Although the section we most recently read is overflowing with interesting topics that our class has discussed, I wanted to touch on something that hadn’t garnered much of our attention yet. At the beginning of the party, we are informed that a very important political figure is in attendance: the Prime Minister. However, the way the characters in the book interacted with the Prime Minister was very unexpected to me. On page 168, we read “Nobody looked at him. They just went on talking, yet it was perfectly plain that they all knew, felt to the marrow of their bones, this majesty passing; this symbol of what they all stood for, English society.” Everyone was intentionally ignoring the Prime Minister, a very important political figure of their country.
Reading the reactions of the partygoers to the Prime Minister (who I believe remains unnamed) is almost unreal to the point of being comical. Even Ellie Henderson describes viewing the exchange as comical. It seems ironic to have this important figure to walk through a bustling party to have no one acknowledge him except Clarissa, who later on greets him as she is after all the “perfect hostess”. Nevertheless, the tension and awkwardness of the scene is palpable even though we are not there in person.
Now what happens if we take this scene into the historical context of the time where this story takes place? Mrs. Dalloway takes place after World War I. During this time, England’s old symbols, values, and hierarchical society were arguably being challenged, broken down with time and weariness throughout the war. The Prime Minister is a symbol of the hierarchical power and societal rankings that have been in place for so long in England. The book itself describes him as being THE symbol of English society. Does the fact that the Prime Minister is completely ignored and has such a weak presence at Clarissa’s party reflect the partygoers’ views on English society, that is, was the old system diminishing at the time? Or on the contrary, do the partygoers admire his “majesty” so much that they are out of their element, failing to greet him properly even though they feel his presence?
The prime minister despite having such a prominent role in the politics of England doesn't seem to have one in Woolf's novel. However, I think that was part of the point. She makes a lesson on how conservative all people are such that they no longer play a proper role in society, and just have these puppet like jobs as a result.
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