Virginia Woolfs To The Lighthouse - Book Report/Review Example

Assignment 3 Although T.S. Eliot is widely know for his literary works as his famous poems Pufrock and Other Observations (1917), The Waste Land (1922) or Four Quartets (1935-1942) and his famous plays such as Murder in the Cathedral (1927) or The Rock (1927); he is also considered one of the finest literary critics of the twentieth century1. His prose writings range from literary criticism of classical authors such as Shakespeare or Milton and modern authors such as his friend Ezra pound to philosophical and religious criticisms. In those writings he expressed his opinions, interpretations of certain works or invented terms with which he could better explain certain literary effects. In this literary dissertation, I will focus on the term 'objective correlative, which appeared in his essay on Hamlet by William Shakespeare, studying it and its effects by giving examples taken from his poem The Waste Land and from Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. According to T.S. Eliot, 'objective correlative' is a set of images, descriptions, actions, so forth that the writers use to create and evoke certain feelings in their readers. These things are so deeply related with a concrete emotion, or a set of emotions, that whenever they appear in the text; the reader always associate them with the emotion referred. In his words it is: The only way of expressing emotion in form of art is by finding an 'objective correlative'; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.2 'Objective correlative' not only creates and evokes emotion, but also forms part to the writings imagery, its main theme, symbols or metaphors playing a strong role in the text. It is important to remember that usually writers evoke certain feelings and emotions for a specific purpose. As any other literary device, 'objective correlative' blends with the text usually to emphasize the main theme or the mood of the writing. For example, in The Waste Land nature's imagery evokes a feeling of desolation, solitude and desperation. T. S. Eliot describes nature as a cold, unforgiving land that provides no shelter, no relief to its human inhabitants. It is also seen as a waste land in which nothing can grow, a hellish place were only the rats inhabit. In the poem, nature is normally seen as an enemy that offers no redemption or renewal; on the contrary, it only evokes pain, forgetfulness; feelings that pervade the poem's main theme of decadence and lack of renewal.3 As in this excerpt of "What the Thunder said" in which the lack of water, that normally symbolizes live, can be interpreted as the lack of renovation. Here is no water but only rock Rock and no water and the sandy road The road winding above among the mountains Which are mountains of rock without water If there were water we should stop and drink4 In Virginia Woolf's novel To the Lighthouse, it is not the nature but the sea which evokes those feelings of nothingness, desperation and destruction. The sea, its waves, is a recurrent imagery in the novel that can symbolize many different things depending upon the character that is seeing it at the moment. The ever changing sea, with it flows, is the symbol of the ephemeral things, of the pass of time that forgives no one. In some parts of the novel, the sea is the nothingness itself, in other parts it is depicted as a predator that is waiting its victim for some weakness.5 Each character sees the sea differently, for James Ramsay it symbolizes the destruction of his childhood dream to attain the Lighthouse, for Mr Ramsay it is a destructive force that can engulf anything; but all have in common this feeling of nothingness, pain, desolation that pervades some of its descriptions like this one6: made one think of the destruction of the island and its engulfment in the sea, and warned her whose day had slipped past in one quick doing after another that it was all ephemeral as a rainbow - this sound which had been obscured and concealed under the other sounds suddenly thundered hollow in her ears and made her look up with an impulse of terror. 7 But, unlike Eliot's unforgiving nature; the sea has a double symbolism in Woolf's novel8. It can also evoke feelings of security, tranquillity and peacefulness. Thus, Virginia Woolf creates a complex symbolic imagery that has a double meaning one of destruction and nothingness and another of security and peacefulness or even the thrilling emotion of a new adventure. The novel's main characters have this double vision of the sea, as for Mr Ramsay the sea also evokes a sense of familiarity and security with its repetitions and for Cam Ramsay, the sea can either be waiting to attack the small island where the Lighthouse is or a way that opens a new thrilling adventure to her young spirit. so that the monotonous fall of the waves on the beach, which for the most part beat a measured and soothing tattoo to her thoughts and seemed consolingly to repeat over and over again as she sat with the children the words of some old cradle song, murmured by nature, "I am guarding you - I am your support"9 Another example is Eliot's description of the cities. Contrary to what the reader expects, Eliot's cities do not offer an alternative to the cold, unforgiving nature. They are usually decadent, in ruins; full of old forgotten ghosts and corpses that no one remembers10. Those cities that in the past symbolized the triumph of man over nature, now are suspended in an unending cycle of destruction and reconstruction that brings nothing new, no hope for a renewal. "Unreal City"11, it is how the author characterises those cities which are only a shadow in the character's mind. They evoke a feeling of emptiness, useless, a deep fear of forgetfulness. A feeling that is shared by some of the male character in To the Lighthouse being Mr Ramsay the most symbolic of them12. Mr Ramsay, Charles Tansley or James Ramsay are often portrayed as weak male characters that doubt themselves, their work or actions. Even though Mr Ramsay is an intelligent man whose philosophical books have been published and read by many people, he often doubts himself and the survival of his works in the future. Often requiring being important in someone's eyes, he seeks sympathy and compassion towards his person. He is not the only one that requires support and sympathy, James Ramsay and Charles Tansley also require the assuring presence of a strong person that can give them the security they lack. It is usually women who fulfil this role, especially Mrs Ramsay who is always seen by the characters as a source of comfort and security. It was sympathy he wanted, to be assured of his genius, first of all, and then to be taken within the circle of life, warmed and soothed, to have his senses restored to him, his barrenness made fertile, and all the rooms of the house made full of life -13 Following the main theme and mood of the poem The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot describes sexuality as a series of morbid, fruitless encounters that leave the characters with a feeling of emptiness and nothingness14. The relationship between the different lover pairs is marked by isolation and misunderstandings. There exists a transparent wall that impedes men and women to communicate or create something new, symbolized by the blank dialogues they maintain in the poem; a wall so strong that renders the sexual encounter fruitless. The sexual encounters descriptions evoke feelings of morbidity, nothingness, isolation or even pathetic characters in the case of the rich woman described in "The Game of Chess"15. So in The Waste Land both men and women are incapable of renewing live even when they procreate (Lils in "The Game of Chess") It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said. (She's had five already, and nearly died of young George) The chemist said it would be all right, but I've never been the same. You are a proper fool, I said, Well, if Albert won't leave you alone, there is, I said, What you get married for if you don't want children16 Virginia Woolf's description of sexuality is very different from T.S. Eliot's description. Sexuality is seen through different perspectives and with different results depending upon the characters she is referring to. In general, males are considered to be sterile, self doubting and deeply aware of their own mortality17. It is only thanks to the female characters that reassure their position in the world that they are capable of continuing with their important work. Women sexuality is seen through two characters: Mr Ramsay and Lily Briscoe18. Mr Ramsay represents the traditional approach towards sexuality and women role in the family as: supporter, confident, secure. Whenever she appears in the novel, Mr Ramsay's presence evokes a feeling of security and comfort sometimes achieved through her beauty other through the strength of her personality. "Filled with her words, like a child who drops off satisfied, at last, looking at her with humble gratitude, restored, renewed, that he would take a turn; he would watch the children playing cricket. He went."19 Her traditional views on women's role clash with Lily Briscoe's modern view of her own role. Lily is a modern woman who wishes to maintain her independence and personality; she is incapable of compromising herself or giving sympathy to the male characters. Lily Briscoe is related with feelings of independence and self assurance that permit her to evolve from the limited artist in the first part of the novel to the mature woman who has had her vision in the third part of the book. "There was in Lily a thread of something; a flare of something; something of her own which Mrs Ramsay liked very much indeed, but no man would, she feared. Obviously, not, unless it were a much older man, like William Bankes."20 The negative feelings evoked by the different 'objective correlative' that appear in Eliot's poem are emphasized by the description of a barren decadent land, a real waste land where the rat is the only animal that inhabits the ruined cities of the modern world21. This rat symbolizes Eliot's creating process in which he takes parts of every civilization to evoke a decadent land in which nothing new can grow. This creating process is shown in Eliot's writing techniques, in his poems that have many forms and sizes, from classical sonnets to modern speech blank verses22. These poems are full of quotes, which sometimes are written in their original language. These quotations symbolize the old, fruitful civilizations that are now forgotten in the past and even though this civilization renewed themselves they cannot bring the regeneration Eliot's civilization requires. This strong sense of irony emphasizes the poem's main theme of decadence that is only broken at the opening lines "Shantih shantih shantih"23 whose translation "peace which passeth understanding" may be interpreted as the final resignation or as a glimpse of hope within the oriental cultures, different from our own world. With the same purpose, Virginia Woolf portraits a cruel, indifferent reality in which her character feel hopeless, isolated, diminished by their own unimportance. Those emotions are specially evoked in the second part of the book "Time passes" in which she described the changes the Ramsay's house suffers during the years that elapse since the ending of "The Window" until the beginning of "The Lighthouse"24. The difficult relationship between males and females, which leads to isolation and misunderstandings, only emphasizes those negative emotions of nothingness and hopelessness. The Lighthouse which symbolizes both the hope of childhood dreams (mainly to James Ramsay) is also seen as the crude reality which imposes itself in spite of Mrs Ramsay desires (she tries to console male characters, to give them sympathy, support, security). Even though, the harsh reality imposes itself, there are some hopeful moments in which the characters gain a deep understanding of each and the things that surround them. There are two ephemeral situations in the book in which complete understanding happen: the first time is during the Ramsay's dinner at their house in Skye. There is a brief moment in the dinner during which every guest seem happy, relaxed; a moment recollected by Mrs Ramsay as perfect but which already pertains to the past. "There is a coherence in things, a stability; something, she meant, is immune from change, and shines out"25 There is a second moment in the novel that evokes those feelings of coherence and stability, the parallel moment in which Mr Ramsay, James and Cam understand each other when arriving to the Lighthouse while Lily Briscoe reaches her goal of creating something new in which every single thing is represented: she finishes her painting26. "With a sudden intensity, as if she saw it clear for a second, she drew a line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision"27 Works cited list Bernett, Arnold. "Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse". Virginia Woolf. Critical Assessments. Mountfield: Helm Information Ltd. Churchill, R.C. "The Age of T.S. Eliot". The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1965 Dick, Susan. "Introduction to To the Lighthouse". Virginia Woolf. Critical Assessments. Mountfield: Helm Information Ltd. Eliot, T.S. "Hamlet". Collected Prose of T.S. Eliot. London: Faber and Faber Limited. 1975 Eliot, T.S. "The Waste Land". The Complete Poems and Plays of T.S. Eliot. London: Faber and Faber Limited. 1969 Friedman, Norman. "The Waters of Annihilation Double Vision in To The Lighthouse." ELH. 22. March 1955: 61-79 Martin, Jay. "T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land". A Collection of Critical Essays on the Waste Land. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc. 1968 Vendler, Helen. "T.S. Eliot". The Time 100. June 8, 1998. http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/eliot.html Vickery, John B.; Moynihan, William T. et al. "Interpretations of Individual Sections". A Collection of Critical Essays on the Waste Land. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc. 1968. Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. London: Hogarth Press. 1963. Read More