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A bachelor's thesis written by Kristína Melišová on the topic of beauty in Virginia Woolf's 'To the Lighthouse'. The thesis explores Woolf's relationship with beauty, the various representations of it in the novel, and how Woolf's experimental form enhances the depiction of beauty. The document also discusses the influences that shaped Woolf's perception of beauty and her stance towards visual arts.
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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Kristína Melišová
Who shall blame him? Who will not secretly rejoice when the hero puts his armour off, and halts by the window and gazes at his wife and son, who, very distant at first, gradually come closer and closer, till lips and book and head are clearly before him, though still lovely and unfamiliar from the intensity of his isolation and the waste of ages and the perishing of the stars, and finally putting his pipe in his pocket and bending his magnificent head before her—who will blame him if he does homage to the beauty of the world? ( To the Lighthouse 41)
Modernism, with its experimental approaches and daring ideas, represents a revolution in the way literature is written and read. Being one of the most prominent writers of the twentieth century and one of the most famous modernists, Virginia Woolf and her works had been greatly praised, but also criticised over the years. This thesis is a reaction to a possible issue that modernism could have with a depiction of beauty which had been explored by Wendy Steiner in her work Venus in Exile. She argues that as a response to the historical treatment of women and beauty in the literary works, the twentieth century art shies away perhaps too much in order not to belittle and offend. According to her: “In modernism, the perennial rewards of aesthetic experience – pleasure, insight, empathy – were largely withheld, and its generous aim, beauty, was abandoned.” (Steiner 1) Inspired by the question raised by Steiner, this thesis explores Woolf’s relationship with beauty and the many representations of it in her later work To the Lighthouse. The goal is to show that even though modernism introduces a new, perhaps more thoughtful approach to beauty, it does not in any way abandon it. Moreover, the form of writing that Woolf had developed only increases the number of ways in which beauty can be depicted.
Through an overview of the theoretical background and analysis of Woolf’s work, this thesis shows that modernism and the experimental form that Woolf had developed over the years does not aim to destroy beauty in anyway. What is more, it proves to be a very effective way of giving the necessary depth and relevance to beauty by depicting it in less traditional ways.
This chapter aims to explore various factors that have influenced the development of Woolf’s perception of beauty and her stance towards both visual arts and literature. Acknowledging these influences is going to be relevant for the later analysis of To the Lighthouse and understanding Woolf’s artistic choices. The earliest and strongest influence had been the Stephen family. Early on, Virginia Stephen had become conscious of physical beauty and the reaction of people to it because of the beauty she and the women of her family were famous for. Quite an opposing influence came from the down-to-earth figure of her father. ( Moments of Being 68) There is a notable pressure on Woolf, resulting in a polarity of these family influences. Many years later this would drive her to write To the Lighthouse – the primary focus of this thesis and a work that reflects the way she felt about these early influences. After the death of her father and the subsequent moving to Bloomsbury, Virginia Stephen’s new friends and acquaintances, most of which can be considered a part of the Bloomsbury Group, had taken over as a major influence. (Q. Bell) The fact that a number of people in this circle were Woolf’s relatives and the close-knit relationships the members had with each other in a way created an environment very close to that of a family. ( Beginning Again ) However, thanks to their university education and the positive relationship of the members towards art, the conversational focus has shifted to a broad
variety of topics, naturally including art as well. (qtd. in Rosenbaum 77) Roger Fry and Clive Bell were especially crucial in this development. By the time Fry organised the Post-Impressionist Exhibition of 1910, Woolf had already been a member of the group and had been present to witness the outrage it caused–what eventually turned out to be a ground-breaking point in art history. (Hodgkinson) The reaction to the new developments in visual art can be traced in the various experimental approaches that would later emerge in Woolf’s novels–for instance Jacob’s Room (1922) or the commentary on visual art in To the Lighthouse (1927). While being exposed to modern visual art by the other members of the Bloomsbury Group, Woolf managed to incorporate some of the new ideas it presented to create a unique form of experimental writing that allowed her to communicate certain sensations more effectively to the reader. When it comes to the people outside of the core of the Bloomsbury Group, Woolf’s relationship with E.M. Forster must have been very influential. By the time Woolf started publishing her more experimental works, most of Forster’s novels had already been published. Thus he had been able to use his writing experience to critically examine Woolf’s work–an insight she found very helpful. (Goldman 398) Woolf’s essay “The Novels of E.M.Forster” and Forster’s Rede Lecture on Woolf’s writing, given after her death, illustrate the sort of critical, yet productive relationship they had. Their critical commentaries offer a valuable insight into their priorities and approaches when it comes to writing. Moreover, beauty is a frequently examined topic in these–especially in Woolf’s essay on Forster’s novels. 1.1. Early Influences: The Family Since the problematic of beauty and the perception of it are inherently subjective, it is best to focus on Woolf’s personal accounts and recollections. What is most noticeable
is going to show a similar difference in personal values which results in a sense of disparate perception of beauty and misunderstanding between the genders. However, because of this attention, Woolf felt very conscious of her own physical appearance. Looking back on the feminine beauty in her family she asks: “What then gave me this feeling of shame, unless it were that I inherited some opposing instinct?” As long as it is the beauty of the women surrounding her, she feels “pride and pleasure”, but cannot quite seem to see herself the same way. ( Moments of Being 67 - 68) Yet, it is important to realise that in terms of physical appearance, Woolf’s anxiety had been groundless. According to the standards of her time, Woolf had been considered beautiful and her physical appearance had been described by others in a way very similar to her descriptions of beautiful characters–such as Mrs Ramsay in To the Lighthouse for instance. According to Leonard Woolf, the first time he saw the Stephen sisters “their beauty literally took one’s breath away”. ( Sowing 182 - 183) She connects this negative feeling with a sense that her “natural love for beauty was checked by some ancestral dread.” ( Moments of Being 68) Even though she had sustained the ability to feel “rapturously” when it came to beauty or the creative process of writing, which she found deeply therapeutical, Woolf admits to never being able to feel this way about herself. ( Moments of Being 68, 72) It should be kept in mind that such an early influence that a family provides affects a person deeply and can be overwritten only with difficulty. It is natural that the parallels that can be found between the Stephen family and Ramsays in To the Lighthouse are not a coincidence. There is a same sense of ambivalence and oppressiveness coming from the authoritative Mr Ramsay and of the undeniable beauty of the maternal figure that Mrs Ramsay represents. Speaking about her father and writing of To the Lighthouse , Woolf admitted: “He obsessed me... Until I wrote it out I would find my lips moving; I would
be arguing with him; raging against him; saying to myself all that I never said to him”. ( Moments of Being 119) The same goes for her mother: “But I wrote [To the Lighthouse] very quickly; and when it was written, I ceased to be obsessed by my mother.” ( Moments of Being 81) The figure of Julia Stephen is immediately recognizable by others as well. After reading To the Lighthouse Vanessa Bell identifies their mother in Mrs Ramsay, claiming that “it was like meeting her again”. ( The Letters of Virginia Woolf ) The character that has to stand between these influences in the book is Lily Briscoe. Through her, Woolf manages to explore her own feelings, but also maintain an objective eye. Lily struggles with the male characters and the way they see the world, art and women–their approach is very cold and detached. Yet, she also tries to understand Mr Ramsay and there is a strong sense of compassion to be felt. When it comes to the character of Mrs Ramsay, Lily tries to get underneath the beauty she is known for, to see if there is more to her. Another parallel is Lily’s undeniable self-consciousness of her own appearance that is only enhanced by Mrs Ramsay’s presence. This topic is going to be discussed in further detail in the following chapters. Not surprisingly, the ambivalent influence of the Stephen family on Woolf’s perception of art and beauty remained with her throughout her adult years. She tried to find her own sense of things between the asphyxiating male influence and the cold Victorian values of her father and the aesthetic angle through which everyone viewed her mother. 1.2. The Early Bloomsbury Group After the death of her father and Woolf’s moving to a house in Bloomsbury, the major source of influence has shifted from the extended Stephen family to her three Stephen siblings and the group of her brother Thoby’s friends. (Lee 216) Thanks to the variety of members, the conversations of the group covered a great number of topics, but
losing interest in visual arts and focusing on literature. (“Through Formalism” 20-24) Being inspired by Fry’s shift of interest, Woolf had discovered the potential that formalism offers when incorporated into literature. The abstractness of this concept offers to an author such as Woolf unlimited options of aesthetic application: “I feel the beauty, which is almost entirely colour, very subtle, very changeable, running over my pen.” ( Leave the Letters ) This blur between writing, visual arts and the abstract perception connected with it, can be seen for example when Woolf writes about her first memory: “If I were a painter, I should paint these first impressions in pale yellow, silver and green
... I should make curved shapes, showing the light through, but not giving a clear outline.” ( Moments of Being 66) Partly influenced by Roger Fry, Clive Bell and the results of their work in the field of visual arts, Woolf had discovered a form that gives her the ultimate artistic freedom–just as Lily Briscoe did in To the Lighthouse , when she refused to give in to the artistic influences of Mr Paunceforte and went her own way that closely resembled Post- Impressionism. With a new experimental form of writing, Woolf had been able to capture beauty in its pure form and offer it to the reader more readily. Sometimes shown in the mundane, at other times shining brightly in a form of revelatory rapture, beauty in Woolf’s works is clear and seemingly effortless. 1.3. E.M. Forster Forster’s position of novelist outside of the Bloomsbury Group–his purity and impartiality–gives his opinions different weight from others^2. It can be perhaps in a way more reserved, since he is not such a close person to Woolf, but also taken more seriously (^2) Leonard Woolf listed Forster as one of the Bloomsbury group. (Woolf, Leonard. Beginning Again. Hogarth Press, 1960. pp. 21-26.) However, Forster’s presence in the Bloomsbury group is only marginal and he himself had said that “he did not regard himself as having belonged to the Bloomsbury.” (Rosenbaum, S.P., editor. The Bloomsbury Group. Croom Helm, 1975. p. 24)
and with a greater respect because of his longer career as a writer. Their most well-known accounts on each other–Woolf’s “The Novels of E.M.Forster” and Forster’s Rede lecture on Woolf given after her death–are appropriate examples of the nature of their friendly criticism, especially since certain parts focus on beauty and Forster states that To the Lighthouse is his favourite Woolf’s book.^3 (“Virginia Woolf” 6) The main difference between Forster and Woolf lies in their form. Forster implements modernist thoughts within an old form, Woolf relies on her experimental one. Naturally, this applies to all of the topics they are concerned with–beauty too. Commenting on Forster’s approach, Woolf notes: “He sees beauty–none more keenly; but beauty imprisoned in a fortress of brick and mortar whence he must extricate her. Hence he is always constrained to build the cage–society in all its intricacy and triviality– before he can free the prisoner.” (“The Novels of E.M. Forster”) While Forster relies on creating the mentioned cage, Woolf more often than not writes on more abstract levels. Hence Forster feels that Woolf has a problem to create life-like characters. (“Virginia Woolf”) However, using her approach, Woolf manages to take a specific thing, let’s say, a noteworthy instance of beauty, and show it directly to the reader, free and vivid, without the constraints of the “cage”.^4 Another similarity lies in a sense of artificial and “correct” way to perceive beauty. Both authors touch upon this problematic in their works. Originally, in Forster’s (^3) As the title suggests, Forster’s essay “The Early Novels of Virginia Woolf” looks critically on her early works. He follows her development as a writer–stretching from her literary beginnings, which Forster criticises, to her experimental work which he identifies as a step in the right direction. (Forster, E. M.. “The Early Novels of Virginia Woolf”, Abinger Harvest. Penguin, 1967.) (^4) Another notable influence that turned Woolf away from the traditional form of writing had been the negative review of Night and Day written by Katherine Mansfield, with whom Woolf had a rather strange relationship. Mansfield claims about Night and Day that: “a novel in the tradition of the English novel. In the midst of our admiration it makes us feel old and chill.” (Mansfield, Katherine. “Review of Night and Day, Athenaeum”. 21 Nov 1919. taken from Majumdar, Robin and Allen Mc Laurin, editors. Virginia Woolf: The Critical Heritage. Routlege & Kegan Paul, 1975.) Further reading about the relationship of Woolf and Mansfield and her critical influence can be found in a biography written by Hermione Lee. (Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. Vintage, 1997.)
proving that modernist writing is quite successful in preserving beauty and not destroying it. 1.4. Other Influences Naturally, the influences of other individuals outside of Woolf’s primary circles need to be considered as well. One such was that of G. E. Moore whose philosophy had been an early influence on the members of the Bloomsbury Group. According to S. P. Rosenbaum, Moore is credited with converting Keynes and his friends to “a limited yet pure religion of love, beauty and truth” in much the same words that Keynes later uses to characterise The Bloomsbury Group. (48) There is one chapter in his Principia Ethica that is especially of importance for this thesis, “The Ideal”, that examines the relationship of beauty and goodness. (Moore 183-225) Other notable influences relevant to this thesis can be Wordsworth’s and Freud’s works that “associate creativity and culture with a masculine domain and the female body with matter”. (Humm 238) The differences and the contrast of the feminine and masculine–especially in relation to beauty and arts– constitute a notable part of the problematic that Woolf deals with in To the Lighthouse.
The previous chapter of this thesis shows that Woolf’s background deeply influenced her perception of beauty, helped her create a unique style of writing and caused a certain ambivalence of feelings when it comes to beauty. This is especially evident in To the Lighthouse and is going to be explored in the following chapter. To the Lighthouse turns out to be an ideal work for the analysis of the many shapes that beauty can have for a number of reasons. First is the deep autobiographical element of the work as Woolf explores her relationship with her parents. Through the character of Mrs Ramsay, who evidently
represents Julia Stephen, Woolf deals with her mother’s beauty and the reaction to it and offers the reader an unexpected point of view in which she describes beauty as sometimes not necessarily a positive quality. Secondly, through the character of Lily Briscoe, Woolf explores visual arts, its forms and personal meanings it can carry, and manages to implement there the new developments of the art form that were happening in her real life. This is contrasted with literature, presented in this work as a male domain, which is shown in a way from which the reader feels that the traditional literature is a shallow vessel incapable of conveying beauty effectively. The third reason is connected to the nature of the work itself. Instead of heavily focusing on the narrative, the feelings and thoughts of the characters are being explored in great depth. Even though this is often the case in Woolf’s novels, the number of different depictions of beauty presented to the reader in To the Lighthouse – from the slightest nuances to rapturous outbursts–turn this book into an ideal work to be analysed in the pursuit of discovering a variety of the possible representations of beauty in Woolf’s work. It not only effectively proves that modernist writing is a suitable form to carry beauty, but extends the ways beauty can be perceived and written about. Due to the abstractness of the meaning of “beauty” and its inescapable subjectiveness it is rather hard to clearly state what exactly had been explored in terms of this analysis. It involves things that could stimulate emotional response of the characters, connected in a way to the aesthetic appreciation–namely physical beauty, inner qualities and both visual arts and literature. Unfortunately, it has to be admitted that different opinions on whether something should or should not be included in this analysis are inescapable. In order to make this analysis as clear as possible, it is best to consider beauty in a contrasting relation with another element.
emblems of patriarchal society.” (Modleski, Butler) Firstly, this works with a similar idea as the “golden mesh” does–the idea of beauty being something distracting and untrue. Second of all, beauty and the way it is perceived is deeply subjective and thus a social construct–a creation of patriarchal society as Modleski and Butler argue. Therefore Lily, a person discontented with the patronizing men, tries to look underneath the beauty and find something more authentic. ( To the Lighthouse 221) For her “beauty was not everything. Beauty had this penalty–it came too readily, came too completely. It stilled life–froze it.” ( To the Lighthouse 199) Lacking the physical beauty and perhaps feeling abandoned, Lily knew that there is more to people than that. She felt as if though the immediate effect that beauty has on the beholder is a negative one, because it distracts the people from the rest that there is to discover–thus giving her less chance to be noticed. When it comes to the relationship of beauty and truth in writing, it creates a problem that writer has to face. Woolf acknowledges this struggle on a number of occasions. One example can be found in her essay on Forster, where she notes that there is a need to choose between sincerity and sophistication. (“The Novels of E. M. Forster”) Quite a similar problematic is crucial in writing a biography–a genre very close to Woolf on account of her father’s work and her own interest in it^6. This problem of choosing between capturing the truth or beauty is especially relevant in fictional, or experimental biographies, because not only do they aim to capture the truth, but they try to achieve some literary value as well. A clear example can be seen in Woolf’s fictional biography Orlando. It is then up to each artist, whether it is better to choose between the two or try to find a middle ground. Since To the Lighthouse can be considered partly autobiographical as well, noticing the choices Woolf made regarding these terms is very (^6) Leslie Stephen had been the founding editor of The Dictionary of National Biography. Examples of Woolf’s biographical experiences are Roger Fry: A Biography (1940) or the fictional biographies Orlando: A Biography (1928) and Flush: A Biography (1933). (“History of the Dictionary of National Biography”. Oxford UP, 2018.)
important. Based on this logic, there should be a conflict in a work that deals with beauty so closely and yet tries to reflect Woolf’s reality in a way–the way To the Lighthouse did. However, Woolf had managed to stay in touch with the truth through an observer and a commentator that the character of Lily Briscoe can be seen as. As it has been mentioned earlier in this chapter, Lily is not blind to beauty in her pursuit of truth, but she is also always trying to look past it and reveal more that there is to people. 2.2. Beauty and Mood Beauty does not only occur in specific instances and people, but can be also viewed as something even more abstract and general. Due to the nature of To the Lighthouse beauty is almost omnipresent. In the first part, there is a mention of beauty on nearly every page of the work which creates a very specific atmosphere. The reason for this is the character of Mrs Ramsay. “She bore about with her, she could not help knowing it, the torch of her beauty; she carried it erect into any room that she entered”. ( To the Lighthouse 47) Considering that the first part of the book is heavily focused on her, there is no wonder that it has this specific feeling about it. However, this mood changes as the plot of the book moves forward–this is especially visible when one compares the first part of the work, “The Window”, with the rest of it. The second part, “Time Passes”, takes place after the death of Mrs Ramsay. The house is empty, the chapters are short and the atmosphere is rather gloomy. There is no one to carry “the torch” and there are only very rare instances of beauty. It returns briefly in the middle of this part with the character of Prue, Mrs Ramsay’s daughter. Inheriting her mother’s beauty, she could be the one to carry “the torch” next. Unfortunately, the same chapter that mentions her marriage and beauty also mentions her death–so the atmosphere remains the same. ( To the Lighthouse 148 - 149) Only in the last chapter of this part, which also marks the end of the war, does beauty fully return:
