『등대로』에 나타난 시간, 공간 그리고 상징

This essay aims to show the problem of how to imagine and how to present a world that combines finite and intinite truth, realizing the presence of a transcendent unity encompassing all spacial and temporal existence in Virginia Woolfs To the Lighthouse. In this novel, the fictional materials which Mrs. Woolf selects for analysis are severely delimited and organized into an obvious artistic pattern of time, space and symbol. Mrs. Woolf puts her main characters in time and space, and by using poetic symbols, make them the representations of the two opposing approaches to life. Mr. Ramsay represent the world of reason while Mrs. Ramsay one of imagination. Their conflict and harmony moves from one space ('The Window') to another space(''The Lighthouse"). The search for the reality of life becomes the goal of this novel on the structural sphere. The limit of space makes Mrs. Woolf use poetic imagery and memory in creating the main characters and the effects of time-passing. Mr. Ramsay is represented by the poetic images of "the beak of brass," "arid scimitar,' and "kitchen table." Mrs. Ramsay has the power to create order and harmony out of human relations, and her character is conveyed through the images of "a rain of energy," "a column of spray." The time of ten years is compressed into a few pages also by poetic images. The pattern of movement from a space to another is repeated in part III and coincides with the inner structure of tension, balance and search. And the private vision of life is articulated in the Lily's canvas. Mrs. Woolf conveys the mood and atmosphere of life by the mass and color of poetic imagery. Moreover, at the background of it, there is a consistent structure of time and space.