In To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf bases her exploration of consciousness on the principle that men and women perceive the world in very different ways. However, Woolf believes that creativity can (and should) transcend gender boundaries. Life and work are incredibly fragile, but art, she believes, is the way to make sense of one's life in a world without order or meaning. “Nothing stays, everything changes,” muses Lily Briscoe as she mourns Mrs. Ramsay. “But no words, no paint.” (264) The climax of the novel depends on the main artist figures, Lily and Augustus Carmichael, to bring together male and female creativity, thereby uniting intellect and emotion. As Vivian Gornick would later argue in The End of the Romance Novel, Woolf replaced romantic love with a more powerful force: the creative impulse. Although Woolf feels great affection for the novel's main female characters, Lily Briscoe and Mrs. Ramsay, they symbolize the changing roles of women in light of this break with romantic love. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get the original essay The adult male characters in To the Lighthouse are strictly analytical men, philosophers and scientists (with the exception of Mr. Carmichael, the poet). Mr. Ramsay, who traces knowledge like the letters of the alphabet, is so obsessed with his own insecurities and the ephemeral nature of his work that it has become unbearable. (He wanted something, he wanted what she had always struggled to give him, he wanted her to tell him that she loved him. And that, no, she couldn't do that... heartless woman, he called her; she never told him she loved him But that wasn't the case It's just that she could never say what she felt. 123-124]) Charles Tansley (a student of Mr. Ramsay) and William Bankes (a botanist). are both unwavering in their opinions and criticisms of Lily's painting (and it will never be seen; it will never even be hung, and Mr. Tansley whispered in her ear: "Women can't paint, women cannot write... [48]). The male characters attempt to create order in life in the most reductive way possible: Tansley's cynical statements, Mr. Ramsay's disconnected poetics, or impersonal images (often in reference to abstract concepts like female labor by Mr. Woolf). the characters, however, have a more intuitive outlook on life. Mrs. Ramsay is honored above all as the ultimate mother figure: beautiful, selfless and caring. Her greatest desire is to bring people together: to see her children and friends get married (to create more mothers and children!) or to appease her guests with the perfect dinner. Lily Briscoe, on the other hand, is a "free spirit": an artist who does not want to marry, whose life's work is to transform her private vision into art. For Lily, as for Virginia Woolf, art is a means of creating order in an uncertain world. It would be easy to immediately label Mrs. Ramsay as old-fashioned and Lily Briscoe as the New Woman, but they are two extremely complex characters. . Mrs. Ramsay's maternal aspect does not necessarily make her a submissive woman, indeed, her assurance that her husband needs her has a gently superior tone, she believes that men are useless without women (Indeed , she had all other sexual relations under her protection [6]). And while this belief echoes Mr. Ramsey's philosophy, To the Lighthouse suggests that men's cold and often brutal behavior is based on their insecurity and constant need for reassurance. However,)..