The beginning of The Hours highlighted the emphasis on flowers in Mrs. Dalloway. It really struck me in the beginning of the movie, as I watched three different stories being tied together by people arranging flowers in vases. I know for certain that my family isn't that big on flowers, especially because they are expensive. But also, they don't really mean anything to my family. We all know that roses stand for love, because from the movies, rose petals cue romantic music. But what do other flowers mean? Like the hyacinths that are mentioned in Mrs. Dalloway a number of times? And the hydrangeas that reminded Clarissa of Sally Seton?
Hydrangea---->
Just like roses say "I love you", hyacinths mean "I am sorry", and hydrangeas express gratitude. Perhaps these flower meanings cannot be translated literally into Mrs. Dalloway, but nature still plays a big part in the book. Especially when Sally Seton is involved. Here are two examples of Sally's relationship with flowers:
1). Sally Seton offers Clarissa a flower and kisses her at Bourton:
"Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! (40)"<--but I have the wrong version of the book.
2). Sally's personality is demonstrated in a short anecdote about her flower arranging skills:
" Sally's power was amazing, her gift, her personality. There was her way with flowers, for instance. At Bourton they always had stiff little vases all the way down the table. Sally went out, picked hollyhocks, dahlias--all sorts of flowers that had never been seen together--cut their heads off, and made them swim on top of water in bowls. The effect was extraordinary..(38)"
Richard and Mrs. Dalloway also exhibit proclivities toward buying flowers. Other than the obvious first line, "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.", Richard buys flowers for Clarissa later in the book, to show his love for her after he hears Clarissa's name mentioned during lunch with Hugh. The lunch inspires such love in Richard that he goes to buy "any number of flowers, roses, orchids, to celebrate what was, reckoning things as you will, an event; this feeling about her when they spoke of Peter Walsh at luncheon.. (127). " Richard stated that he trusted his taste in flowers more than his taste in gold. What a love of flowers!
And finally, the comparing of actual people to flowers in Mrs. Dalloway.
"As a child, she had had a perfect sense of humour; but now at seventeen, why, Clarissa could not in the least understand, she had become very serious; like a hyacinth, sheathed in glossy green, with buds just tinted, a hyacinth which has had no sun. (135)"
Hyacinth----->
Flowers must have played a much bigger role in Victorian England than it does in my world. Reading Mrs. Dalloway, I got a sense of how important flowers are to the characters, but perhaps I'll never really understand their love of floral arrangements.
Hydrangea---->
Just like roses say "I love you", hyacinths mean "I am sorry", and hydrangeas express gratitude. Perhaps these flower meanings cannot be translated literally into Mrs. Dalloway, but nature still plays a big part in the book. Especially when Sally Seton is involved. Here are two examples of Sally's relationship with flowers:
1). Sally Seton offers Clarissa a flower and kisses her at Bourton:
"Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! (40)"<--but I have the wrong version of the book.
2). Sally's personality is demonstrated in a short anecdote about her flower arranging skills:
" Sally's power was amazing, her gift, her personality. There was her way with flowers, for instance. At Bourton they always had stiff little vases all the way down the table. Sally went out, picked hollyhocks, dahlias--all sorts of flowers that had never been seen together--cut their heads off, and made them swim on top of water in bowls. The effect was extraordinary..(38)"
Richard and Mrs. Dalloway also exhibit proclivities toward buying flowers. Other than the obvious first line, "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.", Richard buys flowers for Clarissa later in the book, to show his love for her after he hears Clarissa's name mentioned during lunch with Hugh. The lunch inspires such love in Richard that he goes to buy "any number of flowers, roses, orchids, to celebrate what was, reckoning things as you will, an event; this feeling about her when they spoke of Peter Walsh at luncheon.. (127). " Richard stated that he trusted his taste in flowers more than his taste in gold. What a love of flowers!
And finally, the comparing of actual people to flowers in Mrs. Dalloway. "As a child, she had had a perfect sense of humour; but now at seventeen, why, Clarissa could not in the least understand, she had become very serious; like a hyacinth, sheathed in glossy green, with buds just tinted, a hyacinth which has had no sun. (135)"
Hyacinth----->
Flowers must have played a much bigger role in Victorian England than it does in my world. Reading Mrs. Dalloway, I got a sense of how important flowers are to the characters, but perhaps I'll never really understand their love of floral arrangements.
Woolf certainly does like to talk about plants. Unfortunately, this can mean that the flower mentioned convey completely different meanings to some readers than to others. When I hear "Hyacinth," I only know that it's something blue because there's a species of blue parrot called the Hyacinth Macaw... well, what did you expect? I'm a birder.
ReplyDeleteI associate roses with cliches about love, and orchids--orchids are nasty little freeloaders! There are dozens of biological mechanisms in orchid flowers that get insects to pollinate them without receiving anything in return.
Like you, I don't really understand what the big deal is with flowers. But surely Holmes and Bradshaw approve--at least it's a hobby!