In The Hours, Laura is a complex character that intertwines traits of several characters in Mrs. Dalloway. The main characteristics of Clarissa and Septimus have been merged to create Laura’s personality. While she tries to reassemble herself, she has a nagging wariness of her incompetence to complete her role as a housewife.
The movie opens with a scene illustrating Laura’s hope to make a cake for her husband’s birthday. From her behavior, it seems like she is taking on the role of a “perfect housewife”, analogous to Clarissa’s position as a “perfect hostess”. While she strives to make the cake look perfect on the outside, things don’t turn out the way she expected. As insignificant as this moment can be, Laura takes it seriously and becomes more frustrated when her neighbor comments on the simplicity of such a task; any woman was capable of making a cake. The inability to make something as simple as a “perfect cake” leads Laura to believe that her attribution as a legitimate housewife is destroyed.
Clarissa’s reaction as a “perfect hostess” is the way Peter perceived for her to be in the future. According to her standards as well as the society’s expectations, Clarissa accepts her contribution to throw a successful party. Laura is different in the case that while we, as viewers, might be convinced of her behavior as a “perfect housewife”, but she isn’t satisfied of her success. Based on the appearance of the cake, the outside didn’t look entirely deformed besides the icing. The obsession to have the outside appear perfect signifies the similarity in the way people saw Septimus.
As a character, Septimus has been presented with a mental illness due to the trauma of World War I. On the outside, everything seems to be normal, so doctors infer his condition is related to his lack of relaxation. However, Septimus’s real issues involve internal emotions that he isn’t able to control. Laura is similar to Septimus in the sense that she appears to be normal on the outside, but is aware that she is struggling internally as not being able to fulfill her role as a proper housewife. This constant dissatisfaction is what drives her to leave her family and life as a failure.
Laura, in specific, has a convoluted story that brings different aspects of characters within Mrs. Dalloway. Throughout the movie, Laura isn’t convinced with her perception as a “perfect hostess” and because of this, she struggles to understand what she succeeds in. The way Laura reacted by leaving her family, she believed, would aid her to create a new, dominating life, but wouldn’t her previous life haunt her by emphasizing her failure not just as a housewife, but as a mother? What benefit did she achieve from visiting her son after he had committed suicide besides feeling condemned? While Laura might believe of an irregularity on the inside, I believe her personality would have been further destroyed through these decades as a result of her behavior.
An important difference between Clarissa and Laura is that, although Clarissa too occasionally feels "trapped" in the roles her life has set out for her, ultimately she knows she *chose* the "perfect hostess" route, even in internal defiance of Peter's mocking scorn. But from all we can tell, Laura found herself snatched out of obscurity and placed in this role by Dan--she still doesn't look like she knows what hit her, and we don't imagine her having "chosen" anything. Ironically, her "choice" is ultimately to become a "bad mother" rather than a "perfect hostess."
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