Throughout the literature the ideology of the society the author lived in is evident in the text. This can result in certain groups within a text being empowered while other groups are marginalized and constrained by the social restrictions placed on them by ideology. In the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Woolf shows us an awareness of gender politics during 1920s Britain by subverting traditional gender roles but at the same time naturalizing notions of class causing the limitation of certain groups. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the novel Woolf subverts the patriarchal representation of feminism with the character of Lily Brascoe. Lily is constructed as an independent character who challenges ingrained beliefs about how a woman should behave. She does this through her actions in a different style despite Mr. Tansley's statement that "women can't write, women can't paint" and refuses to marry even though it was a popular belief that all women should marry "since an unmarried woman has lost the best of life¹ . Lily on the other hand thought that 'she didn't need to get married, thank goodness she didn't need to suffer that degradation. Woolf applauds this attitude, since at the end of the novel, Lily is one of the few characters who has achieved fulfillment or, in her case, completion of a painting begun ten years earlier However, although Lily's character and her decisions are applauded in In the text, Lily can only have such an attitude because of her status. of a member of the richer class. In the novel, the class is seen more as a benign structure for the common good than as a structure in which members of the upper classes are given better chances in life. As a result, the class system is not examined in the text, although gender roles are. Lily was only able to make the decisions she made because she had the financial means to support herself in her free time. Otherwise she would have been forced to marry or take a job as a housekeeper. It is in this way that the richer classes are privileged by their class. Mrs. Ramsay was also privileged by her class. Although she did not subvert gender roles, she was instead a model wife who did in every way what the dominant ideology imposed on her. She was constantly there to provide support to her husband, help the disadvantaged, and be a loving mother to her children. However, he could only do so because he was from an upper class and did not need to work to support his family. However, Mrs. Ramsay's character is contrasted with that of Lily Briscoe in their actions in fulfilling the gender roles expected of them. Although Mrs. Ramsay is not openly criticized by the text, she can be considered too generous and willing to immerse herself in the needs of others by being like a "fountain". This can be seen as one of the reasons for his early death. Mr. Tansley is another character who found himself negatively affected by class constraints. He was from the working class, but was trying to be accepted as an intellectual. It was for this reason that he revered Mr Ramsay's work and was invited to the cottage with them, but as a character he was criticized for his attitudes towards the lower classes. Even the children criticized him: "He didn't know how to play cricket, he hit, he mixed." Yet cricket in those days was a game played by the wealthier classes and consequently, due to his lower social background, Charles Tansley was criticized for not being good enough.