In Virginia Woolf's modernist novel To the Lighthouse, she explores various themes, and the theme of female gender role is just one of them. Through her deployment of the stream of consciousness style, Woolf dives into the inner world of her characters and expresses these themes through their thoughts and feelings. In the novel, Woolf juxtaposes two images of women, one traditional and the other modern, which are represented by Mrs. Ramsay and Lily separately. This essay will argue that through exploration and portrayal of these two women, Woolf contrasts the different ideals and values of women and challenge the traditional gender role and vales.
Mrs. Ramsay is the representation of a traditional woman that withholds the Victorian ideal and values. She is the "angle in the house". To Mrs. Ramsay, the most important things are her husband and children. Right from the beginning of the novel Mrs. Ramsay is portrayed as a loving mother. Mrs. Ramsay conforms to the traditional role of women and she thinks women must marry, and take on the role of a mother eventually. She likes to play the role of a matchmaker, and at one point she thinks that William and Lily should marry each other, and she thinks that this would be an "admirable idea" (Woolf, 2000, p. 42). Although Ramsay acknowledges and even admires Lily Briscoe's independence, she does not seem to acknowledge Lily's art or her being an artist, and she thinks that for Lily or for any other women, marriage and family must come first. For this reason, to Mrs. Ramsay, Lily's independence is not compatible with the traditional role of a woman as wife and mother. It is evident that Mrs. Ramsay feels less worthy than her husband and she always sees herself in relation to her husband. "She did not like, even for a second, to feel finer than her husband; and further, could not bear not being entirely sure, when she spoke to him, of the truth of what she said" (Woolf, 2000, p.
