Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, Ruhr-University of Bochum (Philologie), course: Virginia Woolf, language: English, abstract: This term paper will deal with the discourse of marriage in "To the Lighthouse" and how it is criticised in the novel. A theoretical outline of the construct of marriage in the Victorian era will be presented in order to show how wives in particular were restricted by dominant gender roles of the Victorian era. In order to indicate that the ideology of Victorian marriage is refuted in the novel, the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay will be analysed in detail. Furthermore, the character Lily Briscoe will be illustrated as an antagonist of Victorian marriage ideology since she consciously decides against marriage.