Critical analysis of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse

Name: - Makwana Monika

Paper no. 9- The Modernist English Literature.

Topic: - Critical analysis of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse.

Roll no:-21

Enrollment no: - 206910842020190027

Email ID: - makwanamonika76@gmail.com

Submitted to: - S. B. Gardi department of English

Introduction

'To the lighthouse' is a novel. This novel is written by Virginia Woolf. It is written in 1927. To The lighthouse are centers on Mr. Ramsay and his family. And they visit to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920. The plot To the Lighthouse is secondary to its philosophical introspection. This novel most of written as thought and observation. The novel recalls childhood emotions and highlights adult relationships. The novel is divided into three sections. 1). The Window 2). Time passes 3). The Lighthouse. Each section is fragmented into stream of consciousness contributions from various narrators.

This novel is one of the Virginia Woolf's best novels. This novel based on Ramsay family.

About the Author (Virginia Woolf)

Virginia Woolf’s full name is 'Adeline Virginia Woolf ' she was an English writer, and she is considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors. She is a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. She was born into an affluent household in South Kensington, London, and the seventh child in a blended family of eight. Her original name is Adeline Virginia Stephen, she was born on January 25, 1882 in London, England she was died on March 28, 1941 in Rodmell, Sussex.  Virginia Woolf is best known for her novels, especially Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse is written in 1927, she also wrote pioneering essays on artistic theory, literary history, women’s writing, and the politics of power. A fine stylist, Woolf experimented with several forms of biographical writing, composed painterly short fictions, and sent to her friends and family a lifetime of brilliant letters.

 Her notable works

• “Mrs. Dalloway”

• “Orlando”

• “To the Lighthouse”

• “A Room of One’s Own”

• “The Common Reader”

• “Jacob’s Room”

• “The Waves”

• “The Art of Fiction”

• “Between the Acts”

• “Kew Gardens”

Characters of this novel

1. Mrs. Ramsay 2. Mr. Ramsay 3. Lily Briscoe 4. James Ramsay 4. Paul Ramsay 5.Minta Doyle 6.Charles Tansley 7.William Bankes 8. Augustus Carmichael 9.Andrew Ramsay   10. Jasper Ramsay 11. Roger Ramsay 12. Prue Ramsay 13. Nancy Ramsay 14. Cam Ramsay 15.Mrs. McNab 16. Macalister 17. Macalister's Boy

Mrs. Ramsay

She is wife of Mr. Ramsay. Mrs. Ramsay is a beautiful and loving woman. She is a loving wife of Mr. Ramsay but she often struggles with her husband's difficult moods and selfishness without fail.

Mr. Ramsay

Husband of  Mrs. Ramsay and a prominent metaphysical philosopher. He loves his family a lot but he often acts like something of a tyrant. Mr. Ramsay tends to be selfish and harsh due to his persistent personal and professional anxieties.

Lily Briscoe

Younger single painter woman. She is befriends the Ramsay's on the Isle of Skye. In the beginning of the novel she begins a portrait of Mr. Ramsay.

James Ramsay

A youngest son of Mrs. and Mr. Ramsay. He loves his mother deeply. And he feels a murderous antipathy toward his father, with whom James must compete for Mr. Ramsay's affection and love.

Paul Rayley

Ramsays young friend. Who visit Ramsay's on the Isle of Skye. He is a kind person and impressionable young man. Paul follows Mrs. Ramsay's wishes in marrying Minta Doyle.

Minta Doyle

She is a young woman. She visits the Ramsay's on the Isle of Skye. She marries Paul Rayley.

Charles Tansley

He is a young man, who is philosopher and pupil of Mr. Ramsay. And who stays with the Ramsay family on the Isle of Skye.

William Bankes

He is an old friend of the Ramsays. Who stays on Isle of Skye and he is kind man whom Mrs. Ramsay hopes will marry Lily Briscoe but he never marries Lily Briscoe. 

Augustus Carmichael

An opiumusing poet. He languishes in literary obscurity until his verse become popular during the world war. He visits the Ramsays on the Isle of Skye.

Andrew Ramsay

The oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. Who looks forward to a career as a mathematician.

Jasper Ramsay

Son of Ramsays. To his mother's chagrin, enjoys shooting birds.

Roger Ramsay

Son of Ramsays and he is wild and adventurous as his sister Nancy.

Prue Ramsay 

A beautiful young woman. Mr. Ramsay delights in contemplationing Prue's marriage which Prue believes will be blissful.

Rose Ramsay

She is Ramsay's daughter and she has talent of making things beautiful.

Cam Ramsay

She is daughter of Ramsays and as young girl she is mischievous.

Macalister

The fisherman and who accompanies the Ramsays to the lighthouse'.

Macalister's Boy

Son of the fisherman. He rows cam, Mr. Ramsay and James to the lighthouse.

Critical analysis:- To The Lighthouse

To The Lighthouse is written by Virginia Woolf. This novel is divided into three parts:-

• The Window

• Time passes

• The Lighthouse

These three parts are fragmented into syrest of consciousness and contribution from various narrators. All parts based on Ramsay family.

Part I: - The window

The window begins before the start of world war I. Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay bring their 8 children to their summer home in the west of Scotland. There the six year old James, son of Ramsay's wants to go to the Lighthouse then Mrs. Ramsay replied him that they will go the next day if the weather gives permission. James reacts gleefully then Mrs. Ramsay tells him sweetly that weather looks to be foul James resents his father. And believes that he enjoys being cruel to James and siblings. To The Lighthouse set in the Ramsays' summer home on the Isle of Skye. This part begins with Mrs. Ramsay's conversation with her son James that we seen earlier. This prediction is denied by Mr. Ramsay, who said to him that the weather will not be clear, an opinion that forces a certain tension between both husband and wife. And also some tensions between Mr. Ramsay and James.

This incident is referred to on various occasions throughout the section, especially in the context of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay's (husband and wife) relationship. Lily Briscoe, begins the novel as a young, as painter attempting a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay and James.

She finds herself plagued by doubts throughout the novel, doubts largely fed by the claims of Charles Tansley (another guest), who asserts that women can neither paint nor write.  Charles Tansley himself is an admirer of Mr. Ramsay, a philosophy professor, and this part is close with a dinner party. When Augustus Carmichael, a visits poet, Mr. Ramsay nearly snaps at him. Mrs. Ramsay is herself out of sorts when Minta Doyle and Paul Rayley, two acquaintances whom she has brought together in engagement, arrive late to dinner, when Minta lost her grandmother's brooch on the beach.

Part:-2 Time passes

The second part is 'Time passes'. It gives a sense of time passing, absence, and death. Here talked about time and death of Mrs. Ramsay. In this section she dies while First World War begins and ends. Mrs. Ramsay is died and prue dies from complications of childbirth and Mrs. Ramsay's son Andrew is killed in the war. Time passes is more quickly as the novel 'To the Lighthouse' enters the 'Time Passes' segment. Time passes is started after gap of ten year. During these ten years, the death of Mrs. Ramsay, prue and Andrew is happened. And after the deaths of this family members Ramsay family no longer vacations at it is summerhouse. This is middle section of the novel. Lily Briscoe returns when everything is in order. Ten years pass before the Ramsays returns Mrs. McNab (The house keeper) employs a few other women to help set the house in the order.

Part:-3 The Lighthouse

The third part of the novel is 'The Lighthouse'. In this third section time returns to slow details of shifting points of views as in style to ' The Window' section. In this section, Mr. Ramsay declares that his son (James) and his daughter (cam) will journey to the lighthouse. This is a final section and in this  some of remaining the family and others return to their summer home 10 years after the event of part-1. They decide that they will journey to the lighthouse on the morning of the voyage. The trip mostly does not happen, as children’s were not ready and children were silent in protest at their father for forcing them to come along. In this section, Lily attempts to finally complete the painting lily have held in her mind since the start of the novel. Lily reconsiders her memory of Mrs. and Mr. Ramsay, balancing the multitude of impressions from ten years ago in an effort to reach towards an objective truth about Mrs. Ramsay and life it. Upon finishing the painting and seeing that it satisfies her, she realizes that the execution of her vision was more important to her than the idea of leaving some sort of legacy in her work.

Major theme of the novel

1.  Complexity of experience

          The large parts of Woolf's novel do not concern themselves with the objects of vision, but rather investigate the means of perception, attempting to understand people in the act of looking. The author spends considerable time listen to herself think, observing which and how words and emotions arose in her own mind in response to what she saw.

2.               Complexity of human relationships

          This book’s two sections stand out as excellent snapshots of fumbling attempts at this crossing. The silent interchange between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay as they pass the time alone together at the end of section 1 and Lily Briscoe's struggle to fulfill Mr. Ramsay's desire for sympathy as the novel closes.

Conclusion
In this novel Mrs. Ramsay represents the symbol of refrigerator and the preserver of something, as it was she is also a preserver of nature. She didn’t allow herself to grow, and constantly looking backwards. And Mrs. Ramsay trained her children with the very different approaches. She shaped their minds, to her daughter, she wanted that women around her and sustain men, and her daughters also be like her to pampers the patriarchal beliefs. She also believes that marry a man is the best thing.