Virginia Woolf’s to the Lighthouse. Interpretation of Beauty and Morality
To The Lighthouse Digest
When New Woman Lilly Briscoe is introduced in To the Lighthouse, she is seen painting a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay and her son James. Though the painting could be interpreted as one of the classical types of religious paintings—the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus—Lilly tries interpreting what she sees when looking at Mrs. Ramsay and James; not going for any realism, but looking at shapes similar to the style of Picasso. However, she’s reminded of an incident where academic Charles Tansely tells her that women cannot write nor paint. In the beginning, Lilly thinks of her painting as being remarkably bad. As the novel progresses, Lilly’s interpretation of beauty comes from her realization how they are many ways beauty can be seen, even if the interpretation can be from things not normally harmonious with each other.
Throughout the novel, the themes of morality and whether or not one will have a legacy are seen through Mr. Ramsay’s worry of not being an accomplished philosopher, as well as Lilly as she paints rather than following the advice of Mrs. Ramsay to get married. What further fuels her worry, along with anger, is Charles Tansely. Lilly hopes to connect elements that have no necessary relation in the world—nature and humanity. In the beginning, Lilly paints a mother and child; a classic form of painting dating back to the Renaissance. However, she has trouble trying to interpret the beauty Mrs. Ramsay exudes. Lilly’s impression of Mrs. Ramsay is compromised by a need to view her without densities and faults. Mrs. Ramsay is a mother, but she is discovered by the reader to question life—similarly to her husband—and her duty as a woman to comfort him when he needs to be; things that cannot be easily portrayed in a painting.
Lilly’s uneasiness of showing her painting in the first part of To the Lighthouse reveals a dedication to a more feminine artistic vision in a man’s world. She is modest about her work, a feminine trait, as the men along the yard interrupt her and nearly knock over her easel on more than one occasion. Lilly is entering a masculine role by partaking in an activity which could provide her own income, yet she struggles to find her voice when trying to replicate the way of famous artists of the time: Monet and Picasso. Yet, when she finishes her painting, she distinguishes herself away from a “man’s world” by declaring indifference if her painting will be praised in the future or kept in storage to never be seen again.
By the end of the novel, set after Mrs. Ramsay’s death, Lily is able to finish the painting she started before—her moment of clarity amidst her former confusion. No longer concerning herself over the declaration of Tansely, Lily decides to create her own artistic voice. In the end, she decides that her vision depends on balance of bringing together unrelated things into harmony. Art possibly stands as the only hope in a world destined for trying times, disappointment, loss, and change. While mourning Mrs. Ramsay’s death and painting on the lawn, Lily reflects that though everything creates, paint and art do not.
