Name:
Minkal Italiya
M.A
English semester: 3
Roll
no: 19
Batch:
2018-20
Enrollment
No: 2069108420190020
Submitted
to: Smt. S. B Gardi, Department of English, MKBU
Paper
no: 10 The American Literature
Topic
: “Mrs.Ramsay is
the centre that holds the novel together.”
Explain this.
“Mrs.Ramsay is the centre that holds the novel
together.” Explain this.
Ø
Introduction
Virginia
Woolf is one of the most well known figure of the 20th century who
advanced the frontiers of the English novel by adopting a revolutionary
technique for the expression of her vision of life and human nature. In her
work she used the ‘stream of consciousness’ techniques in order to capture the
closeness of character’s mind and express exactly the impact of life on their
personality. Among of her novels such as “The Voyage Out”, ‘Night and Day”,
“Jacob’s Room” and “Mrs.Dalloway”, “To The Lighthouse” discloses her increased
maturity level and command over this technique.“To The Lighthouse” is
considered to be Virginia Woolf’s greatest fictional work as it manifests
various fictional characters with varying degree of success to establish
relationships with people around them.
Virginia
Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse” is a study of satisfactory human relationships
between man and universe, husband and wife, children and mother and lover and
beloved.
Beyond all
these elements, the important matter is that who is the central character of
novel? Mrs.Ramsay or Lily Briscoe? Though many discourses are going on, what I
believe is that Mrs.Ramsay is the centre that holds the novel together.
Her Physical
appearance
Mrs.Ramsay a
middle aged woman who is the wife of Mr.Ramsay and a mother of eight children.
In the novel there are frequent reference to her beauty. Though she is aged,
she is a woman of great physical charms.
“the happier Helen of our times”
Such an great
complements are frequently paid to her in novel which itself speaks about the
beauty of Mrs.Ramsay. She is largely admired by all her gusests as well as also
women are mesmerized with his elegant
beauty. She governs the entire plot of
the novel and exercises her influences on everybody, but a certain thing which
we have to keep in mind is that its not possible only because of her physical
attractiveness rather she has having positive trustful attitudes towards
everyone which compels other to attract towards her. She is so dominating
character because she is also very considerate, polite, cultured, humane and
kind-hearted.
A Great
Creator of Harmony/ Match-maker
Mrs.Ramsay
gets an undefineble pleasure in bringing people together. It is an important
aspect of her pleasant character which revealed to great advantage during the
dinner party which forms the climax to the very first part of the novel. As in the novel she was in search of partner
for Lily Briscoe. By a glance she urges Lily to be obliging to Translay. Thus
she plays a vital role in bringing out Tansley from his isolated world.
Similarly, by her looks and by little nameless acts of courtesy, she pacifies Mr.Ramsay
and draws both William bankes and carmichael out of their respective shells.
She is the source of sympathy for her husband, throught the novel we can see
that how Mr.Ramsay relies upon her for sympathy. Besides a good wife, she is
best mother also who is constantly loved and admired by her children. She is
proven as kindly mother who can tactfully sooth and comfort her children, even
though sometimes she has to go against hard facts and sacrifice truth. She also
wins James heart by convincing him that they
would have go to see the lighthouse the next day, while Mr.Ramsay said
that it won’t be fine the next morning and the expedition would not be
possible. Her sympathetic and kind nature enables her to understand the various
psychology of various mind which allows her to bring them together. Truly she
has been called a uniting force both structurally and psychologically.
As a match
maker
She seems as
match maker but the main aspect behind it is her keen interest of establishing
harmony with others. In the novel there are frequent reference which
highlighted her zest for match making. She is the one who brings Paul and Minta
together. Though the marriage is unsuccessful, she is the responsible factor
behind it. She would have also liked to see Lily Briscoe and Charles Tansley or
Lily Briscoe and William Bankes as united in marriage bonds and she also would
have made efforts for it as well.
Her Kind and
Considerate Nature
Mrs.Ramsay is
too full of the milk of human kindness. She tends to help the needy and poor
people with whole heartedly and she used to go to the town and distributes
clothes and foods among those needy and poor people; it gives her a great
pleasure. When the Lighthouse keeper’s son is sick, she knits a brown-stocking
for him and also sends foods and delicacies to him. She does her best to please
Carmichael as he is a poor and also offers to bring a tobacco or anything which
would have been needed for him whenever she goes to the town.
Her Sense of Humour
Because of
his sense of humour she stays always happy in problematic situation. It enable
her to please both her children by covering the boar’s head with her shawl.
Essentially feminine
Mrs.Ramsay is
essentially feminine character, intentionally she was portrayed as feminine
weakness. For instance her habit of exaggerating which irritates her husband. She is muddle-headed and can’t remember facts
or distinguish between one fact and another. Critics like James Hafley also
stated that,
Mrs.Ramsay is
merely a symbol, that she has not been individualised, and that is why the
novelist has not given her a first name. However he agrees on the point that
she is a human being of great appeal, one who can create moments of unity which
remain intact in the memory, “affecting one almost like a work of art.”
Structural and Psychological centre
Mrs.Ramsay is
the structural and Psychological centre and the main source of the novel. She
is the central character who unites the everyone. It is only she who brings all
the people together under a same roof. Without her its not possible from Lily
Briscoe to Charles Tansley to live under the same roof as well as she is the
one who helps Charles Stanley to come out from his isolation. She is the only
one who brings all scattered stone together and builds out a beautiful building
out of it. This symphatic role can be cleared on at dinner party where everyone
seems as self centred it is not a cup of tea to communicate with them and to
deal with them, but Mrs.Ramsay is able to do that. Communication is one of the
most difficult jobs in life, over which Mr.Ramsay has mastery. The problem at
the Ramsay household is particularly difficult, because the people assembled
there are, many of them self-centred and self-willed and also some of them
eccentric. It is nothing less than sort
of miracle that Mrs.Ramsay is able to weave them into cohesive whole. Along
with it Mrs.Ramsay is a source of sympathy and understanding for her husband
Mr.Ramsay, who is entirely depends upon her as well. She is one of very few
people who understand his problem. Mr.Ramsay is a kind of person who constantly
needs sympathy and encouragement, this need is only reassured by Mrs.Ramsay as
he always encourages him and provides him a self confidence which he badly
needs.
A Perfect Hostess
In a real
sense Mrs.Ramsay is a perfect house wife who manages to feed and look after so
many people in their meagre income. Her own family was very large while on the
other side Mr.Ramsay did not earn that much of money out of his books. But
Mrs.Ramsay- a shrewd house holder and patient housewife was able to make her
little go long way. Even with this shortage of income she was able to look
after their guests very well as well as with their own satisfaction. She has ill will against none, and it was the
only reason why she was liked very much by everyone. Because of his magnetic
presence she was able to make Charles Tansley as comfortable as possible. In
ever manner she was proved herself as a perfect hostess.
Dominance the novel, Even After Death
Though
Mrs.Ramsay dies after the first part, her influence is felt throughout. Even
after her death also she continue to influence the life of each and every
person. Mr.Ramsay remembers her and undertakes the journey to the lighthouse in
order to fulfil one of her most cherished wishes. Lily Briscoe also remembers
her, has vision of her sitting at the window, just as she used to do in life,
and it is this vision which enables her to complete her picture at that very
moment when Mr.Ramsay lands at the lighthouse. In the ending part of the novel she is
presented through Lily Briscoe’s consciousness Even after the death of Mrs.
Ramsay, Lily Briscoe was able to find the answer of her old unanswerable
question:
What is the meaning of life?
The great revelation perhaps never did come.
Conclusion:
Mrs.Ramsay left a great
impact on our mind. Whether it still remains a question who centre the novel
Mrs.Ramsay or Lily Briscoe? But what I believe is that Mrs.Ramsay will always
remain at the centre of the novel. Though she is mostly driven by emotions and
feelings, the first part is dominated by herself as well as the second is
dominated by her spirit. As James Hafley stated that,
Mrs.Ramsay
arises from death and lives again.
Works Cited
Helpme. The Character of Mrs. Ramsay in To The
Lighthouse Essay. <https://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=9041>.
SparkNotes. TO The
Lighthouse characters.
<https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lighthouse/character/mrs-ramsay/>.
Tilak, Dr.Raghukul. To
The Loghthouse (a critical study). New Delhi : Rama Brothers, 1993.
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