Performance

In every one of the novels' three main plotlines, at least one character finds himself or herself feeling as though life is little more than a performance. Whenever this metaphor rears its head, you can feel pretty sure that the characters involved are struggling to reconcile their senses of identity with the roles they know they are expected to play.

The first instance of a performance metaphor in The Hours comes from the world of Laura Brown. As Laura musters up the energy to face the day, we see this:

She brushes her teeth, brushes her hair, and starts downstairs. She pauses several treads from the bottom, listening, waiting; she is again possessed (it seems to be getting worse) by a dreamlike feeling, as if she is standing in the wings, about to go onstage and perform in a play for which she is not appropriately dressed, and for which she has not adequately rehearsed. What, she wonders, is wrong with her. (3.17)

The metaphor pops up again in Clarissa Vaughan's narrative when Clarissa goes to visit her dear friend Richard Brown. Richard is feeling anxious about having to be "proud and brave in front of everybody" at the party that Clarissa is throwing for him, and when Clarissa tells him not to worry, that it isn't "a performance," he replies: "Of course it is. I got a prize for my performance, you must know that. I got a prize for having AIDS and going nuts and being brave about it, it had nothing to do with my work" (4.83).

Not to be outdone, Virginia Woolf gets in on the performance metaphor action as she returns home from a late morning walk. Here's how the novel's narrator puts it: "On the steps of Hogarth House, she pauses to remember herself. She has learned over the years that sanity involves a certain measure of impersonation, not simply for the benefit of husband and servants but for the sake, first and foremost, of one's own convictions. She is the author; Leonard, Nelly, Ralph, and the others are the readers" (7.8).

Of course, you attentive readers will have noticed that Virginia's narrative puts a unique spin on this particular performance metaphor. Virginia conceives of her performance by imagining herself as a book that others will read, so, here, we've got a metaphor that features less "stage" and more "page."

The basic point, though, is that all of these characters experience some tension between their true selves and the roles they have to play in the world. They're expected to be professionals, wives, managers of households, moms—you name it. But do these roles fulfill them? Not all the time. Each of these characters has many different roles to play in their lives, and some of those roles are more difficult, some more rewarding, than others.