Who is Mrs. Dalloway?
Probably it is best to start with what Clarissa Dalloway looks like so that we have a frame for our discoveries about her. And in determining Mrs. Dalloway's physical features we should note how we learn such details; Virginia Woolf's art of narration is just as important as the content of her novels.
We learn that Mrs. Dalloway prefers to buy the flowers herself This seems like an innocuous statement, yet this single sentence is the entire first paragraph; it is a curious way of beginning a novel. What lies behind the first sentence is this: Virginia Woolf is getting Mrs. Dalloway out of the house so that she can be seen by strangers, by an old friend, and by a neighbor. Also, Mrs. Dalloway can react to a London she has not seen for some time. We are going to learn about Mrs. Dalloway from various points of view; we will not be told outright the facts about Mrs. Dalloway because such collections of facts reveal too little. We must learn by observation.
Mrs. Dalloway's excursion is not routine. Usually Mrs. Dalloway has things done for her; she is not used to doing errands. Today, however, seems special to her because it is fresh and brisk. The fact that the maid is busy supervising the removal of the winter doors is an excellent opportunity for Mrs. Dalloway to go out shopping. This is a day when Mrs. Dalloway is going to do something she enjoys but which, because of illness, she has not been able to do for some time: to go strolling on an errand through London's noisy, bustling traffic. The return of the summer season, the return of Mrs. Dalloway's health, and her return to a busy London scene parallel one another.
As Clarissa heads for the flower shop, we leave her thoughts and enter the mind of Scrope Purvis. Purvis has been Clarissa's neighbor for many years so his observation is valuable. He thinks of Mrs. Dalloway as bird-like — perched, as it were, on the curb. She seems bird-like despite being fiftyish and still bearing the pallor of her recent illness. She is wearing a feathered yellow hat (we learn this after she returns home) and possibly this spot of plumage influences Scrope's comparison. But, no, Clarissa also thinks of herself as bird-like — too bird-like, she would say. We learn this when she reflects on Lady Bexborough.
