TTL: Character Analysis

In To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, the narrators change constantly. The kaleidoscopic narration allows each character to input their thoughts and feelings regarding each event and each character they interact with. Every perspective that is suggested gives insight into the character's qualities and others' opinions about them. Mr. Ramsay is an important character who is much talked about throughout the various narrations of the text. James, Lily and Mrs. Ramsay express their feelings toward Mr. Ramsay in their narrations. As each of these characters have diverse relationships with Mr. Ramsay, their perspectives change; however, their overall conclusion of him as a person have similarities.

James Ramsay is the first to portray his feelings toward his father. Although the narration is given in third person omniscient, the basic relationship between the father and son can be interpreted. It irritates James that his father is always right:  "What he said was true. It was always true. He was incapable of untruth; never tampered with a fact" (4). His father dismisses his hopes of going to the lighthouse the next day which makes James want to "[gash] a hole in his father's breast and [kill] him, there and then" (4). Although this is an extreme thought for a six year old boy, it is only an exaggerated representation of what James feels when his father forces reality onto him. James's anger, however, does not last very long because he is aware of his father's intellectual superiority. His acceptance that his father is always right shows that there is a degree of respect and acknowledgement of Mr. Ramsay's statement.

Lily's feelings toward Mr. Ramsay are conflicting. She expresses admiration and awe because of his superiority; however, she also pities him to a certain extent because he disregards anything that does not make logical sense to him: "Naturally, if one's days were passed in this seeing of angular essences, this reducing of lovely evenings, [...] naturally one could not be judged like an ordinary person" (23). Lily does not understand how he can be so focused only on things relating to his studies and dismiss everything else. While feeling sorry for his ineptitude in the emotional areas of life, she refers to him as one of "the finest minds" (23). She is intrigued with his way of life because she can relate to his noble effort of progressing the alphabet, just as she is trying to progress in society.

Mrs. Ramsay's relationship with Mr. Ramsay is the most complex due to their intense differences in character. Mrs. Ramsay is aware of his superiority just as James and Lily are: "she believed it to be true; that with all his gloom and desperation he was happier, more hopeful on the whole, than she was. Less exposed to human worries [...] He had always his work to fall back on" (59). Mrs. Ramsay is constantly preoccupied with the needs of others and tending to everyone. She notices that Mr. Ramsay appears to be happier with his life due to his careless attitude towards anything that does not effect him. She pities him but understand him.