Virginia Woolf is the female writer to introduce the character study through their mental condition instead of their actions, which is called the Stream of consciousness Technique To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. She hints at their inner thoughts through their monologue and their external actions. ‘’Stream of consciousness’’ is a technique to study the inner thoughts and conflicts of the characters. She employed this technique in the novel ‘’To the Lighthouse’’. She wants to depict and capture the inner reality of a character suffering from some agonistic event and is not capable of exercising that event.
The plot of the novel does not present events in a systematic order and sequence. In this novel, she has conveyed the story to a small group of folks so that she can elevate the thoughts of her characters. She builds a connection between their past, present and future. She has portrayed her characters in a manner that they exhibit their feelings with their inner thought. At the very start of the novel Virginia gives a description of the nature and accommodations of the characters. She introduced the sea as a symbolic object. She introduced many events with the connection of their thoughts. She uses to elaborate the thoughts of each and every character. She does so with such brilliance that we feel entreated in the thoughts of the character. She depicts their memories and reactions to a particular situation in the past and present. She shifts the narration over time throughout the play. She encourages the significance of their memories through the depiction of their minds. She seems to be critical about her idea of presenting her characters’ thoughts. She gets the reader perplexed that they are unable to hint at the actual setting of the event through the conversation. Stream of consciousness is about discussing the psychoanalytical aspects of the personality of the characters. The first part of the novel seems to be the childhood memories.
In the opening of the novel, a child is depicted as sitting on the floor in an anonymous location. There arises a question to be answered by someone. Stream of consciousness Technique To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf can be seen and this seems to be more reflective and genuine. Virginia Woolf presents the individual to be conscious of their thoughts and memories. She gives the concept of motherhood through the conversation between Mrs Ramsay and her daughters. She admires the beauty and power of her mother and seems to be following in her footsteps. Her second daughter seems to be different from her mother. Her elder daughter comments that ‘’what an extraordinary stroke of fortune that it was her, to have her. This was highlighted through the thinking of her daughter. Here Woolf depicts the conflict of two different characters and elaborates on their internal truth and feelings. Mrs Ramsey was portrayed as a potential figure by Virginia Woolf. We come to know about her wide experiences and ideas through her inner thoughts. She seems to have a more generalized view of life and the realities of the world. She bears the more responsible and responsive position in the course of the novel. Through her strong willpower, she overcomes the other characters. Virginia collects her thoughts to present before the readers in order to get them perplexed. The thoughts of the characters are to be presented with the collaboration of the particular past or present event.
The characters themselves are introduced with the help of some external agent. They themselves do not act to reveal the first impression. Ramsay is introduced to the readers with the help of the child posing to be sitting on the floor. There seems to be some kind of autobiographical touch in the novel. Through the depiction of some events, she is able to portray the past memories of her childhood. She knits all the events signifying their psychoanalytical aspects with reference to all characters.
The actions of the characters remain in the background of the novel and their thoughts are presented as a tool to portray their inner realities. They are judged by their thoughts and inner conflict instead of their external actions. She is interested to reveal the fact that somehow humans conceal their thoughts by their external acts. They only pretend to be superficial and hollow and do not reveal any internal conflict. These intentions and feelings seem to be exaggerated within the character’s mind. The development of these feelings is thus exerted through spontaneous action. The feelings seem to be violating Child James. Thus in maturity and adulthood, the experiences of the characters widened the range and capability of thinking of characters. This gives more complexity to the analytical view of Virginia Woolf. She analyzes the thoughts of the characters and presents them in a pattern before the readers.
She has tried to depict life as a moving force. She has presented it as a natural and hostile force. She develops the stream-of-consciousness technique in order to represent the internal lives of the characters. In the lighthouse, she introduces us only to a limited group of people who seems to have their own means to exercise. She depicts this through an event of a journey on which Ramsey’s family has been gone. She progresses the plot development from scene to scene. He has introduced every new aspect of the nature of the characters with the passage of every event. The lighthouse consists of three parts indicating the three main phases of life. Virginia Woolf has thus highlighted the changes with the change in time and places in the novel. She creates a unique effect in the change of their thoughts and characters with the passage of time. She has given the description of great change in their lives also passing from maturity and adulthood.
Stream of consciousness Technique to the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf comes up when Virginia Woolf thus presents the cross-section of the inner thoughts of her characters. She seems to penetrate the thoughts of the people. She employed this technique to evaluate the flow of thoughts of her characters. She introduces a particular sort of person in the novel. Her concern was not only to narrate the events of life but to record the consciousness of the mind of the characters. She seems to favour the new type of narration in the novel and rejects the conventional storytelling style.
Thus, Virginia Woolf is the female writer to introduces the character study through their mental condition instead of their actions which is called the Stream of consciousness Technique into the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.