Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The Immortal Love as Reflected in “A Haunted House” by Virginia Woolf
Posted on 11:40 PM by Anissa Dyah Pertiwi
Abstract
In this paper the writer tried
to analyze “A Haunted House” by Virginia Woolf. The purpose of this writing is
to analyze major intrinsic and extrinsic elements in the poem. Theories that
used are textual, contextual, and hyper textual by using close reading method. The
writer found that this poem has strong characters and is about the immortality
of love. To conclude, the characters in this story have such great influence to the immortality of love.
Keywords: A Haunted House, Virginia Woolf, Characters, Love
1.
Introduction
"A
Haunted House" is a story written by Virginia Woolf. It is about the ghostly couple who were wandering through the house looking for something. Through this story, Virginia Woolf tried to give a new definition of love, which is the immortality of love.
2.
Methodology
1. Analyzing
the characters in “A Haunted House”
2. Analyzing
the definition of love in “A Haunted House”
3.
Research
Object
The
objects of research are sorted into a material and formal object. Material
object in this study is “A Haunted House”
4.
Biography
and the story
This
section will discuss the biography of Virginia Woolf and the story.
4.1.
Biography of Virginia Woolf
VirginiaWoolf became famous for her nonlinear prose style, especially noted in her
novels Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. Born
into a privileged English household on January 25, 1882. Virginia Woolf was
raised by free-thinking parents. She began writing as a young girl and
published her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1915. Her nonlinear, free
form prose style inspired her peers and earned her much praise. She was also
known for her mood swings and bouts of deep depression. She committed suicide
in 1941, at the age of 59.
Virginia Woolf was raised in a remarkable household.
Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen, was an historian and author, and also one of
the most prominent figures in the golden age of mountaineering. Woolf’s mother,
Julia Prinsep Stephen (née Jackson), had been born in India and later served as
a model for several Pre-Raphaelite painters. She was also a nurse and wrote a
book on the profession. Woolf had three full siblings and four half-siblings;
both of her parents had been married and widowed before marrying each other.
The eight children lived under one roof at 22 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington.
Two of Woolf’s brothers had been educated at
Cambridge, but all the girls were taught at home and utilized the splendid
confines of the family’s lush Victorian library. Moreover, Woolf’s parents were
extremely well connected, both socially and artistically. Her father was a
friend to William Thackeray and George Henry Lewes, as well as many other noted
thinkers. Her mother’s aunt was the famous 19th century photographer Julia
Margaret Cameron. For these reasons and more, Virginia Woolf was ideally
situated to appreciate and experiment with the art of writing.
Throughout her career, Woolf spoke regularly at
colleges and universities, penned dramatic letters, wrote moving essays and
self-published a long list of short stories. By her mid-forties, she had
established herself as both an intellectual and an innovative thinker and
writer. Her ability to balance dream-like scenes with deeply tense plot lines
earned her incredible respect from peers and the public alike. Despite her
outward success, she continued to regularly suffer from bouts of depression and
dramatic mood swings.
Woolf's husband, Leonard, always at her side, was
quite aware of any signs that pointed to his wife’s internal demise. He saw, as
she was working on what would be her final manuscript (published posthumously),
Between the Acts, she was sinking into a bottomless pit. These seemingly
insurmountable facts motivated Woolf's decision to, on March 28, 1941, pull on
her overcoat, walk out into the River House and fill her pockets with stones.
As she waded into the water, the stream took her with it. The authorities found
her some three weeks later. Although her popularity decreased after World War
II, her stories rang true again for readers during the feminist movement of the
1970s. Woolf remains one of the most well-known authors of the 21st century.
4.2. The Story
Whatever
hour you woke there was a door shutting. From room to room they went, hand in
hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure—a ghostly couple.
“Here we
left it,” she said. And he added, “Oh, but here too!” “It’s upstairs,” she
murmured. “And in the garden,” he whispered “Quietly,” they said, “or we shall
wake them.”
But it
wasn’t that you woke us. Oh, no. “They’re looking for it; they’re drawing the
curtain,” one might say, and so read on a page or two. “Now they’ve found it,”
one would be certain, stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired of
reading, one might rise and see for oneself, the house all empty, the doors
standing open, only the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum of the
threshing machine sounding from the farm. “What did I come in here for? What
did I want to find?” My hands were empty. “Perhaps it’s upstairs then?” The
apples were in the loft. And so down again, the garden still as ever, only the
book had slipped into the grass.
But they had
found it in the drawing room. Not that one could ever see them. The window
panes reflected apples, reflected roses; all the leaves were green in the
glass. If they moved in the drawing room, the apple only turned its yellow
side. Yet, the moment after, if the door was opened, spread about the floor,
hung upon the walls, pendant from the ceiling—what? My hands were empty. The
shadow of a thrush crossed the carpet; from the deepest wells of silence the
wood pigeon drew its bubble of sound. “Safe, safe, safe,” the pulse of the house
beat softly. “The treasure buried; the room . . . ” the pulse stopped
short. Oh, was that the buried treasure?
A moment
later the light had faded. Out in the garden then? But the trees spun darkness
for a wandering beam of sun. So fine, so rare, coolly sunk beneath the surface
the beam I sought always burnt behind the glass. Death was the glass; death was
between us; coming to the woman first, hundreds of years ago, leaving the
house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened. He left it, left her,
went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the Southern sky; sought the
house, found it dropped beneath the Downs. “Safe, safe, safe,” the pulse of the
house beat gladly. “The Treasure yours.”
The wind
roars up the avenue. Trees stoop and bend this way and that. Moonbeams splash
and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp falls straight from the
window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering through the house, opening
the windows, whispering not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek their joy.
“Here we slept,” she says. And he adds, “Kisses
without number.” “Waking in the morning—” “Silver between the trees—”
“Upstairs—” “In the garden—” “When summer came—” “In winter snowtime—” The
doors go shutting far in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a
heart.
Nearer they come; cease at the
doorway. The wind falls, the rain slides silver down the glass. Our eyes
darken; we hear no steps beside us; we see no lady spread her ghostly cloak.
His hands shield the lantern. “Look,” he breathes. “Sound asleep. Love upon
their lips.”
Stooping, holding their silver lamp
above us, long they look and deeply. Long they pause. The wind drives
straightly; the flame stoops slightly. Wild beams of moonlight cross both floor
and wall, and, meeting, stain the faces bent; the faces pondering; the faces
that search the sleepers and seek their hidden joy
“Safe, safe, safe,” the heart of the
house beats proudly. “Long years—” he sighs. “Again you found me.” “Here,” she
murmurs, “sleeping; in the garden reading; laughing, rolling apples in the
loft. Here we left our treasure—” Stooping, their light lifts the lids upon my
eyes. “Safe! safe! safe!” the pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I cry
“Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart.”
5.
Discussion
Discussion
of “Elements” is focused on the aspect of characters and the immortality of
love
5.1.
Characters
a. A
ghostly couple
The main character of
this story is a ghostly couple. The ghostly couple were wandering a house to
look for something.
Whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting. From room to room they
went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure—a ghostly couple.
(paragraph 1)
The narrator tells the
reader that there were ghostly couple in the house who were always coming every
night, walking though one room to another room, and looking for something. The
ghostly couple are actually husband and wife who were living in that house and died
long years ago. They were looking for something hidden in their house that they
believe as a precious treasure.
Death
was the glass; death was between us; coming to the woman first, hundreds of
years ago, leaving the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened.
He left it, left her, went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the
Southern sky; sought the house, found it dropped beneath the Downs. (paragraph
5)
b. A
Couple
Another characters in
this story are a wife and a husband. This couple live in the house. Every night,
they hear the voice of door shutting. They did not see anyone, so they were
sure that it was the ghostly couple who were wandering in the house.
But it wasn’t that you
woke us. Oh, no. (paragraph 3)
Stooping, holding their
silver lamp above us, long they look
and deeply. Long they pause. (paragraph 8)
The word ‘you’ and ‘they’ refers to the ghostly
couple, and the word ‘us’ refers to
the husband and the wife.
5.2.The
immortality of love
Through
“A Haunted House”, Virginia Woolf
wants to give a new definition of love. She wants to emphasize the meaning of
love as immortal by developing characters of ghost. Ghosts are believed as the
form of human after they died. Ghosts are invisible and untouchable, but for
some people, the existence of the ghost sometimes can be noticed.
Death
was the glass; death was between us; coming to the woman first, hundreds of
years ago, leaving the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened.
He left it, left her, went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the
Southern sky; sought the house, found it dropped beneath the Downs. (paragraph
5)
In
this story, the female ghost was dead hundreds of years ago. After the death of
the woman, the man left the house. He went North and East. He went to any
direction to forget the fact that his wife is already dead. He left the house
and his memory of his wife. Although the husband left everything behind him, he
cannot really forget his wife. He was still loving his wife as much as usual. It
can be seen in the story when the ghostly couple come back to the house looking
for something precious which is their love.
Wandering through the house, opening the
windows, whispering not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek their joy.
“Here we slept,” she says. And he adds, “Kisses without number.” “Waking
in the morning—” “Silver between the trees—” “Upstairs—” “In the garden—” “When
summer came—” “In winter snowtime—” The doors go shutting far in the distance,
gently knocking like the pulse of a heart. (paragraph 6)
It is not mentioned when was the
husband died, but hundreds of years later, the ghost of both of the husband and
wife come again to their house. The memory of their previous life is still kept
in their mind. They remember exactly where they were sleeping, how they were
loving each other, what they like to do in the garden when it was summer or
winter, and many other memories. It shows that the love between the ghostly
couple is immortal. Although they were already dead and hundreds of years had
gone by, but their love is still alive within their soul. That the precious
treasure they were looking for is love in their heart is the proof of the
immortality of love.
6.
Conclusion
“A
Haunted House” is a story about love.
The characters used in this story are also really supported the meaning of love
that Virginia Woolf wanted to state
through this story. Virginia Woolf is also a brilliant writer because she can
give such different perspective of love. Although she used scary characters
which are ghosts, the story is not scary. The story is rather beautiful than
scary, and the characters perfectly building up the feeling of the story. After reading this
story, the reader will get new definition of love.
7.
References
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