Desire, Intimacy, or Passion? A Comparison of Love in The Hours and Mrs Dalloway.
Virginia Woolf’s ideas are living in the early twentieth century, her writing immerses you in the time frame and the livelihoods of the 1920s. Over the decades many have attempted to recreate the writings of Woolf’s Late Modern Period to today’s post Cold War Contemporary Period. Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel The Hours is based loosely on Virginia Woolf’s life, and particularly her novel Mrs Dalloway, Cunningham’s novel was critically acclaimed and deemed film worthy, being developed into Stephen Daldry’s 2002 movie of the same name. Although Daldry’s The Hours and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway aren’t true adaptations, the consistencies between the storyline are evident. Woolf’s outré exploration of sexual identity is explored for good and bad in both her own writing and Daldry’s film.
“Whilst Woolf’s writings are more reflective of herself, Daldry had adapted Cunningham’s narrative into something fantastical and strangely disturbing, often considered to be frowned upon.”
As much as lesbian eroticism may have been discouraged throughout the 1920s and homosexuality considered a psychiatric disorder in both the United States and United Kingdom, Virginia Woolf writing delved into the topic (and of all Wool’s mental health concerns, a sprinkling of lesbian fantasies was probably the least of concern). Whilst Woolf’s writings are more reflective of herself, Daldry had adapted Cunningham’s narrative into something fantastical and strangely disturbing, often considered to be frowned upon. Societal views on storge, the Ancient Greek term for the love between a family unit, are generally benevolent, the intimate scene between Virginia and Vanessa in Daldry’s The Hours is quite frankly unconventional. Why is this scene unconventional? The pair are sisters, whilst squeamishness whilst watching a kissing scene in films is often associated with younger children, watching two sisters passionately kiss is mildly nauseating. This is downplayed as Virginia desiring a livelihood like Vanessa’s, rather than Vanessa herself, although if this is the case it seems a peculiar directing choice of showing it. Rather than sisters to desires, Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway takes the more conventional route of desire for a friend, particularly that between Clarissa Dalloway and her old roommate Sally Seton, “It was protective, on her side; sprang from a sense of being in league together, a presentiment of something that was bound to part them (they spoke of marriage always as a catastrophe), which led to this chivalry, this protective feeling which was much more on her side than Sally’s”. Woolf portrays love in a familiar and fluid fashion, one the readers may be able to relate to, the growing of desire for more than a friendship between a pair; meanwhile if you find yourself relating to Daldry’s depiction of lesbian desire (or any desire between siblings for that matter), something has gone significantly wrong along the way.
Although Daldry’s adaptations of lesbian desire appear poorly, he has successfully adapted Woolf’s ideas of both platonic love and love of life. Daldry’s The Hours emphasises Woolf’s focus on the small things (which appears in most of her novels, including Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse), “She loves Richard, she thinks of him constantly, but she perhaps loves the day slightly more. She loves West Tenth Street on an ordinary summer morning. She feels like a sluttish widow, freshly peroxided under her black veil, with her eye on the eligible men at her husband’s wake.” The focus on these small aspects of day-to-day life united Daldry and Woolf’s works, the little aspects that Clarissa Vaughn loves and her curious desires (note that this passage also indicates Clarissa is probably heterosexual, just willing to explore her sexuality more often than not). Clarissa Dalloway’s love for Sally, although there is fleeting desire for more, is predominately platonic, similar to the platonic love that Clarissa Vaughn shares for her immunodeficiency syndrome rattled friend Richard Worthington Brown. Richard, as an evidently homosexual man makes it clear that the relationship between him and Vaughn is not romantic, but that doesn’t stop love between the pair, including Richard’s last words before suicide, “I love you. Does that sound trite?”, to which Clarissa Vaughn replies “No”, Richard then smiles and shakes his head, saying, “I don’t think two people could have been happier than we’ve been”. Daldry’s exploration of platonic love continues Woolf’s desire to make the mundane extraordinary, writing about simple things that readers can attest to and connect with. “Bond Street fascinated her; Bond Street early in the morning in the sea-son; its flags flying; its shops; no splash; no glitter; one roll of tweed in the shop where her father had bought his suits for fifty years; a few pearls; salmon on an iceblock”, the love of the little things extends to streetscapes in both Daldry and Woolf’s works, whether that be on Bond Street or West Tenth Street. Love (and of course hate as demonstrated by the strained mental health of many characters) of life is a key aspect of both pieces, the connections and adaptations of this platonic and life love creates the connection between Daldry and Woolf. For everything that may go wrong or right in an adaptation, it is hard to place these types of love in the poorly executed category.
with only a single day of action, the flashbacks to past events and recollections of memories from days gone by give the sense the day is longer than it really is. Flashbacks and memories don’t play as great a part in Daldry’s film, this leaves some relationships seeming smoke-screened and instantaneous, particularly that between Kitty and Laura Brown (yes, connected to Richard). Both novel and film emphasise the difference between love and desire, there is never really any lesbian love in either more just desire, both writers link lesbian relationships back to heterosexual thoughts which almost falsifies the homosexual ‘romance’. Woolf writes “Yet she could not resist something yielding to the charm of a woman, not a girl, of a woman confessing,”, this seems to indicate that Clarissa Dalloway does have a deeper desire for the touch and love of a female, but this is immediately refuted a few lines later when we find that this was just a fleeting thought, and not a thought of what she has, but wanting what men want. The ‘want’ seems merely superficial, not connected to anything realistic, almost materialistic rather than an emotional connection between two ‘lovers’. This loveless desire can also be seen in Daldry’s work, we see Kitty snake her arms around Laura’s waist and flood Laura with feeling, except this in counterbalanced by the reference of Kitty’s relationship with Ray immediately afterwards, Ray apparently yearns for Kitty. Kitty’s feelings also don’t seem romantic, more so a fling and attempt to use Laura as a donor to aid Kitty and Ray in becoming pregnant. This imagery (like Vanessa and Virginia’s kiss) seems somewhat over-sensualised and rather than sticking to a message wraps up a flimsy lesbian ordeal with no real backing and substance. Both pieces stress the importance that desire, and love are in fact dissimilar, rather these are fleeting moments anchored back to their marital romance, the lesbian affairs of characters in both pieces seem to be curtains of pretence adding just another convoluted dilemma and choice to their already struggling lives.
Daldry and Woolf both explore different, yet not dissimilar tastes of relationships, clearly linking back and forth between both stories. Although adaptation between Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Stephen Daldry’s The Hours is loose (and not truly an adaptation at all), characteristics are carried through in both writing style and the in-depth imagery conveyed throughout. Although Daldry brings his own unique flare to the classic novel (it should not be forgotten though that Daldry’s work is primarily based on Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel by the same name) for both the better and the worse, the two stories are intertwined in more ways than one. Both pieces dive into love of all kinds, romance, platonic love, hedonism, and the enjoyment of life’s simplicities. Though there are many instances in both where ‘love’ seems failed and artificial, the division between intimacy, desire, and true passion compels relationships forward in both Mrs Dalloway and The Hours.
