To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
**Overview of *To the Lighthouse* by Virginia Woolf**
*To the Lighthouse* is a celebrated novel by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1927, which explores themes of time, memory, and the complexity of human relationships. The story centers around the Ramsay family, who vacation in their summer home on the Isle of Skye. The narrative begins with Mrs. Ramsay promising her son, James, a trip to the nearby lighthouse, a promise that becomes emblematic of unfulfilled desires and the passage of time. Woolf intricately depicts the dynamics within the Ramsay family, particularly the contrasting relationships the children have with their father, Mr. Ramsay, a philosophical professor whose severe demeanor often alienates them.
The novel features a diverse cast of characters, including friends and guests who reflect various societal roles and struggles. Woolf employs a stream-of-consciousness technique to delve into the inner thoughts of her characters, thereby capturing the subtleties of their interactions and conflicts. Over the course of the narrative, significant events unfold, such as Mrs. Ramsay's death and the impact of World War I, which mark the passage of time and the changes it brings. Eventually, the long-awaited trip to the lighthouse takes place, symbolizing a journey toward understanding and reconciliation amidst the complexities of family and life. Woolf's work is renowned for its rich imagery and profound insights into the nature of existence, making it a cornerstone of modernist literature.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
First published: 1927
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Stream of consciousness
Time of plot: ca. 1910–1920
Locale: Isle of Skye in the Hebrides
Principal Characters
Mr. Ramsay , a professor of philosophyMrs. Ramsay , his wifeJames , their sonCamilla , their daughterMr. Tansley , Mr. Ramsay’s guest and friendLily Briscoe , an artistMr. Carmichael , a poet
The Story
Mrs. Ramsay promises James, her six-year-old son, that if the next day is fair he will be taken on a visit to the lighthouse that they can see from the window of their summer home on the Isle of Skye. James, the youngest of Mrs. Ramsay’s eight children, is his mother’s favorite. The father of the family is a professor of philosophy whose students believe is inspiring and one of the foremost metaphysicians of the early twentieth century, but his own children, particularly the youngest, do not like him because he makes sarcastic remarks.
Several guests are visiting the Ramsays at the time. There is young Mr. Tansley, Ramsay’s student, who also is unpopular with the children because he seems to delight in their discomfiture. Tansley is mildly in love with his host, despite her being fifty years old and having eight children. Another guest is Lily Briscoe, who is painting a picture of the cottage with Mrs. Ramsay and little James seated in front of it. There is old Mr. Carmichael, a ne’er-do-well who amuses the Ramsay youngsters with his white beard and a mustache tinged with yellow. Another guest is William Bankes, an aging widower. Prue, the prettiest of the Ramsay daughters, is there too.
The afternoon goes by slowly. Mrs. Ramsay goes to the village to call on a sick woman. She spends several hours knitting stockings for the lighthouse keeper’s child, whom they are planning to visit. Many people wonder how the Ramsays, particularly the wife, manages to be so hospitable and charitable, for they are not rich. Mr. Ramsay cannot possibly be making a fortune by expounding English philosophy to students or by publishing books on metaphysics.
Mr. Carmichael, pretending to read, has actually fallen asleep early after lunch. The children, except for James, who is busy cutting pictures out of a catalog, busy themselves in a game of cricket. Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Tansley pass the time in a pointless conversation. Miss Briscoe has made only a daub or two of paint on her canvas. For some reason, the lines of the scene refuse to come clear in her painting. She then goes for a walk with Mr. Bankes along the shore.
Even the dinner goes by slowly. The only occasion of interest to the children, which is one of tension to their mother, comes when Mr. Carmichael asks the maid for a second bowl of soup, thereby angering his host, who likes to have meals dispatched promptly. As soon as the children have finished, their mother sends the younger ones to bed. Mrs. Ramsay hopes that Mr. Bankes will marry Lily Briscoe. Lily always gets seasick, so it is questionable whether she will want to accompany them in the small sailboat if they should go to the lighthouse the following day. Mrs. Ramsay also thinks about the fifty pounds needed to make some necessary repairs on the house.
After dinner, Mrs. Ramsay goes upstairs to the nursery. James has a boar’s skull that his sister detests. Whenever Camilla tries to remove it from the wall and her sight, he bursts into a frenzy of screaming. Mrs. Ramsay wraps the boar’s skull in her shawl. Afterward, she goes downstairs and joins her husband in the library, where they sit throughout the evening. Mrs. Ramsay knits, while Mr. Ramsay reads. Before they go to bed, they agree that the trip for the next day will have to be canceled. The night has turned stormy.
Night follows night. The trip to the lighthouse is never made that summer, and the Ramsays do not return to their summer home for some years. In the meantime, Mrs. Ramsay dies quietly in her sleep. Her daughter, Prue, gets married and later dies in childbirth. World War I begins. Andrew Ramsay enlists and is sent to France, where he is killed by an exploding shell.
Time passes. The wallpaper in the house comes loose from the walls, and books mildew. In the kitchen, a cup is occasionally knocked down and broken by old Mrs. McNab, who comes to look after the house from time to time. In the garden, the roses and the annual flowers grow wild or die.
Mr. Carmichael publishes a volume of poems during the war. About the time his book appears, daffodils and violets bloom on the Isle of Skye. Mrs. McNab looks longingly at a warm cloak left in a closet. She wishes the cloak belonged to her.
At last, the war ends. Mrs. McNab receives a telegram requesting that the house be put in order. For several days, the housekeeper works, aided by two cleaning women. When the Ramsays arrive, the cottage is in order once more. Several visitors come again to share a summer at the cottage. Lily Briscoe returns for a quiet vacation. Mr. Carmichael, the successful poet, also arrives.
One morning, Lily Briscoe comes down to breakfast and wonders at the quiet that greets her. No one had been down ahead of her, although she expected that Mr. Ramsay and the two youngest children, James and Camilla, would have eaten early and departed for the long-postponed sail to the lighthouse, to which the youngsters had not been looking forward with joyful anticipation. Very shortly, the three straggle down; all had slept past the time they had intended to arise. After a swift breakfast, they disappear toward the shore. Lily Briscoe watches them go. She sets up her canvas with the intention of once again trying to paint her picture of the cottage.
The children never really liked their father; he had taken too little time to understand them. He is short and sharp when they do things that seem foolish to him, although these actions are perfectly comprehensible to his son and daughter. James, especially, expects to be blamed caustically and pointlessly if the crossing is slow or not satisfactory in some other way, for he has been delegated to handle the sheets and the tiller of the boat.
Mr. Ramsay goes down to the beach with his offspring, each carrying a paper parcel to take to the keepers of the lighthouse. They soon set sail and point the prow of the sailboat toward the black-and-white-striped pillar of the lighthouse in the hazy distance. Mr. Ramsay sits in the middle of the boat, along with an old fisherman and his son. They are to take over the boat in case of an emergency, for Mr. Ramsay has little trust in James as a reliable seaman. James himself sits in the stern, nerves tingling lest his father look up from his book and indulge in unnecessary and hateful criticism. His nervous tension, however, is needless, for within a few hours the little party reaches the lighthouse and, wonderful to relate, Mr. Ramsay springs ashore like a youngster, smiles back at his children, and praises his son for his seamanship.
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