To the Lighthouse

After the midday meal, Mrs. Ramsay agrees to let her six-year-old son James go to the lighthouse, provided the weather is good enough to ensure the crossing from the mainland is safe. James Ramsey is overjoyed, and he imagines the journey as he cuts out images from a catalogue of military equipment. When Mr. Ramsay announces that the weather will not be good, James experiences a sudden desire to harm his father. As she knits a stocking for the lighthouse keeper’s son, Mrs. Ramsay responds to her husband’s nay-saying with impatience. Charles Tansley, a guest of the Ramsay’s who has joined their summer holiday on the Isle of Skye, echoes Mr. Ramsay’s assertion that the weather will be poor. Though Mrs. Ramsay is protective of Tansley, whom the other Ramsay children mock, she also wants to protect James’s dream.

In Mrs. Ramsay’s memory, her eight children explain why they dislike Tansley and his bitter tone. She recalls the problems and arguments her children create, lamenting their antagonistic tendencies. She thinks about her own attempts to be charitable to people in need.

Mrs. Ramsay asks Tansley to accompany her into town, where she has errands to run. He agrees, and they pass the elderly, opium-using poet Augustus Carmichael as he rests on the tennis lawn after lunch. With her black parasol aloft, Mrs. Ramsay walks alongside Tansley, telling him about Mr. Carmichael’s past, his marriage, and his failed ambitions as a philosopher. As they walk into town, they find themselves on the quay, and the view of the bay and the lighthouse impresses Mrs. Ramsay. After Mrs. Ramsay completes her jobs in town, they walk home, and Tansley is proud that he has been able to carry Mrs. Ramsay’s bag: “[S]he was the most beautiful person he had ever seen” (21).  

At the house, Mrs. Ramsay tries to reassure James and give him hope for the following day. She talks with James about his pictures and his catalog as she reflects on the collection of young men who, over the years, “parodied her husband” (23). As Mr. Ramsay sings a military march on the terrace, Mrs. Ramsay realizes that Tansley is no longer in Mr. Ramsay’s favor, and she spies Lily Briscoe, her neighbor, on the lawn.

As Lily paints, she is aware of Mr. Ramsay approaching her, waving his arms and shouting his military song. He passes her by, and she is relieved that he is not looking at her picture. Lily’s friend and neighbor William Bankes approaches her from the house.

Lily is not as alluring as Minta Doyle, another of the Ramsays’ guests, but Bankes sees Lily’s charms and feels she is “superior” to the beautiful Miss Doyle. They are both aware of Mr. Ramsay’s irritation at their presence during his song.

Although they have a daily walking routine, Lily is reluctant to walk with Bankes today, shifting her gaze from the colors and shapes of her painting. Lily reflects on her painting, her visions of color, her love for Mrs. Ramsay, and “her own inadequacy, her insignificance, keeping house for her father off the Brompton Road” (28).

As he stands with Lily, Mr. Bankes reflects on the nature of his friendship with Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay’s marriage altered their bond, and as a childless widower, Bankes feels they now have little in common. When Cam, the youngest Ramsay daughter, refuses to give Bankes a flower, he feels old and sad. Bankes thinks about the other seven Ramsay children, all of whom Lily loves. To Bankes, Mr. Ramsay’s children have both given Mr. Ramsay something and destroyed something, and he asks Lily her opinion on Mr. Ramsay’s eccentric habits. She expresses awe for his work as a philosopher and writer, thinking of a kitchen table and its “angular essences.” In her imagination, Lily compares Bankes to Mr. Ramsay, finding Bankes to be far superior a man than Mr. Ramsay. Suddenly, a shot rings out and starlings fly. Lily and Bankes encounter Mr. Ramsay, whose son Jasper is to blame for the disruption. Ramsay is emotional as he asserts, “Someone had blundered!” (36).

Mrs. Ramsay measures the stocking she is knitting against James’s leg, musing on the possibility that Lily and Bankes could marry one day. She notices the shabbiness of the room in which she knits, feeling annoyed that the doors are always left open.

Mrs. Ramsay’s sadness is rumored to have been caused by an “earlier lover” or some other unknown catalyst. She is silent on the topic. Bankes reflects on the fact that Mrs. Ramsay is unaware of her beauty. She speaks gently to James, suggesting they cut out another picture.

Mrs. Ramsay notices her husband’s enraged state, saying nothing to him. As Mr. Ramsay calms himself, he tickles his son’s leg with a twig, and James, “[h]ating his father” (44), hears Mr. Ramsay claim that the trip to the lighthouse the following day will not take place. Mr. Ramsay becomes enraged again at the “irrationality” of his wife’s belief that the wind could change and make the trip possible. She falls silent at his lack of compassion, feeling that “[s]he was not good enough to tie his shoe strings” (46).

Mr. Ramsay goes outside as evening falls. In private, Ramsay is calm again. His mind, which is “splendid,” seems to him a failure as he is unable to go beyond a certain level of genius. As he stands in the garden, he asks himself how many men can “reach Z after all” (49), the pinnacle of knowledge, recognizing that his fame will not endure forever and that he will someday be extinct. He is distracted by thoughts of his wife and son, and he feels no one can blame him for being distracted from his work by their beauty. Ramsay is aware that his son “hate[s]” him, but he seeks sympathy from his wife anyway. She knits as she tries to reassure him, and James stands in between her knees as she comforts her husband and gives him strength.

Mr. Ramsay stands on the terrace, ruminating about “the predominance of the arts” (60) and walking eventually to the edge of the bay. As Mrs. Ramsay notices him standing on the lawn, she reflects that he is a man who is somewhat happy with his family life and his accomplishments, but who is also aware that “he had not done the thing that he might have done” (62).

As Lily puts away her brushes, she notices Mr. Ramsay walking towards her and Bankes. Bankes gazes in Mrs. Ramsay’s direction, revealing his love for her, and Lily looks at her painting, feeling disappointed and discouraged by her work. She remembers feeling negatively towards Mrs. Ramsay one night and wonders if a woman can adore another woman as uncritically as a man can adore a woman. Lily considers her unmarried status, reassuring herself that she has purpose. Taking care of her father and painting are meaningful acts, but Lily wonders if she will ever experience with Mrs. Ramsay the intimacy she craves.

Ramsay looks over Lily’s shoulder at her unfinished painting, and Lily agonizes. Bankes gestures towards a purple triangle on the painting, and Lily explains that it is an abstract tribute to Mrs. Ramsay and James. Lily stops trying to explain her work.

Minta Doyle and her paramour Paul Rayley are still out on their own, and Mrs. Ramsay hopes that Minta will not refuse Paul’s marriage proposal. She thinks of her children individually, their talents, and their unique qualities, wishing she could always have a baby in her arms. Mrs. Ramsay feels her children will never be as happy as they are at this moment in life, a thought that annoys her husband. She wishes her children never have to grow up and face the harsh realities of life. This wish motivates her interest in Minta’s marriage to Paul—a marriage will lead to children, who are the only truly happy beings on earth. As night falls, the light in the lighthouse appears, and James looks at it reluctantly as he goes inside with Mildred to get ready for supper.

Alone, Mrs. Ramsay continues to knit, repeating phrases to herself as the light from the lighthouse flashes. She realizes that they are all “in the hands of the Lord” (86) but grows irritated with her own insincerity and her lack of faith. As her husband walks past her, he notices her face and feels sad about the hardness of her beauty. Helpless, Ramsay blames himself for her unhappiness and regrets his surly attitude towards the trip to the lighthouse. As the light blinks and the sky darkens, Mrs. Ramsay feels a surge of happiness. Ramsay resolves not to discuss the lighthouse with her, choosing instead to leave her “in her beauty, in her sadness” (89).