1. PAPER :- 9 THE MORDENIST ENGLISH
LITERATURE• Presented by :- Hitixa Goswami
• Class :- M. A. SEM :- 3
• Paper :- 9:- The mordenist English literature
• Beach :- 2019- 2021
• Topic :- Symbolism in ‘To the lighthouse’
• Submitted to :- S. B. Gardi Department of English Bhavnagar University
• Email :- hitixagoswami28@gamil. Com
2. INTRODUCTION
• To the lighthouse is a 1927 Novel by Virginia Woolf.
• Woolf is an English writer, considered one of the most importanted
Modernist 20th century author.
• Virginia Woolf “pushed the light of English language a little farther
against Darkness”.
• The Novel centres on the Ramsay family and their visits to the skye in
Scotland between 1910 and 1920
3. THE NOVEL DIVIDED INTO THREE
PARTS
•
• The window
• Time passes
• The lighthouse
4. WHAT IS SYMBOLISM?
• In the broadest sense a symbol is anything which signifies
something in this sense all words are symbols.
• Symbols are objects. Characters, figures or colors used to
represent abstract idea of concepts.
• In the symbol, the relation between the signifying item
and what is signifies is not a natural one, but entirely a
matters of social convention.
5. MORDENIST LITERATURE AND
SYMBOLISM
• In discussing literature, however, the term “ Symbol” is applied only to a
world or phrase that signifies an object or event.
• Tge modern period, in the decades after world war 1, was a notable Era of
Symbolism in literature.
• The general association of a peacock with period and of an Eagle with heroic
endeavor.
• The Rising sun with brith of something good.
• The setting sun with death, or surrender or failure.
6. FIVE IMPORTANT SYMBOLS IN ‘
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE’
1. The Lighthouse
2. The window
3. The sea
4. The Ramsay’s Summer House
5. Lily’s painting
7. THE LIGHTHOUSE
• The Lighthouse is stand alone on a rock with the huge construction.
• That light symbolized the ray of goodness .
• It is Symbolized like truth triumph over darkness.
• Different critic has explained critic has explained this symbol in a different
ways.
• The lighthouse is mystery, but it also concerns day – to – day living. It is at
once distant and at hand.
8. THE WINDOW
• The frequent use of the window in the novel shows that it
has a symbolic value.
• There are moments of both revaluation & integration and
Mrs. Ramsay experiences such moments.
• The window is a screen between reality & consciousness.
9. THE SEA
• The sea with its waves is to be heard throughout the novel. It
symbolises the eternal flux of time & life, in the midst of which
we can exist.
• The sea surrounds the Island on which the action takes place,
which suggest both the human race in general & the individual
personality.
• They have a dual aspact while identifying themselves more
closely with existence in it’s alternating serenity and anguish.
10. THE RAMSAY’S SUMMER HOUSE
• Phycological condition of the character.
• The Ramsay’s house is a stage where woolf
and her characters explain their beliefs and
observation.
• The house stands in for the collective
consciousness of these who enjoy in it.
11. LILY’S PAINTING
• Symbolizes woman’s struggle in patriarchal society.
• The process can be seen as not only can be seen as not
only a symbol of the artistic. Dilemma faced by the
modern artist, but specially a female artist.
• Lily’s makes the choice to establish her own artistic voice.
• Lily Briscoe’s painting it is victory of women in
patriarchal word.
12. CONCLUSION
The symbol of to the lighthouse reminds us that
regardless Of how our emotional seas may become, we
need only focus on the guiding light of the spiritual within
us. It is still a subject of debates. Still critics are
interpreting the symbols in different ways To the
lighthouse is a master piece of construction though
symbolisam it is an organic whole.
13. WORK SITED
• Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Vintage Classics, 2004.
• Woolf, Virginia, and Mark Hussey. To the Lighthouse. Orlando:
Harcourt, 2005. Print.
• Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. London: Marshall Cavendish,
1988. Print.
• Woolf, Virginia, To the lighthouse. United kingdom Hogarth
press, S. Mery 1927.
