The representation of Dominance and Submissiveness in Virginia Woolf’s (1927) To the Lighthouse

Abstract

The issue of dominance and submissiveness in Virginia Woolf’s (1927) To The Lighthouse will be the center of this study because of a number of reasons. Virginia Woolf shows an interesting mixture composed of governing and subservient figures in her novels. These first ones are represented mainly by men such as Mr. Ramsay, and the second ones, by women such as Mrs. Ramsay. The creation of this dichotomy is clearly influenced by the Post-Victorian environment in which Woolf grew up and wrote. There is an innovative way to present us these characters because she shows us the reality of dominance and obedience in a sarcastic way, that is, by saying something when she wants to state the opposite. Virginia Woolf’s novels are characterized by the presence of governing and subservient protagonists. This happens due to the context in which she created her novels, that is, the Post Victorian period. Nevertheless, there is an attempt to balance these two complementary forces, dominant and submissive, in order to criticize the established order. She did it in a subtle way, though; the social conventions at that period prevented her from going any further. The aim of this essay will be to discover the element that makes dominance and submission to be apparent in the characters, this key element could be the post- Victorian society or a personal contribution of the author, specifically a modern strategy, to change society from the individual rather than system. This work will be a contribution in the sense that as a starting hypothesis is that dominant and submissive figures in Woolf’s novels are presented in a non-traditional fashion. Therefore, one of the contributions of exploring these seemingly ascendant and passive representations would be to encourage a more realistic approach to characters, leaving aside stereotypical notions. Another contribution of this study, which lies on the examination of artistic and aesthetic motivations, is related to aesthetic purposes of the author. However, these are treated in an innovative way, not explaining much about their nature with practical language, but using rhetoric and poetic resources. Finally, it is important to relate these dichotomies to Woolf’s Modernism.