My presentation on Mythical Pattern in To the Lighthouse.

1. Mythic patterns in ‘‘To the
Lighthouse’’
• Name: Sonal Baraiya
• Class: MA Sem-3
• Roll No.: 26
• Paper No.: 9- The Modernist Literature
• Submitted to: Smt. S.B. Gardi,
Department of English,
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University

2. ‘‘To the Lighthouse’’
-Virginia Woolf (1927)

3. What is Myth?
• A myth is a story handed
down through history, often
through oral tradition, that
explains or gives value to the
unknown.

4. Woolf’s concept
• Mrs. Ramsay and major female figures in
Pagan Myth
Zeus
Rhea
(mother)
Demeter
(wife)
Persephone
(daughter)

5. Woolf and critic
Two assertions
Knowingly
used myth
Subconscious
came out
• Woolf’s diary
• Read Jung, Freud,
and Frazer
• Known through the
members of the
Bloomsbury Group
• Third Position

6. Mrs. Ramsay resembles Rhea
Rhea Mrs. Ramsay

7. Myth of Rhea
• Wife of Cronos
• Has six children, three
boys and three girls
• Good and loving mother
• Youngest child- Zeus
• Opposes to his father-
Cronos and having
Oedipus complex
• Protected Zeus from
physical harm
Mrs. Ramsay
• Wife of Mr. Ramsay
• Has eight children, four
boys and four girls
• Good and loving mother
• Youngest child- James
• Opposes to his father-
Mr. Ramsay and having
Oedipus complex
• Protected James from
psychological wounds

8. Mrs. Ramsay resembles Demeter
Demeter Mrs. Ramsay

9. Demeter
• Symbols of
fruitfulness
• Opposed to
masculinity
• Known for sacrifices
and humbleness
• Characterized by
sorrow
• Relation with Kore
Mrs. Ramsay
• Mrs. Ramsay symbol of
fruitfulness
• Her complete femininity
• Sacrificed her own desire
and gave love and
sympathy
• Mrs. Ramsay’s sorrow is
neither so continuous
nor so specifically
focused
• Relationship between
Mrs. Ramsay and Lily

10. Oedipus Myth
• Sexual impulses toward mother
• Impulses of hatred and violence toward father
• James as Jocasta
• Jocasta- ‘‘What demon possessed him, her
youngest, her cherished?’’
• James- ‘‘Had there been an axe handy, or a
poker, any weapon that would have gashed a
hole in his father’s breast and killed him, there
and then, James would have seized it’’

11. ‘‘Fisherman and His Wife’’ and
‘‘To the lighthouse’’

12. • Greedy wife
• Insatiable demands is
not the wife but the
husband
• Cherishes needs of
other
• Sacrifices her own
desire
• Wounds on physical
body
• Result- Land became
desert
• Insatiable demands
• Craving sympathy and
love from Mrs. Ramsay
• Cherishes gift of love
• Sacrifices her own
desire and tried to fulfill
the desire of other
• Wounds on mental
body
• Result- House became
desert

13. Difference between Pagan Myth and
Christian Myth
• Mythical pattern – Women role in Pagan myth
is different from Christian myth.
• Pagan Myth- Women as a superior
• Christian Myth- Women as a inferior
• Pagan Myth- Having womb- powerful
• Aware about the lack
• Christian Myth not believed in lack

14. Works Cited
Blotner, Joseph L. "To the Lighthouse." Mythical
Pattern in to the lighthouse (1956): 547-562.

15. Thank You…