Contemplating The Hours :: Cunningham Hours Essays

Contemplating The Hours The Hours is about 3 women, Virginia Woolf,Laura Brown and Clarissa Vaughan who all have the same feeling in common. Each of the the women in three different time periods from in the 1940's, 1950's and the 1990's all share the thoughts of failure. Woolf thought she had failed as a writer, Brown thought she was a failure as a wife and mother, Vaughan also thought she was a failure as a writer. Each of the women also desired to escape out of their lives in the manner of suicide. Woolf's suicide was accomplished in the beginning of lthe story. Brown's attempt of suicide nixed by coming home and then later leaving her family. Vaughan's suicide thoughts was scrubbed when her friend Richard, fell to his death from a window because lhe was tired of living and he also felt that he was a faiiure. Woolf, Brown , and Vaughan also had a common bond in their position in relationships. Each of the women were in relationships that were dominated by the male dominance. Woolf had the dominating husband, Leonard who was tough as nails and critical. He always wanted perfection from those he worked with for example Ralph, whom he was always critical and hard on in terms of his work, Virginia always felt sorry for him but never would speak against her husband. She felt that she had to defend or to stand with him no matter what even if he was wrong. Brown felt that she had to have everything perfect ( the incident with the cake), yet, her husband was the middle class successful husband. Brown in the time where the husband would go off to work and the wife would stay home and take care of the family. Brown in the meantime would adore her husband and her family, yet, she would have feelings of despising her husband(he grossing her out with the way he spit over the cake when he blew out the candle on his cake), Brown also desired to get away by way of suicide ( when she checked herself in at the hotel as if she was doing something slutty and in secret) but she did not have the heart to kill herself. What she did was continue to read the book written by Virginia Woolf, whom she was an avid admirer of her. Brown was intrigued with the manner in which Woolf killed herself.