The question of whether someone is a kind person is a difficult one to answer, especially when it's about a real person. Similarly, Clarissa from Mrs. Dalloway is not a clear-cut case, which speaks to the realistic characters Woolf has created.
Certainly she can behave or think in nasty ways. While we have not yet finished the book, there are a number of moments when she seems unkind. For example, during the motorcar scene, she thinks condescendingly of the "British middle classes", thinking about the ridiculousness of their clothes and their unrefined manner. She blames the buses, and, in a way, the lower classes, for blocking the Queen (Woolf 17). This may be interpreted as classism, although I wouldn't be so hasty in labeling her as a classist, since this is, after all, early twentieth-century England, and the context is very different from our world today.
Clarissa also appears to be frequently subject to jealousy. In the space of a couple hours, we see her jealousy of Miss Kilman, for her closeness to Clarissa's daughter; as well as her jealousy in reaction to Peter's announcement that he's in love. She thinks that she would rather Elizabeth care for Grizzle, her smelly dog, than Miss Kilman - "Better anything", Clarrissa thinks (Woolf 11). Additionally, Clarrissa thinks, "This woman had taken her daughter from her!" when Miss Kilman and Elizabeth are about to leave the house, her jealousy on full display (Woolf 122). She also automatically thinks badly of Daisy, the woman Peter has fallen in love with: she crudely, sniffily shapes her image of Daisy "with three strokes of a knife", thinking their love "a waste" and "a folly" (Woolf 45).
One could also see her disregard of other people - the Armenians "hunted out of existence, maimed" in particular - as cruelty, as her not having strong sympathy or compassion for other humans (Woolf 117). However, I personally wouldn't categorize Clarissa as a cruel or nasty person.
While embittered in some respects, she is clearly three-dimensional. Like many, she wants to be a good person: we know that she wants to be seen as kind to her servants. Additionally, while she did not care about the Armenians, she did, back when she was younger, like the abstract idea of making the world a better place, and spent ages with Sally discussing how to improve society (Woolf 33). Also, she does not enjoy her jealousy of Ms. Kilman. In fact, she is desperate to escape it (Woolf 12). Overall, Clarissa does not savor her unkindness, but it is there nonetheless.
In the end, I think she, like many humans, wants to be kind, but her actions and thoughts are often distorted by her own self-interest.
One could also see her disregard of other people - the Armenians "hunted out of existence, maimed" in particular - as cruelty, as her not having strong sympathy or compassion for other humans (Woolf 117). However, I personally wouldn't categorize Clarissa as a cruel or nasty person.
While embittered in some respects, she is clearly three-dimensional. Like many, she wants to be a good person: we know that she wants to be seen as kind to her servants. Additionally, while she did not care about the Armenians, she did, back when she was younger, like the abstract idea of making the world a better place, and spent ages with Sally discussing how to improve society (Woolf 33). Also, she does not enjoy her jealousy of Ms. Kilman. In fact, she is desperate to escape it (Woolf 12). Overall, Clarissa does not savor her unkindness, but it is there nonetheless.
In the end, I think she, like many humans, wants to be kind, but her actions and thoughts are often distorted by her own self-interest.
I agree that although Clarissa tries to be kind and would like to think of herself as a kind person her actions and thoughts are often far from that ideal. I also think that maybe her unkindness is a sort of defense mechanism. It's easier for her to look down on the middle classes than to acknowledge that she belongs to a bygone era, and easier for her to blame and be jealous of Ms. Kilman than to think about why Elizabeth might not want to spend time with her and work to improve that relationship
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a very interesting topic here. It seems that on the inside, Clarissa has many unkind thoughts and looks down upon people such as Ms. Kilman or the lower class in general. However, this is only apparent to the reader because Woolf has written the narration so we can experience what Clarissa is thinking. Through her actions though, Clarissa never seems to act meanly towards anyone and is usually pretty kind to everyone when she is talking to them, even if she is thinking down upon them.
ReplyDeleteI think Clarissa's attitude and response towards certain things ( for example, the Queen's carriage) is a product of being a member of upper-class British society. We actually just read an article in Gender Studies about how "superiors" in a society are accustomed harsh remarks about "inferiors", simply because to them, it is "normal" behavior.
ReplyDeleteSo I think Clarissa might represent the conscientious elite- yes, she intends well, but sometimes her self-interests and upper-class predispositions shine through instead.
Since we're able to access Clarissa's innermost thoughts, I think it makes sense that a lot of the things she thinks may come off as unflattering or hateful or what have you. There isn't really a filter, or something Clarissa can do to come off as more likable, like how she carried herself at her party (being the "perfect hostess" and all that). But like you said, she also has kind and caring moments, and all of this really is just what it means for most of us to be human. Most (if not all) of us are driven by our own self-interest, and from what we can see of Clarissa from Mrs. Dalloway, she doesn't act out particularly awfully due to that. Of course you can be both kind and realistic, but ultimately, I'd say that yeah, she's realistic.
ReplyDeleteClarissa acts like a really nice person to almost everyone. I cant really recall a scene in the book where she is being openly mean to someone else. I think everyone has thoughts that are not "kind" from time to time, whether it is merited or not. I would say she's both kind and realistic. She tries her best to help those around her and make people like her, but at the same time she can have rude thoughts. If she were to openly express these bad thoughts, then she would be considered "mean". I perceive this contrast of good and bad thoughts to make Clarissa seem more real.
ReplyDeleteNot only is she blinded by her own self interest, she's blinded by her privilege. The way she thinks about the omnibus is clearly fueled by class judgement, as well as how she thinks about Miss Kilman. She does try to be kind though-- she throws parties to make people happy for example. She's never malicious, but like anybody, she's nuanced. The way she acts towards others just gives us a better full picture of her, making Mrs. Dalloway a much more interesting book to read.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I think the fact that it is hard to argue for Clarissa's character being good or bad also shows how realistic Woolf makes her characters. I feel like though Clarissa acts like a nice person to almost everyone and everyone perceives her to be really kind, she does come off as "superior" and acting out of self interest in some scenarios. But also, now that we have finished the book, the scene in the party when Clarissa goes to her room to be in solitude and feel sympathy for Septimus's death does show that she has empathy and cares for others.
ReplyDeleteI think particularly the paragraph where you talk about Clarissa's jealousy is what makes Clarissa seem less kind and welcoming. Especially the part where she is mad at Peter for moving on makes it seem that she is extremely self centered and stuck up almost. It seems like Clarissa enjoys being the center of everyone's, especially her previous love interest's, attention too much for her own good.
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