Character Analysis Of Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse

In Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse, Mr. Ramsay, a professor, philosopher, and father to eight children, is the husband to a beautiful and very admired woman, Mrs. Ramsay. He uses her as his support against his crippling doubt and constantly needs her to coddle him. However, he finds her compassion towards others annoying and cannot fully respect her because of her gender. With Mrs. Ramsay’s presence, his ego grows, and while she seems to be helping Mr. Ramsay, instead she is normalizing his outbursts of harshness and insecurities by praising him. And because she rarely directly goes against him, he paradoxically cannot respect her as a wife but depends on her too much to function normally. After Mrs. Ramsay passes away, Mr. Ramsay is forced

Ramsay wants to take her son to the lighthouse, while Mr. Ramsay believes it is illogical. After she questions his reasoning, Mr. Ramsay thinks to himself, “The extraordinary irrationality of her remark, the folly of women 's minds enraged him. He had ridden through the valley of death, been shattered and shivered; and now, she flew in the face of facts, made his children hope what was utterly out of the question, in effect, told lies. He stamped his foot on the stone step. "Damn you," he said. But what had she said? Simply that it might be fine tomorrow. So it might.” (31-32). Just because of Mrs. Ramsay’s hopefulness, Mr. Ramsay assumes her to be irrational, but in a way that stems from her being a woman. He specifically mentions the “the folly of women’s minds”. He believes that only his gender can speak and think logically by implying that his wife is not intelligent, and her “mind” is not up to par with his. He becomes angry at her, thinking that all his hard work towards becoming a professor and writer should mean something to her. Mr. Ramsay thinks that because “he had ridden through the valley of death, been shattered and shivered” he has worked harder, equating his work to being a soldier in a war who has been broken down. In this moment, after all he has done, he thinks that he has the right to be listened

Ramsay goes against him, and rather than supporting him “she flew in the face of facts”. By specifically choosing the verb “flew”, Woolf is invoking the image of the monster, “that fierce sudden black winged harpy, with its talons and its beak all cold and hard that struck and struck at you” (184), James saw in his father when he was a child. Because Mrs. Ramsay treats her husband as her own child, coddling him constantly, Mr. Ramsay feels attacked every time she went against him in the case of the lighthouse trip. He perceives aggressiveness from his wife, and tries to counteract that with his own. Mr. Ramsay thinks she “told lies” and begins to question her honesty. He overreacts by thinking that by not being logical, she is “[making] his children hope”, treating the situation as though she has done something awful. “He stamped his foot on the stone step,” which a very childish reaction. The significance of it once again implies that Mr. Ramsay is like another child of Mrs. Ramsay, and not his wife. It is ironic however, because before he deemed her as lower than him because of her woman’s mind, something she accepts as well,. Mr. Ramsay curses her out of frustration, but this frustration is both towards her and himself. He questions why he is so mad at her for going against his own wantings. This reveals Mr. Ramsay’s insecurity of having his wife, the woman that is there for him in his times of need, questioning his logical choices. He understands for a brief