Virginia Woolfs To The Lighthouse †Role of Wife and Mother Essay

 To the Lighthouse Role of Wife and Mother    Woolf portrays the character of Mrs. Ramsay as a self sacrificing woman and mother as defined through her interactions with work force Charles Tansley, Mr. Carmichael, Paul, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Ramsay, and James. During Mrs. Ramsays lifetime she is admired by most of these men, and is continually striving to be esteemed by all of them, at any sacrifice to herself. Although there is chastity in Mrs. Ramsay, not unselfishly given, there are also rising questions of this representation of mother by Woolf, primarily put forth through the characters of Lily and Mrs. Ramsays daughters. In thinking about herself as a mother, Mrs. Ramsay says that, She often felt she was nothing but a sponge sopped full of human emotions.(p.32) She is the person responsible for conciliate the worries of her husband and caring for the needs of her children, not to mention the stray people, mostly men, for whom she cares. In this particular paragra ph, she defines what is to be a woman, wife, and mother in England at the lineage of the centu...