The Importance Of Big Ben in Mrs.Dalloway

Big Ben is the steady heartbeat of Mrs. Dalloway. The sounding of Big Ben indicates the time passing in the novel, and though it is not typically stated what exact time that the bell is sounding (for example Big Ben will be said to be sounding the half hour, but it will not be said which hour it is the half hour of). It gives the book a linear track not possessed in other aspects of the novel, making it more possible to follow what is the “present” in the book, because the book itself doesn’t lean towards being linear, and the actual plot points being mundane, the real significance and core of the book being stories and thoughts from the past and the present mixing together to give us a well-rounded image of the life and being of the characters. Yet, occasionally, the reader gets the tolling of the clock to surface them within the day where the book is set. The clock is an essential feature of the parts of the linear structure that Mrs. Dalloway maintains by giving a clear indication of the passage of time within the day that Mrs. Dalloway is set.

Secondly, it not only centers us in the time during the day that the novel is set over, it centers us into where the novel is located, London. Big Ben is a very recognizable London landmark. When you think of London, that’s one of the images that has been drilled into our minds. Big Ben, The London Eye, The Houses of Parliament, so every time that the novel records the tolling of the clock it assures us of the novel’s location. Mrs. Dalloway is a very British novel from the way it’s written to the fashions to the places Clarissa goes to during the day. It is, in many ways, a commentary on or at very least a reflection of British society and culture so to have that returning reminder of that central feature is an important way for the reader to center themselves within the story, and realize the significance of the story. Without the setting of London and all that post-war London implies, the book loses a large chunk of Virginia Woolf’s likely intentions when she told the story of Mrs. Dalloway.

Finally, Big Ben also serves as a subtle reminder that no matter what is happening in the novel, our perspective is only a small sliver of what is going on in the greater city of London. Woolf’s free indirect discourse goes hand in hand with this, showing the complexity and depth of a city filled with so many people, all with their own storylines that we could follow during this day. The person across from Clarissa on the street could tell as complex a story as Clarissa’s. There are millions of people in London, and thousands likely hearing that bell all at the same time that our characters do.