The Narrative Schemata in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway

Katarzyna Szeremeta-Kołodzińska

Katedra Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie

Abstract

In Virginia Woolf’s ample literary oeuvre the 1925 Mrs Dalloway continues to invite
most interest among literary scholars. This article closely examines Woolfian narrative strategies
and schemata that pertain to the image of Clarissa Dalloway, the novel’s eponymous
character. The subject of analysis is the relation between Clarissa and Peter Walsh (former
suitor and confidant) which shapes this portrait. Although he belongs to Clarissa’s “entourage”
(Woolf called upon a group of other characters in protagonists’ support), his role as the
main observer is most pronounced in the novel. Peter Walsh, who acts as a “reflector” −
narrator’s agency − helps to reconstruct for the reader otherwise fragmented and elusive image
of Clarissa. His contribution is realised by means of narrative functions he fulfils: legitimising
her accounts, accompanying her (as a construct of protagonist’s imagination though)
in London strolls and mediating between the realm of imagery and empirical world.

Keywords:

Mrs Dalloway, narrative schemata, reflector(s), Virginia Woolf