To the Lighthouse Study Guide

To the Lighthouse (1927) is widely considered one of the most important works of the
twentieth century. With this ambitious novel, Woolf established herself as one of the leading
writers of modernism. The novel develops innovative literary techniques to reveal women's
experience and to provide an alternative to male-dominated views of reality. On the surface, the
novel tells the story of the Ramsay family and the guests who come to stay with them at their
vacation home on the Hebrides Islands in Scotland. At its heart, however, the novel is a
meditation on time and how humans reckon with its relentless passage.
The novel was written and published during one of the most dense and impressive periods of
development in English literary history. The modernist period gave rise to many groundbreaking
and enduring masterworks, such as T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, William Faulkner's The
Sound and the Fury, and James Joyce's Ulysses. This was also a period of rapid
intellectual achievement, and Woolf's emphasis on consciousness and a character's inner lives is
consistent with the scientific and psychological ideas posited at the time. As Sigmund Freud
explored theories of consciousness and subconsciousness, Virgina Woolf wrote a novel that
focuses not on the events of the external world but on the richness and complexity of mental
interiority.
Thus, to convey this sense of human consciousness, Woolf's narrative departs from the
traditional plot-driven structure as it is often expressed by an objective, third-party narrative.
Instead she incorporates highly innovative literary devices to capture the thought process, using
in particular stream of consciousness and free indirect discourse. Given that the novel is defined
by subjectivity, it focuses on the subjectivity of reality, experience, and time. The novel also
represents the inverweaving of various perspectives and individual trains of thought that, strung
together, constitute a cohesive whole.

To the Lighthouse Summary

Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsay (a philosopher), their eight children, and several guests are
staying at the family's summer home in the Hebrides, on the Isle of Skye, just before the start of
World War I. Just across the bay is a lighthouse, which becomes a prominent presence in the
family's life. James Ramsay, the youngest child, wants to go to the Lighthouse the next day,
but Mr. Ramsay crushes his hopes, saying that the weather will not be pleasant enough for the
trip. James resents his father for his insensitivity as well as for his emotional demands on Mrs.
Ramsay, and this resentment persists throughout the novel.
The houseguests include Lily Briscoe, an unmarried painter who begins a portrait of Mrs.
Ramsay; Charles Tansley, who is not very well liked; William Bankes, whom Mrs.
Ramsay wants Lily to marry, but Lily never does; and Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle, who
become engaged during their visit.
Mrs. Ramsay spends the afternoon reading to James as Lily watches her from the lawn,
attempting to paint her portrait. Mr. Ramsay also watches her as he walks and worries about his
intellectual shortcomings, afraid that he will never achieve greatness. Andrew
Ramsay, Nancy Ramsay, Paul Rayley, and Minta Doyle take a walk on the beach, where
Paul proposes to Minta.
For the evening, Mrs. Ramsay has planned a dinner for fifteen guests including Augustus
Carmichael, a friend and poet. The dinner gets off to a shaky start as Mr. Ramsay becomes
angry with Mr. Carmichael for requesting more soup and no one seems to be enjoying the
conversation. However, at a certain magical moment, everyone in the room seems to connect,
and Mrs. Ramsay hopes that something permanent will result from this connection. Following
dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay sit together in the parlor, and Mrs. Ramsay finds that she unable to
tell her husband that she loves him. Nevertheless, though their unspoken communication she is
sure that he knows. The Ramsays and their guests go to sleep.
In the second section of the novel, "Time Passes," the house is abandoned for ten years, suffering
the ravages of time, neglect, and decay. Mrs. Ramsay unexpectedly dies one night, as does Prue
in an illness related to childbirth. Andrew is the third Ramsay to die when he is killed
instantaneously in battle. Mrs. McNab goes to the house occasionally to tidy it up and restore
it, but it is not until she hears word that the remaining Ramsays will be returning for the summer
that she gets everything in order.
In "The Lighthouse," all of the living Ramsays, as well as other guests (including Lily Briscoe),
return to the summer home. Mr. Ramsay decides that he, James, and Cam Ramsay will finally
take the trip to the Lighthouse, but the children are resentful of his domineering manner. He is
angry about delays on the morning of the trip, and he approaches Lily for sympathy, but she is
unable to feel any sympathy for him until he has already set off on the journey, when it is too
late. Just as Mr. Ramsay decides to finally take this journey, Lily Briscoe decides to finally finish
the painting that she started ten years ago.
On the boat, the children continue to resent their father's self-pity, yet as the ship approaches the
Lighthouse, they find a new tenderness for and connection to him. As the boat reaches its
destination, Lily paints the final stroke on her canvas and finally achieves her vision.

To the Lighthouse Character List

Mrs. Ramsay
Mrs. Ramsay is the loving and hospitable wife of Mr. Ramsay. She is highly domestic, focusing
on her roles as mother and wife. She deeply admires her husband, although she cannot tell him
that she loves him. She is responsible and strong, but she dies unexpectedly in her fifties.
Mr. Ramsay
Mr. Ramsay is dominated by rationality and scientific reason. He is in search of truth and
greatness, and he fears that he is rather inadequate for not achieving his aims. Neither
affectionate nor sentimental, he nevertheless inspires admiration in his wife, although she
becomes irritated with his insensitivity.
Lily Briscoe
A young, unmarried painter friend of the Ramsays. She is extremely fond of Mrs. Ramsay and
feels a profound sense of emptiness after she dies. She begins a portrait at the beginning of the
novel that she cannot finish until the end, ten years later, when the Ramsays reach the
Lighthouse.
James Ramsay
The youngest Ramsay child, James is six years old when the book begins. He adores his mother
and is violently resentful of his father. He enjoys cutting images out of magazines and wants
desperately to go to the Lighthouse when he is young.
Paul Rayley
A young friend of the Ramsays, visiting them at their summer home, Paul proposes to Minta
Doyle on the beach as Mrs. Ramsay wished.
Minta Doyle
A young woman visiting the Ramsays at their summer home, Minta accepts Paul Rayley's
marriage proposal.
Charles Tansley
An odious athiest whom none of the Ramsays particularly like, Charles is one of Mr. Ramsay's
philosophy pupils. He is insulting and chauvinistic, trying to discourage Lily from painting. He is
often concerned with the affairs and status of others and is very self-centered. He finds Mrs.
Ramsay quite beautiful and is proud to be seen walking with her.
William Bankes
An old friend of the Ramsays visiting their summer home, William is a botanist. He is a gentle
man of about 60, and Mrs. Ramsay hopes that he will marry Lily Briscoe--making thinly veiled
attempts at getting them together. He and Lily remain close friends, and she trusts him deeply.
Augustus Carmichael
An unhappy poet who takes opium and achieves little success until after World War I. Because
of his controlling wife, he is not fond of Mrs. Ramsay.
Andrew Ramsay
The oldest son of the Ramsays, Andrew accompanies Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle on their
engagement walk to the beach. He is a gifted mathematician, but he dies fighting in World War I.
Jasper Ramsay
One of the Ramsay sons. He enjoys shooting birds, which disturbs his mother, while Mr. Ramsay
thinks that doing so is normal for a boy of his age.
Roger Ramsay
One of the Ramsay sons, Roger is adventurous and most similar to his sister, Nancy.
Prue Ramsay
Prue is the oldest of the Ramsays' daughters, and her mother expects her to be an exceptional
beauty when she grows up. Although Prue marries, she dies during the following summer of an
illness related to childbirth.
Rose Ramsay
One of the Ramsay daughters, Rose is aesthetically inclined. She enjoys making beautiful
arrangements and choosing her mother's jewelry.
Nancy Ramsay
One of the Ramsay daughters, Nancy is adventurous and independent, secretly hoping for a life
much different from her mother's. She does not seem domestic. She accompanies Paul Rayley
and Minta Doyle on their engagement walk to the beach.
Cam Ramsay
Cam is the Ramsays' youngest daughter. She is an energetic and mischievous child, and Mrs.
Ramsay laments that she must grow up and suffer. Cam sails with James and Mr. Ramsay to the
Lighthouse in the final section of the novel.
Mrs. McNab
The witless and leering housekeeper, Mrs. McNab is asked to enter the Ramsays' home after
years of disuse to open the windows and dust the bedrooms.
Macalister
A fisherman friend who accompanies the Ramsays to the Lighthouse.
Macalister's boy
The fisherman's son who rows the Ramsays to the Lighthouse.
Badger
The Ramsays' toothless dog.
Kennedy
The Ramsays' lazy gardener.
Mrs. Bast
A woman who comes to help Mrs. McNab clean the Ramsays' summer home during the "Time
Passes" interlude.
George Bast
Mrs. Bast's son, who also helps clean the Ramsays' house.
Mrs. Beckwith
A visitor to the Ramsay house at the Lighthouse.

To the Lighthouse Themes

Ephemerality
Few novels capture the ephemeral nature of life as poignantly as Virginia Woolf's To the
Lighthouse. Reality, when conceived of as a collection of fleeting moments, seems as chaotic
and fluid as ocean waves. Each of the main characters struggles with this realization, and they all
grasp for symbols of permanence and stability despite their understanding of the transience of
experience. Mrs. Ramsay, consumed by a need to connect herself to lasting experiences,
looks to the pulsating glow of the Lighthouse to unite her experience with a sense of endurance.
For her, the steady stroke of the Lighthouse light represents stability and permanence. For this
reason, she connects herself to it, unites herself with it, in the hope of gaining a similar sense of
connection both to her present and to eternity. In fact, she seeks not only to unite herself with the
permanent objects in the physical world, but also to unite her friends, family, and guests in the
creation of lasting beauty.
Whereas Mrs. Ramsay's search for permanence lies in the emotional realm of experience, her
husband's is based entirely in the intellectual sphere. He longs to transcend his own lifetime with
an important philosophical contribution, yet feels practically certain that this goal is
unachievable. Lily Briscoe suffers from a similar fear that her paintings will be thrown into
the attic, never to be fully appreciated and never to make a lasting impression.
By the culmination of the novel, however, Lily is able to surrender this need for permanence and
meaning, and she is thus finally able to fulfill her artistic vision. This final scene suggests that
Lily can only achieve a sense of fulfillment because she is able to relinquish her need for a
permanently significant existence. She finally embraces the ephemeral nature of the countless
experiences that constitute a lifetime.
Subjective Reality
The omniscient narrator remained the standard explicative figure in fiction through the end of the
nineteenth century, providing an informed and objective account of the characters and the plot.
The turn of the 20th century, however, witnessed innovations in writing that aimed at reflecting a
more truthful account of the subjective nature of experience. Virginia Woolf's To the
Lighthouse is the triumphant product of this innovation, creating a reality that is completely
constructed by the collection of the multiple subjective interiorities of its characters and
presented in a stream-of-consciousness format. Woolf creates a fictional world in which no
objective, omniscient narrator is present. There is a proliferation of accounts of the inner
processes of the characters, while there is a scarcity of expositional information, expressing
Woolf's perspective on the thoughts and reflections that comprise the world of the Ramsays.
Time is an essential component of experience and reality and, in many ways, the novel is about
the passage of time. However, as for reality, Woolf does not represent time in a traditional way.
Rather than a steady and unchanging rhythm, time here is a forward motion that both accelerates
and collapses. In "The Window" and "The Lighthouse," time is conveyed only through the
consciousness of the various characters, and moments last for pages as the reader is invited into
the subjective experiences of many different realities. Indeed, "The Window" takes place over
the course of a single afternoon that is expanded by Woolf's method, and "The Lighthouse"
seems almost directly connected to the first section, despite the fact that ten years have actually
elapsed. However, in "Time Passes," ten years are greatly compacted into a matter of pages, and
the changes in the lives of the Ramsays and their home seem to flash by like scenes viewed from
the window of a moving train. This unsteady temporal rhythm brilliantly conveys the broader
sense of instability and change that the characters strive to comprehend, and it captures the
fleeting nature of a reality that exists only within and as a collection of the various subjective
experiences of reality.
The Presence of the Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is distant, old, and set against a landscape that fades to the farthest horizon,
encompassing the length of visible space. This is a majestic image of a pillar of presiding
stability and constant observation. It is a presence that extends beyond the physical and
chronological boundaries of the Ramsays and their world, observing them and illuminating the
rooms in which the contents of their minds are bared.

The Lighthouse offers a life force to Mrs. Ramsay and her family, propelling both the plot (the
novel opens with the conflict surrounding James's desire to go to it) and the streams of
consciousness that ensue. It has a clear and significant presence in this world, yet it is inanimate,
not conscious, and it is a figure characterized by its distance from the immediate events of the
novel. It seems somewhat elusive and intangible, having indistinct boundaries and features. The
setting of the Lighthouse recedes into a realm "uninhabited by men" and therefore signifies a
realm and life force that the characters cannot enter themselves. It is distant, intangible, and
elusive.

Yet its qualities are permanent and everpresent. The Lighthouse is Mrs. Ramsay's source of
stability and permanence, and it is the force that defines and joins the members of the Ramsay
family. It is even present in their home during the ten years that the family is not there--presiding
over the abandoned house.
Art as Unity and Permanence
In the novel, art is defined by Lily (the novel's central artist) as something able to unify disparate
elements into a cohesive whole. When she looks at her canvas, awaiting the fulfillment of her
vision, she contemplates how she will incorporate several people and objects into the work in
order to create a unified and singular product. This goal, she believes, is the responsibility of the
artist, and her artistry represents her way of finding a sense of meaningful permanence in her
existence.

Unity is also directly associated with permanence in the novel. Mrs. Ramsay's most active desire
is to create moments of complete connection and unity between people. At her dinner party, she
is disturbed by the lack of cohesion, and it is not until a fleeting moment when everyone seems
to merge and assimilate into a single unit that she feels fulfilled. Such moments provide her with
a sense of stability and endurance, for she knows that they will continue to exist in the memories
of others even after she is dead.

In Mrs. Ramsay's preoccupation with cohesion, and in the connection between cohesion and art,
Mrs. Ramsay herself comes to be a sort of artist. Lily acknowledges this figuration near the end
of the novel, creating yet another connection with the deceased woman.
The Dichotomous Representation of Water
Waterhas a great role throughout the novel, in particular as the characters spend a great deal of
time looking at the sea that separates the Ramsay's summer home from the Lighthouse. The
symbolism of the water is complex, however, for it seems to represent both permanence and
ephemerality. Mrs. Ramsay enjoys listening to the waves beating against the shore. The rhythm
is steady and constant, serving as a symbol of consistency and eternity. She learns to depend
upon this sound, and it soothes her, providing a deep sense of stability.

Yet water also represents a destructive and erosive force. As Mr. Ramsay stands outside
viewing the sea, he reflects that the piece of land beneath his feet will one day be completely
worn away and consumed by the sea. In this sense, the sea is a constant and eternal force that
magnifies its effects over time and ultimately proves the ephemerality of whatever it touches.
Time
Time is one of the major themes of To the Lighthouse. Most of the adult characters fixate on
the concept of time in one way or another. Mrs. Ramsay cannot help but notice that the present
moment becomes the past, and she seeks objects in the external world to ground her in the
moment. She also frets endlessly about how time will change her children's lives. She does not
want James and Cam to grow up, for she knows that they will inevitably suffer. In essence, she
wishes to stop time for her children, allowing them to be young and carefree forever.
Mr. Ramsay is obsessed with the future and, more specifically, the future of his career. He
desperately longs to achieve greatness as a philosopher, but is almost certain that he will not, and
he is preoccupied by envisioning the future and predicting whether or not he will be recognized
and remembered. He is grief-stricken with the notion that no one will read his books after he has
gone, and he laments the fact that young scholars are not interested in his work because they are,
after all, the future leaders in the field.

Lily Briscoe is also preoccupied with time, but her fixation changes shape over the course of the
novel. Originally, she shares similar concerns with Mr. Ramsay, wondering if her paintings will
amount to anything and whether anyone will ever see them. By the final section of the novel,
however, her thoughts are located more in the past and in her memories of Mrs. Ramsay. It is
partially the effect of these memories that propels her forward and brings her vision into focus.
The Subversion of Female Gender Roles
Many of the women in To the Lighthouse either overtly or silently subvert conventional
female gender roles. Lily Briscoe, for example, has no desire to marry, but rather wants only to
dedicate herself to her work (much like Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Bankes). She is independent and
self-sufficient, and she is able to disregard Mr. Tansley's chauvinistic comments about women
being unable to paint. Despite Mrs. Ramsay's persuasion, she holds her ground throughout the
novel, refusing to become any man's wife. These choices and ideas were very unconventional in
the early 20th century.
Three of Mrs. Ramsay's daughters (Nancy, Rose, and Cam) also silently reject the life that their
mother chose for herself, in all of its domesticity. They know that they want their lives to be
different and more complex than what they perceive as the limited realm of wife-mother, and
they are headstrong and adventurous.

Moreover, the novel promises only misfortune for the women who accept the roles carved out for
them. Mrs. Ramsay dies unexpectedly at a relatively young age. Prue, shortly after getting
married, dies as a result of childbirth. Even Minta, who had been a somewhat unconventional
lady, suffers in her marriage, for Paul leaves her for another woman. The novel seems to punish
the women who accept positions as wife and mother, while it abounds with young women who
are sure that they want a different existence.

Biography of Virginia Woolf

In 1878, Leslie Stephen and Julia Jackson Duckworth married, which was the second marriage
for both of them. They gave birth to Adeline Virginia Stephen four years later, on the 25th of
January at 22 Hyde Park Gate, London. Virginia was the third of their four children. Leslie
Stephen began his career as a clergyman but soon became agnostic and took up journalism. He
and Julia provided their children with a home of wealth and comfort.

Though denied the formal education allowed to males, Virginia was able to take advantage of her
father's abundant library and observe his writing talent, and she was surrounded by intellectual
conversation. The same year Virginia was born, for instance, her father began editing the
huge Dictionary of National Biography. Virginia's mother, more delicate than her husband,
helped to bring out the more emotional sides of her children. Both parents were very strong
personalities; Virginia would feel overshadowed by them for years.
Virginia would suffer through three major mental breakdowns during her lifetime, and she would
die during a fourth. In all likelihood, the compulsive drive to work that she acquired from her
parents, combined with her naturally fragile state, primarily contributed to these breakdowns.
Yet other factors were important as well. Her first breakdown occurred shortly following the
death of her mother in 1895, which Virginia later described as "the greatest disaster that could
have happened." Some have suggested that Virginia felt guilt over choosing her father as her
favorite parent. In any case, her father's excessive mourning period probably affected her
adversely.

Two years later, Virginia's stepsister, Stella Duckworth, died. Stella had assumed charge of the
household duties after their mother's death, causing a rift between her and Virginia. Virginia fell
sick soon after Stella's death. The same year, Virginia began her first diary.

Over the next seven years, Virginia's decision to write took hold and her admiration for women
grew. She educated herself and greatly admired women such as Madge Vaughan, daughter of
John Addington Symonds, who wrote novels and whom Virginia would later illustrate as Sally
Seton in Mrs. Dalloway.
Her admiration for strong women was coupled with a growing dislike for male domination in
society. Virginia's feelings were likely affected by her relationship to her stepbrother, George
Duckworth, who was fourteen when Virginia was born. In the last year of her life, Virginia wrote
to a friend regarding the shame she felt when, at the age of six, George fondled her. Similar
incidents recurred throughout her childhood until Virginia was in her early twenties. In 1904, her
father died, shortly after finishing the Dictionary and receiving a knighthood. Though freed from
his shadow, Virginia was overcome by the event and suffered her second mental breakdown,
combined with scarlet fever and an attempted suicide.
When she recovered, Virginia left Kensington with her three siblings and moved to Bloomsbury,
where she began to consider herself a serious artist. She immersed herself in the intellectual
company of her brother Thoby and his Cambridge friends. This group, including E.M. Forster
and Lytton Strachey, later formed what was known as the Bloomsbury Group, under the
Cambridge don G.E. Moore. They were dedicated to the liberal discussion of politics and art. In
1906, Thoby died of typhoid fever and Virginia's sister married one of Thoby's college friends,
Clive Bell. Virginia was on her own.

Over the next four years, Virginia would begin work on her first novel, The Voyage Out (1915).
In 1909, she accepted a marriage proposal from Strachey, who later broke off the engagement.
She received a legacy of 2,500 pounds the same year, which would allow her to live
independently. In 1911, Leonard Woolf, another of the Bloomsbury Group, returned from
Ceylon, and they were married in 1912. Woolf was the stable presence Virginia needed to
control her moods and steady her talent. He gave their home a musical atmosphere. Virginia
trusted his literary judgment. Their marriage was a partnership, though some suggest their sexual
relationship was nonexistent.
Virginia fell ill more frequently as she grew older, often taking respite in rest homes and in the
care of her husband. In 1917, Leonard founded the Hogarth Press to publish their own books,
hoping that Virginia could bestow the care on the press that she would have bestowed on
children. (She had been advised by doctors not to become pregnant after her third serious
breakdown in 1913. Virginia was fond of children, however, and spent much time with her
brother's and sister's children.) Through the press, she had an early look at Joyce's Ulysses and
aided authors such as Forster, Freud, Isherwood, Mansfield, Tolstoy, and Chekov. She sold her
half interest in the press in 1938.
Before her death, Virginia published an extraordinary amount of groundbreaking material. She
was a renowned member of the Bloomsbury Group and a leading writer of the modernist
movement with her use of innovative literary techniques. In contrast to the majority of literature
written before the early 1900s, which emphasized plot and detailed descriptions of characters and
settings, Woolf's writing thoroughly explores the concepts of time, memory, and consciousness.
The plot is generated by the characters' inner lives, rather than by the external world.

In March 1941, Woolf left suicide notes for her husband and sister and drowned herself in a
nearby river. She feared her madness was returning and that she would not be able to continue
writing, and she wished to spare her loved ones.

Over the course of her many illnesses, however, Woolf had remained productive. Her intense
powers of concentration had allowed her to spend ten to twelve hours at a time writing. Her most
notable publications include Night and Day, The Mark on the Wall, Jacob's Room, Monday or
Tuesday, Mrs. Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, Orlando, A Room of One's Own, The Waves, The
Years, and Between the Acts. In total, her work comprises five volumes of collected essays and
reviews, two biographies (Flush and Roger Fry), two libertarian books, a volume of selections
from her diary, nine novels, and a volume of short stories.