Mrs Dalloway: Setting and world
13 lenses on setting and world for Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8 I9 I10 I11 I12 I13
I1. Places named and how often each appears. Count
London is the place named most, 43 times.
| Place | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| London | 43 | 17 |
| Bourton | 29 | 12 |
| India | 25 | 12 |
| Bond Street | 9 | 2 |
| Strand | 9 | 2 |
| Italy | 4 | 3 |
| Broad Walk | 3 | 3 |
| Army and Navy Stores | 3 | 2 |
| Hatchards | 1 | 1 |
I2. Setting by chapter, as a map. Both
The place named most in each chapter. A rough setting map. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Chapter | Place named most |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bond Street |
| 2 | Bond Street |
| 3 | London |
| 4 | Bourton |
| 5 | India |
| 6 | London |
| 7 | Bourton |
| 8 | India |
| 9 | London |
| 10 | London |
| 11 | London |
| 12 | London |
| 13 | London |
| 14 | Army and Navy Stores |
London is the setting throughout, moving from Regent's Park and Bond Street in morning chapters to Clarissa's home and party venue by evening. Each chapter traces a different character's path through the city on a single June day.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 6, Ch 9, Ch 18, Ch 19
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. (Ch 1, para 16)
The violent explosion which made Mrs. Dalloway jump and Miss Pym go to the window and apologise came from a motor car which had drawn to the side of the pavement precisely opposite Mulberry’s shop window. (Ch 2, para 7)
Lucrezia Warren Smith, sitting by her husband’s side on a seat in Regent’s Park in the Broad Walk, looked up. (Ch 2, para 37)
I3. Setting shown in blocks or woven into action? AI
Setting is woven into action and consciousness. Woolf shows London through characters' perceptions and movements rather than in separate descriptive blocks, making the city an active presence in their thoughts.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 6, Ch 9
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. (Ch 1, para 16)
The violent explosion which made Mrs. Dalloway jump and Miss Pym go to the window and apologise came from a motor car which had drawn to the side of the pavement precisely opposite Mulberry’s shop window. (Ch 2, para 7)
Like a woman who had slipped off her print dress and white apron to array herself in blue and pearls, the day changed, put off stuff, took gauze, changed to evening (Ch 18, para 2)
I4. Weather and light used for mood. Both
Weather and light words: 1.83 per 1,000 words.
Weather and light words, chapter by chapter
Light and weather mark the day's progress from morning brightness to evening. The aeroplane and motor car create atmospheric disturbance. Light becomes softer and more introspective as the party approaches, matching emotional tone.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 18, Ch 20
The violent explosion which made Mrs. Dalloway jump and Miss Pym go to the window and apologise came from a motor car which had drawn to the side of the pavement precisely opposite Mulberry’s shop window. (Ch 2, para 7)
Like a woman who had slipped off her print dress and white apron to array herself in blue and pearls, the day changed, put off stuff, took gauze, changed to evening (Ch 18, para 2)
Fear no more the heat of the sun. She must go back to them. But what an extraordinary night! (Ch 20, para 31)
I5. The social world: class, money, rules. AI
Class and money structure the novel. Clarissa's upper-class world of parties and social duty contrasts with Septimus's working-class struggle. Doctors and authority figures wield power over the vulnerable. Money enables Clarissa's freedom.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 18, Ch 19
it was a case of extreme gravity. It was a case of complete breakdown--complete physical and nervous breakdown, with every symptom in an advanced stage (Ch 11, para 1)
Conversion is her name and she feasts on the wills of the weakly, loving to impress, to impose, adoring her own features stamped on the face of the populace. (Ch 11, para 46)
Staggering he saw her mount the appalling staircase, laden with Holmes and Bradshaw, men who never weighed less than eleven stone six, who sent their wives to Court (Ch 16, para 34)
I6. Rules of the world (magic, science) and when each is shown. AI
The novel follows scientific and medical rules of the real world. Sir William Bradshaw's medical authority is treated as a force of nature, almost magical in its power to impose order and crush individuality.
Chapters: Ch 11, Ch 16
it was a case of extreme gravity. It was a case of complete breakdown--complete physical and nervous breakdown, with every symptom in an advanced stage (Ch 11, para 1)
Conversion is her name and she feasts on the wills of the weakly, loving to impress, to impose, adoring her own features stamped on the face of the populace. (Ch 11, para 46)
Staggering he saw her mount the appalling staircase, laden with Holmes and Bradshaw, men who never weighed less than eleven stone six, who sent their wives to Court (Ch 16, para 34)
I7. Lore: dripped in or dumped? AI
Historical and cultural lore is dripped in naturally. References to the war, the Prime Minister, and social customs emerge through characters' thoughts and conversations rather than being explained.
Chapters: Ch 10, Ch 17, Ch 19
when Evans was killed, just before the Armistice, in Italy, Septimus, far from showing any emotion or recognising that here was the end of a friendship, congratulated himself upon feeling very little and very reasonably (Ch 10, para 2)
holding out his flowers, “I love you.” Why not? Really it was a miracle thinking of the war (Ch 13, para 1)
I8. Real history used, and how. AI
The novel is set on a single day in June 1923 post-war London. Septimus's war trauma and the recent Armistice ground the psychological crisis in real history. The war shapes characters' inner lives without being directly narrated.
Chapters: Ch 10, Ch 16, Ch 17
when Evans was killed, just before the Armistice, in Italy, Septimus, far from showing any emotion or recognising that here was the end of a friendship, congratulated himself upon feeling very little and very reasonably (Ch 10, para 2)
holding out his flowers, “I love you.” Why not? Really it was a miracle thinking of the war (Ch 13, para 1)
I9. Journeys: distance and time taken. Both
Journeys are short and local, all within London on a single day. Clarissa walks to buy flowers, Peter follows a woman through streets, Septimus moves between park and home. Distance is measured in emotional rather than physical terms.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 9, Ch 15
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. (Ch 1, para 16)
The violent explosion which made Mrs. Dalloway jump and Miss Pym go to the window and apologise came from a motor car which had drawn to the side of the pavement precisely opposite Mulberry’s shop window. (Ch 2, para 7)
I10. Objects that matter, where they appear. Both
flowers is the object named most.
| Object | Mentions | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| flowers | 42 | 14 |
| hat | 39 | 13 |
| dress | 39 | 15 |
| roses | 32 | 8 |
| motor car | 13 | 4 |
| aeroplane | 11 | 3 |
| ambulance | 6 | 1 |
| stone urn | 1 | 1 |
Flowers matter throughout: Clarissa buys them, Richard brings roses, Septimus and Rezia decorate a hat with them. Flowers symbolise beauty, connection and moments of grace amid suffering and social performance.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 13, Ch 15, Ch 16
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. (Ch 1, para 16)
Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! (Ch 4, para 8)
all were burnt out, for he had a sense, as he watched Rezia trimming the straw hat for Mrs. Peters, of a coverlet of flowers. (Ch 15, para 29)
I11. Density of period detail. AI
Period detail is moderate and selective. Woolf includes the aeroplane, motor cars, and social customs but avoids heavy historical exposition. Details emerge through characters' consciousness rather than authorial description.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 18, Ch 19
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. (Ch 1, para 16)
The violent explosion which made Mrs. Dalloway jump and Miss Pym go to the window and apologise came from a motor car which had drawn to the side of the pavement precisely opposite Mulberry’s shop window. (Ch 2, para 7)
Like a woman who had slipped off her print dress and white apron to array herself in blue and pearls, the day changed, put off stuff, took gauze, changed to evening (Ch 18, para 2)
I12. Setting as an enemy. AI
Setting is not hostile but indifferent. London is beautiful and stimulating but also overwhelming, especially for Septimus. The city's crowds and noise intensify psychological fragility rather than causing it.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 8, Ch 9
It is I who am blocking the way, he thought. Was he not being looked at and pointed at; was he not weighted there, rooted to the pavement, for a purpose? (Ch 2, para 12)
For the surface agitation of the passing car as it sunk grazed something very profound. (Ch 2, para 25)
I13. Indoors against outdoors. Both
Indoor words outnumber outdoor words 357 to 239. (rough estimate from word lists)
Indoor share %, chapter by chapter
Indoors and outdoors carry symbolic weight. Outdoors offers freedom and beauty; indoors brings social duty and constraint. Septimus's final escape is from indoors to the street. Clarissa's party is indoors but opens onto the city.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 20
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. (Ch 1, para 16)
Now she was deserted; now rejoined. New worshippers came in from the street to replace the strollers, and still, as people gazed round and shuffled past the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, still she barred her eyes with her fingers (Ch 15, para 1)
I’ll give it you!” he cried, and flung himself vigorously, violently down on to Mrs. Filmer’s area railings. (Ch 16, para 43)
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