What Time is it?

Mrs. Dalloway takes place on one day in June 1923.  It is a character-centric novel, not a plot based one, so that short time frame works perfectly well.  Yet surprisingly, there is a common focus on time.  Often times Woolf stops her characters in the middle of thoughts to give us the time.  It is only on the second page that we first hear mention of Big Ben, by far the loudest clock Clarissa would hear in Westminster.  She says, "One feels even in the midst of traffic, or waking at night, Clarissa was positive, a particular hush, or solemnity; an indescribable pause; a suspense...before Big Ben strikes" (4).  It is a consciously understood that people pause when they feel the time has reached a significant milestone.  Clarissa doesn't elaborate on this behavior, indeed characters don't seem to pause before the impending "leaden circles" dissolve in the future, but I find it interesting that so early on, in fact in the same sentence we learn where Clarissa lives, time (a very important part of plot based stories) is mentioned.

For Woolf, it makes more sense structurally to keep bringing up time.  It gives readers a sense of proportion (one Sir William would no doubt approve of) as to how long different thoughts or conversations take place.  Peter and Clarissa's conversation is almost exactly thirty minutes, Clarissa questions who would interrupt her at eleven in the morning (39) while Peter steps onto the street from Clarissa house as the leaden circles dissolve after the half hour chimes (47).  It also allows her to swap between character's points of view very quickly, all while maintaining a linear line of movement in the story.  After we see Septimus and Lucrezia leave Sir William's office and read of Lucrezia's dislike of the man, it is the chiming of clocks that switches us to Hugh and Richard (100).  It is a quick and easy way to create a more traditional element to her story without compromising her intentions to make this about the people.

Then of course there is the idea of physical passing of time.  A lot of the characters think back to a different point in time in their life.  Clarissa and Peter (and Richard to some degree) think incessantly of what once was at Bourton.  Septimus and Lucrezia think back to their time in Italy, for Lucrezia the Septimus she fell in love with then, and for Septimus Evans and his ability to feel.  Time is something they all wish they can control, and can have more of, but of course time is constantly moving at a consistent rate.  I have no doubt time will continue to play a role in the remainder of the novel, especially at the party when the characters will probably spent most of the time reminiscing, though in general I still find it interesting that it has a large place in the novel at all.