Virginia Woolf Essay Research Paper It was

Virginia Woolf Essay, Research Paper

It was common for women writers to address the so-called woman question in

their works during the 19th and 20th centuries. This is true of one of the

well-known authors, Virginia Woolf, whose life spanned from the end of the

Victorian to the start of the modern era. She was born in 1882 to Leslie

Stephen, a man of prominence during the Victorian era, and she was primarily

self-educated in his vast library. Woolf was one of the artists that helped

start the famous Bloomsbury Group where many writers gathered to discuss their

belief in the importance of the arts in society at the time. In 1912 she married

Leonard Woolf, a member of the group as well as a remarkable supporter of her

writing ability. She published many novels and essays pertaining to women.s

issues, one being Mrs. Dalloway in 1925. Following that, she published two

well-acclaimed works, To the Lighthouse and A Room of Ones Own. She developed a

distinctive style that includes stream of consciousness and a poetic rhythm in a

prose form. She fought against traditional Aristotelian plot and created an

experimental style. She, in an essay on Modern fiction, wrote:

The writer seems constrained, not by his own free will but by some powerful

and unscrupulous tyrant who has him in thrall, to provide plot, to provide

comedy, tragedy, love interest, and an air of probability embalming the whole so

impeccable that if all his figures were to come to life they would find

themselves dressed down to the last button of their coats in the latest fashion

of the hour. The tyrant is obeyed; the novel is done to a turn. But sometimes,

more and more often as time goes by, we suspect a momentary doubt, a spasm of

rebellion, as the pages fill themselves in this customary way. Is life like

this. Must novels be like this.

Woolf was admired for her contributions to literary criticism. However, she

fell victim to a lifetime of mental illness and thus committed suicide in 1941.

Although Woolf is not alive today, her works are still highly acclaimed and

helped define feminism in the 20th century.

During the 19th century women.s roles where strongly defined by their

marriage. The idea was that women stay dependent on a man: first as a daughter

then as a wife. They fell into a self-effacing role that entailed almost

complete subordination to their husband, children, or even guest and friends.

Coventry Patmore conveys the popular sentiment of the time in his poem Angel in

the House. Patmore describes woman as a flower, delicate and meek, and sings

praises for these simple and delicate features. As much is said by what is not

written about the characteristics of a woman, such as her intellect or her

political insight. Interestingly Woolf later attacks the concept of the angel in

the house through her essay Professions for Women. After describing the angel as

.immensely charming. and .utterly unselfish. she claims to have

encountered the for-mentioned creature while writing a review for a novel by a

popular male author of that time. In order to review honestly without conceding

to the better graces fit for a woman of the time, she .caught her by the

throat. and did her best to kill the angel. Afterward Woolf claims, .Killing

the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer..

Women were to be the moral overseers of men. The man, who faced the secular

vulgarities of the world, was to have his moral anchor as woman. Sarah Stickney

Ellis, a popular essayist and educator of the mid 19th century wrote that in

women.s .hands the high and holy duty of cherishing and protecting the minor

morals of life, from whence springs all that is elevated in purpose and glorious

action.. Women were to be the lighthouse unto man, whom without would be

dashed upon the rocks of sedition.

Women of the 19th and early 20th century were often impeded from a scholastic

education. They usually depended upon friends or themselves for any education

beyond the domestic type. As stated earlier, even Woolf received her education

in her father.s elaborate library collection. Many women believed that if

education was equal to that of a man they could realize accomplishments equal to

man. Mary Wollstonecraft pleaded the case in her Vindication of the Rights of

Women attempting to convince, by proving women equal to men, that women deserve

an equal education. She argues, .If a woman be allowed to have an immortal

soul, she must have, as the employment of life, an understanding to improve..

Women.s roles beyond the home were almost non-existent except for factory

worker, seamstress or nun. Women were little more than domestic attendants and

child bearers in most cases. Many women including Florence Nightingale lamented

on the lack of opportunity for women. She writes, .The intercourse of man and

woman.how frivolou

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать