Intertextuality

Throughout the first sections of the novel, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem is constantly referred to as to give insight into Mr. Ramsay’s character and the way in which he views the world. In the latter sections of The Window, Mrs. Ramsay is reading to James from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. This specific intertextuality is important to the last few sections not only because the reading of mother to son is symbolic and proves to show Mrs. Ramsay’s continuing motherly traits but also because it gives the whole section an imaginary air. Sections are moved to and people are walking and thinking and talking (although mostly thinking to themselves, in their own heads) and all the while it seems as though Mrs. Ramsay is just sitting and reading while all is going on around her. More specifically, Mrs. Ramsay is reading a story of a fisherman, and when Mrs. Ramsay’s character becomes angry and short tempered with Mr. Ramsay, the story has a storm occur. Also, the way the fisherman interacts with his wife seems to be similar to the way the Ramsay parents interact. The wife is observant in the short phrases spoken about her in the story, like Mrs. Ramsay, and when the husband is hesitant, the wife is strong.
Out of all the texts to refer to in the story, and all of the phrases to choose from, Virginia Woolf carefully selects a specific fairy tale and lines from that fairy tale to emphasize the relationships and general air of the novel which she, herself, is writing.