In The Hours, written by Michael Cunningham, in what ways do each of the women (Mrs. Dalloway, Mrs. Woolf, and Mrs. Brown) find themselves constrained by society, themselves, or otherwise?

The novel’s female protagonists, although of different generations, are all affected by social and personal restrictions; the latter are often connected to issues of sexuality. Clarissa Vaughan, whose friends nickname her Mrs. Dalloway after the Virginia Woolf character, is affected by her devoted friendship with Richard as he tries to come to terms with fatal AIDS. As she works to prepare his birthday party, she wonders about what might have been if they had become lovers; instead, she has made a life with Sally.
Clarissa Dalloway, in Woolf’s novel, was tightly constrained by her upper-class environment. Woolf shows her anxieties as centered in preparing an elaborate party, which represents her inner conflicts about her unfulfilled desires. Virginia Woolf struggled with issues of sexual and gender identity, including the mixed critical reception of her tremendously innovative works. Woolf died by suicide, as The Hours depicts, and the character of Richard—who is also a writer—takes his own life.
Laura Brown, Richard’s mother, is partly modeled on Mrs. Dalloway. She is a pregnant middle-class housewife trying to make a perfect cake, but it seems beyond her. That frustration, along with her decision to try harder, echoes her misgivings about staying married. The kiss with Kitty is an intimation of her ambiguous sexuality, which is one reason she decides to leave after the baby’s birth.