Thinking Activity on The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf....

• Thinking Activity on The light house by Virginia Woolf

• Hello Readers,

This Blog is a part of my Classroom activity on Virginia Woolf's "To The Light House" given by professor in which our task is to think and interpret the following points. To see teacher's blog click here

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 stream of consciousness technique which helps Woolf to put in effective manner what she experienced in abstraction.)

The narrative technique which Virginia Woolf has chosen is the best way to say what she wanted to say. She don’t want anything which make people cry or laugh, she wants to tell something which make people think, think about their behavior, their relationships. Every human being has complexity of thoughts which can not be seen from outer appearance, to see that conflict one has to dive deep in to the mind of human being and stream of consciousness technique is the technique which can help best to Virginia. By using this technique she very beautifully shows the inner complexity of feelings and memory towards the people with whom we lived our life, and how our emotions and impressions are continuously shifts.
Here in this story, Virginia Woolf portrays the aristocratic society which shows that how women were struggling & through that Virginia wants to pop up that women's conditions.
and we can understand that in lower class people treat women very badly but in upper class also …. that they also treat women very badly by some mentally doing harassment.

2)o 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 am agree that the novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay. Virginia Woolf was rebel during her age. Then even if she is putting a domestic character like Mrs. Ramsay we can say that it is for criticizing the stereotypes of woman and for that she is putting a total opposite personality Lily. By showing Mrs. Ramsay as an idea woman Woolf tries to criticize the way society see the role of woman. In this novel Mrs. Ramsay is a way through which whole family converse with each other but we also can see that till she is alive no relations of family was healthy but after her death all problems have seems to resolve. This way it is critique of Mrs. Ramsay.
On the other hand it is also tribute to Mrs. Ramsay, because after her also she has lived in the memory of everyone. At the end also she is the subject of Lily’s painting and when she completes her painting and she got her vision which is Mrs. Ramsay. At the end whole Ramsay family goes to the lighthouse because it was the wish of Mrs. Ramsay and family wants to fulfill it. So these ways the novel is also tribute to Mrs. Ramsay.
The shloka which is given here can be translated as "Who works as maid, advice as minister, feeds like mother, pleases in bed like heavenly beauty Rambha, beautiful as goddess Lakshmi, forgive as earth, these six virtues who has is a ideal wife." Though the link which is given here will give a different idea about looking towards the shloka but what both have same is it needs to erase one’s self from the root, one needs to be submissive, which Mrs. Ramsay posses. We can see in novel that she often works too much that she fell unconscious, she advise Mr. Ramsay to go and give lectures on philosophy, she cooks what everyone wants to eat and in large quantity, she also please Mr. Ramsay in bed, she is beautiful and she forgive all misbehave which done to her. So yes she has every quality of ideal wife as per Indian myth but what she don't have is her own self.