Symbolism in Virginia Woolf's 'To The Lighthouse'

Symbolism in Virginia Woolf’sTo The Lighthouse

Compiled by

Dilip BaradM.K. Bhavnagar University

[email protected]

What is Symbolism?• In the broadest sense a symbol is anything which signifies

something; in this sense all words are symbols.• In discussing literature, however, the term "symbol" is

applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in its turn signifies something, or has a range of reference, beyond itself. Some symbols are "conventional" or "public": thus "the Cross,” "the Red, White, and Blue," and "the Good Shepherd" are terms that refer to symbolic objects of which the further significance is determinate within a particular culture. (M.H.Abram ‘A Glossary of Literary Terms)

What is Symbolism?• Poets, like all of us, use such conventional symbols; many

poets, however, also use "private" or "personal symbols." • Often they do so by exploiting widely shared associations

between an object or event or action and a particular concept; for example, the general association of a peacock with pride and of an eagle with heroic endeavor, or the rising sun with birth and the setting sun with death, or climbing with effort or progress and descent with surrender or failure.

• Some poets, however, repeatedly use symbols whose significance they largely generate themselves, and these pose a more difficult problem in interpretation. (M.H.Abram ‘A Glossary of Literary Terms)

What is Symbolism?• . . . the artistic method of revealing ideas or truths

through the use of symbols• Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

• Many novels have two layers of meaning. The first is in the literal plot, the second in a symbolic layer in which images and objects represent abstract ideas and feelings. Using symbols allows authors to express themselves indirectly on delicate or controversial matters.

• Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Modernist Literature and Symbolism

• The Modern Period, in the decades after World War I, was a notable era of symbolism in literature.

• Many of the major writers of the period exploit symbols which are in part drawn from religious and esoteric traditions and in part invented.

• Some of the works of the age are symbolist in their settings, their agents, and their actions, as well as in the objects they refer to.

• Instances of a persistently symbolic procedure occur in lyrics (Yeats' "Byzantium" poems, Dylan Thomas' series of sonnets Altarwise by Owl-light), in longer poems (Hart Crane's The Bridge, T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Wallace Stevens' "The Comedian as the Letter C"), and in novels (James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fur

Symbolism in ‘To The Lighthouse’• Lighthouse: Titular

Significance• Lily’s Painting• Ramsay’s Summer House• The Sea, the Storms, the

rock, reefs and shallow water• The Boar’s Skull• Rose’s arrangement of the

grapes and pears

LighthouseIt stands alone and tall in both light and darkness and it, along with its beacon, is a focal point which Symbolizes strength, guidance and safe harbor; it is Spiritual hermit guiding all those who are traveling by sea.

Mrs. Caroline Ramsay stands as guiding star and harbours emotional safety to other family/guest members visiting Summer House. She is the spiritual bridge between other humans in the novel.

Metaphorically, as the element of Water represents the emotions,the Lighthouse is a Symbol for the Spiritual Strength and EmotionalGuidance which is available to us during the times we feel we arebeing helplessly tossed around in a sea of inner turmoil.

Mrs. Ramsay stands strong like the lighthouse amidst emotionally shattered beings; viz., Michael Ramsay, James, Lily, Carmichael, etc.

Lily Briscoe’s Painting

• Symbolizes woman’s struggle in patriarchal society.• Against gender convention: “Women can’t paint or

write”.• Desire to express (repressed) critique of Mrs.

Ramsay’s essence (as an ideal wife and mother) in the painting.

• her vision depends on balance and synthesis: how to bring together disparate things in harmony; this mirrors Woolf’s writing creed – “ the novel is a both a critique and a tribute to the enduring power of Mrs. Ramsay.

Ramsay’s Summer House

• Symbolizes collective consciousness of . . .• The physical condition of the house represents

psychological condition of the characters.• During her dinner party, Mrs. Ramsay sees her house

display her own inner notions of shabbiness and her inability to preserve beauty.

• In the “Time Passes” section, the ravages of war and destruction and the passage of time are reflected in the condition of the house rather than in the emotional development or observable aging of the characters.

• Even during the ‘expedition’, Mr. Ramsay, James and Cam gazes house from the boat rowing towards the lighthouse.

The Sea, the Storms, the rock, reefs and shallow water

• Storms consist of both wind (air) and rain (water). And as air is the elementrepresenting the mind, and water is the element representing

the emotions, storms symbolize agitated thoughts and emotions. Metaphorically, storms are our Inner Demons which torment both our mind and our Subconscious.

* The rocks, reefs and shallow waters symbolize the finaldangers and miseries which seem to accompany the end of any turbulent voyage. Just as the saying, "its always darkest before the dawn", things always seem the most dangerous and hopeless as we reach the end of an emotional turmoil. This is the point when we feel like tossing up our hands and giving up.

The Boar’s Skull

• The presence of the skull acts as a disturbing reminder that death is always at hand, even (or perhaps especially) during life’s most blissful moments. It reminds of grave digging scene from ‘Hamlet’.

• Symbolizes transient nature of art and life.• Mrs. Ramsay’s covering it with her shawl represents her desire to

preserve life, or that of Mr. Ramsay & Lily to be immortal through work/art.

• The presence of the skull acts as a disturbing reminder that death is always at hand, even (or perhaps especially) during life’s most blissful moments.

• It symbolically presents Mrs. Ramsay’s understanding nature and enduring power to suffer for others – as she wraps it with her shawl

Rose’s arrangement of the grapes and pears

• Rose arranges a fruit basket for her mother’s dinner party that serves to draw the partygoers out of their private suffering and unite them.

• Although Augustus Carmichael and Mrs. Ramsay appreciate the arrangement differently—he rips a bloom from it; she refuses to disturb it—the pair is brought harmoniously, if briefly, together.

• The basket testifies both to the “frozen” quality of beauty that Lily describes and to beauty’s seductive and soothing quality.

• The absence of fruit basket in 3rd part, signifies the transitery nature of beauty, art and truth.

Reference• Arthur Symons, The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899, reprinted• 1958); Edmund Wilson, Axel's Castle (1936); C. M. Bowra, The Heritage of Symbolism• (1943); Kenneth Cornell, The Symbolist Movement (1951); Edward Engelberg,• ed., The Symbolist Poem (1967); and Anna Balakian, ed., The Symbolist• Movement in the Literature of European Languages (1982). For attempts to decode• William Blake's complex symbolism, see S. Foster Damon, A Blake Dictionary:• The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake (1965), and Northrop Frye, Fearful• Symmetry (1947).• W. B. Yeats, "The Symbolism of Poetry" (1900), in Essays and Introductions• (1961); H. Flanders Dunbar, Symbolism in Medieval Thought (1929); C. Lewis, The Allegory of

Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition (1936); Elder Olson,• "A Dialogue on Symbolism," in R. S. Crane, ed., Critics and Criticism (1952);• W. Y. Tindall, The Literary Symbol (1955); Harry Levin, "Symbolism and Fiction,"• in Contexts of Criticism (1957); Isabel C. Hungerland, Poetic Discourse• (1958), chapter 5; Maurice Beebe, ed., Literary Symbolism (1960).• http://www.aseekersthoughts.com/2010/01/lighthouse-as-symbol.html• http://www.jim-sherry.com/screenplay_writing.html

Acknowledgement

• For Images:– http://classroompark.edublogs.org– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar– http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2759477– Alan Stevenson: Biographical Sketch of the Late

Robert Stevenson: Civil Engineer. W. Blackwood, 1861.

– Collin Greg, Dir. ‘To The Lighthouse’ (movie). Hugh Stoddart, screenplay.