1. How can you explain that 'what' Virginia Woolf wanted to say (for example, the complexity of human relationship, the everyday battles that people are at in their relationship with near and dear ones, the struggle of a female artist against the values of middle/upper class society etc) can only be said in the way she has said? (Key: The 'How' of the narrative technique is to be discussed along with features of the Stream of Consciousness technique which helps Woolf to put in an effective manner what she experienced in abstractions.)
Virginia Woolf has faced lots problems in her life, that all the things were reflected in her writing style as she wrote about lots of subjects and authors, but her critics were always sensitive. Virginia Woolf got back to Literature through women's problems. Problems like kinds of work and their salaries. Problems that she dealt with in "Night and Day", there she stood up for her sisters in order to get equal salaries between men and women. Virginia Woolf, feminist in her acts but against the term: "feminism", was convinced that women were superior to men; so she got interested in women writers particularly.
"The Common Reader",
"The Death of the Moth",
"A Room of One's Own".
"A Room of One's Own" (1928)
She gave a unique account of why a woman must have money and a room of her own in order to write fiction. It became a classical statement of feminism. Virginia Woolf recognized that in Post-war England old social hierarchies had broken down, and that literature must rediscover itself in a new and altogether more fluid world; the realist novel must be superseded by one in which objective reality is replaced by the impressions of subjective consciousness.
A new way of writing appeared, it was the famous "stream of Consciousness": It developed a method in order to get the character through its conscience's states; the character is understood by the way it moves, talks, eats, looks, and everything it does. Although the term "stream of consciousness" is rightly applied to the work of Virginia Woolf, it was first borrowed in 1918 from William James to describe the novels of Dorothy Richardson. Richardson described her work as an attempt to
"produce a feminine equivalent of the current masculine realism".
2)Do you agree: "The novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay"? (Key: Take some clues from the painting of Mrs Ramsay drawn by Lily Briscoe and the article by Andre Viola and Glenn Pedersen. Can we read Mrs. R in context of the idea of Ideal Indian Woman - Karyeshu dasi, Karaneshu manthri; Bhojeshu mata, Shayaneshu rambha; Kshamayeshu dharithri, Roopeshu lakshmi; Satkarma yukta, Kuladharma pathni. )
Yes, I agree with this idea that 'The Novel is both the tribute and the critique to Mrs, Ramsay'. When we read article by Andre Viola, Lily Briscoe is at the center and Mrs, Ramsay became critique as one of her daughters died during childbirth because she walks on Mrs Ramsay's path and others are don't want to sacrifice more like there is "manliness in girlish heart", in that way it's like critique on her. on the other hand if we see that she maintains all human relations and even after her death, she will remembered by other characters as Mrs, Ramsay has traditional womanhood to serve men which presents Ideal Indian women who always care for others ,so she good at men's view of Mr.Ramsay and James. It's like a tribute to her but from the women's side she is not good as her daughters are not satisfied with her behavior. Till the end of the novel, we can't get a clear idea in which way Mrs, Ramsay's character is described.
Virginia Woolf puts the character of Mrs,Ramsay in such a way that we can interpret it in both ways , we are free to do it and the novel has not one meaning but multiple meanings as literature is not for one interpretation but open for many. Mrs. Ramsay is considered as an 'Angle of the House' in the novel and if we talk about our culture then the ladylike Mrs. Ramsay will maybe be favorite in the future also. In the patriarchy society the women like Lily are not liked by males. She is also doing activities like painting and writing so she breaks that idea “women can’t paint can’t write”. So the novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay.
3)Considering symbolically, does the Lighthouse stand for Mrs. Ramsay or the narrator (Virginia Woolf herself who is categorically represented by Lily)? (Key: Take help from the presentation on Symbolism to connect Mrs. Caroline Ramsay with Lighthouse. Secondly, the narrator / author cannot fully disappear from the novel and thus the stoicism of Lily to paint and thus prove that she can paint, is symbolically presented in the stoicism of Lighthouse. Read the 'lighthouse' symbol from the presentation slide with this insight to connect the lighthouse with the narrator. Give your concluding remarks in the comment below in this blog )
The Lighthouse symbolizes human desire, a force that pulsates over the indifferent sea of the natural world and guides people's passage across it. Yet even as the Lighthouse stands constant night and day, season after season, it remains curiously unattainable. The Lighthouse is the symbol used for Mrs Ramsay. She is standing straight in the storms of emotions and minor clashes among family members as the light house is a standing and guiding force for the voyager. Lily sometimes carries the feelings of a writer. Woolf had overcome her own struggle with society as well as her inner self, which brought stoicism. When Lily paints, she remembers Mrs Ramsay. If we talk about Mrs. Ramsay, she was represented as a caring homemaker, which shows the reality of the Woolf, stressing understanding between certain of the characters in the novel and her own family. She explicitly relates the contents of the look to her own parents and childhood that she has to always suppress her ego in front of the male.
4)In the article by Joseph Blotner, two myths are patterned together. Name the myths? How are they zeroed down to the symbols of 'Window' and 'Lighthouse'? How does the male phallic symbol represent feminine Mrs. Ramsay? (Key: The strokes of light-beams. . . )
In the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, the concept of women's role in life is crystallized in the character of Mrs.Ramsay. The tributes are those of major female figures in Pagan myth and the most useful myth for interpreting the novel is that of the primordial Goddess. Who is in the threefold i
relation to Zues: mother (Rhea) wife (Demeter)and daughter(persephone) on the major source of the myth in the "homeric Hymn to demeter. which the poet compares with her daughter demeter and makes it clear that the demeter and her daughter were if an hour to be thought of as a double figures when it is applied to the Lighthouse and the other is a fundamentally for a fruitful criticism.
The parallel between the Mystic pattern and the work of art by virtue of invoking the supposedly Forgotten or the archetypal pattern in the artist unconscious is argued as a sufficient basis for climbing that the positive relationship exist as Virginia woolf in her diary retreaded the role of subconscious this myth may well have raised and from Virginia woolf subconscious to the form the framework of the novel the Myth. This can be shown that this novel is in fact a clear and coherent narrative Beneath it is enchanting poetry and evocative process in this interpretation. Ramsay is not merely a goodness woolf finest as an artist to the fundamental convictions as a woman.
At last "The Window" is symbolically female and "The Lighthouse" is symbolically male. Virginia Woolf has shown females as love and life giver while on the other hand she has shown male have hatred, violence and are fatal. In a way she wants to say that female energy is necessary to function. By Virginia Woolf the quality of giving birth by female is emphasized here over male.
5)What do you understand by the German term 'Künstlerroman'? How can you justify that 'To The Lighthouse' is a 'Künstlerroman' novel?(Key: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/325047/Kunstlerroman)
Künstlerroman is a German term which can be translated as "artist novel". Basically this term means a novel where the growth of an artist is shown, mainly as a painter, musician or poet. In this type of novel the biographical elements are strong, because they describe their struggle as a writer or artist. In Virginia Woolf's " To The Lighthouse" we can see the growth of poets and painters. Augustus Carmichael as poet and Lily Briscoe as painter in both the cases it is shown how an artist struggles for one thought or feeling that can lead towards the creation or how it is hard to paint our mind on canvas. At the end of the novel both the artists have their own creation. Augustus Carmichael has his collection of poems and Lily Briscoe has her vision in painting and at the end Virginia Woolf also had her novel. So we can say that this novel is a Künstlrrroman novel.
6)"... the wages of obedience is death, and the daughter that reproduces mothering to perfection, including child-bearing, already has on her cheeks the pallor of death. One reminded here of various texts by Lucy Irigaray, in which she attacks mothers for being, however unwillingly, accomplices in the patriarchal system of oppression." (Viola). In light of this remark, explain briefly Lily's dilemma in 'To The Lighthouse'.
In To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay’s daughters are represented sporting with infidel ideas; there is also mute question in their mind about difference and chivalry, they are also credited with “Manliness in their girlish hearts.” Mrs. Ramsay’s three daughters are mentioned, namely Nancy, Rose and Prue. But two of them, Nancy and Rose are to speak non-existence but Prue dies from too complete an obedience to her mother’s wishes. Others are Lily and Cam. Lily is an adopted child. Here Lily symbolizes her fight against patriarchy and its ministering figure of the Angel in the House, with the death of the mother; it was to be fought against her image. Lily passes from her state of numbness to an unexpected expression of anger towards Mrs. Ramsay for emptiness which she has created by her death and it creates a dilemma.
7)Movie Screening: Worksheet
8)You have compared the 'beginning' and the 'ending' of the novel and the film adaptation of the novel directed by Colin Gregg (you can see it again in the embedded video below this). Do you think that the novel is more poignant than the movie? If yes, do you ascribe the fact that the power of words is much greater than that of the screen / visuals?
It was done; it was finished.
Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue,
I have had my vision.
The novel ends with this sentence as given above. She gets the answer to all questions. She has that realization of what she actually wants to be since the beginning of the novel. She realizes that she does not want to be like Mrs.Ramsay rather she chooses to be and lives with her paintings. Lily walks inside the house. As she goes ante-chamber, the light and dark shade makes his face play hide-and-seek. She climbs stairs, puts her brush aside, walks through the dark and light to enter her room. Gently closes the door - speaks:
"Closed doors, open windows" - lies on the bed and with some sort of satisfaction utters: "Dearest Briscoe, you are a fool".
In the ending scene of the movie, Lily is described as being a "fool". Before the final stroke in the film, Lily Briscoe observed that Mrs.Ramsay and James were wandering in the garden. Maybe this is the scene which brings changes in Lily's thought. Finally she realizes that she herself is a fool who does not think to be like Mrs.Ramsay. There is something which is missing that he realizes at the end of the movie by completing the painting. At the end maybe she wanted to be and live a life like Mrs.Ramsay.
9)How do you interpret the last line of the novel (It was done; it was finished.
Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.) with reference to the ending of the film (After the final stroke on the canvass with finishing touch, Lily walks inside the house. As she goes ante-chamber, the light and dark shade makes his face play hide-and-seek. She climbs stairs, puts her brush aside, walks through the dark and light to enter her room. Gently closes the door - speaks: "Closed doors, open windows" - lies on the bed and with some sort of satisfaction utters: "Dearest Briscoe, you are a fool".)
The catalogue named "Army and Navy" signifies by its name that war and consumerism, both are connected. Virginia Woolf here may try to criticize capitalism during her time. The refrigerator in the catalogue, which first is a symbol of modernism and accepting new technology. Refrigerator is a tool for conserving things and preventing it from changing naturally. We can connect Mrs. Ramsay with a refrigerator, because she also tries to preserve the feelings. She is accepting new technology but she wants her daughters to like her with the old mindset and stereotypes. James is cutting a refrigerator, which may be seen as Mrs. Ramsay is the one who is preserving James' feelings.
10)What does the catalogue named as 'Army and Navy' signify? What does cutting of 'Refrigerator' signify?
Here, In the novel To the lighthouse Jaemes was cutting the picture from the illustrated catalogue of the Army and Navy. The title of the catalogue itself has significance which stands for war and consumerism. It is connected with the idea of modernism as well as with the nature of Mrs.Ramsay. Refrigerator is a tool of technology which preserves the good as it is for a longer time. But it controls that natural process of food, the same way Mrs. Ramsay is a preserver of the culture. Who does not allow her daughters to live with Lily Briscoe’s modern idea rather makes them live with the so -called old stereotype of society.
11)Why did Virginia give such prominence to the tale of the “Fisherman’s Wife”? In particular, why did she weave such a misogynist tale into the fabric of a book which so eloquently challenges received patriarchal notions about the roles and capabilities of women?
Through the novel Virginia Woolf presents the ideal or obedient woman character of Mrs. Ramsay and presents her opposite character Lily Briscoe. Throughout the novel Mrs. Ramsay reading “Fisherman’s Wife” this story related to the fisherman wife is lure to get more and more so Virginia Woolf connects this type of woman character in the novel. Perhaps that Virginia Woolf presents a woman character like Lily, Mrs. Ramaya , Fisherman's wife Stories reference that all is a sign of that.
12)How is India represented in 'To The Lighthouse'? (Read this blog for passing reference)
In the novel there are several references to India and some are also reflected through Carmichael. But it can be observed that Virginia Woolf considered Indian in more spiritual power rather than an economical one. In the novel India is presented as an alien country, they do not know anything about India.In the novel a line suggests that India is known for the Opal necklace, which presents the wealth or richness of India.
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13)Write summaries of these articles
Citations
Abrams , M.H. The Norton Anthology Of English Literature . Forth ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton , 1949.
Woolf , Virginia. To the Lighthouse . The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Australia, 2004.
Blotner, Joseph L. “Mythic Patterns in to the Lighthouse.” PMLA, vol. 71, no. 4, 1956, pp. 547–562. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/460631. Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.
Viola, André. “Fluidity versus Muscularity: Lily's Dilemma in Woolf's ‘To the Lighthouse.’” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 24, no. 2, 2000, pp. 271–289.
Pedersen, Glenn. "Vision in the Lighthouse." PMLA, vol.73, no.5, 1958, pp. 585-600. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/460303
Accessed 22 oct. 2020.
Thank you....
