“How delightful to see you!” said Clarissa. She said it to every one. How delightful to see you! She was at her worst— effusive, insincere. It was a great mistake to have come. He should have stayed at home and read his book, thought Peter Walsh; should have gone to a music hall; he should have stayed at home, for he knew no one.
Oh dear, it was going to be a failure; a complete failure, Clarissa felt it in her bones as dear old Lord Lexham stood there apologising for his wife who had caught cold at the Bucking-ham Palace garden party. She could see Peter out of the tail of her eye, criticising her, there, in that corner. Why, after all, did She do these things? Why seek pinnacles and stand drenched in fire? Might it consume her anyhow! Burn her to cinders!”
Woolf, Virginia, Mrs. Dalloway (pg.163)
In this passage, Woolf writes in two different characters’ perspective. In order to help the reader be less confused about these shifts, Woolf bounces from Clarissa’s greeting to Peter’s point of view, then shifts the perspective back to Clarissa. I envision this shift in perspective almost like those arcade machines where there is a platform where a player can dance. (i.e. the popular arcade game Dance Dance Revolution) Woolf does a type of literary dance where she puts one foot on Clarissa, then to Peter’s perspective, then back to Clarissa.