Mrs. Dalloway is a novel by Virginia Woolf written in 1925, which recounts a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-crust woman who throws a party at her home. The original title of the novel, The Hours, shows the importance of time as one of the main themes of the novel. Mrs. Dalloway is one of Woolf's famous works. This article examines two topics covered in Mrs. Dalloway. The first subject concerns the notion of time which is represented through two different frameworks: objective and subjective time. However, the second topic concerns sexuality, particularly the homosexual relationships depicted between Clarissa and Sally, Septimus and Evans, Miss Kilman and Elizabeth. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In Mrs. Dalloway, time is considered one of the most important themes. It is represented through two different frameworks such as objective time framework, subjective time. The clock estimates time, but it is also determined by the mind's watch and called psychological time; a term formulated by Henri Bergson. In the novel, Woolf focuses on "the difference between psychological time and clock time." In other words, it establishes a distinction between internal time and external time. First, internal time is a psychological and subjective time which is appreciated by the relative spiritual intensity of a moment. This period is fluid, flexible and changing. Indeed, the novel retraces in twenty-four hours the entire life of Clarissa Dalloway and that of Septimus Smith. For example, there are the memories of Clarissa Dalloway. The first readers discover Clarissa's memories of her youthful experience with Sally, who was very essential in her life. Clarissa's eighteen years become omnipresent today. For example, from the beginning, when Clarissa moves into the street in front of her house, her past is instantly with her (Tariq, n.d.). Woolf's style moves the reader with the time that exists in our intellect. Mental time does not continue or advance steadily like the time of the clock we follow. This is seen when Clarissa arrives at the flower shop in the morning; her perceptions are gently brought back to the evening hour as she thinks, and it was the moment between “six and seven o'clock when every flower, rose, carnation, iris, lilac shines; white, purple, red, dark orange; each flower seems to burn of itself, gently, purely in the misty flowerbeds; and how she loved the gray-white butterflies that swirled over the cherry pie, over the evening primroses! These kinds of memories are almost omnipresent throughout the novel and are accompanied by the present moment. However, in these memories of Bourton, the memory she keeps thinking about is Clarissa's refusal to marry Peter Walsh. Additionally, psychological time includes memory and current awareness, which are particularly involved in the moment of revelation. Most characters reach the moment of revelation emotionally and mentally and continue to experience it. Clarissa experiences this and describes her evolution towards personal fulfillment. For example: “For only an instant she had seen an illumination; a match burning in a crocus; an inner sense almost expressed”/ Peter Walsh “he had found life like an unknown garden, full of twists and turns, those moments when things came together; this ambulance; and life and death. These short revelation experiences affirm that we live our lives in different timelines; a practical time in which we are actively occupied with the things of the world, and another type of time in which adeeper, more lasting meaning shines through fleetingly. On the other hand, Woolf inserts an external vision of time to remind the characters that time is passing. External time, objective and chronological, is opposed to internal time, subjective and elastic. External time is embodied by the flow of history, dates, calendars and schedules. In Mrs. Dalloway, this is particularly noticeable by the sounds of different clocks such as Big Ben and Westminster, which are of great importance. Clock time helps many characters balance their social lives and group activities, or allows them to go on and arrange lunch or doctor appointments (Mahajan, 2017). Virginia Woolf presents the chronological characteristic of time through images such as Big Ben and its harsh chimes as well as numerous signals of clocks or bells in the novel (Olivotti, 2018). Additionally, the novel is not divided into chapters; the finality of chronological time is determined by the roar of Big Ben which reminds the characters of the inevitability of time and death. Not only does the juxtaposition of clock time with the psychological time of Clarissa Dalloway's memories, reflections, and thoughts complete the narrative, but also reminds the characters and readers of the passage of time. “The subjective lives of the characters are sometimes interrupted by reminders of the regular, objective time of the clock, or by external events.” Their clocks mark the “irrevocable” present. The major role of clocks is to bring the characters and readers back to current reality and elevate the stream of consciousness. The first chime is heard when the clocks break the silence that Clarissa felt before, it is like a threat, there is “a warning, musical, then the hour, irrevocable”. This irrevocable function of clocks becomes clear after Septimus's suicide. “The clock was striking – one, two, three! But the clocks continued to strike four and five six.” The clocks remind readers that time is merciless. Life continues even when Septimus is dead; it can't come back. This also means that death is irrevocable; we will all die one day and the clocks remind us. St. Margaret's attracts the attention of those who hear it. Therefore, this opposes the message of Big Ben and implies that we do not waste time excessively and are aware of it in our own special way. The tower bell expresses an approach to life that accepts the present moment. This allows the listener to be aware of time, to appreciate it and not fear it. Woolf points out an obvious parallel between Clarissa and St. Margaret's. For example, the ringing of the bells makes Pierre think of Clarissa: “Ah,” said Sainte-Marguerite, “like a hostess who enters her living room at the right time and already finds her guests there. I'm not late. No, it's eleven thirty sharp, she said. Yet, even if she is absolutely right, her voice, being that of the hostess, hesitates to impose her individuality. A certain sorrow for the past holds him back; a certain worry for the present. Furthermore, a third framework included in objective time is historical time. It is a framework in which meaning is given to the history of nations or societies by signaling vital historical events. In Mrs. Dalloway, there is a background claim that a significant and decisive break in historical time has recently occurred. It was the Great War. Several critics, such as Joseph Boone and Ann Ronchetti, have explored the theme of homosexuality in Mrs. Dalloway by Woolf. Some critics not only consider Clarissa Dalloway a "repressed homosexual victimof patriarchal culture", but also Septimus Warren Smith and Miss Kilman. Because Clarissa and Septimus maintain intimate relationships on an emotional level, even physical, with friends of the same sex (Ronchetti, 2004). Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway reveals the experience of a 19th-century woman confronting homosexuality. Sally's role in eighteen-year-old Clarissa was very important in guiding Clarissa towards her current life. For young Clarissa, Sally Seton was an example of a woman she was not: "She was an extraordinary beauty of the kind she most admired, dark, with large eyes, with that quality that ,as she didn't have it herself, she always envied him, a sort of abandonment. as if she could say anything, do anything; a quality much more common among foreigners than among English women” (Riyandaril, 2001). Clarissa's memories of her friend, Sally Seton, elicit feelings of "purity" and "wholeness", unlike any feelings she has shared with a man. She remembers the first time she saw Sally and the feeling of not being able to take her eyes off her, of being poisoned by the emotions of love and admiration that Sally had aroused in her: "...if it was now to die “it would be now to be happiest. This was her feeling: "Othello's feeling, and she felt it, she was convinced of it as strongly as Shakespeare wanted Othello to feel it, all because she came down to dinner in a white dress to meet Sally Seton" ( Ronchetti, 2004). This important moment in Clarissa's life took place in the presence of flowers. The flower that Sally picked represents Clarissa's affection, nature, and desire. “Clarissa looks Sally in the eye and congratulates her.” When Clarissa is with Sally, her passions and feelings are so powerful that she can do nothing but look into Sally's eyes and kiss her. Clarissa plays the role of the opposite sex and she feels what men feel about women. Clarissa's feelings for Sally made her realize her love for Sally because it was a secret between Sally and her. This feeling should be hidden because women in the 19th century were expected to have high ethical standards of behavior that absolutely prevented homosexuality. Clarissa's love for Sally forbade her from marrying her first love, Peter. Peter and Clarissa loved each other, but she did not want to marry him because she felt that she would be limited by him, incapable of being herself: “with Peter, you had to share everything”. If she married Peter, the passion and freedom she had with Sally would disappear. Although Clarissa chose not to marry Peter, she married Richard. As a woman in the 19th century, she was trained to be an honorable woman, so it was impossible to follow her instinct to love Sally. She got married because she cared about her safety and her appearance. However, the party at the end of the novel serves as the culmination of Clarissa's choice. Clarissa's efforts to refuse her desire for a woman led her to despair. This desperation was highlighted when she discovered that Sally is now the mother of five boys. This meeting showed him how different their lives are now. Even though she still loved Sally, it wasn't the same. Both were not free and obeyed the norms and traditions of their society as wives and mothers. The moment they met made Clarissa feel like they had belonged to different worlds: "They kissed, then Clarissa turned around with Sally's hand in hers and saw her rooms full /heard the roar of voices, saw the candlesticks and roses that Richard had given him. The fact that Clarissa is holding/10.18910/25752.