Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
payment page
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
payment page
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews October 7, 2023 September 30, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Mrs. Dalloway is a novel by Virginia Woolf that was first published in 0. Read the full text of Mrs. Dalloway in its entirety, completely free.
On a summer morning, Clarissa Dalloway, a politician's middle-aged wife, goes out to buy flowers for her party that evening. Walking around London, she thinks about the war, family, friends, illness, death, and her image; runs into her friend Hugh; and sees a car with an illustrious person in it. As a plane writes something in the sky above a park, Lucrezia, married to Septimus, a veteran suffering from shell shock, worries about him and misses her country, Italy.
Back home, Clarissa learns that Lady Bruton invited her husband, Richard, for lunch. She contemplates her bedroom, thinks about her friend Sally, starts mending her party dress, and is unexpectedly visited by her friend Peter, whose proposal she once rejected. He says he's in love with a married Indian woman and cries. As Clarissa comforts him, her daughter, Elizabeth, comes in. Peter runs out of Clarissa’s house.
After Peter leaves Clarissa, he wanders thinking about her behavior, India, his failures, and Elizabeth. He observes some young soldiers, statues of famous men, and a rich girl entering a house. He follows a young woman on the street. In Regent's Park, he sits near a nurse and a baby, smokes, sleeps, and dreams. Then he recalls the summer at Clarissa's family estate, Bourton, when she met Richard and rejected him.
In the park, Peter walks past Lucrezia and Septimus and thinks about Sally's hatred of Hugh, Richard's and Clarissa's personalities, and his love for Daisy. Lucrezia thinks about her suffering because of her husband's illness. Septimus hallucinates as she takes him to see the psychiatrist Sir Bradshaw, recommended by their physician, Dr. Holmes. We learn about Septimus's past as a poet, clerk, and soldier, whose problems start after his friend Evan dies in the war.
Sir Bradshaw, a rich and celebrated self-made psychiatrist, examines Septimus, considers his case very grave, and tells Lucrezia he should be taken to one of the doctor's homes in the country for treatment. Lucrezia doesn't like Bradshaw and cries as they leave his office.
Hugh and Richard have lunch with Lady Bruton, who asks for their help with a letter to the Times about her cause. After lunch, Richard buys roses for Clarissa. He surprises her with the flowers but doesn't say he loves her, as he intended. They talk about family, friends, and the party. Before leaving for work, Richard sets Clarissa up for a rest. She concludes she likes parties because she loves life.
Elizabeth goes to a store with her history tutor, Miss Kilman, who feels discriminated, hates Clarissa, adores Elizabeth, and has recently become religious. She buys a petticoat, eats greedily when they have tea together, then prays at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth leaves the store on her own, takes a random bus, feels free like a pirate, walks around a busy working-class area, thinks she wants to have a profession, and then takes a bus home.
Happy, Septimus helps Lucrezia redesign a hat, reads the paper as she plays with a girl, then sleeps and wakes up feeling alone. Lucrezia recalls the first time she saw him. He asks her to burn the papers with his ideas, but she keeps them. As she goes downstairs to prevent Dr. Holmes from coming up, Septimus jumps out the window. After Lucrezia sees his body, Dr. Holmes gives her a sedative.
Peter hears an ambulance, recalls conversations with Clarissa, and considers her influence on his life. Then he gets annoyed by a letter she just sent. He sees a photo of Daisy and thinks about their relationship. After dinner, he talks to a middle-class family, then sits in front of the hotel reading the paper and watching young people. He walks to Clarissa's house, enjoying life, then opens his pocketknife and enters the party.
The servants make last-minute preparations. Clarissa welcomes the guests and fears the party will be a failure. Their friend Sally arrives unexpectedly, the Prime Minister comes, and Peter talks to old friends. The Bradshaws tell Clarissa about Septimus's suicide, upsetting her. She goes into a room alone, thinks about Septimus, and watches her old neighbor through a window. At the end of the party, Sally leaves, and Peter feels terrified and excited as Clarissa reappears.
