters and making its transitions. By having Woolf’s story being narrated along with the other characters helped me realize how much she related to the book. I found Clarissa Dalloway to be one of the more intriguing characters. The movie combined the Clarissa Dalloway book character and the Lucrezia book character to create the Clarissa Dalloway movie character. We see that she takes care of Richard (who was almost exactly like Septimus), she went out to buy flowers, and she was going to host a party. She also goes through some of the same thoughts as both characters in the book did. She becomes extreme...

More recently (especially with Septimus) there has been the discussion of masculinity and femininity during this time period. We first encounter “femininity” with Clarissa. As a woman, she feels she has a certain responsibility to her husband (like hosting parties and socializing) and that was the expectation of a woman during that time. We see that Peter makes fun of her for almost being “too feminine” when he sees her fixing her dress and fretting about the upcoming party. He believes that she needs to get out and see the world instead of being wrapped up in the societal expectations. Yet, she is also bothered with the idea of not having her own identity. She is known as Mrs. Richard Dalloway rather than Clarissa. During that time period, this was not something a woman should be thinking about. If anything, the woman was supposed to be proud to be her husband’s wife. Throughout the book, we encounter Clarissa experiencing fluctuating levels of what was considered “femininity” an...