The term artist refers to a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria. Artists such as Stephen Dedalus from James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," and Lily Briscoe from Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse," are both effected by how society interprets their art. These two characters embody their author's perspectives on what it means to grow and be a true artist. At the same time they receive contrasting messages from the society around them, which in turn affects how they view their own art.
Stephen and Lily as artists receive vastly different treatment from society, Stephen is confident whereas Lily is clearly not. Lily looks up to Mrs. Ramsey, but Mrs. Ramsey does not take Lily seriously and Lily knows that. "With her little Chinese eyes and her puckered up face, she would never marry; one could not take her painting very seriously" (Woolf 17). According to the people around her, Lily has one role in society and that is to get married and take care of her husband and her household. No one in Lily's life seems to encourage her the way that the people in Stephen's life encouraged him. .
Mr. Tansley is Lily's biggest critic and a firm nonbeliever "whispering in her ear, 'Women can't paint, women can't write.' (Woolf 48)". Lily recounts these comments made to her and they recur in her thoughts throughout the novel and clearly weigh heavily on her. Lily is constantly reminded of her duty to stop painting and to marry, whether she is explicitly instructed to do so or whether she recalls it from her thoughts. The consequence of this being that Lily lacks the confidence that Stephen had and feels very .
differently about her art than Stephen feels about his writing. In a way she is more unsure of herself, skeptical and never really secure with the idea that art is what she loves to do. Lily also seeks connections to the world, which surrounds her, where as Stephen does not, Stephen does not desire those connections because he is confident in his life choices and confident enough to .
