To the Lighthouseにおける子宮的発想

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タイトル別名
  • To the Lighthouse ニ オケル シキュウテキ ハッソウ
  • The Womb-based Way of Thinking in To the Lighthouse

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説明

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Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is governed, not by the male principle of causality in the traditional novel, but by the female principle of creation, or by the "wedge-shaped core of darkness" which will be a metaphor of womb. The womb-based way of thinking is symbolized by the "line" Lily draws in the center of her picture. This line, though interpreted in various ways, connects Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay and completes the creation of the eternal figure of marriage. Accordingly her picture, which is generally seen as the picture of Mrs. Ramsay, represents their conjugal love. The Ramsays represent an ideal "lover" for Lily, the spinster artist, so that she is eager to have "his" child or their picture. "How to connect, " or how to create love, is also the problem for the Ramsays. Their fundamental difference is reflected in the conflicting opinions about tomorrow's weather which will influence their trip to the lighthouse. Mrs. Ramsay's insistence on fine weather suggests her maternal love out of which she tries to protect and console the suffering people, while her husband's assertion of rainy weather indicates his love of truth for which he accepts any harsh fact as it is. In Part 1, Mrs. Ramsay makes a concession to her husband, going to him for love and admitting his opinion, whereas in Part 3, it is he who gives way to her, going to the lighthouse which his wife could not go to, and realizing her plan. It is not until Mr. Ramsay gets to the lighthouse that Lily can draw a line, connecting on the canvas the mutually loving man and wife despite their actual separation by death. Lily's drawing a line, Mrs. Ramsay's admission of wet weather, and Mr. Ramsay's arrival at the lighthouse are the outward signs that connote creation of love. Love is the light in the darkness of life, and the voyage to the lighthouse becomes the metaphor of the creation of love. The central characters make their spiritual voyages, riding on the dialectic rhythm of creation. At first, life flows destructively like waves and separates peopl

source:Bulletin of the Faculty of Education, Chiba University. II, Humanities and social sciences

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