E-C- 301. The Modern Literature

Name- Patel Payal G

Roll no- 16

M.A.Sem-III

Paper- E-C-301. The Modernist Literature.

Year- 2011

Topic- Critical Appreciation of “To The Lighthouse”

Submitted to Mr. Dilip Barad.

Department of English.

Bhavnagar University.

Bhavnagar.

Critical Appreciation of “To the Lighthouse”

Character Analysis:

Mrs. Ramsay:

E.M. Forster and other critics have expressed the view (about her art of characterization) that Mrs. Woolf fails to provide in her novels a memorable gallery of portraits such as we get in the works of other novelists. Her characters, it has been said, do not live long in the mind and soon forgotten. So, from this, it is clear that she uses conventional technique for characterization. We are told directly what a character looks like, how he/she dresses up, what are his oddities and what are the salient qualities of his/her head and heart.

Mrs. Ramsay is a beautiful and loving wife of Mr. Ramsay. The basic quality of Mrs. Ramsay is to keep people happy which is her philosophy of life. In this sense she is totally opposite to Mr. Ramsay. She is a dutiful wife but often struggles with her husband’s difficult moods and selfishness. She is the center character in the novel, but there are some other opinions of other critics about the central character of the novel. Some of them believe that Lily Briscoe is at the center, but it depends upon the situation and the perception of the reader towards the central character of the novel. She is a typical mother who cares for her children; she concerns for her children and tries to make them happy whenever she gets opportunity. She is having eight children. She is the pillar of the family, as she holds everyone together and it is said that bringing people together is her special talent. She is sensitive to everyone’s feelings. When Mrs. Ramsay is dead in last two parts of the novel, even we also miss her. Virginia Woolf has portrayed her as the embodiment of caring mother, understanding wife, faithful neighbor or friend.

Mr. Ramsay:

He is totally opposite to his wife’s looking at the things. He is well-known philosopher. Woolf uses his philosophy as a subtle irony. He is very realistic kind of character. If his wife makes other happy, he makes other aware of reality which is always bitter one. He believes in a philosophy that says the thing as it is, without mixing or removing anything. He looks beyond the horizons. When the novel opens the Ramsays talk to each other and when he predicts that the weather would be unsuitable and postpones the plan of visiting lighthouse, at that time his own son James has some kind of hatred towards him, as he is very harsh. But, we also sympathize with the same character when his wife Mrs. Ramsay is departed forever and he needs her company. But at last, he fulfills the wish of James of visiting the Lighthouse. He is a sincere father. But why he behaves in this way is because he does not want the people to be distracted by him. He wants to show other characters the world in its colors. So, he is not that much rude, rather he is a true seer of life.

James Ramsay:

He is the youngest son of the Ramsays. There are also other children of the Ramsays like: Andrew, Jasper, Roger, Prue, Rose, Nancy and Cam Ramsay. James loves his mother deeply and feels a murderous antipathy towards his father, here; we can apply the Oedipus Complex Theory through the character of James. When he was six years old, his father indirectly denied visiting the Lighhouse, but after ten years he is able to go to the lighthouse with his father Mr. Ramsay and with her sister Cam Ramsay. This is how his desired is satisfied by his lovable father.

Lily Briscoe:

She is a young and single painter, who becomes friend of the Ramsays on the Isle of Sky. She begins a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay at the beginning of the novel but has some trouble in finishing it. The people like Charles Tansley insist that women can not paint or write and he threatens her and tries to break down her confidence. She thinks that she will marry and give up her painting, but then she gives up the idea of marriage and carries on her painting. There is the question of her position in the novel, whether she is the central character or Mrs. Ramsay. It is bit confusing but generally readers think that until the decease of Mrs. Ramsay, she is the protagonist and then, after her decease, Lily Briscoe becomes the protagonist. Her character also shows the mindset or mentality of the Victorian people, that they believe, women are supposed to be the caretaker of the home and home-men, nothing beyond that. They cannot imagine woman as a professional person in any occupation except as a housewife.

Charles Tansely:

He is a young philosopher and student of Mr. Ramsay who stays with the Ramsays on the Isle of Sky. He is a very objectionable kind of personality. He often insults other people, particularly women such as Lily, so, he seems to be misogynist person. He is the representation of those who believe that women should not paint or write, they should be better housewives. So, this is how he represents the atmosphere of the Victorian society.

“To The Lighthouse” as a Stream of Consciousness Novel:

In simple words, What Stream of Consciousness is the thinking process of the character and at the same time he performs his speech as well. So, both these things are happening simultaneously in this novel. Because of the element of stream of consciousness it is added in the list of Modernist Literature. Another meaning of this term ‘stream of consciousness’ is to study the human psyche. The aim of the modern psychological novelists is to render the soul or psyche truthfully and realistically and for that they use the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique. The stream of Consciousness novelists are more concerned about the psyche of their characters and the inner process of their mind. But, here, there is one harmful point about this novel is the decay of the plot. Because of the use of this technique, the plot is not arranged logically. The actions move backward and forward in time. The novelist makes their character fly in different directions. There is a close confrontation of clock time, and inner time, and the transitions from the past to the present and from one conscious to another. With the help of this technique characters become more lifelike, because in Modern time, the lives of people have changed, they speak, at the same time, the process of thinking goes on in their mind, which play the duality of their characters. In this novel, Virginia Woolf has used brackets to show the process of Stream of Consciousness, had she not given the brackets, readers would have not understood it properly. The use and appearance of brackets is very decisive or symbolic.

The Narrator:

Like “The Scarlet Letter” this novel is having an unknown narrator. He is anonymous, who writes the inner psyche of the characters. Though he is a part of this novel, he is not involved in it. The narrator writes about the characters what he thinks, but there is a possibility that the next person may have different views or thoughts by the different characters. Whatever those views may be, but what here important is, Virginia Woolf in the form of that unknown writer, has uncovered the minds of the characters. The use of brackets, is here, very important because with the help of brackets, at least, readers can know, what the character thinks and what the narrator writes about their dialogues or conversations.

Time and Structure of “To the Lighthouse”:

One of the most striking features of “To the Lighthouse” is the unequal lengths of time covered by each of the three sections. The first and the third- ‘The Window’ and ‘The Lighthouse’ – each occupy less than a day. On the other hand, the middle section- ‘Time passes’ deals with a span of about ten years. In short, the treatment of time is having a double movement. One is a forward horizontal movement and the other is a vertical movement. The present movement is seen in relationship with the past and the past is constantly woven with the present in the mind of the characters. Elizabeth Drew writes about her treatment of time

“The inescapable forward movement of temporal progression is counter pointed against the inward and downward exploration of the psychic time of memory, introspection, association, sensation, day-dream, where hours or years can be collapsed to moments, events from past and present, or far apart in place, can be telescoped and folded into one another.”

Poetic Pattern in “To the Lighthouse”:

Virginia Woolf has very cleverly used poetical quality into her novel. In the very beginning of the novel, reader can see the use of poetic tone or quality. For example,

“To her son these words conveyed an extra ordinary joy, …” ( ‘The Window’)

Here, she uses the poetical tone, she could write “She conveyed her son these words and he became joyful”. But she is very careful about using the words in this poetical prose. There are many such examples would be found from the whole text as she has sprinkled the poetical lines in it.

Allegorical Element:

Each and every text is having allegory or symbols in it in one or another way, as it is incomplete without it. Here, in the novel “To the Lighthouse”, reader finds some allegorical elements like the lighthouse itself, it is the gap between man and woman, father and son, old generation and new generation. But, the characters try to bridge the gap and that is why they plan to visit the lighthouse which removes the gap between father and son. The second example is the use of brackets, which also shows the gap between thoughts and that is why the characters think in their mind. Different brackets in different parts give different interpretation. For example in second part “Time Passes”, the brackets symbolize the deaths of Prue and Andrew Ramsay. There are also such cryptograms in the novel.

Symbols:

Symbols give a new way of looking at the things or texts. There are many symbols in the novel like….

Lily’s Painting:

Lily’s paintings indirectly show the struggle against gender convention, represented by Charles Tansley’s statement that women cannot paint or write, shows the thinking of Victorian people. Virginia has broken that illusion by writing some superior works of literature. Her desire to express Mrs. Ramsay’s essence as a wife and mother in the painting mimics the impulse among modern women to understand the gendered experiences of women. Woolf makes Lily portrays the picture of Mrs. Ramsay, as she portrays the picture of her own mother. The painting also dedicated to feminine artistic vision, and at the end of the novel Lily is very satisfied with what she has portrayed, symbolizes her vision and with that the novel ends.

The Ramsays’ House:

The Ramsays’ house is a stage where Woolf and her characters explain their views, beliefs, observations and thoughts. During her dinner party, Mrs. Ramsay sees her house displays her own inner notions of shabbiness and her inability to preserve her beauty. While it is but obvious that each and every house speaks about the person live in like behavior. The house stands for collective consciousness of those who stay in it. For example, when Mr. Ramsay wants water, he raises his hand thinking that Mrs. Ramsay will give him a glass of water. So, the house becomes the memory of Mrs. Ramsay for her husband. Woolf shows the house from every angle which means whatever associated with house is revealed by Woolf.

The Sea:

The reference of sea occurs throughout the novel. The waves symbolize the inner waves in human mind; also show the forward moment of time and the change it brings. At the same time, sea also symbolizes the destruction, the destruction of human-relations day-by-day.

The Boar’s Skull:

The scene of boar’s skull occurs after the dinner scene. Mr. Ramsay finds that children are bothered by the boar’s skull that hangs on the nursery wall. The presence of skull always reminds that life is uncertain, and death is at hand always.

The differing behavior of Men and Women:

We get the idea of differing behaviors of men and women from very beginning of the novel. Even Lily Briscoe and Charles Tansley differ in their behaviors. So, the idea of extreme opposite behavior of men and women is based on the gender. The Ramsays differ from each other in their thinking. For example, Mrs. Ramsay makes other happy, but Mr. Ramsay does not believe in such a rubbish kind of thing. He wants to show the humankind as it is. He is rather a practical man in life. It also shows the idea of Victorian men and women. Perhaps, the women might not be looked the way men are looked by people.

Conclusion:

To sum up, for Virginia Woolf the novel is, “neither a criticism of life”, in the Arnoldian sense nor an entertainment in the popular sense, but a rendering of life in all its complexity and subtlety. The novel demonstrates how short and meaningless our life is! The breaking of the relations is portrayed. People have started understanding without speaking or listening to the person. It also presents the generation gap, men-women relationship and men and society.