Analysis of Virginia Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse”

Posted on Jun 9, 2024 in English

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Her work was different from previous modernists. She didn’t go to school because she was a woman and was bitter about it. She became orphaned when she was young, leading to her first mental health struggles. She was bisexual, but that didn’t affect her relationship with her husband. They started a publishing house, and she was self-published. Her nervous breakdowns continued, and she tragically died by suicide. Virginia hated conventions; she wrote experimental prose to create something new. She was a feminist writer. T.S. Eliot was centered on the state of the world or history, grand-narratives, whereas Virginia Woolf was interested in the particularities of life.

Her Works:

Mrs. Dalloway (1925) – It made her famous.
To the Lighthouse (1927)
Orlando (1928)
The Waves (1931)
Between the Acts (1941)

A Room of One’s Own

The title addresses the necessity of women to have a place of their own. She addresses the issue of women in writing and education. What had been written about women had always been written by men, and she wants to break that. A poem could be said to be great before the war because certain categories existed by which we could say that. After the war, that didn’t exist anymore; it was not possible to say that a poet was great. We can’t determine anymore what’s good or what’s bad; absolute truth does not exist. It is very ironic, sarcastic, and makes fun of some pre-established notions. Illusion is far away after the war, and we can see this in poetry. Truth changes and is intermingled with illusion. Women writers will analyze this more deeply.

To the Lighthouse (1927)

Realism and Perspective

It is a realistic novel, but different from traditional realism: the latter would make an assumption about the world and how to portray it, whereas Virginia Woolf showed truth and reality made up by different pieces of realities through different points of view. T.S. Eliot focused on fragmentation (multiple perspectives). Woolf used the stream of consciousness.

Time and Structure

Time is divided into three parts:

Before the war (an afternoon that lasts 85 pages)
Ten years afterward (20 pages)
The journey to the lighthouse (a few hours in 40 pages)

There is a cycle: afternoon, night (10 years), and morning, a new day. In the first part, nothing really happens. The second deals with war, deaths of some characters, and the decay of the family. Finally, the third one talks about the relationships between some characters. Daily life acts are more important than grand acts like war, showing an unconventional perception of time; we don’t measure time objectively. The first and third parts can be following one another since the second part is not relevant, a parenthesis of the real story. Bad times are described in more detail, and the good ones very shortly (good times fly). Everything becomes relative (modernism).

Symbolism

The House: Most of the action happens in the house, although it decreases as the story advances. It represents social conventions (a traditional symbol of family).
The Island: Symbolizes isolation and independence from the mainland.
The Lighthouse: Means another level of isolation. Mr. Ramsay goes there, and he is a very isolated character himself. It is a symbol of guidance, hope.

Stream of Consciousness and Internal Action

Nothing happens in the novel. Readers get lost by the use of the stream of consciousness since a lot of thinking takes place inside the characters. External things are just trivial; the action takes place inside the minds of the characters. They have different attitudes towards the world: some of them have intellectual motivations. All of them want to get some meaning from life.

Characters and Gender Roles

Mrs. Ramsay: Socially harmonious. She plays the traditional female role (conservative and manipulative, she wants to have everything under control) and follows instincts and feelings. Lily is jealous and respectful of her.
Lily Briscoe: Different, modern, and independent. She wants to break free from men and has an internal conflict shown through the stream of consciousness. She is a painter, but Mr. Tansley, Mr. Ramsay, and Mrs. Ramsay don’t support her. She paints as a personal expression, but it went against tradition.
Mr. Ramsay: A difficult person, self-centered and needing self-attention. He wants to be eternal, and that’s why he is a philosopher and writer in the university. He doesn’t take into account his children’s dreams or wishes. He represents the stereotype: male-dominated society before the war.

Gender Issues

Lily and Mr. Ramsay: There is a clash between Lily Briscoe and Mr. Ramsay since he is impatient about Lily’s painting, and she feels nervous and uncomfortable when he is around because her creativity is being stifled. There is no natural dialogue between them.
Charles Tansley: A misogynist; such attitudes still remain after the war. For him, women are not an issue, and he is impatient with them. He is interested in searching for and expressing the truth, but only his own truth. Lily doesn’t care about him.
Mrs. Ramsay: Represents the old-mannered women, behind their husbands’ backs and repressed all the time. Their marriage is not very successful; they don’t show their feelings, but they can see that they love each other.
Lily’s Paintings: Lily’s paintings are symbolic; she wants to capture the essence of reality. Woolf leaves a question whether the dominance of men is going to be over or everything will continue as it was.

Generational Conflict

James Ramsay and his siblings don’t want to go to the lighthouse, and they think how much they hate their old father. He insists on going there, even though they are already teenagers. There is a big shift when they get to the lighthouse as his father allows James to go there by boat. James achieves recognition, something vital for him. He is quite like Mr. Ramsay: aggressive, impatient, angry, upset… The new generation perpetuates the old. Mr. Ramsay is respected, even feared, but not loved.