American Literature

Mrs. Ramsays character has been defined as the epicentre of the novel To the Lighthouse because it holds everything and everyone elses character together. She is the third stroke of the light house long and deep enduring but not invasive, guiding and benevolent. There is an immediacy and intensity about her. There are unique spiritual, emotional, and social dimensions to her character, which give her a memorable, well-rounded and fascinating quality. Through the use of the stream of consciousness method, Mrs. Ramsays character has been defined in details that are graphic, accurate and vivid, making her stand out among other characters. By displaying the numerous sides to her personality, Woolf attempts to approach Mrs. Ramsay from many sides, as closely as human possibilities of perception and expression can succeed in doing (Panken 149).

Through the character of Mrs. Ramsay, Woolf has successfully rendered the essential quality of the female experience, modes of thoughts and comprehensions, and how they are different from the male version. Thus, Mrs. Ramsay is representative of a distinct type of intellect, based on a different form of truth one that is far more enduring and comforting than the factual and scientific form of truth that Mr. Ramsay represents. She represents the knowledge of the heart, it was not knowledge but unity that she desired, not inscriptions on tablets, nothing that could be written in any language known to men, but intimacy itself (79). She is accused of ignoring factual knowledge by her husband when she tells James, her son, that perhaps the weather would be better the next day and they could go to the lighthouse after all. Unlike her Mr. Ramsay, she believes in the healing power of truth, hope, faith, promise, and comfort for the human spirit, which gets vexed and exhausted easily. She understands that human beings dont need truth to live but only to function in life. As a mother, she feels that a child doesnt need to be fed cold and calculated facts all the time, heshe needs nurturing, encouragement, and imagination. She feels that childhood is special and magical, and children should remain children as long as they can. However, this doesnt make her impractical or an escapist, because she has also been described as a bird in her intuition and like an arrow in her directness of hitting upon the facts. Her simplicity fathomed what clever people falsified (46), this shows that her unpretentious nature made others trust her easily and confide in her.

In the backdrop of a depressing war, she also provides a welcoming home to her guests and takes care of their needs. Be it the often distant Carmichael or the socially awkward and bitter Tansley, she attempts to bring out the best in them and makes their stay in her home as comfortable as possible. She offers to buy tobacco for Carmichael without hurting his dignity, as she is mindful of his modest means. In the same charitable and considerate vein, she is seen knitting a brown stocking for the ill son of the lighthouses keeper and sending him food and delicacies. She also chides her jealous children to be mindful of the ill kids plight. The dinner scene is crucial part in the novel, which displays her strength and art of bringing diverse elements together. The metaphor used to describe her mood is the ebb and flow of water. When she is tense and despondent at the prospect of the party not going well, the guests gathered around her table seem isolated and lifeless. She feels the artists burden and realizes that the whole of the effort of merging and flowing and creating rested on her (126). The cohesion of her vision and mood mends the disjointed fragments of these personalities together in one unified whole. Thus, as soon as her mood improves, order, peace, and harmony pervade through the dinner party. She believes in the need of creating cherished moments, as she realizes that nothing is durable in this world besides the memory one leaves behind. It is for this very reason her memory remains alive in the minds of those around her even when she is no more. Lily feels that Mrs. Ramsay died because she kept giving, giving and giving (223). Yet Mrs. Ramsay has an enduring quality, one that lives on despite her physical absence. She is a figure of solace and comfort not only for her children but also for her husband, as she provides them relief against their daily disappointments and irritations like a shady tree.

James, her son, aptlyfelt her rise in a rosey-flowered fruit tree laid with leaves and dancing with boughs (34).
Mrs. Ramsay regards gender roles in a fairly traditional mindset. Yet she sees womens vulnerability as their real strength. She has a comforting quality about her and believes that women are naturally superior to men due to their god-gifted quality of nurturing and soothing. She thinks that men should be taken within the circle of life, warmed and soothed.they must be furnished, they must be filled with life (59). She feels that the scope of mens duties related to statesmanship and money mangement leave them to be mentally exhausted and incapable of appreciating the tender and beautiful things in life hence, their minds and spirits should be replenished by womanly care. In fact, she pitied man, as she thought that they lacked something thus, she wants the whole of the whole of the other sex under her protection (129). Moreover, there is love between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, even though their natures differ. She reveres her husband deeply she did not like, even for a second, to feel finer than her husband (61). Thus, they are the natural complement of each other, equal parts of a complete whole. Mr. Ramsey constantly seeks her love and reassurance. Thus, after her death, he feels lost and famished. Due to her own experience of domestic bliss, she feels that all must marry (77) and have children she also considers this notion to be a principle of life too.

Mrs. Ramsay draws strength from the presence of God. The fact that the universe that God has created often appears cruel, unjust, and turbulent doesnt deter her from believing also in Gods grace and mercy. In her moment of anguish, the lighthouse gives her faith and assurance and there, sure enough, coming regularly across the waves first two quick strokes and then one long steady stroke (94). She seeks to identify her being with the third stroke, as it embodies the values she cherishes such as truth and beauty, both of which are have an enduring quality. There have been lots of symbols used to describe Mrs. Ramsays character, such as light, water, bird, tree, etc. This makes the critics wonder if she is a human being or a symbol herself. However, the different facets of her characters, along with her vulnerabilities and moods, make her seem very human and remind us what it means to be human an exalted and supreme being.

Conclusively, Woolf has created memorable female characters such as, Mrs. Ramsay, Lily Briscoe, Mrs. Dalloway, Sally Seton, and Doris Kilman. Mrs. Ramsay has a serene and maternal quality that makes her stands out from the rest. She is termed as the happier Helen of our times (43) not because of her outer beauty but inner one.