Mythic patterns in ‘‘To the Lighthouse’’

• Name: Sonal Baraiya

• Class: MA Sem-3

• Roll No.: 26

• Paper No.: 9- The Modernist Literature

• Submitted to: Smt. S.B. Gardi,

Department of English,

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji

Bhavnagar University

‘‘To the Lighthouse’’-Virginia Woolf (1927)

What is Myth?

• A myth is a story handed down through history, often through oral tradition, that explains or gives value to the unknown.

Woolf’s concept• Mrs. Ramsay and major female figures in

Pagan Myth

Zeus

Rhea

(mother)

Demeter

(wife)

Persephone

(daughter)

Woolf and critic

Two assertions

Knowingly used myth

Subconscious came out

• Woolf’s diary

• Read Jung, Freud, and Frazer

• Known through the members of the Bloomsbury Group

• Third Position

Mrs. Ramsay resembles Rhea

Rhea Mrs. Ramsay

Myth of Rhea

• Wife of Cronos

• Has six children, three boys and three girls

• Good and loving mother

• Youngest child- Zeus

• Opposes to his father-Cronos and having Oedipus complex

• Protected Zeus from physical harm

Mrs. Ramsay

• Wife of Mr. Ramsay

• Has eight children, four boys and four girls

• Good and loving mother

• Youngest child- James

• Opposes to his father-Mr. Ramsay and having Oedipus complex

• Protected James from psychological wounds

Mrs. Ramsay resembles Demeter

Demeter Mrs. Ramsay

Demeter

• Symbols of fruitfulness

• Opposed to masculinity

• Known for sacrifices and humbleness

• Characterized by sorrow

• Relation with Kore

Mrs. Ramsay

• Mrs. Ramsay symbol of fruitfulness

• Her complete femininity

• Sacrificed her own desire and gave love and sympathy

• Mrs. Ramsay’s sorrow is neither so continuous nor so specifically focused

• Relationship between Mrs. Ramsay and Lily

Oedipus Myth

• Sexual impulses toward mother

• Impulses of hatred and violence toward father

• James as Jocasta

• Jocasta- ‘‘What demon possessed him, her youngest, her cherished?’’

• James- ‘‘Had there been an axe handy, or a poker, any weapon that would have gashed a hole in his father’s breast and killed him, there and then, James would have seized it’’

‘‘Fisherman and His Wife’’ and‘‘To the lighthouse’’

• Greedy wife

• Insatiable demands is not the wife but the husband

• Cherishes needs of other

• Sacrifices her own desire

• Wounds on physical body

• Result- Land became desert

• Insatiable demands

• Craving sympathy and love from Mrs. Ramsay

• Cherishes gift of love

• Sacrifices her own desire and tried to fulfill the desire of other

• Wounds on mental body

• Result- House became desert

Difference between Pagan Myth and Christian Myth

• Mythical pattern – Women role in Pagan myth is different from Christian myth.

• Pagan Myth- Women as a superior

• Christian Myth- Women as a inferior

• Pagan Myth- Having womb- powerful

• Aware about the lack

• Christian Myth not believed in lack

Works Cited

Blotner, Joseph L. "To the Lighthouse." Mythical Pattern in to the lighthouse (1956): 547-562.

Thank You…