Mrs Dalloway characters

Appears from the start

A wealthy London society hostess preparing for an evening party at her Westminster home. In her early fifties and recently ill, she moves through the city while reflecting on age, mortality, social performance, and the choices that shaped her marriage.

Appears from the start

Clarissa's husband, a Conservative member of Parliament involved in government committees. Dependable and reserved, he loves Clarissa but often finds direct declarations of feeling difficult.

Appears from the start

Clarissa and Richard's seventeen-year-old daughter. She is becoming independent of her mother's social world and spends time with her history tutor, Miss Kilman, whose influence worries Clarissa.

Appears from the start

Clarissa's former suitor, newly returned to London after years in India. Emotional, restless, and sharply observant of the society around him, he still measures his life against Clarissa's refusal of his marriage proposal.

Also known as Lady Rosseter

Appears from the start

Clarissa's daring and unconventional friend from their youth at Bourton, now married and known as Lady Rosseter. Clarissa remembers the intensity of their closeness as one of the most important emotional experiences of her life.

Appears from the start

A veteran of the First World War suffering severe psychological distress. Once an aspiring poet, he is haunted by the death of his officer and friend Evans and feels increasingly cut off from ordinary emotion and shared reality.

Also known as Rezia

Appears from the start

Septimus's Italian wife, a skilled maker of hats who left Milan for marriage in England. Isolated and frightened by her husband's illness, she tries to care for him while seeking medical help that will take his suffering seriously.

Appears from the start

Septimus's former commanding officer and close friend, killed during the war. His remembered presence is central to Septimus's trauma and appears within the veteran's hallucinations.

Appears from the start

A general practitioner treating Septimus. Confident that the veteran merely needs ordinary habits and a change of attitude, he dismisses the seriousness of Septimus's inner experience.

Appears from the start

An eminent specialist consulted about Septimus. He recommends isolation in an institution and presents submission to his medical authority as a restoration of proportion.

Appears from the start

Elizabeth's history tutor, a poor, embittered woman whose intense religious faith and attachment to Elizabeth place her in conflict with Clarissa. Each woman regards the other with a mixture of hostility and insecurity.

Appears from the start

An old friend of Clarissa and Richard, conventionally charming and well connected. His small talk, good manners, and access to powerful circles make him a familiar representative of the social world Clarissa both values and questions.

Appears from the start

An aristocratic friend who hosts political lunches and recruits Richard and Hugh to help with a public cause. Her invitations and influence reflect the networks of rank and government surrounding the Dalloways.