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Vision and Symbolism in Woolf's Lighthouse

The document provides an analysis of Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse". It discusses key characters like Mrs. Ramsay, Lily Briscoe, and Mr. Ramsay. It analyzes symbols like the lighthouse and how characters like James relate to overcoming a matriarchal view of the mother. It also discusses themes of masculinity/femininity and different views of reality between characters.

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Smiljana Jovanovic
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Topics covered

  • Oedipal complex,
  • color symbolism,
  • artistic integrity,
  • family dynamics,
  • desire fulfillment,
  • gender roles,
  • feminine view,
  • vision of life,
  • time passage,
  • emotional intelligence
182 views10 pages

Vision and Symbolism in Woolf's Lighthouse

The document provides an analysis of Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse". It discusses key characters like Mrs. Ramsay, Lily Briscoe, and Mr. Ramsay. It analyzes symbols like the lighthouse and how characters like James relate to overcoming a matriarchal view of the mother. It also discusses themes of masculinity/femininity and different views of reality between characters.

Uploaded by

Smiljana Jovanovic
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Topics covered

  • Oedipal complex,
  • color symbolism,
  • artistic integrity,
  • family dynamics,
  • desire fulfillment,
  • gender roles,
  • feminine view,
  • vision of life,
  • time passage,
  • emotional intelligence

VISION IN TO THE

LIGHTHOUSE
Virginia Woolf

Students:
Bojana Prlinčević
Smiljana Jovanović
[Link] Radoje Šoškić
VIRGINIA WOOLF
 British writer, London
 Born in January 1882
 Died in March 1941

 She is best known for her novels Mrs. Dolloway


and To The Lighthouse
 Essays
 Women’s writtings
 To the Lighthouse consists of three parts: 1. To the Window; 2. Time
Passes and 3. To the Lighthouse.
 “Nothing is simply one thing”

 Woolf represents two views on life in To the Lighthouse: one the


masculine view which is scientific, logical and egotistic and the other the
feminine view which is emotional, illogical, selfless and intuitive. There
is basically no problem about her conclusion that both views are
important.
 Both Lily Briscoe and Mrs. Ramsay live in the presence of its reality.

 Symbolically, their perceptions of reality are usually interlocked with the


Lighthouse, in her mystical experience; Mrs. Ramsay identifies the
experience with the third stroke of the Lighthouse.

 For Lily Briscoe, as for Mrs. Ramsay, the Lighthouse symbolizes her vision
of life.
 When Mr. Ramsay lands on the shore of the Lighthouse, Lily
simultaneously finishes her painting which expresses her vision of life.
 Protective towards the male.

 She, Mrs. Ramsey, was obsessed with her own beauty.

 ‘Spasm of irritation’, relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey

 Q and R intermonologue
 Cam- potential Mrs. Ramsay

 She thought of her father’s blindness and


tyranny which had poisoned her childhood,
but when she sees the past in perspective
she realized that he is not tyrant and she can
be in peace.
o James- Oedipal son

o Pig skull- Cam could not sleep with it in the room


and James could not sleep without it.

o James going to the lighthouse is very significant


because the novel is centered around the
fulfillment of his desire.
o When he has come to the lighthouse his desire is
fulfilled; he realizes the paradoxical nature of the
lighthouse. United now with his father, he has
overcome the negative nature of his matriarchal
mother and realized the positive nature of his
father.
 Mr. Ramsay- wanted sympathy

 We look up to Mr. Ramsay and see him true;


We look down on him and see him a tyrant.
Mrs. Ramsay rarely looked up to Mr. Ramsay
and James never, until he reached the
lighthouse; When Mr. Ramsay looked up to
Mrs. Ramsay and James he saw the beauty in
mother and son; when he bore down to
them, he was bearing down on a matriarch
and Oedipus.
 Lily Briscoe- outsider and artist

 She did not wanted ‘’her picture looked at’’


because she is honest and because she knows
the truth of her vision is difficult to bear, so
difficult that even she doubts of its validity.
 She paint Mrs. Ramsay as purple triangular
shape (Mrs. Ramsay reading to James), green
(Mrs. Ramsay’s fertility and marriage), and
blue (the past, Mrs. Ramsey’s death), and
Mr. Ramsay with a single line (the
lighthouse).
 Lily Briscoe- outsider and artist

 She could see that the family and their


guests depended on Mrs. Ramsay.
 Artistically, in her vision, Mr. Ramsay has
come to fulfilment; he has integrated the
family: he has passed Q, has reached R. The
conflict has been resolved.

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