The Life Of Virginia Woolf Essay Research

The Life Of Virginia Woolf Essay, Research Paper

Driven by uncontrollable circumctances and internal conflict, her life was cut short by suicide. One of the greatest female authors of all times, Virginia woolf, produced a body of writtings respected world wide. Her role in feminsim, along with the personal relationships in her life, influanced her literary. Virginias relationships throughout her life contributed not only to her literature, but the quality of her life as well. Perhaps the greatest influence in Virginia’s life is her mother, Julia Stephen. “Julia Stephen was the most arresting figure which her daughter [Virginia Woolf] tried to resurrect and preserve” (Gordon 4). Woolf, a manic-depressive, found herself constantly searching for approval. “Virginia needed her mother’s approval in order to ‘measure her own stature” (Bond 38). Battling with a sense of worthlessness, Virginia’s mother helped her temporarily rid herself of self-criticism and doubt. This however was short-lived. When Mrs. Stephen rejected Virginia, she felt her mother’s disapproval directly related to the quality of her writing. “Virginia Woolf could not bear to reread anything she had written… Mrs. Stephen’s rejection of Virginia may have been the paradigm of her failure to meet her own standards” (Bond 39). With the death of her mother Woolf used her novel, To the Lighthouse to “reconstruct and preserve” the memories that still remained. According to Woolf, “the character of Mrs. Ramsey in To the Lighthouse was modeled entirely upon that of her mother” (Bond 27). This helped Virginia in her closure when dealing with the loss and obsession with her mother. Although Virginia clung to the relationship with her mother, she favored her father, Leslie Stephen. Virginia resembled her father uncannily in character traits, in her writing and self-doubts, in her great and malicious sense of humor, in her marriage, in her frugality, in her fear of aging, and in her social consciousness. (Bond 59) They were both extremely outspoken while sparing no one’s feelings with their comments. Virginia and Leslie both had strong personalities and rapid mood changes. Woolf portrayed her father, like her mother, through characterization in To the Lighthouse. Mr. Ramsey captures her father as a man of “baffling mutability, a lightening switch from the most lovable of men, to a ‘famished wolfhound’ and back again” (Gordon 22). This portrayal of Leslie Stephens relates to his uncontrollable rages and mood swings. Leslie Stephen not only controlled Virginia’s mental development, but her intellectual development as well. He became his daughters’ mentor, and “trained her to become his intellectual aire” (Bond 60). Mr. Ramsey parallels Woolf’s father in “his need to pass his intellectual nature onto his children” (Gordon 26). Leslie Stephen saw no problem with his uncontrollable behavior. Virginia, on the other hand, found it infuriating. She established: In the creation of this character… the examination of Mr. Ramsey… is like a witness box account of the pros and cons of his [Leslie Stephens] behavior. (Gordon 22) Despite their differences, Virginia and her father formed a special bond not understood by anyone but each other. His insecurities and flaws became hers, which added to the already enormous struggles in her life. The relationship between the two influenced Virginia’s life, as well as her death. By watching her father die of a terminal illness, Virginia wrote: The waiting in intolerable… the worst of it is he is so tired and worn out, and wants to die… I shall do my best to ruin my constitution before I get to this age, so as to die quicker… I can not bear to become the wretch my father became when he reached my stage of life. (Bond 62). Virginia had great difficulties writing towards that end, and she feared her work would only continue to worsen with age. At the age of fifty-nine on the eve of her birthday, Virginia drowned herself. Her father’s death did not solely influence her suicide, but her identification with him was so strong that he was “instrumental in her choice of death” (Bond 62). While Virginia Woolf’s parents contributed greatly to her unstable life, her husband, Leonard, took on the responsibility of keeping her temporarily together. Leonard’s role as Virginia’s husband is a complicated one. He not only helped her through he manic-depressive episodes, but also worked to maintain her self-esteem. Because of Virginia’s mental state the marriage between the two endured many conflicts. Shortly after they were married, Virginia became ill, suffered numerous breakdowns, and attempted suicide. Their marriage resembled that of Virginia’s parents, in that both marriages “were based on supposed evidence of superiority-inferiority” (Bond 96). Virginia had trouble in expressing her anger, and because of this she took revenge out on Leonard. She not only refused to have sex with him, but she also psychologically abused him. Exhibited in Virginias’ literary work Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia, “like her ‘chaste’ heroine, Mrs. Dalloway, needed to refrain from sex with her husband in order to maintain her separateness” (Bond 96). Despite all of the turmoil, their marriage survived. The marriage became necessary for Virginia’s mental survival as well as the survival of her writing career, which Leonard was an asset to. He kept Virginia focused on her writing, and kept her sane for extended periods of time. He “experienced vicarious