To the Lighthouse

Unmarried and 34 years old at the start of the novel, Lily Briscoe is a painter. Back in London, she looks after her father. Like William Bankes, Lily has rooms in the village near the Ramsay house on the Isle of Skye. Together with Bankes, she walks to and from the Ramsay house. Lily speaks very little throughout the novel, but her internal life is rich and complex, and descriptions of her visions, imaginary and literal, take up significance space. Lily’s artistic process is full of imagined colors and shapes that represent the world before her eyes, and she is committed primarily to her art, deciding early in the novel never to marry. According to Woolf, Lily’s psychological relationship with the creative process of painting represents Woolf’s understanding of her own writing practices.

Lily’s relationships with the other characters in the novel are characterized by deep emotion. Her emotions and reactions enable the reader to understand the other characters in detail. Lily feels an appreciative attachment to William Bankes and claims to love him, but her awe and love towards Mrs. Ramsay is much more passionate than her admiration of Bankes, who seems to be more like a family member to Lily. She is attracted to Paul Rayley and his good looks, but his cruel dismissal of her earnestness teaches her about the harsh side of love. Lily dislikes Charles Tansley, who tempts her to treat him mockingly, but she soon understands him better for his complexity and demonstrates kindness towards him. Finally, Lily’s relationship to Mr. Ramsay undergoes a transformation in Part 3. She refuses to give him the sympathy he demands from her and others, but her refusal appears to draw them closer together. Lily’s final brushstrokes on her painting is the final image of the novel, as she, accompanied by the poet Mr. Carmichael, appears to have satisfied her need to communicate her vision.

Mr. Ramsay, a metaphysical philosopher and father of eight children, is dependent on his wife, though their marriage is not one of intellectual equals. A complex and emotional character, Mr. Ramsay receives pleasure from disappointing others and ridiculing them; in his mind, his words are not always maliciously intended; they are merely observations of reality.

The character of Mr. Ramsay is less detailed than that of his wife, and he is characterized by his needs. At all times, he needs sympathy, reassurance, the time to think abstract thoughts, and the right to live according to his terms, even when social mores demand consideration for the needs of others.

Mr. Ramsay’s children resent him or mock him much of the time. In the moments that they and his wife feel love towards him, he tends to be still, reading a book and free from the intense emotions that typically guide his interactions with other people.

The eldest of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay’s sons, Andrew is sarcastic and intelligent. As an adolescent in Part 1, Andrew explains his father’s work as a metaphysical philosopher to Lily Briscoe in succinct, precise terms, displaying intellectual confidence and intelligence. Mr. Ramsay aspires for Andrew to receive a scholarship so that he may achieve his dream of becoming a mathematician. In Part 2 of the novel, World War I takes Andrew’s life when an exploding shell kills him and a group of soldiers, illustrating the oft-repeated pointlessness of a war that took the lives of young men who once held significant potential.

The eldest of the daughters, Prue Ramsay is a great beauty. When Minta Doyle and Paul Rayley become engaged to be married, she watches Minta glow with pleasure, with a curiosity and envy that foreshadow her own marriage in the future. Prue is proud of her mother, and on the cusp of adulthood, she continues to experience moments of childlike awe in her mother’s presence. Mrs. Ramsay desires a happiness for her daughter that no other daughter can access; she hopes fervently that Tansley does not fall in love with Prue. In Part 2, two brief statements announce to the reader that Prue has married, but she dies shortly after giving birth to a baby who also dies. Her death as a result of childbirth is a poignant and ironic reminder that the best wishes of loved ones, even one’s own mother, matter little when death comes.

One of the Ramsay children, Nancy Ramsay reluctantly accompanies her brother Andrew, Minta Doyle, and Paul Rayley on the ill-fated cliff walk down to the beach where Minta loses her grandmother’s brooch. She is naturally inquisitive and adventurous, questioning Minta’s gestures of affectionate protectiveness while they walk, and exploring the tide pools amongst the rocks on the beach on her own. When Nancy sees Paul and Minta in a romantic embrace, she is horrified and uncomfortable; Nancy punishes Andrew for her discomfort by not sharing her discoveries with him, displaying her immature inability to cope with difficult and confusing emotions.  

Another daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, Rose feels deeply and has an affinity for beautiful things. She enjoys looking at her mother’s jewels and helps her select her jewelry before the dinner party in Part 1. She also arranges the fruit centerpiece that appears on the dinner table. Rose is young, and she reveres her mother. When Mrs. Ramsay notices Rose’s reverence towards her, Mrs. Ramsay feels sad, knowing that Rose’s sensitive emotions will cause Rose great suffering when she gets older. 

One of the Ramsay children, Jasper enjoys shooting at and frightening birds, a hobby that worries his mother. Ironically, Jasper also enjoys helping his sister Rose and his mother select the jewelry she will wear to dinner in Part 1. His mother believes he has the potential to be a gentleman despite his violent attitude towards innocent creatures.

Described as “wild and fierce” (31), Cam is the youngest of the Ramsay daughters. When her nursemaid suggests that she give Bankes a flower in Part 1, Cam throws a tantrum and saddens Bankes. He refers to the little girl as “Cam the Wicked” (32) after the incident. In Part 3, when Cam is 17 years old, she accompanies her father and her brother James on the boat journey to the lighthouse. During the crossing, she experiences complex feelings towards her father, loving him and resenting him in equal measures. The complexity of her emotions reflect that she has matured over the ten years that have passed since Part 1 and that she is capable of adult emotions. 

James Ramsay, who is six years old at the start of Part 1, loves his mother and resents his father. When his father angers him, James soothes himself with murderous thoughts. James’s keen desire to go to the lighthouse at the start of the novel, and his ensuing disappointment when his father dashes his hopes, are the emotions that set the tone of the entire novel. Moreover, James’s competing emotions towards his mother and his father is the conflict that drives the minimalistic plot forward. In Part 3, James is 16 years old. He finally goes to the lighthouse with his sister and his father, and during the journey, he receives one brief compliment from his father regarding his ability to steer the boat. The pleasure he experiences from this compliment cut through his anger and resentment, leaving the reader to wonder if his pledge not to be further tyrannized by his father will hold, as James has inherited his father’s erratic, moody temperament.

Roger, one of the Ramsey sons, has a tendency towards laughter and mockery. He joins his siblings in their mocking of Charles Tansley and their decision to refer to Tansley derisively as “the atheist.” Roger also refuses to come down for dinner on time in Part 1, irritating his mother with his disregard for the family meal; when Roger finally arrives, he and Rose conspire amongst themselves. Mrs. Ramsay notices their giggling and worries that he and Rose are laughing at their father, whose face reveals he is inappropriately angry with Mr. Carmichael for wanting more soup. Roger’s disregard is humorous, emphasizing the absurdity of the individuals around him and the situations in which he finds himself; as a young child, his reactions are guileless, revealing a kind of truth. 

Charles Tansley, one of Mr. Ramsay’s acolytes, has been invited to the house by Mr. Ramsay. Tansley comes from a lower middle-class background, which makes him insecure and irritable. Tansley’s need for reassurance manifests in testy remarks, overreactive responses to intellectual conversation that reminds him of his humble beginnings, and an irritating tendency to parrot Mr. Ramsay. The Ramsay children mock Tansley behind his back, calling him “the atheist,” and all members of the Ramsay family, including Mrs. Ramsay, disapprove of his admiration for Mr. Ramsay. On the walk to town with Mrs. Ramsay, Tansley displays an impressive range of positive emotion, which soon evaporate upon their return home. Lily Briscoe perceives Tansley as deeply uncharming; he tells her that women are unable to paint, and she resents his sexist attitude towards her life’s work. Later in life, Lily by chance observes Tansley delivering an impassioned speech to a small audience. Tansley’s mimicry of Mr. Ramsay and his philosophical ambitions enhance the novel’s treatment of intellectual matters as primarily the domain of men. 

A botanist, widower, and old friend of Mr. Ramsay’s, William Bankes enjoys a close friendship with Lily Briscoe enjoy a close friendship. In Part 1, they both have rooms in the village, so they walk back and forth together. They spend time together at the Ramsay house, and Mrs. Ramsay imagines that they will marry. Bankes laments the change that has taken place in his friendship with Mr. Ramsay; they are somewhat estranged, though Bankes continues to hold Ramsay in high esteem. Bankes is aware of Ramsay’s genius as well as its limitations, which may explain why the two men are no longer as close as they once were. Though Bankes feels devotion towards Mrs. Ramsay, he feels there is a link between Mr. Ramsay’s hectic family life and the barriers between Ramsay and his intellectual pursuits in middle age. Nancy’s rejection of Bankes when she refuses to give him a flower suggests that the children intuit Bankes’s opinions of family life. Bankes and Lily never marry, but in Part 3, Lily thinks of Bankes with love and appreciation. Over the years, they have met and talked about their lives, and Bankes has always treated Lily with deference, displaying an old-fashioned gallantry towards a woman who chooses to defy tradition herself.