TO THE LIGHTHOUSE Flashcards
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE’S STRUCTURE
The novel is divided in three parts
( chronological order)
**1- ‘The Windows’ **
takes place on one day, but is longer than the second part
It is set during the First World War.
Mr and Mrs Ramsay are spending their summer holidays with their 8 children in a house on a remote island of the Hebrides.
James wants to go to the lighthouse, but his father tells him he can’t because the weather is bad.
3- ‘The Lighthouse’ It is ten years after
The Ramsays return to the island and Mr Ramsay decides to take them to the Lighthouse
2- ‘Time Passes’ It condenses ten years in very few pages
The Ramsays’ house is abandoned and Mrs Ramsay dies.
Although she remains a constant presence even after her death: her physical absence does not erase her from the memory of her children and Lily Briscoe the painter – she will constantly search for her inspiration.
At the end of the novel Lily Briscoe will complete her painting.
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE’S CHARACTERS
Mrs Ramsay is center of the novel
– She is the center of the family – everything and everybody revolves around her –
– a woman with her interests and desire
– a source of inspiration
– an affectionate wife
a loving mother, she is the source of consolation and love for her children
It is unusual that she remains a constant presence even after her death.
Mrs Ramsay can be considered ‘the lighthouse’
for her family she is a source of light and a model
for Lily she is an artistic inspiration
——————
The other characters
– Mr Ramsay a patriarchal Victorian man
– Mrs Ramsay’s sons and daughters - especially James, her beloved and sensitive child
– Lily Briscoe, a painter and the prototype of the modern and independent woman.
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE’S STYLE
Woolf gives importance to the psychological traits of the characters rather than to external events and facts.
The novel is narrated by an external narrator, with technique of the INDIRECT INTERIOR MONOLOGUE
She wants the characters’ thoughts to be easily visible and understandable.
Subjective time/ and objective time
Time is represented in a modernist way:
“The Windows” (one day) is longer than “Time passes” (several years).
In the novel, Woolf underlines the contrasts – that all the characters experience and are deeply influenced by – for example between:
– male and female
– life and death;
– light and darkness
– inner and the outer world.
Symbols
The novel is also characterized by the presence of symbols
The strongest is surely the lighthouse, that has different meanings. It is
something desired but never acquired
– an illuminating presence
– a source of inspiration and light
– human desires and hopes
– the key to understand the life of the characters
In the title, the preposition ‘to’ suggests the idea that reaching the lighthouse is both characters and readers’ desire.
“She could be herself, by herself”
( In the first part – The window )
In this extract of the first part of the novel, Virginia Woolf introduces the character of Mrs Ramsay as an incredibly anxious woman
