写作模板

Course：Advanced Writing

Instructor：Menboliang

Student:SongCongcongn(宋聪聪 12030143014）

Class:Junior, class3

A Critical Review of to the Lighthouse

I.Introduction

To the Lighthouse is a story of an aristocratic family in the Victorian Age．The Ramsay family is spending the summer in their holiday house on the Isle of Skye．Mr Ramsay,a philosopher,and his wife who runs the home，have eight children，including the beautiful Pure who is likely to be married soon，and James，the youngest，still fiercely attached to his mother．There are also assorted guests，including Charles Tansley,one of Mr．Ramsay’S students；Lily Briscoe，a keen and observant painter；and Mr．Carmichael，an opium—addicted poet．James，the little son，wants to take a boat to visit the lighthouse and his mother encourages him，but his father says it will be impossible because of the weather．That night Mrs．Ramsay gives a dinner party where she orchestrates the complex dynamics of the family and their guests into a perfect social unit，which is presented as a piece work of art．This is followed by a short interlude，“Time passes，’’which marks a shift of the family life to a wider view,that the War not only foreshadows the routine of the family life but also threatens the lives of the family members．During this period，Mrs．Ramsay dies，Prue marries and then dies in childbirth，and Andrew,another son，is killed in the War． All these events are diminished by the universal context of time and change against which Woolf arranges them．The final part of the novel returns to the human scale．About ten years later,the surviving characters ale back at the house and Mrs．Ramsay,though dead，continues to be the central figure，motivating much of what occurs．Mr．Ramsay now takes the still—angry James to the lighthouse，and Lily Briscoe，inspired by her memory of Mrs．Ramsay,is at last able to complete the painting she began years before．

I I .Summary Part A: The Window

The novel is set in the Ramsays' summer home in the Hebrides, on the Isle of Skye. The section begins with Mrs Ramsay assuring her son James that they should be able to visit the lighthouse on the next day. This prediction is denied by Mr Ramsay, who voices his certainty that

the weather will not be clear, an opinion that forces a certain tension between Mr and Mrs Ramsay, and also between Mr Ramsay and James. This particular incident is referred to on various occasions throughout the section, especially in the context of Mr and Mrs Ramsay's relationship. The Ramsays and their eight children have been joined at the house by a number of friends and colleagues. One of them, Lily Briscoe, begins the novel as a young, uncertain painter attempting a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay and James. Briscoe finds herself plagued by doubts throughout the novel, doubts largely fed by the claims of Charles Tansley, another guest, who asserts that women can neither paint nor write. Tansley himself is an admirer of Mr Ramsay, a philosophy professor, and his academic treatises. The section closes with a large dinner party. When Augustus Carmichael, a visiting poet, asks for a second serving of soup, Mr Ramsay nearly snaps at him. Mrs Ramsay is herself out of sorts when Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle, two acquaintances whom she has brought together in engagement, arrive late to dinner, as Minta has lost her grandmother's brooch on the beach. Part B: Time Passes The second section gives a sense of time passing, absence, and death. Ten years pass, during which the four-year First World War begins and ends. Mrs Ramsay dies, as do two of her children - Prue dies from complications of childbirth, and Andrew is killed in the war. Mr Ramsay is left adrift without his wife to praise and comfort him during his bouts of fear and anguish regarding the longevity of his philosophical work. Part C: The Lighthouse In the final section, “The Lighthouse,” some of the remaining Ramsays and other guests return to their summer home ten years after the events of Part I. Mr Ramsay finally plans on taking the long-delayed trip to the lighthouse with daughter Cam(illa) and son James (the remaining Ramsay children are virtually unmentioned in the final section). The trip almost does not happen, as the children are not ready, but they eventually set off. As they travel, the children are silent in protest at their father for forcing them to come along. However, James keeps the sailing boat steady and rather than receiving the harsh words he has co me to expect from his father, he hears praise, providing a rare moment of empathy between father and son; Cam's attitude towards her father changes also, from resentment to eventual admiration.

They are accompanied by the sailor Macalister and his son, who catches fish during the trip.

The son cuts a piece of flesh from a fish he has caught to use for bait, throwing the injured fish back into the sea. While they set sail for the lighthouse, Lily attempts to finally complete the painting she has held in her mind since the start of the novel. She reconsiders her memory of Mrs and Mr Ramsay, balancing the multitude of impressions from ten years ago in an effort to reach towards an objective truth about Mrs Ramsay and life itself. Upon finishing the painting (just as the sailing party reaches the lighthouse) and seeing that it satisfies her, she realises that the execution of her vision is more important to her than the idea of leaving some sort of legacy in her work III.Arguments

She was very much concerned with the rights and position of women, especially of intelligent women and women writers.As a famous writer,one of Woolf's lifelong concerns was the role of women in a patriarchal society．In Woolf's time，generally speaking，only males could enjoy professional intellectual life，for they are intellectually superior to females．Woolf understood the overt and covert pressures placed on women．One of the dominant ideologies of that time was social requirement of the standard womanhood，which was very strong during the Victorian period．

IV.Contrasting opinions

From the late Victorian Age to the end of First World War，people attempted to accomplish new beliefs and ideologies in this period．Feminism was one of the popularnew ideologies，which generally began among writers，artists，and women of the aristocracy background．The famous British writer,Virginia Woolf,dedicated herself to challenging forms of tyranny in this cultural milieu in her career and wanted to free men and women from the traditional roles of gender．In the novel To the Lighthouse Woof summarizes the power structure of gender in the nineteenth-century and the dominant roles of male in the society,such as the domestic angels and male careerists，which divided people from each other and exaggerated differences．The novel portrays Mrs．Ramsay as the embodiment of the feminine principle．Mr．Ramsay,man of the masculine principle contrasts by Lily Briscoe，a painter and friend of the family．Lily embodies Woolf's vision of a female artist who personifies the ideal blending of male and female

qualities．This paper aims at power structure of gender in To the Lighthouse by analyzing the social roles imposed on both genders in order to show Woolf's own concept of feminism that embodied by Lily Briscoe who balances the differences of the two genders to achieve a sense of integrity and ;.self-fulfillment．

V.Evaluation

Mrs．Ramsay is very aware that her husband has a thirst for power．She is constantly watching and observing his every move and emotion，always being careful not to step over him in any way．She is a beautiful and intelligent woman，but the constant reminder by her husband that she is a lesser person than he is becomes too much for her．She believes this，and he is triumphant．She did not like，even for a second，to feel finer than her husband；and further,could not bear not being entirely sure，when she spoke to him，of the truth of what she said．It is clear that she is more intelligent than Mr．Ramsay thinks，but one cannot comprehend why a knowing woman would stay with her husband in such conditions．The love that she feels for Mr．Ramsay is always like it is reasonable to endure her husband as she does．It is safe to assume that death might have been her only escape from the arms of her husband．

VI. Conclusion

To the Lighthouse conveys Woolf's vision of Victorian world of her parents’generation that seemed to offer no encouragement to combine the masculine and feminine principles．The fault lies neither in Mr．Ramsay nor in Mrs．Ramsay but in the institution they both support，in the form of nineteenth-century marriage.The segregation of the sexes in that era—the paired idealization of domestic angels and male careerists----had divided people from each other and exaggerated their differences of gender roles．

References:

1. Snaith，Axlna.Virginia Woolf：Public and Private Negotiations．Basingstroke，Hampshire：

Palgrave，2000．Palgrave Advances in Virginia WoolfStudies New York：Palgrave Macmillan，2007

2. Pawlowski，Merry．Virginia Woolf and Fascism：Reality in the Dictators’ Seduction．New York：Palgrave，200 1．

3．Lee，Hermione．The Novels of Hrginia WoolfLondon：Methuen&Co．Ltd．，1977

4．Jackson，Thomas．Virginia Woolf：A Guide to Research．New York：Garland Pub，1984．