In Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse, the tension between the intellectual and the emotional life is a central feature, and this tension is embodied by the relationship between Mr and Mrs Ramsay. They represent two fundamentally different categories of people; a fact that explains their opposing attitudes towards life and their different behaviour towards other people. The purpose of this essay is not only to show in what way Mr and Mrs Ramsay differ from each other as characters, but also how they, despite all their differences, desperately need one another in order to obtain some sense of balance and harmony within their lives. By focusing on the interaction between these two characters in general and on the differences between them in particular, one can get a rather clear picture of how they function as well as what they need and want out of life and each other.