To the Lighthouse Close Reading

Throughout the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, there is a motif regarding the differing behaviors of men and women, primarily displayed in the characters Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey. However, although they differ in their actions, their attitudes coincide. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are united in their fear of mortality. Their main frustration in life revolves around the inevitability of the disappearance of life itself. They are connected in their mutual fear, but are separated by the motivations of their dissatisfaction. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey’s approaches to life differentiate them. Mr. Ramsey relies on intellect in his life, while Mrs. Ramsey depends on her emotions. They are both aware that nothing last forever, that the world around them is ephemeral.

Mr. Ramsey’s insecurity about the reality of life and time is exposed through his intellectual analysis of the progress of human thought. While he wanders on his lawn, he finds a correlation between human accomplishment and the alphabet. He considers his own situation, and decides that he has successfully made it from A to Q. He finds that reaching Q has been a great achievement, but he wishes to reach R. His desires are created by his insecurity that he may not leave any lasting impressions on the world. Mr. Ramsey has made it to R, and because of this, he has gained a certain amount of clout. However, he is conscious of the limitation of time, and does not want his efforts to be forgotten in the event of his death. He knows that all fame is transient, and even a figure like Shakespeare will eventually be forgotten.

A little later in the novel, Mrs. Ramsey faces similar inner conflicts. As she sits at the head of the table during a dinner party she is hosting, she contemplates her life and what she has done with it. As she serves her guests, she is suddenly aware of the imperfections in her household. She notices the lack of beauty and the lack of communication among her guests. Mrs. Ramsey holds herself responsible for fixing these problems. Mrs. Ramsey’s thoughts are completely occupied by her aggravation of the raw lack of emotion and beauty surrounding her. Just as Mr. Ramsey felt he was stuck at R, Mrs. Ramsey was frozen in her displeasure. She saw the problems that she faced