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Characteristics of Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay in 'To the Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf

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Virginia Woolf, the pioneer of the Stream of Consciousness technique has written many famous literary works, including Mrs. Dalloway, To the lighthouse, and so on. In 'To the Lighthouse' the play revolves around Ramsay's family and the Lighthouse. Mr. Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay, and Lily Briscoe play a major role. Let's discuss them in detail. It is a highly symbolic novel.

Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay are husband and wife. They have eight children. Both characters are opposite to each other ideologically as well as psychologically. They are two contrasted figures, represent two different approaches to life, the emotional approach, and the intellectual approach. Mr. Ramsay has an intellectual approach, while on the other hand, Mrs. Ramsay's approach is emotional. Mr. Ramsay is eleven years older than his wife. He is a teacher of Philosophy. He is sighted. He is a ruthless realist. He is a real person and an egotist. 

On the contrary, Mrs. Ramsay is a beautiful woman and a loving wife. She shows kindness and tolerance to her guests even if they do not appreciate her politeness. The image of Queen Victoria to Mrs. Ramsay is recurrent and reflects the ideal domestic angel of the Victorian age. Mrs. Ramsay plays this role of the ideal domestic female very well, especially as a hostess during a dinner party. She is an active matchmaker and can create moments of unity that remain intact in the memory like a work of art. But she is a little short-sighted and has a habit of exaggerating things. There is an essential difference between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsay identifies himself with the land and thinks the sea is a destroyer whereas Mrs. Ramsay believes that life is the sea and not the land. 

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Similarly, Mr. Ramsay is afraid that he will be forgotten and time will destroy his work; whereas Mrs. Ramsay has not drawn a line around her individuality therefore, does not fear time. "To the lighthouse" is the conflict between two kinds of truth, for Mr. Ramsay truth is factual truth; for Mrs. Ramsay truth is the movement toward truth, since the struggle for truth is the truth itself. However, the novel verifies Mrs. Ramsay's truth. On the other hand, Mrs. Ramsay knows by intuition rather than by analysis. 

Therefore, she can know reality which consists of qualitative, rather than quantitative diversity, time instead of space. The first part of the novel “The Window" is a statement of that truth. The first part of the novel seems to be complete in itself. It begins with the remarks of Mrs. Ramsay; they will go if it is fine tomorrow when their younger son insists to go to the lighthouse. On the other hand, Mr. Ramsay states that it will not be fine tomorrow but Mrs. Ramsay does not accept it as truth, because it hurts James. Therefore, she tells that she expects it will be fine. But in the last, she agrees with her husband that it will rain tomorrow.

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Mrs. Ramsay is an imaginative woman because she thinks just about her Children. When her youngest son, James wishes to go to the lighthouse, his mother consoles him by saying that they will go there tomorrow. On the other hand, he finds Mr. Ramsay as a rude person when he says to James by saying that due to bad weather they will not go there. Mrs. Ramsay takes care of her children very much and wants to fulfill their wishes. Mr. Ramsay loves her wife very much and in the mid of the novel he says that he loves her but she does not reply but answers him by gestures. Mrs. Ramsay is an active matchmaker. Her mania for matchmaking leans to virtue's side. This reveals another aspect of her essentially feminine character.

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Out of her great sympathy for all she is keenly interested in establishing peace and harmony among people. The most outstanding trait of Mrs. Ramsay's character is her compassion for the poor and the unfortunate, the great concern and consideration for the children, and infinite sympathy for the unhappy and neglected souls. She is a very kind lady and tries to make unity among family members. On the other side, Mr. Ramsay is rude at the beginning of the novel but everyone finds him a normal and loving person at the end of the novel.

The article is written by MSM YAQOOB, the CEO and Founder of this platform.

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