Feminist Theory On The Novel To The Lighthouse By Virginia Woolf

This study attempts to analyze gender roles written by late Victorian author Virginia Woolf, and her Victorianism to modernity. Virginia Woolf's relevance by concentrating on patriarchy and matriarchy roles in the family and household, a subject that normally provides a specific problem. This implies that the characters in To The Lighthouse can unveil the inner world as well as the nature of life itself. Mrs. Ramsay's accomplishments at home, as well as her problematic relationship with the family's leadership role, are investigated in this research. Woolf's ideas on patriarchy and matriarchy are investigated in this research, as well as her significance and contribution to feminist discourse, relevance, and interest. Woolf's ideas on human values and reality in To The Lighthouse, on the other hand, are inexorably related to patriarchy and matriarchy. Woolf depicts life itself in her story through the patriarchal and matriarchal roles in the household. Furthermore, she intended her fiction to confront the major issue of the actual character of women, a variety of literary strategies such as the contrast between "truth" and "vision" and the stream of consciousness to engage in the inner lives of her characters. The different lives of a free and self-employed woman and a housewife, and how these lives affect them, the effects of a selfish and cruel husband and father, who has a right to talk and be the decision-maker at home, and how he affects his wife and children, are handled by Woolf, in this novel. According to Woolf, individual identity and techniques of relating with others are difficult to comprehend and almost impossible to convey. This means that the head of a wealthy family might be a patriarch or a matriarch. This research examines how well Mrs. Ramsay performs in her household job, as well as the complex relationship that exists between Mrs. Ramsay and the family's leadership position. Mrs. Ramsay, on the other hand, fails to accomplish her mission and falls short of being the matriarch she vowed to be in the novel's central event, "the dinner party." This indicates that a healthy family can be led by either a patriarch or a matriarch.  This study examines Woolf's personal cultural conditions, such as her reactions to the role of a woman in the home during the transition from Victorianism to modernity. As indicated through thorough investigative textual readings, Woolf's understanding of history and narrative is inextricably intertwined with ways of thinking about women, writing, and social and human ties. Nevertheless, in To The Lighthouse, the concepts of patriarchy and matriarchy are inextricably linked to Mrs. Woolf's perspectives on human values and reality. The lighthouse not only connects the novel's beginning and final chapters, but its beam also adds emotional warmth and lyrical intensity to the story, especially after Mrs. Ramsay's death. To the Lighthouse is especially concerned with encouraging the cohabitation of two opposing beliefs inside the same family, which might disrupt peace and even human aspirations. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay are emblematic of the lighthouse's diametrically opposed patriarchal and matriarchal perspectives on existence. Human peace and emotional emancipation are symbolized by the lighthouse.

 Men and women sought an ideal relationship based on the demands of a demanding society during the Victorian era. In this era, women had just one major job in life: to marry and participate in their husbands' hobbies and enterprises. Unless they were from a rich family, they would learn housewife skills such as weaving, cooking, washing, and cleaning before marrying. Because it was a men's world, women were often not allowed to be educated or obtain information outside of the house. Women did not have the same rights as males in a patriarchal culture. As a result, the more feminine chores of caring for the household and seeking feminine creativity have been assigned to women. As a late Victorian-era author, Virginia Woolf has influenced by this era which shaped her fiction and analysis. To The Lighthouse is a novel written by Woolf that sheds light on the inner lives of people. In this novel, the author refers to the gender roles, patriarchal and matriarchal dynamics in the household, and how these dynamics affect the family. Woolf depicts life itself in her story through the patriarchal and matriarchal roles in the household. The oppression of women for years, the gender roles assigned to them, the fact that a woman cannot be more than giving birth to a child, should not be in working life, being mocked by men and never taken seriously, being made financially and morally dependent on men, who are thought to be unable to do anything but housework and taking care of children, gender roles that women and men have been taught and oppressed by their families and society for years, how dominant the gender roles assigned to individuals even within the family are, the effect of patriarchal oppression on women, are handled and offered the reader a blended version, by the Woolf in this novel.  In this study, I will discuss and analyze the novel through feminism, the stream-of-consciousness technique, and the importance of the Lighthouse.

The expansion of feminism into theoretical, literary, or philosophical discourse is known as feminist theory. It seeks to comprehend the origins of gender inequity. It investigates men's and women's social roles, experiences, interests, duties, and feminist politics in subjects such as anthropology and sociology, communication, media studies, psychoanalysis (Chodorow, Nancy J, 1989, 1991), political theory, home economics, literature, education, and philosophy. Literary criticism inspired by feminist theories or politics is referred to as feminist literary criticism. It has a long and varied history, ranging from classic works by female authors such as George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, (Humm, Maggie, 2003), and Margaret Fuller to modern theoretical work in women's studies and gender studies by "third-wave" authors. Before the 1970s, feminist literary criticism was primarily concerned with the politics of female authorship and the portrayal of women's condition in literature. Feminist literary criticism has taken a range of different directions with the emergence of more complicated concepts of gender and subjectivity. As part of the deconstruction of current power relations, it has studied gender in terms of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. (Peter Barry, 2002) The re-reading and re-interpretation of history from a female viewpoint are known as feminist history. It's not the same as a history of feminism, which traces the movement's beginnings and progress. Women's history, on the other hand, focuses on the involvement of women in historical events. The purpose of feminist history is to recover and highlight the relevance of women's voices and choices in the past by rediscovering and illuminating the female perspective on history via the rediscovery of female authors, artists, philosophers, and others. Feminism is a social ideology or movement that aims to improve the position of women and defend their legal rights in a man-dominated society by addressing sexual discrimination and inequities. Virginia Woolf was a notable representative of the First Feminism Wave, which occurred at the start of the twentieth century. Women's suffrage movements arose during this time to protect women's right to vote. The second wave emerged in the 1960s, accompanied by the women's liberation movement. This wave was centered on women's legal and social equality in the face of patriarchy. Third-wave feminism emerged in the early 1990s as a continuation of the second wave. Feminism as we know it now originated as a social movement in the late eighteenth century to attain political equality for women. It has gone through several distinct stages since its start. Liberal feminism and socialist feminism connected feminism with the prevailing political philosophies of the day in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Feminists began to create techniques that were not based on male-de-ned beliefs in the 1960s. Radical feminism, psychoanalytic feminism, women of color feminism, and postmodern feminism are all attempts to establish female-centered interpretations of women's roles in society. These theories look at how gender is produced and maintained as one of society's most important meaning systems. Feminism now offers a thorough examination of the social meaning of gender, which is an important component of current critical theory. Western Europe was engaged in an endeavor to enfranchise those who had previously been denied political involvement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The political ideology of liberalism was the tool used by political activists to attain this aim. Liberalism is the notion that government is constituted by intelligent, self-governing individuals to serve their own interests. Liberals claimed that all citizens should have equal access to government and be treated similarly under the law. These liberal views were supported by several women of the time. Women advocated that the drive toward a more equitable society should include an equal role for women, beginning in 1798 with the publication of English writer Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women. The Subjection of Women, written in 1869 by English philosopher John Stuart Mill, makes a similar argument. To these authors, as well as the women and men who agreed with them, it appeared self-evident that women should be enfranchised, and that granting women the vote would be sufficient to ensure their equality in society. Early twentieth-century feminist writers such as Virginia Woolf probed the tight norms that constrained women's ability to express themselves and live their lives, questioning the unequal nature of socially assigned gender roles. (Simon Malpas, 2006, Routledge, Chapter 9, p. 96) Because of Queen Victoria's lengthy reign, the nineteenth century in England is known as the Victorian Age. The progress and dramatic changes in industry, politics, economy, social attitudes, and the sociocultural upheavals that occur as a result of such rapid and quick shifts in society marked this time. This period was also seen as a transitional period, in which the severe and stringent traditions and ideals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gave way to modernism's loss of moral behavior, which eluded the first decades of the twentieth century. Feminism is a social ideology or movement that aims to improve the position of women and defend their legal rights in a man-dominated society by addressing sexual discrimination and inequities. Charles Fourier coined the term "feminist" in 1837, and it has progressively gained popularity around the world since then. "One of the most significant social, economic, and artistic revolutions in contemporary history is feminism." In reality, feminist movements have been divided into three "waves" throughout their history. Virginia Woolf was a notable representative of the First Feminism Wave, which occurred at the start of the twentieth century. Women's suffrage movements arose during this time to protect women's right to vote. The second wave emerged in the 1960s, accompanied by the women's liberation movement. This wave was centered on women's legal and social equality in the face of patriarchy. Third-wave feminism emerged in the early 1990s as a continuation of the second wave. To the Lighthouse was a significant break from the usual in the age in which it was written, despite its unimpressive character description by today's standards. Women were supposed to follow tradition and stay obedient to males during the time. Lily Briscoe, created by Virginia Woolf, violated tradition by enabling her to show her individuality. While the story remained conventional in that it included female characters who were subordinate to males, the introduction of an independent thinker like Briscoe astonished many readers during the Modernist Era. Virginia Woolf developed her distinct feminine consciousness as a woman writer, which was anchored on her life experiences and social backdrop at the time. Throughout her life, she devoted herself to feminist literary criticism and advocated for women's rights via her writings. Woolf's connection with feminism, according to Marcus, is symbiotic. Her clear feminist views, as well as her interest and curiosity about gender identities and the lives,  histories, and fiction of other women, have greatly influenced her work. (Fernald, Anne E. 2006)

In all cultural, family, religious, political, economic, social, and legal arenas, Western civilization is pervasively patriarchal; it is designed and operated in such a way that women are subordinated to males. From the Hebrew Bible through Greek philosophy, the feminine has been associated with negative connotations: weak, meek, virile, and sensual. One of the most important aspects of women's fight has been to challenge such conceptions of women. The study of Victorian feminists is fascinating because it reveals how contemporary feminism has adopted and organized itself around the goals that have dominated the communities from which they have emerged. The connection between authors and feminists may be seen in their desire to see reforms implemented. The Victorian era was marked by a strong conservatism that was both vivid and real. In contrast to males, who possessed economic and political power, women's job in the Victorian era was to give birth to children and care for the home. Victorian moralists considered the philosophy of women being perceived as their husband's property as the ultimate ideal wife. During the Victorian era, the ideal lady was a woman who embodied femininity. Women who did not fit the restricted description were labeled as virulent and even abrasive. Moralistic, dogmatic, and puritanical attitudes dominated the early and mid-Victorian eras. Women were restricted to domestic servitude in the home realm, preventing them from receiving an education or engaging in public life. Material and social progress, as well as scientific breakthroughs that changed people's religious and societal views, did nothing to empower women or free them from patriarchal restrictions. Queen Victoria became the symbol of 19th-century middle-class femininity and domesticity because of her devotion to her husband and family. Because of these views, women were kept out of the public domain. The irony was lost in English society during Queen Victoria's reign. Women could reign, but she was subservient to male will. (Maier, Sarah. E. 1996) The feminist theory is useful in comprehending Woolf's writings since Woolf was assaulted regularly rather than sometimes by her brothers because a difficult argument sparked debate not just about Virginia Woolf but also about sexual abuse. As a result, this study discovered that one of her accomplishments in To the Lighthouse is to wield authority over her parents. xii, However, this study focuses on some of Virginia Woolf's feminist components in To the Lighthouse, presenting fresh and difficult ways of understanding them by relying on contemporary advancements in modern literary criticism. Feminism, in general, is concerned with the conditions of women's lives and identities in society, as well as the means through which women may express themselves. One of the primary purposes of this study, in light of feminist theory, is to demonstrate the strong influences of the family on female writers. All feminist ideas have one thing in common: they all try to put women under the microscope by examining women's representations in literary texts. In Woolf's output, the ready-made response to the notion of feminist literary philosophy is her own approved version. Feminist critique, on the other hand, began to influence how feminist researchers thought about their work and the assumptions that informed it. Furthermore, feminist fiction about the world became a question of interpretation all of a sudden. In terms of the text-writer relationship, Woolf saw To the Lighthouse:  as a form of therapy: a text with peculiar relation to her own history, which functioned for her as a psychical and emotional release; presumably, Woolf was influenced by the First World War while writing her novel, and her agony was also linked to ‘’her mother's early death’’ in 1895. (Raitt pp. 8-9.)

In the limited space available, patriarchy is a type of social organization in which the father or eldest male is the family's head and descent is traced down the male line, whereas matriarchy is a type of social organization in which the mother or eldest female is the family's head and descent is traced down the female line. Virginia Woolf's broad concern with the contrasting viewpoints of patriarchy and matriarchy has received little attention. The role of Mr. Ramsay in the household represents patriarchy, while Mrs. Ramsay represents matriarchy. Woolf's literary writing was influenced by her seclusion from a patriarchal society, and it demonstrates that she is topographically antagonistic to patriarchy, as "The punishment of fathers for daring to encroach on their domain was rapid dismemberment by wild horses." (Jane Marcus, New Feminist Essays on Virginia Woolf, 1981, p. 1.) As a feminist critic, Woolf believes that reconciliation between the sexes is the only hope for society and individuals: while Mrs. Ramsay nourishes others, she harms them by shielding them from the truth, as when she uses her shawl to hide the skull in the children's room; and the hell of "Time Passes" includes death from both childbirth and men's war. Woolf chose suicide over exile because she was plagued by this nightmare figure of patriarchal oppression. During the dinner party, Mrs. Ramsay begins to serve others, including her husband and children, revealing Woolf's core concern of matriarchy. xxiv Woolf stated in her diary that the novel's designs straddle the two poles of her father and mother. Mr. Ramsay was shaped by Woolf's memories of her father: she made him the sort that we all despise having in our lives. He is a despot of unfathomable greed, whereas Woolf fashioned Mrs. Ramsay from her own recollections of her mother, and as a result, Mrs. Ramsay has been shown as a picture. (Raitt, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, p. 39.) Mrs. Ramsay is a complicated character assigned to perform numerous functions in the work, and Woolf characterizes her as profoundly secured and interlaced with the notion of matriarchy. She comes across as a kind mother who is worried about her children's well-being and safety. She's also a loving wife who provides her husband with all of the support, sympathy, and understanding he requires. Her pleasant demeanor and obvious care for human thoughts and emotions help her to defuse tensions between family members. She portrays herself as a successful hostess who can console her guests by showing an unusual interest in their personal issues. The figure of Mrs. Ramsay, who is certainly Woolf's synthesis of nineteenth-century ideas of motherhood, crystallizes Virginia Woolf's concept of a woman's place in life in this novel. Mrs. Ramsay is more than goodwill or a light spirit, and she is more than the novel's primary spring: she is the novel's meaning. This interpretation also connects Virginia Woolf's greatest work as an artist to her core beliefs as a woman. Mrs. Ramsay represents the feminine aspect of life. She confronts the logical but arid and barren masculine principle, cloaked in beauty, an intuitive principle in life, and a fructifying power. Her influence encourages men and women to mate and produce children in the same way that she does. On an intellectual level, her function is the same, because she provides protection and inspiration to both art and science. She provides stimulus and understanding to Lily Briscoe the painter, a haven from squalor and a shrewish wife to Carmichael the post, love, comfort, and reassurance to Ramsay the philosopher, protection to Tansley the graduate student, and affection to Banks the botanist. Because marriage is regarded as the most essential thing for women in the Victorian era, it is their responsibility to create kids and care for the family. Perhaps this is why Mrs. Ramsay is so eager about bringing people together. Indeed, she is convinced that women can only obtain happiness by marrying. As a result, she continues to persuade young people to marry. She believes, for example, that Lily should marry because "an unmarried lady has missed the greatest of life." Mrs. Ramsay's unwavering conviction in marriage, in fact, exemplifies the restrictions of women in the period. Short-sightedness can even lead to tragedy, as seen in Paul and Minta's unfortunate marriage, which was planned by Mrs. Ramsay. Lily Briscoe said she was amazing at bringing her family together. But in doing so, she smoothed over all of her children's and friends' complexity and unique interests in favor of a larger totality. Mr. Ramsay is an outspoken bully, while Mrs. Ramsay works behind the scenes to persuade individuals to take the form she desires in the service of a bigger cause. In Virginia Woolf's novel To the Lighthouse, the fight to gain and establish female autonomy is continuously challenged 

or undercut by a patriarchal society. The story is marked by a collision of gender ideals, and Woolf highlights a transgression of traditional female gender norms through Lily Briscoe. She is an idealized feminist woman who defies masculine hegemony to establish a sense of self-identity. Her completed painting and enlightenment after the novel solidify her position as a fully emancipated female artist. The "angel in the home" has been smothered by Lily. However, Virginia Woolf says that if women wish to have their own values, they must communicate the truth about their own experiences as bodies, in addition to killing the angel in the home. Lily chooses painting as a lifetime job to express the truth about herself as an awakened lady with feminine awareness. Nonetheless, because art is restricted to males, her pursuit of art is incompatible with the men-dominating ideals. In such conditions, Lily's quest to understand her principles is fraught with difficulties. She is frequently distracted from her work by the voice of Charles Tansley, who says, "Women can't write, women can't paint." Despite her dislike, she has to put up with Mr. Ramsay's frequent interruptions, which often diminish her excitement. The patriarchy's pressure gradually erodes her self-assurance. "She maintained a feeler on her surroundings lest someone might crawl up, and suddenly she should discover her image glanced at," Lily says of her hesitation to put her inner thoughts on canvas. In some ways, Lily's predicament suggests that the road to women's emancipation is difficult since sexist attitudes against women are firmly established in society. As a result, instead of outright dismissing Mr. Ramsay's request for sympathy, Lily responded, "Ah, but what gorgeous boots   you wear!" Mr. Ramsay is startled and happy by Lily's metamorphosis, she begins to offer men relief,  even though it is only simple compliments. They're both relieved and satisfied. The two sexes attain harmony in this way. Holding the dinner party at the end of the first half of the novel "The Window" demonstrates her personal interest in promoting peace, stability, and human solidarity. She is, nevertheless, well aware of life's miseries, to the point of becoming gloomy. Her spouse is a philosopher who is completely immersed in his studies. Mr. Ramsay is attracted to facts, which for him reflect the driving force in human lives, in contrast to his wife's veneration for human sentiments. This is the message he tries to instill in his children. Mr. Ramsay, like his wife, adores his children, but his overall disregard for human sentiments tints his treatment of them with brutality. Mr. Ramsay's difficult connection with his children stems largely from his harshness and selfishness, which contrast sharply with his wife's warmth and charity. Patriarchy and matriarchy will never meet. Various individuals in many countries think of their group in terms of an imaginary pyramid with the male on top. These cultures' politics and governance are structured like a pyramid, with the man at the apex. Mrs. Woolf, on the other hand, put the woman on top in To the Lighthouse. Mrs. Ramsay's ambition to be at the top has been noted, thus she lives in terror of being displaced. She wants to control herself because she is terrified. She believes she must have total control over everything, including her family and faith. Mrs. Ramsay has also been seen attempting to play God to defend her position as the matriarch of her family and society. Mrs. Ramsay's ideals demonstrate how life may be ordered in such a manner that it is based on necessities; it is nonviolent and peaceful; it is simply human. This is extremely evident in the text, especially during the dinner party when Mrs. Ramsay strives to demonstrate her superior status in the family, feeling entitled to, for example, encourage individuals to marry, much alone beginning the circulation of glances, food, and discourse. Critics bring out two competing viewpoints regarding Mrs. Ramsay based on Ramsay's marriage, which is the perpetual union of patriarchy and matriarchy. Mrs. Ramsay, according to the first viewpoint, "has no flaws and thus is unable to ward off harassment by her desiccated husband, to whom she lovingly sacrifices herself... whereas the second viewpoint holds that Mrs. Ramsay is actually the cause of her husband's unhappiness and her son's failure to reach the lighthouse." (Jane Lilienfeld, 1981, pp. 148-169, pp. 148-149.) Despite these disparities, Lilienfeld applies feminist critique to Woolf's portrayal of the Ramsays' marriage: "Woolf depicted a marriage in such a truthful a way that she felt the Ramsays be male and female attributes embodied, and their marriage the ideal way for role mates to live together."

"This criticism shapes the third section of the novel, where Lily Briscoe and Minta Doyle break free of Mrs. Ramsay's impositions of her own role restraints on their lives," writes Lilienfeld, "where Woolf both celebrates and criticizes marriage while making clear the urgency for creating new modes of human love and partnership." (Jane Lilienfeld, 1981 p. 163.) Because societal changes necessitated changes in the Ramsay marriage, a means to incorporate these changes had to be found: the model of marriage that Mrs. Ramsay desires to pass on to young people consists of many minutes of quiet and many withholdings. Mrs. Ramsay, for example, does not enjoy it when her husband sees her pondering. Mr. Ramsay recalls his days of loneliness before marriage in response to this self-reflection. Her silence becomes physical rejection; rather than communicating, she turns away from her husband and walks to the window to gaze out at the sea. xxviii Lilienfeld goes on to explore the marriage, providing a mature, keen critical evaluation of Woolf's own parents' relationship as well as "the harm wrought by the Victorian social structure on human potential for freedom and progress." In terms of the Ramsays' marriage, Lilienfeld contends that this family's ideological belief "as constituted by patriarchy is the bastion of morality, the state, and stable human character" has not altered much since the 1850s. (Jane Lilienfeld, 1981, p. 149.) Mrs. Ramsay reads loudly from the newspaper, thinking that they were happy now than they would ever be again ). Mrs. Ramsay believes that by doing so, she not only has a powerful voice in the family but also has responsibility for its members' well-being. Mrs. Ramsay achieves a  spectacular position in her family, making her the center of her own social circle and gaining praise and accolades from the beginning of the story. Mrs. Ramsay is simply pretending to record "the entire spectrum of a civilization in the process of transformation, via the accumulation of accurate factual data" in To the Lighthouse. (Raitt, p.6.) Mrs. Ramsay's social evaluation data reveal her own passions, desires, and half-narcissistic tendencies, as she aims to become a public figure rather than get a deeper grasp of social policy. To the Lighthouse is a work of fiction based on fact, and it may be necessary to interpret it before understanding the truth: Part III's intricate resolution of Lily Briscoe's love for and dependency on Mrs. Ramsay is a psychological model for women seeking autonomy. We observe a crucial transformation in women's use of the power of selfhood in Lily's going beyond Mrs. Ramsay's way of conduct, as she comes to value abilities other than those that inspire Mrs. Ramsay. Lily can envision wandering beyond the spear plants in Mrs. Ramsay's garden after she has gained autonomy, not alone but arm-in-arm with someone, man or woman. (Lilienfeld, p. 164) The Ramsays apparently let the reader feel the tug of two opposing forces at the same time during the dinner party: "the conflicting character, the exhilaration, and sorrow, of life itself." (Edward Bishop, 1991, p. 91.) Mr. Ramsay's limitations, according to Woolf, are represented in his lack of knowledge of an integrated perspective of life, whereas Mrs. Ramsay's tremendous emotional warmth allows her to comprehend life and people. „The lighthouse represents an individual's intrinsic solitude and independence, but the lighthouse's rays traversing the black waters at night signify Mrs. Ramsay's love, which joins all of her companions and provides purpose to their lives. (Alice van Buren Kelley, 1973, p. 136) By depicting male and female characters in her work, Woolf strives to distinguish between vision and actuality or visional and factual worlds. Virginia Woolf battled with the difficulty of "imagining and presenting a universe that combines limited and infinite truth—that recognizes constraint and isolation" in "The Lighthouse." (Kelley, p. 114.) Woolf began exploring the symbolic possibilities of her characters in Mrs. Dalloway by making them represent various aspects of fact and vision, whereas in To the Lighthouse Woolf combines "these themes and techniques to present the marriage of two vast personalities who stand for factual and visionary approaches to the reality of life." (Ibid) Many of Woolf's works combine vision and actuality. By showing male and female characters in the novel, Woolf strives to distinguish between vision and actuality or visional and factual worlds. It signifies that women in the novel represent the visionary world, while males represent the real one. Furthermore, vision refuses limitations, but Mrs. Ramsay seeks to place constraints on it to avoid having to tell her husband, "I love you." As a result, Mrs. Ramsay guards her vision by bathing her husband in it in exchange for his support: ‘’Fact is powerful, but vision, at least for her lifetime, triumphs.’’ (Kelley, p. 5, 123.) Woolf used the stream-of-consciousness technique in To the Lighthouse to create the illusion that readers have direct access to the characters' thought processes. This approach may reveal the core characters of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay as well as the complexities of their relationship. Woolf attempts to investigate the architecture of human existence in this sense, from the nature of relationships to the perception of time.

                                                                  

 

                                                                   CONCLUSION

 

Feminists were a challenge to Victorian attitudes, according to a variety of competing accounts. Along with social and political change, it was the voice of a woman proclaiming her desire that caused Victorians to reconsider women's roles and status. By warning women about the perils of male hegemony, feminists with a mix of intelligence, ambition, skill, and impeccable character sparked a sense of awakening. The history of Victorian feminism and its influence on society and literature has piqued my interest in looking at Victorian novels from the bottom up, from the perspective of the disadvantaged. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay's patriarchal matriarchal dilemma is morally created by motivation and wants rather than evidence and certainty, as this study report aimed to demonstrate. Mrs. Ramsay is adamant about maintaining her privacy, which she sees as an essential part of her identity and role as a matriarch. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay don't learn anything from working together. One of their relationship's distinguishing characteristics is cautious consideration for what the other desires to keep hidden. As a result, Mrs. Ramsay worries a lot about his intellectual insecurities and sense of unfinished business. Characters throughout the novel, particularly in the scene of the dinner party, embody facets of the text's subjectivity. Woolf tries to bring his characters to life by implying a solution to the issue above. Mrs. Ramsay has been recognized as a woman in a patriarchal symbolic society as she takes her seat at the head of the dinner table in front of her husband. Mrs. Ramsay is unsure about her life's purpose. Mrs. Ramsay's sentiments of failure contrast dramatically with her intention to make up for the shortcomings in her own marriage by arranging weddings for her acquaintances when the party begins. Woolf, on the other hand, had the desired tradition in her mind, which she worked hard to make into a source of resistance to patriarchy, allowing women to continue to live under patriarchy. This research attempted to demonstrate Woolf's claim that patriarchal and matriarchal social systems rely on suppressing the desire to attain social purposes. Woolf gives her own version of mid-Victorian culture history in To the Lighthouse to explain how the Victorian middle classes succeeded when the Victorians were dealing with challenges. Woolf critically evaluated difficulties in current political and social life and offered her own alternative to reformist ideas.

REFERENCES

 

Chodorow, Nancy J., Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory (Yale University Press: 1989, 1991

Humm, Maggie, Modernist Women, and Visual Cultures. Rutgers University Press, 2003.

Barry, Peter, 'Feminist Literary Criticism' in Beginning Theory (Manchester University Press: 2002

Simon Malpas, The Ruthledge Companion to Critical and Cultural TheoryThe Ruthledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory, 2006

Fernald, Anne E., Virginia Woolf: Feminism and the Reader (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)

Maier, Sarah. E. Introduction. Tess of D’Urbervilles. Ed. Sarah. E. Maier. Canada: Broadview Press, 1996.

Raitt, Suzanne, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse (New York: Harvester, 1990)

Jane Lilienfeld, ‘’Where the Spear Plants Grew: the Ramsays' Marriage in To the Lighthouse’’ 1981

Edward Bishop, Macmillan Modern Novelists: Virginia Woolf (Houndmills: Macmillan, 1991), p. 91.

Kelley, Alice van Buren, The Novels of Virginia Woolf Fact and Vision, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973