Woolf depicts love in many forms in her novel Mrs. Dalloway, but one form of love that is particularly representative of the Modernist outlook is the love that Doris Kilman secretly feels towards her charge, the lovely Elizabeth Dalloway, daughter of the title character, and the love she feels for Jesus Christ.
Doris Kilman is Elizabeth's teacher, and she is of German descent which makes her an outsider in the post-war setting of Mrs. Dalloway's London life. She is a bitter, dreary woman, unhappy and contrarian in her views, but her two great loves, Jesus Christ and Elizabeth, bring her moments of hope, joy, and fulfillment. That her deep love for these two individuals even exists is interesting, because all signs show that Miss Kilman's love is unrequited. Miss Kilman's disappointment in love suggests that love and the requisite warmth, affection, and connection that potentially results from love may be a futile hope in the modern age.
There are several kinds of love present in Mrs. Dalloway. First, there is marital love, demonstrated first through Richard and Clarissa Dalloway and then through Septimus and his wife, Lucrezia. The feelings between Richard and Clarissa Dalloway are portrayed more as duty and formality, especially on Clarissa's part, than feelings of passion or desire. The two are partners, moving through life together to accomplish the expectations of their class, yet somehow "strangers," devoid of intimacy. In fact, Richard Dalloway tries and fails to tell Clarissa he loves her when he gives her flowers. The illustration of this kind of marital love is a demonstration of a greater theme in modernist literature—namely, that modern civilization is cold, industrial, and utilitarian, forcing human relationships to exist inside predetermined structures. Specifically, the middle and upper classes provided the security and safety of money by sacrificing ideals of love, art, and passion.This type of marital love is in direct contrast to the romantic love embodied by the characters of Peter Walsh and Sally Seton. Peter felt and still feels passionately for Clarissa, yet he is unable to truly commit himself to Clarissa or any of his romantic partners. This indecisiveness is in direct contrast to Richard Dalloway. In a broader sense, Peter embodies the worst stereotypes of Romanticism through his petulance, flightiness, and inability to be moved by reason instead of emotion. He acts as a critic of modern English society, yet he enjoys its securities. On the other hand, Clarissa Dalloway felt passionately, and still feels warmly, for Sally Seton, her childhood friend. Her fleeting love for Sally, demonstrated through their shared kiss, was quenched by the broader expectations of convention and tradition in their society. Again, this relates to the Modernist agenda by demonstrating how a potential for true human relationship, connection, and intimacy was quenched by the isolating conventions of society and conformity.In the same way, the love between Septimus and Lucrezia is complex, yet it demonstrates how the modern way of life ruins happiness and intimacy between people. Septimus and Lucrezia are truly in love before the war, demonstrating a different kind of marital love than Richard and Clarissa. Even after the war, as Septimus loses his mind, they are able to share moments of happiness. Septimus's sad fate and their ultimate separation is an indictment of how modern war ruins the ability of people to be happy, a greater theme in modernist literature.These different kinds of love play an important role by providing structure to the narrative, which is Clarissa's stream of consciousness. The different kinds of love highlight the disparity between her inner world—the passion of her youth felt and remembered—and her outer world. Her outer world is symbolized by her conventional, almost boring preparations for the party and through her marital relationship with Richard. The reader gets a sense of the great gap that exists between her inner world and outer worlds as she navigates these different relationships.Finally, Clarissa's love for her daughter represents the modernist theme of family as a way to perpetuate the traditions and conventions of society. Instead of genuine love and feeling for her daughter, Clarissa feels protectiveness and a desire for control.
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