'Mrs Dalloway' & 'Pride and Prejudice'

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews and compares the two novels 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen and 'Mrs Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf. The paper reports that each addresses the rules and social order, and their effect on human relationships, but the novels are separated by more than a century and by very different styles. According to the paper, in each novel, a fascinating woman chooses to reject a serious marriage offer.

From the Paper:

"The world of flux in which post-WWI Britain found itself shows in Clarissa's thoughts. In considering her life and how she had gotten by with her amount of knowledge, she thinks, "She would not say of any one in the world now that they were this or were that [...] and she would not say of Peter, she would not say of herself, I am this, I am that" (11). Like Peter, Clarissa is not entirely sure that she knows herself. Clarissa is more in control of her own life than Peter is, though. When she thinks of Peter, she thinks of his foolishness. Clarissa considers her irritation with Peter and reflects that "it was his silly unconventionality, his weakness; his lack of the ghost of a notion what any one else was feeling that annoyed her, had always annoyed her; and now at his age, how silly!" (69). Yet, her feelings for him show the flux of the time period."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Signet, 1980.
• Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1953.

More papers on 'Mrs Dalloway' & 'Pride and Prejudice':

• Analytical Essay # 14009 : "The Sun Also Rises" (Ernest Hemingway), "Mrs Dalloway" (Virginia Woolf) and "Pride and Prejudice" (Jane Austen)"
• Book Review # 104252 : "Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"
• Book Review # 93711 : "Pride and Prejudice"--an Analysis"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: