To The Light House

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE

VIRGINIA WOOLF’S CONTRIBUTION TO “THE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOVEL”

“The Stream of Consciousness Novel”: Its Rise The Stream of Consciousness Novel is the peculiar product of the 20th century. The rise of this art-form after the World War I, is the beginning of an era in the history of the English novel. The phrase “Stream of Consciousness” was first used by William James in his book “Principles of Psychology”, 1890 to denote the chaotic flow of impressions and sensations through the human consciousness. Virginia Woolf imparted form and discipline to it and thus made it a popular art form. Causes of its Rise The rise of “The Stream of Consciousness Novel” is reflection of the increasing inwardness of life because of break down of accepted values with the turn of the century, accelerated by the outbreak of the World war. David Daiches says that in addition to the breakdown of a public sense of significance, two other factors helped to produce the modern novel. The one is the new concept of time as continuous flow, rather than as a series of separate points. It led to a suspicion of the old kind of plot which carried the characters forward from moment to moment in a precise chronological sequence, and there developed instead the kind of narrative texture that moved backward and forward with a new freedom to try to capture the sense of time, as it actually operates in the human awareness of it. The other is the new view of consciousness deriving in a general way from the work of Freud and Jung. The individual personality is the sum of the individual’s memories, and to regard the past as something to be recalled by a conscious effort of memory is on this view to do violence to the facts of experience. The past exists always in the present, coloring and determining the nature of the present response, and to tell the truth about a character’s reaction to any situation we must tell the whole truth about everything that has ever happened to him. Bergson: Theory of Time Among the psychologists, Bergson’s theory of time has been of far reaching significance in this connection. He divided Time into “inner time” and the clock time or “mechanical time”. Inner Time is conceived of as a flow, a continuous moving stream and the division into past, present and future. Freud, Adler and Jung, on the other hand, studied the human consciousness and conceived of it as nothing static but something in a state of flux, constantly changing and becoming different, in response to sensations and emotions received from outside. It was conceived as chaotic, disorder of sensations and emotions, feelings and desires and memories. Probing of Human Consciousness There was deeper and deeper probing into the human consciousness by these psychologists. Their researches revealed that there are layers within layers in the human consciousness. Beneath the conscious, there is sub-conscious and then there is unconscious. The past lives on in the subconscious and the unconscious and is brought up to the conscious level, through memory. The conscious is only a very small part of the human psyche or soul. Human actions are determined more by the sub-conscious and unconscious than by the conscious. Hence it is that there is no much of the irrational and the emotional in human conduct. The stream of consciousness novel carries the impress of all these theories.

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Nature and Definition The stream of consciousness novel has been variously defined by various writers. H.J Muller is of the view that the new novel is the withdrawal from external phenomena into the flickering half-shades of the author’s private world. This definition emphasizes the inwardness of the novel of subjectivity. Robert Humphrey defines it as a type of fiction in which the basic emphasis is placed on exploration of the pre-speech levels of consciousness for the purposes of revealing the psychic being of the character. Djaurdin, the well known French novelist, used the word “Interior monologue” for the stream of consciousness technique, and defined it as the speech of a character in a scene, having for its subject the direct introduction of the reader into the inner life of a character, without an intervention by way of explanation on the part of the author. Study of Human Psyche: Realism The aim of the modern psychologist novelist is to present the soul realistically. He uses the stream of consciousness technique. The human psyche is not a simple entity functioning logically in a predictable manner. Modern psychology conceives it as a vast fluid or even vaporous mass. J.W Beach tells us that the human soul has for the most part no identity at all, but it is a kind of dreaming, disorderness of sensations and reactions, so quick and spontaneous that we never become conscious of them. Our consciousness, which is the small part of the soul, does not proceed logically or coherently, except at certain times and for certain periods, under the pressure of some urgent need. The soul is indifferent to past and future, near and far. The “stream of consciousness” novelists are as much concerned as the old ones with the psyche that is the focus of life experience.. Deformalisation: Decay of Plot and Character The psychological novel represents a reaction against the well made novel of the 19th century. Its tendency is towards Deformalisation. Both plot and character in the conventional sense have decayed in the novel of subjectivity. There is no set description of character as in the older novel. There is a shift from the externals to the inner-self of the various personages. There is no plot construction in the sense of a logical arrangement of incidents and events, leading chronologically to a catastrophe. The actions move backward and forward in Time. In the words of Virginia Woolf, in the novel of subjectivity, there is no plot, no character, no tragedy, no comedy, and no love-interest, as in the traditional novel. The “Stream of Consciousness” novelists, instead of concentrating around a limited issue, show an eccentric tendency to fly off in many different directions. Instead of continuity of action, they have a tendency to discontinuity. Virginia Woolf’s contribution to novel of subjectivity is of far reaching significance because she imparted form and discipline to the chaotic psychological novel, and making it acceptable. Thus, “To the Light House” is a psychological novel par excellence, and yet it has a well marked form and pattern. There is a close confrontation of clock time and inner time and the transitions from the past to the present are controlled by emotional links. She has put up enough sign posts for the guidance of the readers, despite the theory that life is, ‘not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged’, but a ‘luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope’. Life-like Characters The stream of consciousness technique is a way of presenting the soul of the characters realistically, and the soul cannot be judged by what a character says or does. Words and deeds of a person are often conventional. Fear of social censure represses the inner reality. Hence, to know a character really and truthfully, we must know what is happening inside his mind, we must plunge into his pre-speech level of consciousness and see what sensations and what

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impressions are floating there. Besides this, we must know the characters not only as they are in the present, but also as they were in the past. Treatment of Time This focus on psyche, rather than on the externals of character accounts for focus on time. The action moves backward and forward freely in time, there is no chronological, forward movement, but a zigzag, winding movement from the past to the present, and from the present to the past. Virginia Woolf has shown great skill in the manipulation of Time in “Mrs. Dalloway” and “To the Light House”. The clock time is strictly limited, but in the consciousness of the heroine of both these novels we move freely in Time and Space, and in this way two perfectly credible and rounded personalities are built. Either we stand still in time and contemplate diverse but contemporaneous events in space or we stand still in space and are allowed to move up and down in the consciousness of one individual. Conclusion The stream of consciousness novel arose to meet the needs of a new age. Focus on Time; subjectivity, inwardness, absence of action is some important features of this novel. The technique of interior monologue is not an entirely new invention of the 20th century. It is foreshadowed in the novels of Richardson, Sterne, George Eliot and many others. Its climax was from 1915 to 1941 under the impact of teachings of the modern psychologists.

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE VIRGINIA WOOLF’S GREATNESS AS A NOVELIST THE ART AND TECHNIQUE OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

Break from Tradition Virginia Woolf belongs to the school of “stream of consciousness” novelists. She is one of those greatest English novelists of the 20th century who had the courage to break free from tradition, and then to give a new direction, a new form and a new spiritual awareness to the English novel. She began writing in the established tradition of the novel. But soon she realized the inadequacy of the traditional novel, and adopted the stream of consciousness technique in the “Jacob’s Room”. Her art rapidly matured and her next two novels “Mrs. Dalloway” and “To the Light House” represent the very perfection of the stream of consciousness novel. Imparted Form and Balance to the Stream of Consciousness Novel Virginia Woolf is not one of the architects of “Stream of Consciousness Novel”. She is not the originator, but it is in her novels that this technique finds its balance. She has imposed form and order on the chaos inherent in the novel of subjectivity. She has brought this particular genre of the novel out of the realm of stunt literature and made it an acceptable and coherent art form. She was the one of the theorist of the stream of consciousness novel and did much to throw light on its technique and to bring out its superiority to the conventional novel. Poeticised the English Novel Mrs. Woolf poeticised the English novel. She realized that the very atmosphere of the human mind can not be recreated with the ordinary resources of prose. Therefore in order to enrich her language, she used vivid metaphors and symbols which are peculiar to poetry. Her prose style is of the color of poetry and shows rhythm. Her novels have the intensity of a lyric. Presentation of Inner Reality Virginia Woolf was a spiritualist. She rejects traditional modes of expression and concentrates on presentation of inner reality. The novel in her hand is not just an entertainment, or propaganda, or the vehicle of some fixed ideas or a social document, but a voyage of exploration to find out how life is lived and how it can be presented as it is actually lived without distortion. Her Sense of Form Mrs. Woolf has a well developed sense of form. Her work has a rare artistic integrity. In her novels there are scenes and images. Her novels are constructed in scenes of rare emotional intensity, but each scene and image is closely related to other scenes and images. And this wholeness is not confined to individual novels, but all her works together form a single whole. The latter novels are related to the former ones as an egg is related to the caterpillar and the butterfly. Each grows out of the preceding one. Character is related to character; character to environment, and to the world of things. The inner life of the mind was her theme, but the internal is related to the external also. The outer life of trees, birds and fish, of meadows and sea-shore lends her many images to illuminate the life of mind.

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The Technique of “The Interior Monologue” Human life as it really is was her theme. She reveals the very springs of action, the hidden motives which impel men and women to act in a particular way. This is done by use of the ‘interior monologue’. She takes us directly into the minds of her characters, and shows the chaotic flow of ideas, sensations and impressions, and in this way she brings us closer to their psyche. This can never be possible by the use of conventional methods of characterization. Artistic Integrity She had an original vision of life, and she was very truthful to this vision. This truthfulness and artistic integrity results from her perfect detachment from all personal prejudices and notions, from personal end-seeking or desire for making money. Feminised the English Novel She was a woman, and in her novels she gives us the woman’s point of view. She relies more on intuition than on reason. She is interested not only in the relations of men and woman, or of men with men, but also of woman with woman. She is fascinated with Natural life. She has a woman’s dislike for the world of societies, churches, banks and schools. He picture of life does not include meanness, stupidity and roughness, vice and criminality. Limitation of Her Range The fact of her being a woman limits her world in the other respect also. She avoids the theme of passionate love. Being a woman she could not write of sex freely and frankly and so she avoids it altogether. Her range is limited in various other ways also. For example, she painted only upper middle –class life and only certain types of character. Her novels need some painstaking on the part of the reader, but if followed imaginatively, they have the power to illuminate and transform.

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE CHARACTER AND ROLE OF MRS. RAMSAY

Her Physical Charms Mrs. Ramsay is a middle-aged woman, a mother of eight children. Despite her age, she is a woman of great beauty and attraction. References to her beauty are frequent in the novel. Complements are often paid to her, as for example, “The happier Helen of our time”. All the guests admire her. Women are also fascinated by her. She dominates the novel and exercise the influence on every body. Her attractiveness is not only for her physical charms but she is also very considerate, polite, cultured and humane. A Great Creator of Harmony She brings people together. This aspect of her character is revealed during the dinner party which forms the climax to the first part of the novel. By a look, she compels Lily to be considerate to Tansley. This helps Tansley to be brought out of his isolation and he feels more at home. Similarly she pacifies Mr. Ramsay by her nameless acts of courtesy, and draws both William Bankes and Carmichael out of their respective shells. She is sympathetic to her husband and her children love her and admire her because she comforts them. She pleases James and wins his heart by assuring him that they would be able to go to the light house the next day. A Match-Maker She has a role of match-maker shows her ken interest in establishing harmony among the people. She brings Paul and Minta together and is responsible for their marriage. She likes very much that Lily and Charles Tansley or Lily and William Bankes be united in marriage bonds. Kind and Considerate Mrs. Ramsay is very kind and considerate. She pleases to help the poor and the needy. She knits brown stockings for the Lighthouse Keeper’s son, because he is ill. She often goes out of the town and distributes food and clothes among the poor. She knows that Tansley is poor, and does not tolerate any kind of incivility to him for this reason. Her Sense of Humour Mrs. Ramsay has a rare sense of humour. This enables her to please her children by covering the boar’s head with her shawl. She assures the one that the ugly head is not there for it cannot be seen, and the other that is still there for it has not been taken away. She likes circus and poetry.

Essentially Feminine Critics like James Hafley are of the view that Mrs. Ramsay is merely a symbol that she has not been individualized, and that is why the novelist has not given her a first name. They are agreed that she is a human being of great appeal. She is a rounded three dimensional figure. She is essentially feminine. To round up her character the novelist has emphasized her feminine weaknesses. For example, she has a habit of exaggerating that frequently irritates her husband.

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Structural and Psychological Centre Mrs. Ramsay is a living, breathing reality and is the one of the finest creations of Mrs. Woolf. She is the structural and psychological centre of the novel and the source of unity in it. She holds together the various characters and events in the novel. In the beginning of the novel we focus our attention to her sitting at the window which links the lawn with the interior of the house. People come and go but she remains the point of reference in the movement of the various characters. Sitting there, she serves as a model for Lily painting on the lawn. Her role as uniting and harmonizing force is remarkably clear at the dinner party. Communication is one of the most difficult jobs in life. Even when we like people, sympathise with them, we find it hard to communicate with them. The problem at Ramsay household is particularly difficult because the people assembled there are many of them self-willed and selfcentered and some of them even eccentric. It is a miracle that Mrs. Ramsay is able to weave them into a cohesive whole. A Perfect Hostess Mrs. Ramsay is a perfect hostess. People wondered how, with their meager income, she was able to feed and look after so many guests. He r own family was large enough, and Mr. Ramsay was not making any big sum of money out of his books. But a shrewd householder and a patient housewife, that is Mrs. Ramsay, is able to make her little go a long way. Dominates the Novel, Even after Death Though Mrs. Ramsay dies and is not physically present after the first part, her influence is felt throughout. She dominates the whole book, and influences the lives of the other people even after her death. Her husband remembers her and undertakes the journey to the lighthouse in order to fulfill one of her most cherished wishes. Lily Briscoe remembers her, has a vision of her sitting at the window, just as she used to do in life and it is this vision which enables her to complete her picture at that very moment when Mr. Ramsay lands at the lighthouse.

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE THE CHARACTER AND ROLE OF MR. RAMSAY

An Eminent Intellectual

Mr. Ramsay, a man of sixty –two, is the head of the Ramsay family and the father of eight children. He is a scholar, a great thinker and writer. He has a number of books to his credit, some of which are quite successful. His wife admires him very much as she thinks he is a genius. His Passion for Facts Mr. Ramsay is a great scholar and realist and has passion for facts. He must speak out the truth even though it may be disagreeable and may cause pain to others. He, in the beginning of the novel tells James that he would not be able to go to the light house as it would not be fine tomorrow. This causes great pain and disappointment to James, but he does not care for it. He himself has no illusions and cannot tolerate any body that flies in the face of facts. When his wife says that the wind might change the direction and that they might be able to go to the light house, the irrationality of her remark irritates him. His intention is that the children should understand the joyless realities of life face the facts rather than remain under illusion regarding the nature of reality. His Tyranny This excessive passion for reality has made him somewhat cruel. His children repeatedly complain of this element of tyranny in his character. The children, particularly James, do not like him because he makes sarcastic remarks. He wants his children know that life is difficult and courage is needed to face it. James and Cam take their father to be an absolute tyrant and form a joint defence pact against him. They decide to fight against him jointly and not to yield to him any ground when they are going to the light house. The Comic Note: Slef-dramatisation Mr. Ramsay has a comic habit of self-dramatisation and play acting. He imagines that he is a failure and his books will be soon forgotten. Therefore he wishes for sympathy with him. He has worked very hard but still he has not achieved the success he deserves. He has not achieved due fame and recognition. He recites lines from the well known poem of Tennyson. He has become a comic figure as reciting these lines he bears down upon Lily Briscoe and upsets her easel. Equally comic is the way in which he tickles the sole of James with a feather. His Faults Mr. Ramsay has certainly a number of faults of character. He is a ruthless realist, a hard intellectualist, and egotist. He demands sympathy but does not give any sympathy to others. He overworks his wife to death and makes the life of his children hard and unpleasant. We are likely to condemn him for the way in which he shatters James’ hopes and illusions, and the harsh way in which he says “damn you” to Mrs. Ramsay.

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His Humanity When examined closely, Mr. Ramsay is seen to be a complex and fascinating personality. As seen through the eyes of Lily Briscoe and Mr. Bankes, he appears to be a human figure fond of his wife and children. He is like a hen spreading her wings out in protection of little chicks. A Complex Fascinating Figure In Lily Briscoe’s mind the image of Mr. Ramsay appears as a scrubbed kitchen table lodged at the moment in the fork of a paper tree. She compares Mr. Ramsay with William Bankes: Mr. Bankes, who is good, not vain, and entirely impersonal, without wife or child living entirely for science finer than Mr. Ramsay. But then, she remembers that he is also a crank. She feels that it is difficult to judge people. Mr. Bankes has greatness and Mr. Ramsay has not. He is petty, selfish and vain. He is spoilt and he is egotist and tyrant. Conclusion In the end, he is looked at through the eyes of Cam and he seems to be brave, heroic figure, the leader of an expedition, facing dangers, and leading it to a successful conclusion. The very fact that he compels James and Cam to undertake this expedition brings out his love for his wife and his reverence for her. It ennobles and uplifts him in our eyes. The final impression he leaves upon us is neither that of a villain nor that of a figure of fun but that of a loving husband and a kind-hearted gentleman.

Written and Composed By: Prof. A.R. Somroo M.A. English, M.A. Education Cell phone: 03339971417

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE CHARACTER AND ROLE OF LILY BRISCOE

A Devoted Artist

Lily Briscoe is a middle aged painter, with Chinese eyes and a wrinkled face. She is thirty-five when the novel begins but she has not married yet. She regards love and marriage as degrading, and so despite her admiration and friendship for Mr. Bankes, she has not married him so far. She is a devoted artist and perhaps she has kept single because marriage and family life are likely to come in way of her artistic activity. Her Gift of Visualising the Past As Lily paints in the lawn of the Ramsays in the Isle of Skye, memories crowd in upon her, and in this way are built up the complex and fascinating personalities of the Ramsays. It is through her that the past is brought to bear upon the present, and the result is that the Ramsays emerge as rounded, living, breathing realities and considerable light is thrown on the other characters also. Her imagination is visual and pictorial and vivid pictures from the past keep welling up in her mind. Her Moments of Vision Although she is by no means the main character, Lily Briscoe has more moments of vision than any other figure in “To the Light House”. Lily is acutely aware of the frustration of trying to translate moments of intensity into worthwhile art, to capture in her painting the thing itself before it has been made anything. She is a painter, but her comments on the impossibility of recording the most fading away of moments are sometimes expressed in terms that seem more appropriate to the man of letters. Thus, sensing on the morning of the trip to the lighthouse all words seem to become symbols that day. Lily’s art actually uses not words but visual forms and colors. Her First and Second Visions The first had occurred before the action of the novel starts and is remembered as ‘that vision which she had seen clearly once and must now search blindly for among hedges and houses and mothers and children--- her picture’. While visiting the Ramsays during the first part of the book she is working on a view of their house, and at dinner in the evening she has her second inspiration; ‘ In a flash she saw her picture, and thought, ‘Yes, I shall put the tree further in the middle; then I shall avoid that awkward space. The full significance of the moment is not revealed until much later, when we also learn that, ‘it had flashed upon her that she would move the tree to the middle, and need never marry anybody’. Her Third Vision But, before she can carry out her intention everyone leaves the Ramsays’ summer home. Mrs. Ramsay dies, Lily loses tracks of her picture, and ten years pass. Then Mr. Ramsay unexpectedly reopens the house and invites the guests of that summer to visit there again. Confronted with the same scene she had been painting. Lily has her third moment of inspiration when she recalls her previous one: “Suddenly she remembered when she had sat there last ten years ago there had

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been a little spring or leaf pattern on the table-cloth, which she had looked at in a moment of revelation. She would paint the picture now”. Fourth Vision After some initial difficulty she works steadily that morning, and by the moment Mr. Ramsay lands at the lighthouse, her new painting is all but complete. She has paused while she seems to share with Mr. Carmichael the same thoughts about Mr. Ramsay and what he has done, when, ‘quickly as if she were recalled by something over there, she turns to her canvas and takes up her brush. She then looks at the steps of the house, where she had earlier felt she could see an image of Mrs. Ramsay, but they were empty; she looked at her canvas; it was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as if she saw it clear for a second, she drew a line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished; “Yes, she thought, laying her brush down in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision”. With these words which end the novel, it appears that Lily’s hopes of capturing her fleeting inspiration and making of the moment something permanent are at last realized.

Written and Composed By: Prof. A.R. Somroo M.A. English, M.A. Education Cell Phone: 03339971417

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE CHARACTER AND ROLE OF WILLIAM BANKES

His Eccentricity

Mr. William Bankes is one of the guests of the Ramsays, and a boyhood friend of Mr. Ramsay. But he does not stay with them at their summer house. He has his lodging in the town and is considered an eccentric because he has brought his own personal attendant to serve him. Together with Lily he forms a kind of Greek chorus, commenting on the personality of the Ramsays. He gives us masculine point of view, while Lily gives us the feminine one. Mr. Banke is a botanist, a widower, smelling of soap, very clean and kind hearted. He respects Lily Briscoe for her devotion to work, her poverty and commonsense. Both are embarrassed by Mr. Ramsay’s stride up and down reciting. As Compared with Mr. Ramsay Lily Briscoe compares Bankes with Mr. Ramsay and concludes that Mr. Ramsay is a much better man, though he has his own faults and weaknesses. He has no wife and children and so does not know the values of love and sympathy, of little acts of kindness, which sweeten life and make it worthwhile. But in another respect he has an advantage over Mr. Ramsay. He does not care whether his work would last or not. He knows that there are changes of taste in literature and thought that Mr. Ramsay should not be worried about the future. William Bankes says and does very little in the novel, but all the same he is an important character and through him the novelist has rounded up the character of Mr. Ramsay.

Written and Composed By: Prof. A.R. Somroo M.A. English, M.A. Education Cell: 03339971417

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE THEME: STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

Inadequacy of Human Relationships

Virginia Woolf was fully aware of the inadequacy of human relationships. Human beings seemed to her isolated and communication between them partial, often unsatisfactory and sometimes quite mistaken. To the Light House shows us various fictional characters trying with varying degrees of success, to establish relationships with the people around them. Its Causes One of the main reasons for the failure to establish satisfactory human relationships is that words are the main source of communication between one character and the other, and words are often inadequate for this purpose. Sometimes words fail to express the full complexity of a character’s thought and feelings, and at other times what the words express is only a fraction of what character thinks and feels, and so they become actually misleading. Mrs. Woolf has a keen consciousness of both these aspects of verbal inadequacy. Expressive Power of Silence More often silence has more expressive power than words. Lily realizes this fully, and she feels in greater communication with Carmichael than if they had spoken. They sit on the lawn perfectly silent, but still they seem to understand each other, and are in perfect sympathy with each other, without exchanging even a single word. Things are often spoiled by saying them. Silence is often more perfectly expressive. Importance of the Trivial Silence thus often leads to the establishment of satisfactory human relationships. At other times, things apparently trivial are helpful in this respect. For example, Mr. Ramsay comes to Lily demanding sympathy. Lily is unable to say a single word. And then suddenly she praises his books. At once he is pleased and satisfied. At once they are in sympathy with each other. Need of Emotional Sympathy Satisfactory human relationships are necessary for life. Such relationships can be established not through logic, reason and intellect, but through the emotions. Union of hearts, emotional understanding and sympathy are needed for satisfactory relationships between mother and children and husband and wife. Thus Mrs. Ramsay who is in sympathy with her children understands their psychological needs is loved and respected by them while they hate their father who fails to understand their needs because of his cold intellectual approach. The Ebb and Flow of Feelings Mrs. Ramsay is a person who tries to establish communication between people and Virginia Woolf shows this in many ways: in Mrs. Ramsay’s attempt to get Paul and Minta and Lily and Bankes married for example, and at the dinner party where, seeing the unease of her guests, she begins to make the effort to get people talking, to involve them and so to create something of the time they are together. As a matter of fact To the Light House presents the reactions of people to one another in such a way as to create for us the ebb and flow of feelings, the movements of

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characters towards one another from the state of isolation in which each one is of us is trapped by his own sense of inadequacy or his private worries. Husband-Wife Relationship Even in the most intimate and most fully explored relationship in the novel, that of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, there is a note of pretence, and falsehood. Mrs. Ramsay is forced to praise him to his face and to encourage his confidence in a way she feels should not be necessary. His constant need to be reassured, his fear of failure, his ill feeling that he has achieved less than he should have and that his books will not last, pervert his judgment, leading him to see in praise of other men’s works criticism of himself. The Window traces the pattern of their relationship from one extreme to the other. They are seen at their furthest apart when their disagreement about going to the lighthouse brings out the difference in their attitude to life: ‘Damn you’, he said. But what had she said? Simply that it might be fine tomorrow. Mr. Ramsay who believes that children must be taught to face facts and know that life is hard, is infuriated by what seems to him his wife’s dishonesty. Tansley and Lily Briscoe: Satisfactory Relationship His feelings and Lily’s appreciation of them are displayed with irony and subtlety at the dinner. Tansley desperately wants to make an impression on the conversation but lacks the selfconfidence to make his own opening and sits despising the superficial chat of Mrs. Ramsay and Bankes. Lily understands his feelings and tries an experiment. She expresses her opposition to him by a teasing invitation to him to accompany her to the lighthouse and this produces a rude and childish reaction from Tansley, expressive of his sensitivity to criticism. Satisfactory relationship between Charles Tansley and the others at the table is thus established and the party thus becomes success. Both Lily’s invitation to Tansley are lies; the first is recognized by him as a lie and he sees the true feeling of opposition that produced it and so they understand each other for a moment. But the second invitation is produced by the necessity of polite social relationship and its insincerity is not realized by Tansley. Lily feels that their relationship is therefore falsified.

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE TECHNIQUE OF CHARACTERISATION

Mrs. Woolf’s technique of characterization has often been criticized. Many of critics have said that she fails to give us convincing and memorable characters. E.M. Forster says that she could not portray a character that was remembered afterwards on its own account. It is true that there is no picture gallery of characters in her novels. The truth is that she always tried to create a greater sense of life and of the way human beings really think and live. A presentation of people as they are leads her to show us the variety of human emotion, the indefiniteness and fluidity of character. Fluidity of Character It is not possible to describe the characters of To the Light House concisely, because the author has deliberately shown their indefinableness. She has chosen to create in fictional terms the sense that all of us have about our family and friends, that we know them too well to be able to have one unmixed reaction to them. Virginia Woolf has made sure that we realize how foolish, simple assessments of people are, for To the Light House is about the difficulty of summing up them that how did one judge people and think of them. The Need of Intuitive Power Lily is not able to understand Mrs. Ramsay by reason but it is the intuitive power that made her able to understand him. As the shadow falls on the step in a scene of part I, Lily suddenly feel, for a moment, that Mrs. Ramsay is there again. It is the moment of vision which embraces Mr. Ramsay as well: Lily feels that she has given him the sympathy he had wanted. Multiple Points Of View Mrs. Woolf’s characters have the richness and complexity of life. This richness and complexity in presenting these characters becomes possible by the use of technique of multiple points of view. This technique implies that the chief characters in a novel are not only seen from the point of view of the novelist but through the eyes of a number of characters. In this way different facets of their personalities are clear and we get rounded, three dimensional figures which have reality and permanence of life itself. Further light is thrown on their natures by giving their respective interior monologues or stream of consciousness. Mr. Ramsay and the Multiple Points of View “Multiple points of view” is operative in the presentation of Mr. Ramsay, who is seen much more from outside than his wife. Since, we are given only a few passages which present his feelings and thought directly. One view we have of him is comic. He is seen as a great blundering fool, roaming round the garden. His bad temper, self pity and self-dramatisation and the disparity between what he says about facing up to the hardness of life and his own petty feeling of indignation of the least of its difficulties, all expose him to ridicule. Against this picture, we have to set Lily’s respect for his work and his total lack of worldliness. Mr. Ramsay’s love and respect for him, his simple unaffected response to the humanity of Scott’s novels and the hardships of the fisherman’s life, and his genuine courage. The last view we have

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of him, through the eyes of his children, in a moment of achievement and selflessness seems far from the tottering actor: He rose and stood in the bow of the boat, very straight and tall, for the entire world. James thought as if he were saying: “There is no God”. Mrs. Ramsay and the Multiple Points of View Similarly “Multiple points of view” is operative in the presentation of Mrs. Ramsay’s character. She is seen through the eyes of her husband, her guests, her children and above all through the eyes of Lily, and the result is an extremely complex, rich, fascinating and life-like personality. We know her more closely and intimately than would ever have been possible with the use of the conventional techniques. By the use of multiple points of view technique, Virginia Woolf conveyed this sense of diversity and created a picture of her characters with such richness and complexity of texture that she has dramatized the complexity of the questions as “What does it all mean? How does one judge people?”

Written and Composed By: Prof. A.R. Somroo M.A. English, M.A. Education Cell: 03339971417

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE OF THE NOVELIST VIRGINIA WOOLF’S USE OF “THE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS” TECHNIQUE

Rejection of Traditional Technique

Mrs. Woolf’s concern in writing novels was not merely to narrate a story as the older novelist did, but to discover and record life as the people feel who live it. Hence she rejected the conventional technique of narration and adopted a new technique more suited to her purpose. So, in “To the Light House” she has not told a story, in the sense of a series of events, and has concentrated on a small number of characters, whose nature and feelings are represented to us largely through their interior monologues. She has used the stream of consciousness technique. The interior monologues of different characters are no doubt given, but the novelist is constantly busy, organizing the material and illuminating it by frequent comments. The Role of Central Intelligence In this respect Mrs. Woolf’s technique of narration is quite different from that of the “Stream of consciousness” novelists. James Hafley writes, “ Far from being a stream of consciousness novel, To the Light House is the objective account of a central intelligence that approaches and assumes the characters’ consciousness but does not become completely identified with any one consciousness. This central intelligence is thus free to comment upon the whole in what seems a completely impersonal matter”. The central intelligence is reporting a part of the dinner conversation. The remark in parentheses is a popular device by which the author assures the reader that she too agrees with what is being said. Its Advantages The technique serves to implant a common reaction into the diverse reactions of the characters and to make certain the reader’s response to the book as a whole. It is also compatible with Virginia Woolf’s idea of characterization; her belief that there is a common element beneath the diversity, that fundamentally it is ‘all one stream’. Selection and Organisation of Material The passages of the novel show that there is no random presentation of material, rather the central intelligence is ever at work organizing it and commenting upon it. The use of the third person and of conventional sentence structure gives less the impression of the impact of the immediate moment than of the process of reflection. The novel as a whole is reflective rather than spontaneous and the selection by the author focuses our attention on the idea of the working of mind. Suspense and Curiosity To the Light House begins by taking us into the middle of a scene; Mrs. Ramsay’s opening remark is the answer to an unstated question, which we have to supply by picking up clues from what follows. The reader’s natural curiosity thus becomes involved. We wonder who these people are, what they are talking about and so on. As we read on, prompted by this desire to know, we

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begin to recognize a pattern in the narrative at the same time as we assimilate names, facts and ideas. The Skilful Exposition First the reader is introduced to the characters and the world they occupy. “The conversation about going to the light house acts as a stone thrown into the middle of a pool; it starts ripples of reaction in the several characters, whose thoughts gradually spread wider to include all the details essential for the reader’s understanding--- the family, their holiday, their friends the place in general terms and the immediate scene with mother and child sitting and so on. Since, the facts are put before us through the thoughts of one of the characters, they come to us with association of the character’s personality, and so we begin to be involved in the tensions between them. The Pattern: Conversation and Reaction The pattern begins to establish itself. The pattern of conversation and reaction is of the actual words in the first person and the present tense, and the reflections of the characters in the third person and the past tense. The Time Scheme It is by means of this combination of the conversation that is actually happening and the connected thoughts that may range over any event, that a time scheme is also established in the sense of present moment seen in relationship to the past, which is continually woven in with the present in the minds of most people. The Third Person Narration The third person narration is a very common novel device. Virginia Woolf is, however, very careful to make her direction of the narrative as little noticed as possible. Her use of indirect speech for the interior monologues of her characters makes it easy for her to work into these mental soliloquies a number of statements and ideas which are outside the range of knowledge of the character she is dealing with. Conclusion Such is the narrative technique which Mrs. Woolf has used in “To the Light House”. She has cleverly avoided the drawbacks of the stream of consciousness novel, and given form and coherence to her material. She is not haphazard and incoherent like the other “stream of consciousness” novelists. Indeed, through her flexible style she fuses narrative and description of thought, imparts form and unity, and conveys a sense of the amazing richness and complexity of life.

 Succeed in life by acting on the advice you give to others.    Deciding today is less risky than waiting till all the risks are removed.

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TO THE LIGHT HOUSE ITS SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE

Symbols: Their Nature and significance

Symbols are the word which suggest much more than is conveyed by their literal meaning. Ordinary words and images when repeated acquire a symbolic significance. As symbol increases the expressive power and range of language, they are frequently used by writers who want to convey mystic and spiritual truths. Mrs. Woolf has made extensive use of symbols in “To the Light House” for her purpose was to present the psyche of her characters. Five Important Symbols There are five important symbols in the novel, the sea, the light house, Lily Briscoe’s painting, the window and the personalities of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. They are all woven together into a central meaning which suggests Mrs. Woolf’s conception of life and reality.  The Sea The sea with its waves is heard throughout the novel. It is the symbol of internal flux of time and life. It constantly changes its character. Sometimes it is felt by Mrs. Ramsay, as a lullaby and at others, like a ghostly roll of drums beating a warning of death. It seems to reduce the individual to nothingness. Sometimes it seems to match the sudden springs of vitality in the human spirit. The sea surrounds the island on which the action takes place, which suggests both the human race and the individual personality. The waves are the symbol of movement of life carrying us towards the shore.  The Light House The sea surrounds the light house which stands alone sending out its beams. The light house suggests many things. To James it is a silvery, misty tower with a yellow eye that opens suddenly in the evening. When he nears it in the end, it is a straight tower with windows in it and wash spread on the rocks to dry. Light house is the mystery, but it also concerns day to day living. It is man made permanent thing that is built to guide and control those at the mercy of destructive forces of time. It is related to the human tradition as it is permanent. The title of the book is “To the Light House”. It is the quest for values the light house suggests. The tower is frequently shadowed in mist; its beams are intermittent in the darkness. To reach the light house is to establish a creative relationship. According to David Daiches, the light house symbolizes the human being who is unique and stands alone at once and a part of the flux of human history. Indeed, Light house is the most important symbol and different critics have explained it in different ways. It is the symbol of feminine creative principle, the rhythm of joy and sorrow, and a vital synthesis of time and eternity. F.L. Overcarsh interprets the whole novel as an allegory of Old and New Testament. Mrs. Ramsay id Eve, the blessed Virgin, and Christ; Mr. Ramsay is symbol of Father; the Light house is symbol of Eden and Heaven; the strokes of the lighthouse are persons of Trinity, the third of them the Holy Ghost.

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 The Window The frequent use of the window in the novel shows that it has a symbolic value. It is from the window that we have the title of the first part ‘To the Light house’. It is a separating piece of glass between reality and Mrs. Ramsay’s mind. In all novels of Mrs. Woolf, we see a character standing at a window, gazing at the street, at the sky or landscape and experiencing a catalytic phenomenon, the mingling of his self and the outer reality. The window is a screen between reality and consciousness. It reduces the scene of the world and thus it represents the imperfection of our knowledge.  Lily’s Painting and Carmichael’s Poetry Lily sees Mrs. Ramsay’s gift of harmonizing the others into a memorable moment as a work of art; and in the novel art is the ultimate symbol for the enduring reality. In life, Mrs. Ramsays sees that relationships are doomed to imperfection, and are the sport of time and change; but in art the temporal and the eternal unite in an unchanging form. Lily’s struggles with the composition and texture of her painting are a counterpart of Virginia Woolf’s tussles and triumphs in her own medium, but she chooses poetry as the image that reminds mankind that the ever-changing can yet become immortal. In a way, Mr. Carmichael, the poet, really rounds out the book better than the rather unconvincing completion of Lily’s picture. He is a symbolic figure; his is the only mind we never enter.  Mr.& Mrs. Ramsay Mr. Ramsay stands as the symbol of the sterile, destructive barrier to the relationship. He appears as the image of sterility, hardness and cruelty and deliberate isolation. He is the wagon’s wheel that James imagines going blindly over a person’s foot leaving it purple and crushed. Mrs. Ramsay pervades the whole book with a definite symbolic pattern. She is the symbol of fertility of human relationships. She is symbolized with her green shawl draped first over a frame of picture of Madonna and Child. It is then put over her shoulders when she strolls with her husband and later used to cover up the skull in the children’s bedroom. She is the symbol of encouragement and motional ties among the persons. Written and Composed By: Prof. A.R. Somroo M.A. English, M.A. Education