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The narrator forms half of the living couple who inhabit the haunted house. Readers receive very little concrete information about the narrator and must infer a great deal. Woolf does not give her narrator a name or even identify the narrator as male or female.
What readers can infer is that the narrator is an active reader, penciling notes in the margins of a book when the ghosts are distracting. The narrator is also curious, imaginative, and observant, reporting the ghosts’ movements, actions, and potential motivations as they travel throughout the house. The narrator has a partner, also unnamed and of an unspecified gender. Readers can infer that the two are a couple since they sleep in the same bed and share “the light in the heart” that the ghosts seek. However, the story does not indicate if they are married.
The narrator’s language suggests a high level of education and erudition. They speak lyrically, almost poetically, often incorporating vivid imagery and figurative language. Because of the setting in Sussex, readers also may infer that the narrator is English; however, this may not be the case. They may be of the leisure class since no mention is made of work. Instead, all readers know is what is immediately apparent of the narrator, who appears to read, write, sleep, and wander the house at any time of day in search of the ghosts. Woolf leaves much about the narrator to the reader’s imagination.
At times, readers might wonder if the narrator only imagines the ghosts since they are never seen and the narrator hears only their whispers. The ghosts’ restlessness mirrors the narrator’s restlessness. The ghosts’ devotion to each other reflects the living couple’s relationship. The ghosts may be figments of the narrator’s active imagination or a sign of mental illness. Then again, the narrator simply may be externalizing inner thoughts and feelings, perhaps crafting an elaborate metaphor with which to express ideas about human love.
