Virginia Woolf – “Mrs. Dalloway” – Exam Based MCQs
1. Mrs. Dalloway is written by: (UGC NET)
A) James Joyce
B) Virginia Woolf
C) D.H. Lawrence
D) E.M. Forster
Ans: B) Virginia Woolf
2. The novel primarily takes place in: (SET)
A) Paris
B) Dublin
C) New York
D) London
Ans: D) London
3. The events of Mrs. Dalloway occur mainly within: (PGTRB)
A) One day
B) One week
C) One year
D) Ten years
Ans: A) One day
4. Clarissa Dalloway’s main activity in the novel is: (UGC NET)
A) Writing a novel
B) Preparing for a journey
C) Preparing for a party
D) Leading a protest
Ans: C) Preparing for a party
5. The narrative technique widely used in the novel is: (SET)
A) Epistolary form
B) Stream of consciousness / interior monologue
C) Detective narration
D) Pastoral romance
Ans: B) Stream of consciousness / interior monologue
6. Septimus Warren Smith is primarily portrayed as: (PGTRB)
A) A politician
B) A poet
C) A businessman
D) A shell-shocked war veteran
Ans: D) A shell-shocked war veteran
7. Septimus’s wife is: (UGC NET)
A) Rezia (Lucrezia)
B) Sally Seton
C) Doris Kilman
D) Lady Bruton
Ans: A) Rezia (Lucrezia)
8. Peter Walsh returns to London from: (SET)
A) Canada
B) Australia
C) India
D) Italy
Ans: C) India
9. Clarissa is married to: (PGTRB)
A) Peter Walsh
B) Richard Dalloway
C) Hugh Whitbread
D) Septimus Smith
Ans: B) Richard Dalloway
10. The striking repeated sound/image marking time in the novel is: (UGC NET)
A) Church bells at midnight
B) Sea waves
C) Train whistles
D) Big Ben’s chimes
Ans: D) Big Ben’s chimes
11. Sally Seton is mainly remembered by Clarissa as: (SET)
A) A close youthful friend who represented freedom
B) A strict governess
C) A war nurse
D) A politician
Ans: A) A close youthful friend who represented freedom
12. The novel is considered a major work of: (PGTRB)
A) Romanticism
B) Neo-classicism
C) Modernism
D) Medievalism
Ans: C) Modernism
13. Clarissa’s daughter is: (UGC NET)
A) Rezia
B) Elizabeth Dalloway
C) Lucy
D) Sally
Ans: B) Elizabeth Dalloway
14. Miss Kilman is mainly associated with: (SET)
A) Septimus’s therapy
B) The Prime Minister’s party
C) Clarissa’s youth at Bourton
D) Elizabeth’s religious instruction and resentment
Ans: D) Elizabeth’s religious instruction and resentment
15. Woolf’s “tunnelling process” in the novel refers to: (PGTRB)
A) Moving from present scenes into deep past memories
B) Writing only dialogues
C) Using detective clues
D) Narrating in letters
Ans: A) Moving from present scenes into deep past memories
16. Bourton in the novel is: (UGC NET)
A) A ship
B) A market
C) A country house linked to Clarissa’s youth
D) A war camp
Ans: C) A country house linked to Clarissa’s youth
17. The novel strongly explores the themes of: (SET)
A) Pirate adventure and treasure
B) Time, memory, and inner consciousness
C) Medieval warfare
D) Detective investigation
Ans: B) Time, memory, and inner consciousness
18. Septimus is haunted by the death of: (PGTRB)
A) Richard Dalloway
B) Clarissa’s father
C) Peter Walsh’s friend
D) Evans (his comrade)
Ans: D) Evans (his comrade)
19. The novel criticizes the medical establishment through: (UGC NET)
A) Doctors like Sir William Bradshaw
B) Political speeches in Parliament
C) A detective inspector
D) A religious sermon
Ans: A) Doctors like Sir William Bradshaw
20. Sir William Bradshaw is known for promoting: (SET)
A) Artistic freedom
B) Anarchist politics
C) “Proportion” and “Conversion” (social control)
D) Circus entertainment
Ans: C) “Proportion” and “Conversion”
21. Clarissa once considered marrying Peter Walsh but: (PGTRB)
A) He was already married
B) She chose Richard for stability/social position
C) Peter refused her
D) She left England
Ans: B) She chose Richard for stability/social position
22. The narrative shifts frequently between: (UGC NET)
A) Only Clarissa and Richard
B) Only Peter and Sally
C) Only Septimus and Evans
D) Multiple consciousnesses across characters
Ans: D) Multiple consciousnesses across characters
23. The “airplane skywriting” scene shows: (SET)
A) A shared public moment interpreted differently by observers
B) A secret war plan
C) A religious vision
D) A courtroom judgment
Ans: A) A shared public moment interpreted differently
24. Clarissa’s party is attended by: (PGTRB)
A) Only villagers from Bourton
B) Only war veterans
C) Members of London society and political circles
D) Only children
Ans: C) Members of London society and political circles
25. Clarissa’s identity struggle is often linked to: (UGC NET)
A) Industrial revolution
B) The tension between private self and public role
C) Colonial exploration
D) Medieval feudalism
Ans: B) Private self vs public role
26. Peter Walsh is often characterized by: (SET)
A) Complete calmness always
B) Lack of emotion
C) Pure villainy
D) Restlessness, nostalgia, and self-criticism
Ans: D) Restlessness, nostalgia, and self-criticism
27. The novel’s structure is shaped by: (PGTRB)
A) The clock-time of a single day and memory flashbacks
B) A chronological family saga across 200 years
C) A detective case file
D) A travel diary across continents
Ans: A) Single day + memory flashbacks
28. Clarissa often thinks of death in relation to: (UGC NET)
A) Comedy
B) War medals
C) Meaning, solitude, and the boundary of self
D) Political power only
Ans: C) Meaning, solitude, and the boundary of self
29. Septimus’s suicide is a protest against: (SET)
A) Clarissa’s party
B) Medical/social oppression and loss of autonomy
C) Peter’s return from India
D) Sally’s marriage
Ans: B) Medical/social oppression
30. Clarissa’s reaction to Septimus’s death at her party is: (PGTRB)
A) Laughing loudly
B) Total indifference
C) Anger only
D) Deep reflection, empathy, and recognition of mortality
Ans: D) Deep reflection, empathy, and recognition of mortality
31. Woolf belonged to the: (UGC NET)
A) Bloomsbury Group
B) Lake Poets
C) Oxford Movement
D) Pre-Raphaelites
Ans: A) Bloomsbury Group
32. Which concept is central to Woolf’s modernist art in the novel? (SET)
A) Linear epic plot
B) Historical chronicle only
C) The “moments of being” / consciousness fragments
D) Gothic mystery
Ans: C) Moments of being / consciousness fragments
33. The novel reflects post–World War I society through: (PGTRB)
A) Medieval battles
B) Colonial adventures
C) Victorian factory life
D) Trauma, disillusionment, and social change
Ans: D) Trauma, disillusionment, and social change
34. The novel is often compared with Joyce’s: (UGC NET)
A) A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
B) Ulysses
C) Dubliners
D) Finnegans Wake
Ans: B) Ulysses
35. Clarissa’s famous opening action is: (SET)
A) Going out to buy flowers
B) Writing a letter
C) Visiting a graveyard
D) Leaving London
Ans: A) Going out to buy flowers
36. The novel’s key symbol of social unity and fragmentation is: (PGTRB)
A) A castle
B) A ship
C) A war medal
D) The city of London as intersecting lives
Ans: D) London as intersecting lives
37. Septimus’s condition in modern terms is linked to: (UGC NET)
A) Pure laziness
B) Romantic melancholy only
C) PTSD / severe war trauma
D) Comic hysteria
Ans: C) PTSD / severe war trauma
38. Sally Seton later becomes: (SET)
A) Lady Rosseter
B) Miss Kilman
C) Lady Bruton
D) Rezia Smith
Ans: A) Lady Rosseter
39. Clarissa’s party can be interpreted as: (PGTRB)
A) Pure political propaganda
B) Only a comic social event
C) A war victory celebration
D) An attempt to create connection and meaning
Ans: D) An attempt to create connection and meaning
40. The Prime Minister’s appearance at the party mainly shows: (UGC NET)
A) Revolutionary change
B) The prestige and emptiness of social power
C) The defeat of war trauma
D) Rural life in Wessex
Ans: B) Prestige and emptiness of social power
41. The novel’s “multiple perspectives” create a sense of: (SET)
A) Pure realism only
B) Epic heroism
C) Interconnected inner lives and social space
D) Detective certainty
Ans: C) Interconnected inner lives and social space
42. Woolf’s narrative often dissolves boundaries between: (PGTRB)
A) Past and present
B) Kings and queens
C) Land and sea only
D) Myth and legend only
Ans: A) Past and present
43. The title character “Mrs. Dalloway” is named: (UGC NET)
A) Rezia
B) Sally
C) Elizabeth
D) Clarissa
Ans: D) Clarissa
44. Clarissa’s feeling of “being alone” is often called: (SET)
A) Pure joy
B) Existential isolation beneath social life
C) Comic foolishness
D) Political ambition
Ans: B) Existential isolation beneath social life
45. Septimus’s tragedy highlights Woolf’s concern with: (PGTRB)
A) The failure of society to understand mental suffering
B) Pirate wars
C) Medieval superstition
D) Detective corruption
Ans: A) Failure of society to understand mental suffering
46. The “party” functions structurally as: (UGC NET)
A) A war strategy meeting
B) A courtroom trial
C) A narrative frame that gathers characters and meanings
D) A circus performance
Ans: C) A narrative frame that gathers characters and meanings
47. Clarissa’s relationship with Sally in youth suggests: (SET)
A) Only hatred
B) Business rivalry
C) Religious devotion
D) Intense emotional intimacy and possibility
Ans: D) Intense emotional intimacy and possibility
48. Peter Walsh’s “pocket-knife” habit often indicates: (PGTRB)
A) Royal authority
B) Nervousness and self-consciousness
C) Scientific curiosity
D) Physical strength
Ans: B) Nervousness and self-consciousness
49. The novel’s style is best described as: (UGC NET)
A) Lyrical prose with interior perspectives
B) Strictly objective journalism
C) Epic heroic verse
D) Pure satire only
Ans: A) Lyrical prose with interior perspectives
50. Mrs. Dalloway was first published in: (SET)
A) 1910
B) 1918
C) 1925
D) 1945
Ans: C) 1925
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