Introduction
Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse is highly symbolic, with several key images and themes. One of the novel’s key themes is the distribution of gender roles and the portrayal of key female characters such as Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe. These women are absolute opposites, conveying the images of women of the old and new generations. Due to the fragmentary manner of narration in the novel, the reader is able to observe a sharp transformation that has taken place in the image of a woman, her transformation from a wife and mother into a creator and an independent person. Therefore, this paper will analyze the gender roles and manifestations of feminism in Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse.
General Analysis of the Novel
The novel To the Lighthouse consists of three parts, each describing a day in the life of the Ramsays. The events of the first part, The Window, take place between sunrise and sunset in the summer house of the Ramsay family. Several friends gather at the house to relax and socialize, including the artist with “little Chinese eyes and puckered-up face,” Lily Briscoe, who paints a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay and her son James (Woolf 8). The mistress of the house is charming, kind, discreet, and delicate, while her husband, on the contrary, is a dry and cold pedant who suffers from disappointments. The second part, Time Passes, takes place in the same house decades later, after the death of Mrs. Ramsay. In the third part, The Lighthouse, the dream of James Ramsay, who, as a child, wanted to visit the lighthouse with his mother, finally comes true.
Hence, the novel describes two days separated by a ten-year time interval. Although in the second and third parts of the novel, Mrs. Ramsay is already dead, she is still the central female character of the book. In the first part, she is depicted as a virgin of family coziness, and this atmosphere she created remains in the memory of her friends (Woolf) 10 years later. Mrs. Ramsay worries about her children and does household chores. At the same time, Mr. Ramsay is the complete opposite of his wife, a scientist who tries to understand the essence of the universe in his philosophical knowledge (Felin 42).
Because of this significant difference and the worldview of the spouses, they cannot understand each other. When Mrs. Ramsay wants to take her son to the lighthouse, her husband says that the weather is unsuitable for this, forbidding them to go (Woolf 2). The concept of a trip to the lighthouse becomes central to the fragmentary plot of the novel.
The reader may get the impression that Mr. Ramsay is the head of the family, but in reality; it is his wife who does everything to maintain the house and support the children and her husband. That is especially noticeable in the second part of the novel, when after the death of Mrs. Ramsay’s house begins to fall into disrepair. The soul of the house is resurrected only when the lonely, restless Mr. Ramsay decides to fulfill the last cherished wish of his late wife and go to the lighthouse. Moreover, as the goal approaches, Mrs. Ramsay, who embodies femininity, warmth, coziness, harmony, and kindness, seems to return from nowhere.
Her personality regains power over those around her, reviving them in her memory. The image of Mrs. Ramsay visualizes herself in a painting of Lily Briscoe that she finally completes, something she has been unable to do for ten years (Woolf 97). The beginning of the new is inextricably linked with losses, but eternal values are not lost, only changed in the eternal flow of time.
Key Female Characters in the Novel
Woolf’s novel has clear feminist motifs that create a certain tension. One of the key aspects of the author’s feminism is defining a woman’s role in society and her family. The depiction of the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. In this union, the writer combined binary opposite characters with almost nothing in common (Felin 42). The relationship between spouses reflects the clash of gender stereotypes and the polarity of male and female worldviews. In contrast to her husband, Mrs. Ramsay is intuitive rather than rational in her thoughts and feelings, bringing harmony and balance to the lives of those around her. Mr. Ramsay is rational, intelligent, and skeptically sharp with others, but at the same time, insecure and weak.
In the first part of the novel, the spouses do not understand each other at all and have completely different goals in life. Mr. Ramsay is the personification of patriarchal dictates and, at the same time, a destructive intellectual who, for example, notices that the stone against which he daily cleans his boots is more durable than Shakespeare (Woolf 17). The question that torments him the most is: how long will the books written by him be read? He is not so vain and foolish as not to feel his literary defeat in the eyes of eternity.
Instead, Mrs. Ramsay is a kind and loving mother of children who eventually achieves the goals her husband set for himself. She remains forever in the picture of Lily Briscoe, and her image is more “eternal” than the books written by her husband. Moreover, even during her lifetime, a woman does not have too much faith in her husband and his books. Felin notes that, in this way, she probably showed disdain for men who “dismiss the seemingly insignificant aspects of everyday life” (42). It is from small moments, like a conversation at dinner, that a reality is formed that men cannot grasp, belittling its importance.
At the same time, Mrs. Ramsay is tactful and delicate; she embodies the housewife and the image of the ideal wife and mother. Therefore, she sympathizes heartily with her husband, who suffers from life’s disappointments and longs for support and care (Woolf). Mrs. Ramsay is happy as much as a woman can be happy who loves her home, her husband, and her children, not knowing that marriage is a daily feat, a constant struggle with oneself, the ability to understand and forgive.
Despite the patriarchal social system, Mrs. Ramsay runs the family. She, not her husband, takes the place of “the head of the table,” monitoring the atmosphere of the evening and the work of the servants (Woolf 40). The needles in Mrs. Ramsay’s hands are a bright symbol demonstrating her family role. It seems to unite all the characters into one fabric and “knit” their destinies (Felin 43). A character’s whole life is a sacrifice she makes for her family and others. However, Mr. Ramsay does not notice this and continues to care only about his philosophical works. The role of his wife becomes more noticeable for a man already after her death. There was no one left to support him, the house began to decay, and the children died (Woolf). Only then does Mr. Ramsay finally decide to implement his wife’s intentions and take the children to the lighthouse. His actions ultimately bring relief and light to the Ramsays’ lives, which have darkened over the last ten years.
Another perspective that helps to understand the role of female images in the novel is the attitude of the artist Lily Briscoe to her antipode, Mrs. Ramsay. Lily is depicted as the image of a creative woman who devoted herself to art and condemned herself to the eternal torment of creativity. Unlike Mrs. Ramsay, whose meaning in life was her family and caring for those around her, Lily put her career first. This opposition of characters is reflected in their relationship, which is often complicated and full of misunderstandings (Woolf). From this perspective, Mrs. Ramsay’s death has deep symbolism, as it marks the transition from the image of a woman- a banker of domestic comfort- to a new female image. This new woman is a creator and an artist; she is self-sufficient and worries, foremost, about herself and achieving her ambitions. It is exactly the image embodied in Lily Briscoe, who becomes the central character in the third part of the novel.
After the First World War, in the second and third parts of the novel, Lily Briscoe greatly reduces her radical feminist sentiments. Lily sympathized equally with poor men and women, realizing how much they had it in hard times (Woolf). At the same time, she perceives the image of Mrs. Ramsay. On the one hand, the artist finds it difficult to accept the news of the death of Mrs. Ramsay and constantly thinks about it, trying to drive away the annoying shadow of the deceased. On the other hand, she wants a miracle and wants Mrs. Ramsay to return briefly from the shadow realm so that Lily can tell her that everything “has gone against her wishes” (Woolf 86). Lily Briscoe misses the woman and would like to tell her how much things have changed in society.
Life has changed to the extent that such self-sacrificing women as Mrs. Ramsay are no longer necessary. The efforts of Mrs. Ramsay will no longer convince anyone to marry everyone, and her famous refrain, “Marry, marry!” is hopelessly out of date (Woolf 86). The type of woman with an amazing power over the person on whom the family and lineage depended became unnecessary. Lily agrees with new social attitudes and accepts them.
However, the paradox is that she still misses and constantly remembers Mrs. Ramsay. Only Mrs. Ramsay can hug and comfort Lily, so tears of despair flood her face, and she, drawing the final line in her picture, makes her sacrifice. That again demonstrates the influence and role played by Mrs. Ramsay, who united “the family into a coherent whole” (Felin 44). It is the key role of a woman in the novel, which is the center of reality that Mr. Ramsay tries to understand, and without whom the reality is impossible.
Perception of Women by Male Characters
Speaking about gender roles in the novel, it is worth noting not only the deep psychologism of Woolf’s writing but also a wide range of feelings, such as tragedy and irony, with which she, for example, evaluates women. The writer does not blame Mr. Ramsay but only states his idea about the weak half of humanity. The man believed that “women are always like that; the vagueness of their minds is hopeless. They could not keep anything clearly fixed in their minds” (Woolf 83). At the same time, the irrationality of a woman’s thinking greatly complements a man. Although “women made civilization impossible with all their “charm,” all their silliness,” the world could not exist without them and their beauty (Woolf 42). The men in the novel cannot fully understand the nature of a woman, but they are aware of her necessity.
Given the context of a patriarchal society, the main roles of women in the novel are defined by men. She must “keep house, and sit beside sleeping children indoors, while men were drowned, out there in a storm” (Woolf 81). The constant emphasis on a woman’s inability to be independent and her dependence on a man is one of the leading features of the novel, which determines the distribution of gender roles in it. However, in the minds of women of the new generation, like Lily, there is a transformation of established social norms and roles. Despite constantly hearing that “women can’t write, women can’t paint,” the artist completes a painting she has wanted to create for ten years (Woolf 97). The completion of this picture symbolizes a certain unification of women of the old and new generations, based on which a completely new image of a woman is being created.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the novel To the Lighthouse is a prime example of feminist literature, which depicts the transformation of the role of women in society and her mind. Key female characters, Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe, are complete opposites that showcase the difference between old and new-generation women. Significant changes are taking place in a patriarchal society that has established clear roles and restricted women. Women are aware of their autonomy and independence and change priorities, putting themselves first.
Works Cited
Felin, Emma. “Faith and Fabrication in To the Lighthouse: Virginia Woolf’s Table-Cloth (s).” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 45, no. 3, 2022, pp. 39-52. Web.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Global Grey Ebooks, 2021.