Mr. Ramsay's books, he is still self-conscious and needs support and applause because he is so dependent on it. Being so reliant on her support, he even requires it after her death: "Mr. Ramsay, stumbling along a passage one dark morning, stretched his arms out, but Mrs. Ramsay having died rather suddenly the night before, his arms, though stretched out, remained empty" (128).
             Mrs. Ramsey's love also has a destructive consequence for Tansley. She stimulates him, and the result is Mr. Ramsay's discard of him. She harms Tansley by encouraging him when she brings him to town with her. Her presence opens his mind and "for the first time in his life Charles Tansley felt an extraordinary pride. . . for he was walking with a beautiful woman" (14). When Mrs. Ramsay is disturbed to find that the sound of the men talking has ceased, she concludes "that poor Charles Tansley had been shed," which is of little account to her, for "if her husband required sacrifices (and indeed he did), she cheerfully offered up to him Charles Tansley" (16). Tansley is sacrificed because he is unable to maintain the
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