Faculty of philology department of english philology viktorija mi

4.2. The Temporal Perspective of Themes and Structure in the Novel 
 
There is enough evidence to claim that modernist narrative, as a semiotic representation of a 
group of events, meaningfully connected on the basis of particular spatial and temporal boundaries, 
uses a number of innovative signs and constructions that convey meaning and help the reader to 
understand the text. In Onega and Landa’ words (1996:133), in modern fiction, “the arrangement of 
scenes, intermediary episodes, important events, and transitions never ceases to modulate the 

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quantities and extensions. To these features are added anticipations and flashbacks, the interlinings 
that enable the memory of vast stretches of time to be included in brief narrative sequences, 
creating the effect of perspective depth, while breaking up chronology. We move even further away 
from a strict comparison between lengths of time when, to flashbacks, are added the time of 
remembering, the time of dreaming, and the time of reported dialogue, as in Virginia Woolf.“ 
Indeed, as fleetingly mentioned in the previous chapter, the structural peculiarities of the novel To 
the Lighthouse can serve as a hint leading the reader to a better understanding of the meaning 
conveyed in this book. This, in this chapter I will carry a more detailed analysis of the trivial 
structure and themes of the novel on the basis of the temporal perspective which exists throughout 
the book. According to Lee (1977:24), after the publication of this novel, “Woolf is often praised 
for sensitivity and lyricism and criticized for ineffectuality and preciousness.” Lee emphasizes the 
fact that in To the Lighthouse, vivid and convincing portraits of characters are created by means of 
the successful use of stream of consciousness narrative, nonlinear plot, and interior monologue, 
which convincingly identifies characters without the formal structure of chronological time and 
omniscient narration, as well as subtly depicted fictional reflection on the issues of mortality, 
subjectivity, and the passage of time. In Lee’s words (1977:28), “clearly Virginia Woolf inherits 
something of the Romantic idea of the potency of the imagination, working at a depth below the 
conscious mind. [...] But she can find no other way to express the truth of life and character than 
through natural images and physical perceptions”. Thus, this novel is thought to be a complex and 
poetic character study, incorporating all aspects of personality, including feelings, emotions, values, 
beliefs, plans, intentions, and other mental processes which inevitably occur in every human mind.
I would like to claim that the literary context of To the Lighthouse leads us to a better 
comprehension of its thematic and stylistic peculiarities. Indeed, it is worth remembering that this 
innovative novel was written and published during one of the most creative and innovative periods 
of development in English literary history. The period of Modernism gave rise to many remarkable 
and innovative literary works, such as Joyce’s Ulysses or T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. This was 
also a period of rapid intellectual development and intellectual experiments in life and art, thus, 
Woolf’s emphasis on the issues of consciousness is consistent with the scientific and psychological 
ideas posited by the majority of modernist philosophers, scientists, and artists. For instance, 
influenced by Sigmund Freud who explored theories of consciousness and subconsciousness, 
Virginia Woolf wrote a novel that mainly foregrounded the richness and complexity of mental 
interiority and rejected the significance of the external reality. Besides, I can adhere to Lee who 
adds (1977 :29) that “Virginia Woolf not only felt that the expression of the life of the mind through 

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physical images was the most accurate equivalent that art can make for reality; she also believed in 
the relationship between people and non – human objects as being life – enhancing”. 
Thus, to convey this sense of human consciousness, Woolf’s narrative departs from the 
traditional structure of the novel that is based on the logical linear delineation of the plot and 
focuses on highly innovative linguistic and literary devices in order to unveil the peculiarities of 
thoughts, such as stream of consciousness and FID, described in the previous chapters. It is obvious 
that the novel also focuses on the subjectivity of reality, experience, and time. Indeed, I would like 
to claim that To the Lighthouse represents a number of various intermingling perspectives and 
individual patterns of thought that, existing together, support and complement one another in a clear 
cohesive whole. As already stated in the first paragraphs of Chapter 4, structurally, the novel can be 
divided into three parts: The Window, Time Passes, and The Lighthouse. Each section is fragmented 
into certain stream of consciousness contributions from various narrators and covers a different 
period of time.
The first section of the novel, The Window, introduces the members of the Ramsay family 
and describes their complicated relationships. Lee believes that in this part of the book, the narrative 
mainly concentrates on the stream of consciousness of Mrs. Ramsay, the protagonist of the book. 
Interestingly, Ginger contradicts Lee’s opinion and suggests that here the events are seen not only 
through Mrs. Ramsay’s eyes, but rather through those of Woolf’s. That is how he explains his 
insights (1973: 128): “Virginia Woolf reveals the reactions of her characters by identifying herself 
with them, and leaves us to reconstruct those external events to which they respond. She does not 
appear in her own person, […], she tells us nothing about her characters but tries to show us 
everything”. Ginger thinks that in To the Lighthouse, Woolf aims to be nearer to her readers than to 
her characters and appeals to the readers’ intelligence rather than to subjectivity of her own 
emotions. Thus, the temporal setting of the first part of the novel serves as a symbolic frame that 
limitates characters’ activities and thoughts and provides a certain clearness of them so that the 
reader could learn the message hidden between the lines. According to Ginger (ibid.), Woolf’s 
depiction of time in the first section of the novel convincingly shows how its passing is conceived 
and reflected by the individual people: rational and calm Mr. Ramsay, his sensitive, romantic, and 
emotional wife, to enlist but some of the characters. Indeed, The Window is the shortest part of the 
book as it covers events of only one day. However, I think that in this part the reader learns the 
major information about the most important characters of the book and thus, is ready for making 
further judgement and remarks. To prove this, I would like to consider the following example from 
the analyzed novel describing Mr. Ramsay’s thoughts (1990): 

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(34) One could walk all day without meeting a soul. There was not a house scarcely, 
not a single village for miles on end. […]It sometimes seemed to him that in a little 
house out there, alone - he broke, sighing. He had no right. The father of eight