Sheep in Woolf’s Clothing: Virginia Woolf’s Ovine Ontology in To the Lighthouse

Abstract

This article analyzes writing from both Virginia Woolf’s fiction and memoirs to investigate how the author’s recurrent use of images of horned ungulates—nonhuman animals like sheep, antelope, and other artiodactyls—yields a sophisticated family hierarchy within her novel, To the Lighthouse. Using a vital materialist framework, the analysis traces Woolf’s engagement with zoomorphism and artiodactyl imagery, revealing insights into the novel’s power dynamics and uncovering a new dimension of Woolf’s animal symbolism. Juxtaposing the recurring animal imagery in Woolf’s fiction and journals with these animals’ real-life analogues and their scientific descriptions reveals how Woolf’s creative representations are informed by biological contexts. This approach is enhanced by placing the organisms within phylogenetic trees that illustrate their histories and the relationships between species. This article argues that understanding Woolf’s imagination of animals is key to comprehending her use of symbols beyond semiotics.