As the central character in Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay plays an extremely important role. The author successfully created the image of the light of Mrs. Ramsay’s lighthouse through delicate brushstrokes. Her kindness and fraternity are the nectar that nurtures all things; her thoughtfulness and tolerance shine like a torch. She is a spiritual harbor that promotes communication and exchanges between people. Therefore, it is necessary to further understand the novel from the discussion of Mrs. Ramsay’s image.
To the Lighthouse is a representative work of Woolf, a famous British modernist writer, published in 1927. The novel mainly consists of three parts. The first, The Window, tells of a September afternoon and evening when the Ramsays, their eight children, and some guests were on vacation at their beach house. The story begins with Mrs. Ramsay telling James that if the weather is fine tomorrow, they will take a boat to the lighthouse. Mr Ramsay’s insistence that it would not be sunny the next day to go to the lighthouse made James extremely unhappy. And Lily, through the window, painted the mother and son, but she couldn’t capture the scene in front of her and painted the harmonious picture in front of her. Mrs. Ramsay offered Mr. Tusley comfort and encouragement. To restore his self-confidence to his heart full of inferiority complex. Madam expects Paul to propose to Minta smoothly, and hopes that Lily and Mr. Banks will marry. At dusk, as the dinner time came, everyone was present, but everyone was full of complaints, unease, and hostility. In order to break the deadlock between people, Mrs. Ramsay listened to their conversations, took care of everyone’s emotions, and brought the dinner to a successful conclusion. The second “The Passing of Time” describes the changes of the decade. In the past ten years, Woolf has used the image of the slow and long night to express the passage of time, the impermanence of human affairs and the fragility of life. Mrs Ramsay died, her eldest daughter Prue died in childbirth, and Andrew died on the French battlefields of World War I. The beach house was so deserted, the garden was overgrown and devastated. Ten years later, Mr. Ramsay returns with his children and guests, and everything has changed. The third book, The Lighthouse, describes what happened from early morning to noon. It was because of his nostalgia and attachment to Mrs Ramsay that Mr Ramsay took James and Cam to the lighthouse. During the voyage to the lighthouse, James and Cam’s feelings for their father change subtly. Ten years ago, Mr. Ramsay dashed James’ wish to go to the lighthouse; ten years later, he led the children to the lighthouse, finally fulfilling Mrs. Ramsay’s long-cherished wish. When Mr. Ramsay ascended the lighthouse, Lily finally completed her unfinished painting, which had been delayed for ten years, through constant memories and longing for Mrs. Ramsay. The voyage and the painting come to an end, and the novel ends here.
Once published, the novel attracted the attention of critics. Scholars at home and abroad mainly discuss his novels from the stream of consciousness technique, claiming that the application of his stream of consciousness technique has reached the level of perfection in this novel. Some scholars have conducted comparative studies on their different novels, among which Goldman made a sharp contrast between Woolf’s two famous works “To the Lighthouse” and “The Wave” [1]. Some scholars interpret the novel with the characteristics of painting. Zhang Zhongzai analyzes the novel from the associations and images that the text symbols in the beauty of the novel’s space induce in the readers’ minds, like the colors, light, shadow, and shape in a painting [2]. The theme research is also reflected in the novel, in which Shen Fuying’s “Comment on the Spiritual Struggle of the Characters in “To the Lighthouse”, by analyzing the spiritual journey of the main characters, points out the hope and way to get out of nothingness – reason, love and art [3]. However, few scholars have discussed the image of Mrs. Ramsay in detail, mostly only in general terms. This article intends to give a profound explanation from Mrs. Ramsay’s image of kindness, fraternity, consideration and tolerance, and understand that Mrs. Ramsay is like a beacon of communication and information exchange, promoting understanding between people and eliminating people’s barriers . Therefore, Mrs. Ramsay, as the core character of the novel, is necessary to further understand the novel by discussing her image.
1 Kind, fraternity
Woolf once wrote in his diary: “This work will be quite short; the whole character of the father will be written; and the character of the mother; and the St. Ives; and childhood. ; and everything I usually write in my books—life and death, etc. [4] 75” Woolf’s deftly successful portrayal of Mrs. Ramsay based on her mother is undeniably a success. Mrs Ramsay was a gentle, kind and charitable person. She always treats James tenderly, and doesn’t want to lose her temper with him. She is willing to sit with her son in her arms. “With a baby in her arms, she is the happiest.”[5]62 While comforting James, Mrs. She kept knitting the socks in her hands, which she prepared for the young son of the tower watcher. The lady is kind, often visiting the poor and needy, and helping others “visit a poor widow or a woman struggling to survive.”[5]9” The lady’s love is selfless and unreservedly given to everyone around her. A person’s need for love never asks for anything in return. The light of Mrs. fraternity leads people out of the darkness and weaves a warm and beautiful picture of life.
When her husband was unconfident, disappointed, and lonely, Mrs. Ramsay always cared for him and rescued him from the abyss of loneliness. Even though she was exhausted from caring for James, Madame didn’t feel the slightest bit of tiredness, but “was sending a nectar of energy into the air, a spray of water; she looked alive and full of energy, as if there was something in her. All energy is being melted into power, burning and glowing, and the unfortunate male lacking vitality, plunges into this luscious and fertile spring and mist of life, like a bird’s beak, sucking desperately.[ 5] 223” Mr. Ramsay’s sympathy, understanding, and encouragement from his wife kept him alive and well. The kindness and fraternity of the lady are the nectar that nurtures all things, and the comfort he gives to her husband has achieved a harmonious resonance. It can be seen that Mr. Ramsay’s achievements in the field of philosophy are inseparable from his wife’s love. Moreover, the lady likes to be an old man under the moon, and believes that marriage is a spiritual harbor and a hope for the future, so the lady is determined to promote Paul and Mintai’s marriage, and thinks it is a meaningful thing, “she felt that the kind of Emotional communication with others out of sincerity seems to make the walls separating people’s hearts very thin. In fact, everything has merged into the same stream. This table, chair, and map belong to her and theirs. Who is it? It doesn’t matter, when she dies, Paul and Mintay will live on.[5] 321” With his fraternal heart, Mrs. protects everyone around her and the poor women and places them in her own Under the light, protect and lead them to the other side of happiness. Mrs. Ramsay, the mother of fraternity created by Woolf, is one of the most colorful examples. She has an instinct of love, and her love fills the heart with warmth, harmony, and order against the darkness and chaos in front of her.
2 Be considerate and inclusive
Mrs. Ramsay’s caring thoughtfulness drew all the people around her like the light of a torch that warmed people. Tasley told James that he was standing by the window with his husband that the lighthouse would not be available tomorrow. Mrs Ramsay wanted them both to leave her and James alone. This made the children particularly hate Mr. Tasley, thinking that he was a very miserable and indifferent person who only messed up, so no one liked him. Madam thinks that conflicts, disagreements and disagreements will only deepen the estrangement between people, so he noticed that when Mr. Tasley was depressed because he seemed out of place with people, Madam thoughtfully asked him if he would like to go out with her. walk. So the two entered the city, and on the way, the wife recounted what happened to Mr. Carmichael, which made Mr. Tasley feel very relieved and told his wife all the past events in his heart. He felt that Madame was “the most beautiful person he had ever seen”. Woolf uses the changes of Mr. Tasley’s subjective feelings to illustrate Mrs. Ramsay’s character and mental activities, making Mrs. Ramsay’s characters vivid on the paper and vividly in his mind.
As dinner time came, the guests all came to the table. At the beginning, the conversation between Mr. Tasley and Lily was not friendly. He was an extremely inferior and good-looking person, and he was also the object of ridicule by the children. However, after Mrs Ramsay’s adjustment, Lily was kind to him, and Mr Tusley became less egoistic. On the other hand, when Mr. Banks rushed to blame himself for wasting time reading books for coming to the dinner party, Mrs. Banks turned around to comfort him in a timely manner, which relieved his annoyed emotions. With her keen intuition and considerate and tolerant mind, Madam brilliantly broke the deadlock between people and took care of everyone’s emotions, allowing everyone to let go of their resentments and concerns and openly talk to each other. And when her husband’s bad temper was about to erupt, the wife decisively ordered the children to light the candles on the table to divert everyone’s attention. “At first the candle light bent and swayed, and then it radiated a straight and bright light, shining brightly. The whole table and a plate of pale yellow and lavender fruits in the center of the table were lit up. [5] Madam 303’s thoughtfulness and tolerance resolved the embarrassment of the dinner party once again, and everyone was united by her love. At this time, their hearts are full of “blooming and dancing with the bees” roses. The mood of everyone around the table has changed, and everyone no longer feels lonely, helpless and frowning, but a harmonious whole. Under the warm candlelight, the dinner ended in a warm and beautiful atmosphere. “She has finally created an island of spiritual beauty beyond the currents of fluid and changing everyday life, making dinner party friends and family feel that they are at least temporarily in a sheltered and stable world.[6]139”
As the years passed, Mrs Ramsay passed away in London. The promised trip to the lighthouse has not been completed, and people are in extreme grief for the fact that life is short and fragile. Ten years later, however, Mr Ramsay’s return to the beach house with his children and guests, old and new, and Lily’s late-night arrival were all set for the next day’s trip to the lighthouse. Mr. Ramsay takes Cam and James to the lighthouse, fulfilling the promise he made with his wife ten years ago. When the three arrived at the lighthouse, James was overjoyed to finally see the lighthouse he had dreamed of as a child. Through Mr. Ramsay’s journey with the children in pursuit of Mrs. Ramsay’s maternal light, the conflict between Mr. Ramsay and the children is resolved. On the shore, Lily set up her easel, and after a long period of accumulation and insight, she finally completed the drawing of Mrs. Ramsay’s mother and child. The image of Mrs. Ramsay appeared before her, lingering, “Oh, Mrs. Ramsay! She cried silently in her heart, to the borrowed shadow sitting by the little window, to the abstraction she had become. The ghost of the ghost, the woman in grey called, seemed to rebuke her for leaving quietly, and hoped that she would return. [5] 392” Lily grew up through the spiritual understanding of Mrs. Ramsay and realized her own artistic ideal. Mrs Ramsay has been like a beacon of light, comforting and guiding her family. The lady did not leave and gathered the people together to complete the voyage of the lighthouse. Missing brings back wonderful memories, pursuit overcomes the passage of time, and Mrs. is still alive even though she is dead.
3 Summary
As noted above , Woolf portrays Mrs. Ramsay as a kind, loving and considerate, tolerant character with her “moment” of her being a timeless writing style. The image of Mrs. is like the light of a beacon condensed into an eternal moment that will never disappear, bringing warmth to those around her, and spreading love and light to those around them. She loves her husband, children, friends and the poor, and her love is sincere. Madam tirelessly and painstakingly cared for everyone at the dinner party, adjusted the contradictions between them, and eliminated the estrangement between them, so that everyone could truly feel the fusion of hearts and souls between people, and saw the hope of the beacon of life. The light will never be extinguished, “…despite the severe test of time and death, the light of her spirit will eventually be extinguished and will remain in people’s memory. [6] 138” Madame’s spirit led people to finally complete the lighthouse. travel, creating a world full of love and compassion.
