Key Facts
full title · To the Lighthouse
author · Virginia Woolf
type of work · Novel
genre · Stream of consciousness
language · English
time and place written · 1926, London
date of first publication · 1927
publisher · Hogarth Press
narrator · The narrator is anonymous.
point of view · The narrator speaks in the third person and describes
the characters and actions subjectively, giving us insight into
the characters' feelings. The narrative switches constantly from
the perceptions of one character to those of the next.
tone · Elegiac, poetic, rhythmic, imaginative
tense · Past
setting (time) · The years immediately preceding and following World
War I
setting (place) · The Isle of Skye, in the Hebrides (a group of islands
west of Scotland)
protagonist · Although Mrs. Ramsay is the central focus of the beginning
of To the Lighthouse, the novel traces the development
of Lily Briscoe to the end, making it more accurate to describe
Lily as the protagonist.
major conflict · The common struggle that each of the characters faces
is to bring meaning and order to the chaos of life.
rising action · James's desire to journey to the lighthouse; Mr. Ramsay's
need to ask Mrs. Ramsay for sympathy; Charles Tansley's insistence
that women cannot paint or write; Lily Briscoe's stalled attempt
at her painting
climax · Mrs. Ramsay's dinner party
falling action · Mr. Ramsay's trip to the lighthouse with Cam and James;
Lily Briscoe's completion of her painting
themes · The transience of life and work; art as a means of
preservation; the subjective nature of reality; the restorative
effects of beauty
motifs · The differing behaviors of men and women; brackets
symbols · The lighthouse, Lily's painting, the Ramsays' house,
the sea, the boar's skull, the fruit basket
foreshadowing · James's initial desire and anxiety surrounding the
voyage to the lighthouse foreshadows the trip he makes a decade
later.
