Mrs Dalloway Characters

It's no surprise that Clarissa Dalloway is our main protagonist – heck, the book is named after her. We don’t see through her eyes the entire time, but she’s the center of the action, especia...

Septimus is a shell-shocked World War I soldier. He’s a unique figure in literature because he was one of the first characters to show the horrors of war and the trauma that occurs after combat....

Old Crushes Die HardPeter is Clarissa’s old suitor from the days of Bourton. He’s lives in India, but has come to London to arrange for the married woman he loves (Daisy) to get a divorce. Itâ€...

Sally is Clarissa’s friend from the days of Bourton. Theirs was a very deep friendship that happened to have a little sexual tension going for it. Clarissa’s most exquisite memory is of being k...

Sir William Bradshaw is the character who most embodies British upper-class patriarchal oppression. Okay, that's a lot of words. Basically, he's British and proud of it (no exceptions); he's rich;...

Mr Dalloway is around in part to give Mrs Dalloway an identity. After all, without him, she's just Clarissa, and that certainly won't do. Although he's a loving father and husband, Richard has a lo...

Miss Doris Kilman is in love with Elizabeth, an attraction that Clarissa finds repulsive. So repulsive, in fact, that Clarissa thinks of Miss Kilman as a monster – eek. Clarissa is of course afra...

Rezia is Septimus' wife, who he met at the end of the war when he was staying at her home in Milan, Italy. In Italy, she was a hatmaker with her sisters and loved her life. In London, Rezia feels e...

Often compared to a beautiful flower, Elizabeth is the beloved daughter of Clarissa and Richard. Both of her parents dote on her, but Elizabeth’s character is only really seen through the perspec...

A woman with an impressive family tree and all the right social and political connections, Millicent Bruton enjoys having important men over to her lunches. Most wives, she believes, get in the way...

Hugh is an old friend of Clarissa. He's in town taking his ailing wife to see doctors, and Clarissa runs into him while running errands for her party. Hugh is among the novel’s most pathetic, oil...

Dr Holmes is Septimus’ thoroughly unsympathetic general practitioner, who believes that there’s "nothing whatever the matter" (4.83) with Septimus. Seriously, dude? Instead of taking Septimusâ€...

Evans is Septimus' friend and an officer in the war, who died just before the war ended. His relationship with Septimus is described as that of "two dogs playing on the hearth-rug […] They had to...

Now past age eighty, Clarissa’s Aunt Helena spent summers with the family at Bourton. Peter thought she was dead, but, lo and behold, she shows up at the party. Aunt Helena is a perfect example o...

Ellie is Clarissa’s painfully geeky, dull (and poor) cousin, whom Clarissa reluctantly invites to the party. In the social scheme of things, Ellie is way down there. You know what that means: Cla...

Daisy is Peter Walsh’s married lover in India. Scandalous! Peter is actually in London to see if he can get her a divorce; but it’s complicated because she has two children and there’s a majo...

Evelyn is Hugh Whitbread’s ailing wife who lives in a nursing home. Though Clarissa doesn’t ask for specifics, she learns that Evelyn has an "internal ailment" (1.9), which is why Hugh is in Lo...

Mr Brewer is the managing clerk and Septimus’ boss at "Sibleys and Arrowsmiths, auctioneers, valuers, land and estate agents" (4.87). Before the war, he took Septimus under his wing and enjoyed a...

Mrs Filmer is the Smiths’ neighbor, whose daughter, Mrs Peters, is expecting a baby. Rezia is making a hat for the daughter when Septimus commits suicide. Mrs Filmer has been a good neighbor to t...