Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
virginia woolf woman and fiction
virginia woolf woman and fiction
virginia woolf as a modernist essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: virginia woolf woman and fiction
Virginia Woolf’s novel “To the Lighthouse” (1992) can be considered as a modern quest narrative. In literature, a quest is often utilized as a plot device and can be described as a journey towards a goal. The journey is predominately carried out by the hero of the story who has to prevail over many complications to reach their target. There are four significant quests in the novel which are expressed by the four key characters; Mrs Ramsay, Mr Ramsay, James Ramsay and Lily Briscoe. The author, Virginia Woolf, also has her own quest evolving which subconsciously develops through Lily Briscoe. Compared to Woof’s modern narrative approach, Russian formalist scholar, Vladimir Propp, follows a traditional quest pattern, believing that there must only be one hero who prevails and that after the initial situation is depicted the tale takes a sequence of thirty-one functions (Propp 19). However, further investigation into “To the Lighthouse” (Woolf, 1992) does reveal some similarities between Propp and Woolf’s approaches to quest narratives.
In Part One of the novel, “The Window”, Mrs Ramsay is the central focus and most influential figure. Mrs Ramsay is the epitome of Victorianism and does not want the new order to emerge. She is on a quest to uphold and instil traditional Victorian ideals into the children, such as marriage and the role that the wife must assume by giving her husband constant reassurance and empathy; “…an unmarried woman has missed the best of her life” (Woolf 43). Mrs Ramsay’s quest pays particular attention to Lily Briscoe, much to Lily’s objection, who believes that the current Victorian system cannot persist. In regards to Vladimir Propp, the scholar who identified the narrative elements in Russian folk tales, hi...
... middle of paper ...
...st differing from the next. Virginia Woolf has followed a modern quest narrative in the novel, an innovative style of writing for her era and especially as a woman in her era. When compared to Russian formalist scholar, Vladimir Propp, the quest narrative is quite different with only few similarities between Woolf’s modern quest narrative and Propp’s traditional quest narrative. If Woolf was to follow Propp’s thirty-one functions of a quest it would alter the novel completely, as while Propp’s theory may be accurate when writing folk tales it is not an effective structure to follow for a modernistic and revolutionary novel such as “To the Lighthouse” (Woolf, 1992).
Works Cited
Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. American Folklore Society. United States of America, 2003.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Oxford University Press Inc. New York, 1992.
In the captivating, mysterious, and perplexing novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, the role of women is not only a vital but a pivotal aspect throughout the life and psychological journey of Dunstan Ramsay. Robertson Davies is famous for under-developing female characters in general; not fully creating female characters the audience can entirely understand, discover and engage, at least not to the same degree with which he develops male characters. Although the portrayal of female characters is limited, their true purpose may be much more significant than it initially appears:
The first narrative is Virginia Woolf, the famous author. She is one of the main women in this complex story. Woolf has a troublesome life. She has multiple thoughts of suicide and death. She is anorexic and caught in a marriage that is doomed. The first chapter by Cunningham tells of Woolf's suicide drowning in 1941. Cunningham tells of the demons within Woolf's head and the consequently her fatal death from listening to these voices. The novel then moves to the stories of two modern American women who are trying to make rewarding lives for themselves.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Women were expected to fulfill a purely domestic role and act merely as the property of their husbands – for instance, the women are known by their married titles ‘Mrs. Peters’, ‘Mrs. Hale’, thus are given very little personal individuality to reflect their restricted status. The Sherriff dismisses looking through the kitchen as it was typically seen as a women’s workplace and unimportant to men: “Nothing here but kitchen things”. This is ironic as it is where the women find the clues that lead to finding a motive for Mrs. Wright’s crime, which immediately shows that although Glaspell is writing to undermine women, she is belittling the male’s intelligence rather than the women and criticising male’s place within society and their
Both the protagonists, Jane and Mrs De Winter in Rebecca are characterised as naïve females who have encountered traumatic and demoralising events in their early years. Through the subsequence events of the plot, these females undertake a bildungsroman journey to adjust to high class society. The heroine in Rebecca has been constantly haunted by the ghost and ‘femme fatale’ figure of Maximillian’s deceased wife (Rebecca) and is unable to live up to society’s expectations. In contrast, Jane can appear to be left demoralised by her extended family, her Aunt and cousins, where she was abused, from a very young age, for standing up for herself. However, her punishment can be seen as a blessing because the time spent in the ‘red-room’ was the
Abrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Introduction by D.M. Hoare, Ph.D. London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1960
Woolf’s pathos to begin the story paints a picture in readers minds of what the
Woolf views society as a center for conflict for the characters in her novel. They struggle with the internal dilemma of whether they should be who they want to be or what everyone else wants them to be. In the novel Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf uses stream of consciousness to demonstrate the pressures and effects of society on different characters in the 1920’s. Using both Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith, Woolf reveals how two different realms of society, the upper class and the middle class, can place very similar pressures and produce very similar effects on the people who dwell within each.
Woolf empowers women writers by first exploring the nature of women and fiction, and then by incorporating notions of androgyny and individuality as it exists in a woman's experience as writer.
Narratives.” Studies In The Literary Imagination 29.1 (1996): 73. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2014.
A lighthouse is a structure that warns and navigates ships at night as they near land, creating specific signals for guidance. In Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse, the Lighthouse stands a monument to motivation for completion of long-term goals. Every character’s goals guides him or her through life, and the way that each person sees the world depends on goals they make. Some characters’ goals relate directly to the Lighthouse, others indirectly. Some goals abstractly relate to the Lighthouse. The omnipresent structure pours its guiding light over every character and every action.
In particular, two excerpts from Camus and Woolf offer a wealth of stylistic devices in connection with their intended themes. From The Stranger, the chosen passage tells of the main character's (Meursalt) confrontation with a threatening Arab and his resulting murder. The selection from To the Lighthouse describes the general passage of time, using a more poetic manner with its emphasis on description over plot.
Woolf presents three characters who embody three different gender roles. Mrs. Ramsay is the dutiful wife and mother. Mr. Ramsay is the domineering patriarch. Lily Briscoe is an independent, aspiring woman. Woolf sets these three roles in contrast with each other. She allows the reader to see the power and influence each character has. Mrs. Ramsay’s submissive and supportive nature arouses admiration. Mr. Ramsay’s condescending manner provokes animosity. Lily Briscoe’s independence enables her to find meaning and fulfillment in her life.