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Woolf portrays the house as if it were a living thing, explicitly symbolizing life and protection. When the wife dies and the husband boards up the house and leaves, the house goes dark and seems lifeless. When he returns, the house revives with a pulse that beats gladly. When the ghostly couple opens and closes the doors and windows, the sound is that of the house’s heartbeat. The pulse of the house repeats “safe, safe, safe” throughout the story.
Darkness in the story generally represents death and disappointment. When the wife dies, the husband seals up the house’s windows, making its rooms dark. When the living sleep, their eyes darken, and they are senseless, as if dead themselves. At one point in the story, a shadow crosses the carpet and silence is compared to “the deepest wells,” which are also known for their darkness. By carrying lanterns, the ghosts repel the darkness of death and hold onto their connection to life.
Light throughout the story symbolizes knowledge and love. The ghosts carry a lamp or lantern in their search for their treasure, a quest to rediscover love. That treasure is evasive, and when they find and subsequently lose it, the light fades. Sunbeams that “burned behind glass” suggest that the narrator is on the verge of understanding the ghosts’ search, but that understanding is blurred and out of reach. At the end of the story, the ghosts’ light opens the sleeper’s eyes, waking the narrator both literally and figuratively. The light finally brings understanding; the ghost’s treasure is revealed to be “the light in the heart.” The heart’s light is love. That love has also been the light that has guided the ghosts.
