From Victorian gender roles towards a new female identity

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature grade: 13 Bielefeld University course: Modernism language: English abstract: In my term paper I will firstly discuss traditional Victorian gender roles. I will begin with a description of Virginia Woolf's family. Subsequently Mrs. and Mr. Ramsay's characters are outlined and I will show that Virginia's parents served as their archetypes. In the next step I will illustrate that Lily Briscoe although she wants to dissociate from the Ramsays tries to come to terms with the family and seeks to take on their positive characteristics. To conclude I will argue that Virginia's family resembles the Ramsays very much.By writing To the Lighthouse Woolf wanted to liberate herself from the consequences of her mother's constrictive household 'Angel' role. Woolf needed to understand and respect her mother and her father's callous behaviour to create a new identity for herself and for every woman of her generation. Arisen from the time of feminist movement To the Lighthouse can still enlighten psychological processes on the family level in today's society.