Mother, Daughter, Artist

Abstract

Perhaps one of the most intriguing figures of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse is Lily Briscoe. Her character is made special by the fact that she is an outsider to the Ramsay family and society in general. She is a lonely artist who not only makes observations but also raises questions throughout the novel concerning, among other things, the nature of art and representation, the impossibility of communication between people, and women’s role in society and their place as artists. Additionally, she serves as a linking figure since she is present at both occasions when the Ramsays and their guests spend some time together in the family’s seaside summer-house. Yet, it is her relationship with Mrs. Ramsay that makes her figure the most interesting. In my thesis I will focus on her character and her relationship with Mrs. Ramsay, and analyze how this relationship affects her in terms of intellectual and spiritual development; how it triggers a change from being an outsider to an “adopted” daughter of Mrs. Ramsay and finally becoming a mother figure herself to discover her fullfledged potential as an artist.