Clarissa, Peter, Richard, (and Sally too?)
In Virginia Woolfe's Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa finds herself in a bit of an identity crisis regarding her marriage. We know that Clarissa has been married to Richard for a long time and her relationship with him seems fine initially. As the book progresses, Clarissa has more and more recollections of the things she did with Peter Walsh when they were both teenagers. Constantly, Clarissa thinks about what Peter Would think about her now, even though she is married to Richard and is in her early fifties. This seemed strange to me at first; why would Clarissa continue to think about what Peter Walsh thinks about her? Peter does not even live in London; he was living in India then. Clarissa contemplates her relationship with Richard and wonders if she is truly happy in it. From Richard's point of view, he truly loves Clarissa; he thinks about her and cherishes his marriage but struggles to show it. This is one of the main reasons Clarissa sometimes questions if she would have been...