Mr. Ramsay becomes a character that represents change in Virginia Woolf's novel, To the Lighthouse. With the changes his character experiences, Woolf is able to express the movement away from traditional patriarchal ideals that were in place in Victorian England. In many respects, he is the antagonist in the novel. Through his character, Woolf probes how men and women approach life during a patriarchal society. For instance, Mr. Ramsay thinks in abstract, linear terms. His forte is philosophy, which allows him to consider life in terms of subjects and objects and how they affect reality. He is a rational creature depending upon his education for answers and the metaphor of the alphabet represents how he perceives the world. However, his is a rather fixed style of thinking and it does not leave room for growth. His journey to the lighthouse represents how is able to move away from his restrictive way of thinking and realize there is more to life. A close analysis of Mr. Ramsay illustrates how he represents the male-dominated world that Woolf experienced. He tends to take a more intellectual approach to life. Like his wife, he is aware that the world and everything in it is temporary. This fact plagues him because it is his desire to publish a piece of work that demonstrates his genius and immortalizes him as well. His knowledge that all of life is transient causes him to feel inadequate. This is best represented in Mr. Ramsay's mental exercise of running thought the alphabet. If thought were likened to a set of piano keys, 'his splendid mind had no sort of difficulty in running over those letters one by one' (Woolf 23). When he fails to reach the letter Z, he goes to his wife for consolation and support. We read that it was 'sympathy he wanted, to be assured of his genius, first of all, and then to be taken within the circle of life, warmed and soothed, to have his senses restored to him, his barrenness made fertile, and all the rooms of the house made full of life' (59). This characteristic is problematic for his wife and family. Stella McNichol observes, 'Mr. Ramsay, who is a philosopher, searches for intellectual truth with a rigour that makes him difficult to live with' (McNichol). We know that his son hates him for 'coming up to them, for stopping and looking down on them . . . or his exactingness and egotism . . . but most of all, he hated the twang and twitter of his father's emotion' (Woolf 58). Here we see how the man is in turmoil despite his intelligence. The message here is that there must be something more to life than one's reputation and intellect. Mr. Ramsay is also bitter because he cannot reconcile the thoughts that cause him disturbing thoughts. This often leads to selfish and rude behavior. In addition, because he is encumbered with the responsibility of his work, he must constantly look to the women in his life for appreciation and support. As the novel progresses, his character undergoes a transformation. This is illustrated through the character of Lily, whose perspectives begin to change after Mrs. Ramsay's death. Mr. Ramsay, too, is greatly impacted by his wife's death because he must face the fact that the world cannot be broken down into linear terms, as he once believed. His movement toward the lighthouse and the fact that he is moving out of his shell are acts that symbolize a movement away from traditional patriarchal values. At the end of the novel, reality sets in. As the lighthouse comes into view, it loses the romantic qualities Mr. Ramsay attached to it. Upon closer inspection, it was a 'stark tower on a bare rock. It satisfied him. It confirmed some obscure feeling of his about his own character' (301-2). In a sense, we see how Woolf is replacing the old with the new and from this transformation, Mr. Ramsay finally escaped his former way of thinking. This is best illustrated in Lily's thought, 'he has landed' (309). For instance, we read that Mr. Ramsay stood there 'as if he were spreading his hands over all the weakness and suffering of mankind' (309). The images Woolf depicts in this scene are similar to that of a funeral elegy, which also reinforce the notion that Mr. Ramsay abandons his former way of thinking. Mr. Ramsay becomes a symbol of the Victorian patriarchal society in To the Lighthouse. In his character, we find a constant struggle to find meaning and a lasting purpose through intellectual pursuits and abstract thinking. It takes seeing the lighthouse as it really is close up and personal to shift his thinking. When he sees how it functions on a daily basis, his perspective of it changes and this forces him to change how he sees everything. He represents a movement away from the traditional patriarchal ideas that we encounter at the beginning of the novel.
Bibliography :
McNichol, Stella. 'To the Lighthouse.' Reference Guide to English Literature. 1991.
Gale Respurce Database. Site Accessed April 24, 2005.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers. 1955.
Author: Leona Watson