Each character in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse are
complex, enigmatic reflections of the human psyche. The narrative style
purposefully reveals the dichotomy of a character’s external traits and their
inner turmoil. For example, the character Mr. Ramsay acts as both a tyrannical
and pathetic figure throughout the novel. He is the father of eight children,
and blames his marriage for obstructing his career as a philosopher. However,
his fragile ego and sense of self-worth are simultaneously reliant on the
pedestal Mrs. Ramsay places him on and the control he is able to exert over her
and their children. Mr. Ramsay is essentially a victim to his own personal
insecurities and fears, which causes him to be such a cruel and manipulative
character.
Mr. Ramsay is subject to sudden mood swings and fits of anger,
often directed towards his children, yet is shown to feel bad for such
overreactions in retrospect. His explosive behavior can be explained by his
intense awareness and fear of his own mortality. Mr. Banks once described Mr.
Ramsay as being the type of man “who [does] their best work before they are
forty” (23). Having already published a book well respected in the field of
philosophy, Mr. Ramsay fears he will never accomplish anything as meaningful or
important again. He worries incessantly that his life is heading in a downward
slope, and that he will die unremembered and unimportant. The anxiety builds up
within him and he takes it out on those around him.
In one passage, Mr. Ramsay steps outside for some privacy after
lashing out on James and Mrs. Ramsay about going to the lighthouse. Ashamed of
his outburst, he pauses to look back through the window at the two, and “the
sight of them fortified and satisfied him” enough so that he could focus on “the
problem which now engaged the energies of his splendid mind” (33). This section
of the passage portrays the unique and conflicting relationship Mr. Ramsay has
with his family. While he blames them for many of his problem, he also relies
on them to comfort and stabilize him through these moments of mania. He also
needs them to assert his power over, so as to validate his masculinity and
worth. The state of his fragile ego is so reliant upon the ways he can control
and manipulate them into giving him sympathy, respect, or a sense of purpose.
The problems with Mr. Ramsay’s “splendid mind” that cause him to
act this way are further discussed as the passage progresses. Mr. Ramsay
contemplates human thought, and compares the way it is structured to the
alphabet. Ideas are arranged like letters A to Z, and Mr. Ramsay claims that he
has “no sort of difficulty in running over those letters one by one” up until
he reaches Q. Supposedly, his mind cannot get past this barrier and move on to
R. He has no more innovative philosophical ideas, and feels as though all of
his work is repetitive and mere variations of ideas he has already explored.
Feeling stuck in one place tortures Mr. Ramsay, as he believes that those who
do not make it through the entire alphabet are failures. He fears he will die a
failure. He then looks back at his wife and son and compares them to “children
picking up shells...divinely innocent and occupied by kittle trifles at their
feet” (33). This comparison shows both the superiority Mr. Ramsay feels towards
his family, but also the sense of isolation and loneliness it gives him. His
supposedly higher intellect separates him from his family, which also forces
him to bear the burden of his anxieties alone. As Mr. Ramsay stands outside,
gazing at his family through the window and dwelling in impossible questions
and all his insecurities, the reader cannot help but feel a sort of pity for
him.
The question of whether or not Mr. Ramsay will
get to R drives him mad. In an episode of panic, he “[hears] people saying—he was a failure—that R was beyond him”
(34). This particular line highlights Mr. Ramsay's need for external validation
due to his insecurities. He feels as though the only way to achieve immortality
is for others to praise and extol his academic achievements so that a part of
him will live on outside of his mortal body. He believes that assuring that he
will be remembered by others will quell his fear of death and quiet his
insecurities, despite that fact that the pursuit of this only leads him to
spiral even farther.
I feel as thought this is very true due to his various bursts and ups/downs throughout the novel. He himself points out the superiority of Mrs. Ramsey who he states is much further along the alphabetical spectrum of enlightenment than he. I believe that he was painted this way to show the outward appearance of stalwart masculinity and to contrast it with a non dominate/effeminate dependence in order to make a complex statement on gender expectations and roles that each person is confined to and the amount of undue stress that comes with these responsibilities. His most human desires are reflected in his goal to be remembered as a counterpart to the strong message of memento mori this novel brings up with its time spacing between the first and second sections of the novel itself.
ReplyDeleteI think your character analysis of Mr. Ramsey perfectly highlights the ironies and complexities of each persons role in this book and their real life counterparts. For his treatment of his family and the way he uses them emotionally and exerts his power over them, it makes one lean toward hating him and his actions largely paint him as the antagonist figure. However, in his faults one can also see his weaknesses and insecurities and how much he relies on the family. He hates that he has to rely on them and that drives him to constantly belittle them in his mind, for example when he pretended that Mrs. Ramsey was dumb while they were reading. His insecurities and hypocrisy's lead the reader to sympathize with him and in this way Virginia Woolf is able to get us to see that people aren't black and white, but somewhere in between in a morally grey area.
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