Virginia Woolf was a famous British modernist writer who lived in Britain in the early 1900's. This essay is actually a speech given by her to the The Women's Service League. In it, Virginia Woolf talks about the difficulties and obstacles that stand in the way of women writers.
Woolf begins the piece with talking about the path that she took to become a professional writer. She bought paper, a pen, and some ink, wrote a couple pages and, upon mailing it to a newspaper became a paid journalist. She bought a cat with the money. A Persian cat. A big fat Persian cat.
Woolf begins the piece with talking about the path that she took to become a professional writer. She bought paper, a pen, and some ink, wrote a couple pages and, upon mailing it to a newspaper became a paid journalist. She bought a cat with the money. A Persian cat. A big fat Persian cat.
This is where Virginia Woolf is quick to say that she is not that professional a writer as she didn't spend the money on bread, food, or rent. But a cat. A big fat Persian cat.
It's at this point that the first and most prominent of Woolf's personifications comes into play. She describes the presence of 'The Angel in the House'. This angel, she says, is an embodiment of all that is good, sweet, sacrificial, womanly and pure. This personification is, in fact, a satirical appropriation of a poem by Coventry Patmore about his wife. That poem was also titled 'The Angel in the House'. In it, Patmore describes his wife as being incredibly feminine pure and self-sacrificing. Virginia Woolf takes this character and personifies it in her speech.
The personification of such 'feminine graces' begin to haunt Woolf, seeping into her writing and her reviews, continuously telling her to retain her femininity. So Woolf kills her. Woolf kills this personification of what a woman should be. Woolf insists that the killing was in self defence - had she not killed the angel, the angel would have killed her [writing]. Virginia Woolf claims that 'killing the angel of the house' is an experience that every woman writer must have to become a professional writer.
Now Virginia Woolf comes to the second obstacle that she faced as a woman writer. Writers who are penning novels normally enjoy staying indoors or in a quiet environment, so as not to disturb them from the fantasy world they are weaving. This helps their imagination wander as far and as deep as possible. Woolf describes her second obstacle by likening her imagining to the following scenario:
A fisherman in deep slumber and dreams, holding his fishing line out over a large lake. The line raced through the fisherman's fingers, down to the darkest deepest abyss where the largest fish dwell. The fisherman was thrown from his slumber and dragged into the lake and dashed upon a rock.
What this extended metaphor is trying to say is that a woman is unable to speak (or write) about her passions as freely as men can. This slight imposition on their creative freedom can be disastrous for a writer who needs unadulterated and unregulated freedom to dream. In conclusion, Woolf says that there are many difficulties and obstacles that a woman must persevere through if she hopes to become a professional writer.
That's it.
Good luck.
At the end of the day, a few ladies succeeded as journalists among different callings because of the relative inexpensiveness connected with the work. In Professions for Women, the character understands that before she can acknowledge herself as an expert lady, in any case, she should first stand up to her evil spirits.
ReplyDeletebest essay writing service