From a Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolff

What if Shakespeare had a sister, would she of had the same opportunities to make it as a writer? In order for a woman to write she must have a room of her own and enough money to survive. Woolf’s unconventional style speaks of women and fiction. “It would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare.” Woolf says even if Shakespeare had a sister she never would have had the same education or he same opportunities. Limited education to women and lack of opportunities they have. She does not only address the male and females conflict but also societies class system. Address men that say women don’t have ability to be artists. “Have you any notion of how many books are written about women in the course of one year? Have you any notion how many are written by men? Are you aware that you are, perhaps, the most discussed animal in the universe?” Asks, why are men writing about women if they “are not” threatened by them. She is very sassy throughout her lectures on her thoughts and how frustrating it was for a woman. Woolf wants women take away with them is freedom, freedom to write without consequences, free to be themselves. Virginia talks about women before her and how they went against the grain, went against everything they’ve been told. Reading Woolf’s work really kept bringing me back to a previous story we read, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. They share a lot of the same ideas and similar styles in expressing themselves.

One thought on “From a Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolff

  1. I agree with you about Woolf definitely reminded Wollstonecraft. Especially when Woolf asks if we (women) know that we were the most discussed “animals.” I think she didn’t mean that she thinks women as “animals” but she inferred that those works men did implied women as inferior. Similarly, Wollstonecraft criticized some of the famous men writers wrote women as inferior in their works.

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