Faculty of philology department of english philology viktorija mi

4.1. Psychological and Ideational Relations between Time and Space 
In the Discourse of the Novel
 
According to Lee (1977), To the Lighthouse is widely considered one of the most important 
literary works of the twentieth century. With this innovative novel, Woolf established herself as one 
of the leading writers of modernism. Indeed, the novel develops original literary techniques to 
reveal dramatic human experience in the modern shifting world and to disclose different views of 
inner and outer reality. On the surface, the writer here tells the story of the Ramsay family. 
However, I am sure that in its heart, the novel is a deep psychological study of time in which the 
writer reveals how humans are influenced by its endless passage. To illustrate this statement, I 
propose the following figure:

---

73 
Figure 6. Psychological and Ideational Layers of Portraying Reality in the Novel 
Figure 6. Psychological and Ideational Layers of Portraying Reality in the Novel 
In my opinion, the semantic core of the novel is based on the trivial understanding of time and 
space that can be subdivided into three interrelated layers. First of all, it is possible to speak about 
the historic context and natural time that the characters are surrounded by. The real or historical 
time in the novel can be understood in two ways: on the one hand, the action of the novel covers 
more than ten years, on the other hand, all the action fits into the temporal interval of one day, or 
twenty-four hours. The first and third chapters are composed as a number of moments, in which the 
various characters are occupied with daily activities - reading, knitting, painting, eating, sailing - 
giving them plenty of time for introspection and reflections. Significantly, the only real events, or 
action, in the book take place in the second part where ten years are summarized in a couple of 
pages: the Ramsays leave their house, later the reader learns about the death of Mrs. Ramsay and of 
her two children. It seems that the book divides time into passive and active periods, into the 
periods of simply being and actively participating in the processes of life. In my opinion, the 
descriptions of The Window and The Lighthouse are set up as mirror images, separated by time, and 
dominated by the presence and absence of Mrs. Ramsay. During the first part of the book there is 
talk of visiting the lighthouse, on a small island on the coast, an expedition marvelous for the 
children, especially for the youngest Ramsay’s son, James. Nevertheless, circumstances and the 
weather conditions prevent the family from going on this trip. Ten years later, the remaining family 
members do go to the lighthouse, but it is not the same as they had once imagined it. James, now 
being a teenager, realizes, comparing the lighthouse of his childhood to the one he is sailing 
towards, that everything in this world has a great deal more meanings and unknown connections 
than it seems at the first glance. Thus, there is enough evidence to claim that in To the Lighthouse 
Woolf skillfully shows how different characters, at different points in time, see things in different 
ways: for children, the lighthouse was similar to a fairytale, something fabulous, mystical, and 
HISTORY 
STORY
VISION 

---

74 
powerful. However, for their parents, the trip was an ordinary event which at the same time 
appealed to their forgotten dreams and plans, visions and flashbacks form their youth and invited 
them to look for the eternal meaning and the truth in life. 
What conclusions could we make from this temporal overview of the novel? I would like to 
claim that it is impossible to understand the meaning of this interestingly contracted and prolonged 
natural time without having discussed the second layer of the dimensions of time and space in the 
book, namely, the layer of story. The whole situation of the novel can be understood as a product of 
imagination, as it portrays the lives of people who stand as individual figures and as icons of certain 
universal values at the same time. I adhere to Lee (1977) who presupposes that Mrs. Ramsay, the 
main figure of the book, seems to represent romantic Victorian ideals combined with a questioning 
rebellious modernist human spirit, Mr. Ramsay, by comparison, stands for the victory of reason and 
empirical cognition of the surrounding world, while the painter Lily seems to embody the 
complicated nature of art and artist. Thus, having all these considerations taken into account, the 
whole temporal scope of the novel may be treated not only as a collection of single moments from 
people’s lives but as a universal symbol of time, namely, of the temporal span of human life. The 
duration of the action covers twenty four hours, from the evening up to the morning of the other 
day. Thus, having analyzed the suggestions made by Stevenson, Lee, and other critics, I adhere to 
the idea that from the temporal perspective, the novel may serve as a depiction of human life. The 
first chapter, thus, may be compared to the period of childhood and youth, when a person if full of 
future dreams and intentions, but is inexperienced and dependent on his family to seek for their 
fulfillment. What is more, grown up people usually admit recalling only a few moments or events 
from their early days, that is why this part of the novel also mainly consists of small pieces of 
experience, encounters, and daily activities.
Indeed, reality, when conceived of as a collection of fleeting moments, seems as chaotic and 
unpredictable. Each of the main characters struggles with this realization, and they all grasp for 
symbols of permanence and stability despite their understanding of the transience of experience. I 
believe that for Mrs. Ramsay, the steady stroke of the Lighthouse light represents stability and 
permanence. For this reason, she connects herself to it, unites herself with it, in the hope of gaining 
a similar sense of connection both to her present and to eternity. In fact, she seeks not only to unite 
herself with the permanent objects in the physical world, but also to unite her friends, family, and 
guests in the creation of lasting beauty. 
The second chapter may be compared to the period of adulthood when our consciousness, our 
perceptions, thoughts and ideas, that impose order on the world-a subjective order to be sure, but 
this is the power that makes people lead their lives. Indeed, this is the period of growing self– 

---

75 
respect and independence, or, in some case, of personal tragedy because of inability to shape 
oneself in the way one would like to. Thus, as seen from the second chapter in the book, the 
characters face cruelty and unpredictability of reality, meaninglessness of war and sorrow of loss, 
loneliness, and death. However, this period also serves as a time of reshaping the characters’ world 
understanding, reformulating values and growing inside. According to me, this is a story about a 
modernist man, who faces both the destructive force of innovations and the new possibilities to 
move further in spite of loss and alienation. 
I would like to claim that the third layer of temporality in the book is related to visions, 
something unreal, difficult to achieve, and at the same time mystical and scary. If we agree that this 
novel may serve as a symbolic chronology of human life, the last chapter then naturally depicts an 
elderly person’s situation and point of view. As the reader learns, towards the end of the novel, the 
characters reflect upon their experience in the past, compare the present with the past of ten years 
ago, and make the best of what’s left (they concentrate on finishing a painting, finally going to the 
lighthouse). In my opinion, his is the chapter of memories and nostalgia. The characters aim to 
make the final sense of the world. To my mind, towards the end of the novel, Woolf shows reality 
to be nothing but a shifting constellation of subjective experiences, of people alone with their 
thoughts, guarding themselves against the vast emptiness and chaos that surrounds them. The 
disintegration into chaos of life is shown most clearly in the ten year period when the family house 
stands empty. But it is also visible in those problematic passages of the last part which convey the 
empty space between people into which all human experience is threatened to disappear without 
any footnote like a tear into water. Consequently, I am convinced that all the trivial thoughts and 
perceptions that make up our consciousness can be seen as attempts to control that chaos. More than 
just trying to realistically describe human consciousness, Woolf shows human beings in an 
existential nakedness and simplicity: our trivial, subjective experience is all that we possess in this 
life, and no human being so far managed to reveal the chaotic meaning of existence which consists 
of the periodicity of life and death.