Night and Day (novel)

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Title Night and Day

Author	Virginia Woolf
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher
Released	1919
Media type	Print
Pages	442
ISBN	N/A

Night and Day (1919) is a novel by Virginia Woolf. Set in Edwardian London, Night and Day contrasts the daily lives of two friends, Katharine Hilbery and Mary Datchet. The novel examines the relationships between love, marriage, happiness, and success.

Dialogue and descriptions of thought and actions are used in equal amount, unlike in Woolf's later book, To the Lighthouse. There are four major characters (Katharine Hilbery, Mary Datchet, Ralph Denham, and William Rodney) who are continually returned to. Night and Day deals with issues concerning women's suffrage, if love and marriage can coexist, and if marriage is necessary for happiness. Motifs throughout the book incudes the stars and sky, the River Thames, and walks; also, Woolf makes many references to the works of William Shakespeare, especially from As You Like It.

Contents 1 Characters 1.1 Katharine Hilbery 1.2 Ralph Denham 1.3 Mary Datchet 1.4 William Rodney 1.5 Other Minor Characters

[edit] Characters

[edit] Katharine Hilbery

Katharine Hilbery is the protagonist of the story for the most part. As the grand-daughter of a distinguished--yet fictional--poet, she is blessed (and cursed) with being from a privileged class. Though she is expected to write another prize-winning literary piece, Katharine secretly does not like English and literature but mathematics instead. The novel begins with Katharine engaged to William Rodney but soon they end their engagement. Eventually Katharine engages and marries Ralph Denham.

Katharine's mother, known to to the reader only as Mrs. Hilbery, plays a relatively large role in Katharine's life, while Katharine's father, Mr. Hilbery, is only seen once. Though Mary and Katharine were the only two main women roles, Katharine does not interact too much with Mary. In fact, Katharine is a very solitary person, and the conflict between marriage and staying single and independent is evident in her.

[edit] Ralph Denham

A historian, Ralph Denham is first seen in the book in the Hilbery's tea party. He leaves the party saying "She'll do...Yes, Katharine Hilbery'll do...I'll take Katharine Hilbery" (p 19), and from this point Ralph was in constant chase after Katharine. Multiple times he stalked Katharine through the streets of London and often passed her house, hoping to see her within.

Ralph's relationship with William Rodney is relatively formal, while Ralph's relationship with Mary is more in depth. At one point in the story Ralph realizes Mary's love for him and he proposes to her; however, Mary had already realized he was not truly in love with her.

[edit] Mary Datchet

Mary Datchet, the daughter of a country priest, is a suffrage worker in the city. Though she can live comfortably financially without working, Mary chooses to work. Mary can be considered as parallel to the ideal of Virginia Woolf as detailed in A Room of One's Own, "Professions for Women", and other feminist essays.

Her romantic life is short-lived and unsuccessful. Mary falls wildly in love with Ralph Denham, and wishes to move into the country with him. However,when he finally proposes to her, she rejects him, deeming him not sincere. Instead, she decides to leave for America to work on women's suffrage there.

Mary also serves an emotional outlet for the characters, especially Ralph and Katharine. Whenever Ralph, Katharine, or the other characters need to tell someone about their love or anguish, they always go for tea at Mary's. This serves mostly to move the plot along.

[edit] William Rodney

Rodney is budding poet and often has people listen to his mediocre works. He is the first romantic interest of Katharine; however, he is mostly attracted to Katharine for her grandfather's status as one of the greatest English poets. Rodney often tries to impress Katharine; however, he does not realize that he is not as good as he thinks he is. After Katharine drifts away from him, Rodney becomes interested in Cassandra Otway, Katharine's cousin. While Katharine represents the new generation of ideas about marriage, Cassandra represents the old, Victorian ideas about marriage: that the woman serves the man. At the end of the book, Rodney becomes engaged to Cassandra.

[edit] Other Minor Characters

The story, though it centers around Katharine, Ralph, Mary, and William, is dotted with other minor characters (most of whom appear only in the various tea parties) including:

• Cassandra Otway, the cousin of Katharine who marries William
• Mr. and Mrs. Hilbery
• Mr. Datchet
• Mrs. Cosham
• Aunt Celia
• Cyril, a man who has two children with the woman he is living with, but not married to; he represents the new age of modern ideas about marriage and relationships
• Mr. Clacton and Mrs. Seal, Mary's co-workers in her suffrage office.
• Mr. Basnett
• Joan, Ralph's sister
• Harry Sandys, Ralph's old college friend