Characters in To the Lighthouse

Lily Briscoe

A young painter staying with the Ramsays, struggling for years to finish a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay and James on the lawn.

Mrs. Ramsay (To the Lighthouse)

The warm, commanding centre of the Ramsay household, who draws guests and children into her orbit at the summer house on Skye.

James Ramsay

The youngest Ramsay son, six years old in the first part, desperate to be taken to the lighthouse.

Paul Rayley

Minta Doyle

Charles Tansley

A prickly young philosophy student and admirer of Mr. Ramsay, who stays at the house as a guest.

William Bankes

Augustus Carmichael

An elderly visiting poet who keeps to himself, dozing on the lawn with a book of verse.

Andrew Ramsay

Jasper Ramsay

Roger Ramsay

Prue Ramsay

Rose Ramsay

Nancy Ramsay

Cam Ramsay

Mrs. McNab

The family's longtime charwoman, whose caretaking of the empty house carries the narration through the war years.

Mr. Ramsay Philosopher (To the Lighthouse)

A metaphysics professor and father of eight, anxious about his own intellectual standing and dependent on his wife's sympathy.