Discuss the trauma of transition from the Victorian female ideal to the feminist figure in Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse."
Tradition and Change in Modern Literature
Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse
Question:
Discuss the trauma of transition from the Victorian female ideal to the feminist figure in Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse."
Virginia Woolf's, To the Lighthouse is widely considered one of the most important works of the twentieth century. With this novel, Woolf established herself as one of the leading writers of modernism. The novel develops innovative literary techniques to reveal women's experience and to provide an alternative to male-dominated views of reality.
To the Lighthouse examines the role of women or more specifically, the evolution of the modern woman. The two main female characters in the novel, Mrs Ramsay and Lily Briscoe, both represent different views on life and follow different paths on their search for meaning. Lily Briscoe transcends the traditional female gender role embodied by Mrs Ramsay; by coming into her own, as an independent and modern woman, she symbolizes the advent of modernism and rejection of traditional Victorian values.
Transition in the simplest sense means change and the idea of trauma or pain is always associated with change. The novel To the Lighthouse subtlety highlights the trauma of
Transition from the Victorian female ideal to the modern woman. This can be seen in the female characters of Mrs Ramsay and Lily Briscoe.
The role of the Victorian female is envisage by the task of being mother and wife. Her reason for existing is to complete man rather than to exist in her own right. Mrs Ramsay willing accepts this responsibility and conforms to the pillar she is expected to be. The traditional female gender roles of passivity and submission are first reinforced by Mrs Ramsay's attitude and behaviour towards her husband and the guests at her house.
As her defined role of wife and mother to everyone, Mrs. Ramsay believes she is there to care for others for example ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
The role of the Victorian female is envisage by the task of being mother and wife. Her reason for existing is to complete man rather than to exist in her own right. Mrs Ramsay willing accepts this responsibility and conforms to the pillar she is expected to be. The traditional female gender roles of passivity and submission are first reinforced by Mrs Ramsay's attitude and behaviour towards her husband and the guests at her house.
As her defined role of wife and mother to everyone, Mrs. Ramsay believes she is there to care for others for example you see her knitting a reddish brown stocking for the Lighthouse keeper's son. She is there to harmonize everyone. She is there to marry people off such as Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle. She also believes that women are there to protect men, to nurture their egos, and to smooth over any awkward moments. This is highlighted in chapter 1 where she defends Charles Tansley against the criticisms of her own children, "she could not bear incivility to her guests, to young men in particular. She had the whole of the other sex under her protection." (p. 2-3). Another instance Mr Ramsay's caustic saying that it will not be fine tomorrow, she reassures James 'perhaps it will be fine tomorrow,' (p.9) and there she was smoothing his hair as she tries to comfort him. Through the character of Mrs Ramsay, the Victorian female ideal adheres rigidly to the patriarchal system which portrays women as sweet, modest, humble and subservient in contrast to their male counterpart who is portrayed as a heroic tyrant.
Mrs Ramsay's space was the domestic sphere confined to the house and the family. She is not a helpless woman but she is not independent in the way that Lily Briscoe is. While she is perfectly capable of being the boss of trivial and "womanly" things such as dinner, the higher level decisions are always made by her husband. In the novel, To the Lighthouse, the Victorian female is highlighted as a woman without higher education. This enforces the difference of gender roles. Education was not the ideal for a woman; the male was educated and admired for academic achievements.
Lily Briscoe on the other hand, is never seen in the novel as being anywhere near the kitchen, the table or performing 'womanly' chores. From her first appearance in the novel she is already going against convention 'but the sight of the girl on the lawn painting reminded her' (p.10) Lily Briscoe represents the modern woman who goes beyond the bounds of the Victorian woman and does things that "women can't do. " Lily's character breaks the conventional gender roles. She is seen as an independent, single, educated woman who has a talent to paint and is not confined to the home domestically. She possessed some of the traits that belonged only to men in the society - independence, education and talent.
When Charles Tansley tried to put a limitation to her capability by saying "Women can't write, women can't paint" That lingered in her mind and served as a catalyst not to nurture his ego but to bring out the worst in him for depreciating her work. The modern woman is not feeding men's egos neither is they going to allow men to put a limit to what they can or cannot do. This is what the French theorist Helen Cixous talks about when she says that women have an inner strength - the ultimate reserve discourse that men cannot penetrate. This centre can wreck barriers, classes, ideologies. Woolf uses this centre in the character of Lily Briscoe to introduce the evolution of the modern woman.
The trauma of the transition from the Victorian ideal to the feminist figure is seen in Mrs. Ramsay. Although at times she appears to be the idealized version of women, through her inner monologue it is seen that inwardly she questions the male female roles and in her inner thoughts an independent thinking woman is trying to eradicate the presence of the Victorian female ideal. Although she is a perfect mother figure, she has greater aspirations for her female daughters:
"That her daughter - Prue, Nancy, Rose - could sport with infidel ideas which they had brewed for themselves of a life different from hers; in Paris, perhaps; a wilder life; not always taking care of some man or other..." (p.3)
Also in the management of the family affairs she felt she might have managed things better and not have to worry about the fifty pounds to mend the greenhouse roof, 'when she looked in the glass and saw her grey hair, her cheek sunk, at fifty, she thought possibly she might have managed things better - her husband; money, his books.' (p.3)
Even though she fully conformed outwardly to the ideals of the Victorian woman, inwardly, in that secret place was the thought of independence and freedom that she saw in Lily and admired.
The death of Mrs Ramsay was sudden but it signified the trauma of transition. Death of the old Victorian Female Ideal who conformed to the ideology of society and the birth of the new modern woman or feminist figure who conforms to her own ideology. Lily's painting challenged convention because it was abstract and it was painted by a woman. The completion of Lily's painting signified the evolution of the modern woman.
Bibliography
Beja, Morris (ED): Virginia Woolf. To The Lighthouse: A Casebook, MacMillan London, 1970
Grove-White, Elizabeth: York Notes. To the Lighthouse. Longman Press, 1982
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1994