Transcending Death in To the Lighthouse
             The greatest obstacle to identifying a purpose for human life is the inevitability of
             death. Why should a human being strive for any goal when death will always be the final
             result of his striving, and after death he will be oblivious to any positive or negative effects
             of his lifetime actions? Virginia Woolf tackles this dilemma in her novel To the Lighthouse
             by presenting characters who attempt to transcend death either through accomplishments
             in art and science, or by nurturing other human beings. Mr. Ramsay and Charles Tansley
             take the path of intellectual accomplishment; Mrs. Ramsay represents the path of human
             nurturing. Although the characters derive some comfort from their efforts to transcend
             death, they are also tormented by the fear that they will not succeed in their strivings, and
             come to doubt that successful transcendence is even possible. Woolf never resolves this
             conflict in the novel. Instead, she maintains an ambivalence, illustrating both the benefits
             and the pitfalls of the two transcendence strategies.
             The dilemma of transcending death has traditionally been answered through belief
             in a God who can grant salvation. Christianity promises its believers that if they strive for
             salvation, they can avoid death and enjoy eternal life. To the Lighthouse is distinctly
             modern in that God is rejected outright: "How could any Lord have made this world?"
             Mrs. Ramsay asks herself, concluding that the world is too full of suffering to have been
             created by a divine savior (64). None of the other characters base their hopes for
             transcending death on divine salvation either; they consistently strive for results in this
             To the Lighthouse includes two characters who attempt to transcend death through
             intellectual accomplishments: Mr. Ramsay and Charles Tansley, both of whom are
             philosophers. The predominance of intellectu...