A Comparison of Lily's Artifice and Mr. Ramsey's Work in To the Lighthouse In Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, the Lonely Philosophical Work Mr. Ramsey's is contrasted with Lily's all-encompassing paintings. Both Lily's and Mr. Ramsey's professions require sacrifice; Lily gives up her ideal married life while Mr. Ramsey asks his wife to give up her happiness to restore his. Through his work, Mr. Ramsey is able to build himself and appear as a strong male figure. Lily also finds strength in her art, rejecting the traditional "mother-woman" image and taking on a unique identity in her society. Mr. Ramsey and Lily's thought process is peculiar to their work; a philosopher must think in linear terms to arrive at a final conclusion while a painter must imagine and dream his art in more abstract symbols, shapes and images. As Mr. Ramsey grows up, he loses sight of his original intentions as a craftsman and ends up caring more about the immortality of his work than the content. Lily, on the other hand, focuses on the continuity and harmony that her paintings portray. Lily wants to capture the essence of life; Mr. Ramsey cannot do this because he cannot fully express his emotions without a conduit like Mrs. Ramsey. Without Ms. Ramsey, he is not a complete self, which causes his work to lack the original enlightenment it once contained. Mrs. Ramsey fuels Lily and Mr. Ramsey's work in different ways; Lily receives her "vision" (209) through Mrs. Ramsey's past maternal presence, and Mr. Ramsey needs her to energize his often failing spirit. Whether dealing with the artists themselves or others around them, martyrs are needed to build art... at the center of the paper... for the world. Mr. Ramsey, who needs the energy of another to generate his work, is ultimately left alone in the world. He wanders aimlessly looking for Mrs. Ramsey to help him generate new ideas but she is no longer there. Although he got exactly what he wanted, loneliness brings him despair and unhappiness; he cannot be complete without his wife by his side. Lily manages to free herself by completing the painting depicting mother and son. With the conclusion of this artwork, she finally has a matriarchal figure in her life and is free from the oppression of society's stereotypical female role. He describes this painting as “intimate” because it shares something very personal with Mrs. Ramsey: the ability to give life. Work cited Woolf, Virginia. At the lighthouse. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1927.