Who is Mrs. Ramsay?
Mrs. Ramsay is the uniting force in the first phase of the novel. She is not only beautiful but a kind-hearted lady, for she helps the family and the guests anchor under one ocean of social uniformity. She is charitable. But she is the mother of eight children. But she is given her due importance in the novel by Virginia Woolf as she is not only the central figure of it but is liked by almost every character.
A Unifying Anchor
The most striking quality of Mrs. Ramsay is her actions of uniting people. The novel is repeated with a variety of people who exhibit a variety of thoughts and instructions. This difference is equally present in the husband, wife, children and guests. Making a get together like the dinner scene does need an extra level of courage and understanding of the people and their psyche to establish an unbreakable link. We find her establishing a link between her children, especially James and their emotionally weak father for he rebukes them almost daily. We also see her uniting the scattered guests in the dinner scene, especially when Mr. Tansley taunts Lily Biscoe in particular and women in general.
A Match-Maker
It is evident that Mrs. Ramsay likes uniting people in different ways. One of them is her positively negative approach to marriage and marital life. She wants all men and women to be married but she notices shortcomings in her own marriage. She works her best to dilute her husband's stern words and she becomes embarrassed in public when Mr. Ramsay reads out some lines of poetry loudly. Returning to the subject of marriage, she wants to see Lily marrying Mr. Banks after seeing them walking together. But later, she even approves the idea of Lily to marry Charles Tansley. But the real case of her matchmaking occurs when she attempts a successful match-making between Paul and Minta. She is overjoyed and proud of doing so but this match making of her does not end well. In fact, Paul comes back to Mrs. Ramsay complaining to her about her unsuccessful union of them. But Mrs. Ramsay likes making a match for she wants people to live in harmony and peace.
Her Urbane Manners
Mrs. Ramsay shares the blood of an Italian family who is scattered in English families. This Italian family is known of having well-polished and urbane manners as compared to the sluggish English families. The family was reputed to spread its charm in the drawing-room through the psychological wit. Mrs. Ramsay is seen showcasing the very trait of her ancestors of throwing a grand gathering of guests and her family in the summer.
Her Kind and Sympathetic Nature
Kind-heartedness is the major quality of Mrs. Ramsay that sets her apart from the rest of the characters. She feels sympathetic towards the poor and the needy. For instance, she knits a pair of socks for the son of a poor keeper at the lighthouse. She knows that the keeper leads a life of loneliness and this present would add a moment of delight to him.
Her kind nature is equally bestowed upon her small children, Cam and James who are verbally slammed by their father. When James longs for a visit to the lighthouse, he is sternly prohibited from visiting it as "the weather would not be fine" that day. When James is psychologically mistreated by his father, it is only his mother that comforts him and promises him that they will go to the lighthouse.
Although Mr. Ramsay is a stern person, he still longs for sympathy that is duly helped out by his wife. As he stretches his arms, as a gesture to show his need of sympathy, these arms are grabbed by Mrs. Ramsay in order to fulfil his sympathetic needs.
Her Charming Figure
Mrs. Ramsay comes as one of the most charming figures of the novel. Thus shaping herself as a dominant and propelling personality.
Indeed, she had the whole of other sex under her protection. Towards her, their attitude was trustful and reverential.
The novel is filled up with many references to her beauty. One thinks that how does a mother of eight children can retain her beauty. But her physical charm might be used as a symbol for her good nature.
Her Everlasting Personality
Mrs. Ramsay dies in Part II but her personality finds its way into the hearts of the living people. Lily Biscoe is profoundly influenced by Mrs. Ramsay. In Part III, Lily is "haunted" by the everlasting personality of Mrs. Ramsay and she misses her a great deal. In fact, she cries for the deceased lady by calling her while painting "Mrs. Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay". Lily imagines her sitting on the table.
Conclusion
Although Mrs. Ramsay comes as a knitting thread for her family and the guests in the novel but Virginia Woolf portrays her not without the faults of women. For example, she could be easily flattered. The reason behind this might be her desire to be praised for the good deeds she accomplishes. Overall, Mrs. Ramsay marks herself as a central character due to her sympathetic and kind nature and her unique qualities. E. M. Frosters comments
She could seldom so portray a character that it was remembered afterwards on its own account, as Emma is remembered.
Joan Bennett concludes appropriately as below,
Mrs. Ramsay, Mrs. Dalloway, Eleanor Pargiter, each of the main personalities in Between the Acts , and many others from her books, inhabit the mind of the reader and enlarge the capacity for sympathy. It is sympathy rather than judgement that she invokes, her personages are apprehended rather than comprehended.
Sources and Suggested Readings
- http://myenglish62.blogspot.com/2016/12/character-sketch-of-mrs-ramsay-to.html
- https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/to-the-lighthouse/mrs-ramsay
- KM Critical Studies of To The Lighthouse - Page 192
- Lectures of Sir Faisal
