A Room of Ones Own by Virginia Woolf - Term Paper Example

? “A Room of One’s Own A Critical Appreciation “A Room of One’s Own was written by Virginia Woolf for a lecture in Newnham and Girton Colleges. It is a feminist text, the subject being women and fiction. Woolf makes a historical survey of literature to support her argument that a woman with a room and money, like what man has been enjoying, would have made her equally well as a writer. A Judith Shakespeare in the days of Shakespeare would not have performed less than her brother, the greatest artist of all time. Unfortunately, she was recognized by her society only with sex consciousness. Therefore, Woolf’s long essay serves both as a historical evaluation of the role of women as writers and it also serves as a source of encouragement to all aspiring female writers. .Her insistence on the condition that woman’s independence, a room of her own, and a sound financial freedom for her can only create women writers attracts criticism. This paper is a critical evaluation of Woolf’s essay to examine whether her assertion that room and money alone can create woman writers makes any sense. However, before passing any judgment on her views a brief look at the content of her lecture is imperative Woolf is emphatic in her opinion that woman would have done better if she had the opportunities to prove her mettle as a writer. She says, “All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point--a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction” (Woolf, 1929, Part.1). In order to prove this she goes through the shelves of the British Library and comes out with various examples from the past. She wonders what the mothers in the past were doing. Either they were satisfied by playing the secondary roles in the family and the society or they were kept suppressed denying rooms to develop their faculties. A woman in the past, till nineteenth century, was a domestic animal; an old lady always seen wrapped in shawls. “I had earned a few pounds by addressing envelopes, reading to old ladies, making artificial flowers, teaching the alphabet to small children in a kindergarten. Such were the chief occupations that were open to women before 1918” laments Woolf (2). At the same time, all serious activities in life were the prerogatives of men. Woolf wonders why no woman was able to write anything when men were writing beautiful sonnets in the early days of literature. She says that it is mainly because literature is like a “spider’s web”, attached to life. Either life was altogether denied to woman or, like men, the choice to earn experience in life was denied to her. She quotes a historian, “the daughter who refused to marry the gentleman of her parent’s choice was liable to be locked up, beaten and flung about the room, without any shock being inflicted on public opinion” (3). This dominating nature of man can be seen reflected in the literature of the past. A look at the woman characters in Shakespeare, from Rosalind to Lady Macbeth, can show that this is true. In the entire literary history dominated by men, an Emily Bronte shines sometimes and proves her presence as a writer. Woolf undertakes a thorough survey of the past to trace the real reason for this unfortunate situation. She finds that “to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble, even up to the beginning of the nineteenth century” (3). Not only material difficulties, argues Woolf, but there were immaterial difficulties too. The worst one was the hostility coming from men. The general masculine opinion prevailing in the early days was that nothing could be expected of women intellectually. Apart from this discrimination a woman had to suffer because she was “snubbed, slapped, lectured and exhorted”, says Woolf (3). Man’s opposition to woman’s emancipation was so strong that the opposition becomes more interesting than the emancipation itself, points out Woolf. Thus it is abundantly clear, according to her, that woman never enjoyed a room and money of her own. Virginia Woolf then moves on to pose some fundamental questions. She asks whether sex in any way has to do anything with creativity. Though literature as a whole is a creative activity, Woolf takes only novel for discussion, as novel is very closer to truth and truth is rooted in experience: “novel has this correspondence to real life” (4). Therefore, the values discussed in the novel are those of real life. Here is a very vital point raised by Woolf: “it is obvious that the values of women differ very often from the values which have been made by the other sex; naturally, this is so. Yet it is the masculine values that prevail” (4). In fact, the natural process should be to think back through the mothers. Even if one tries to search in the works of men writers for fundamental values, one can only be disappointed, because, according to Woolf, nothing good for women can be found in the writers like Lamb, Browne, Thackeray, Newman, Sterne, Dickens and De Quincy. The critics may argue that there is enough life in them, but a woman cannot “find that fountain of perpetual life” in these writers (5). For this pitiable situation, Woolf says, “All those who have thought about a state of sex-conscious are to blame” (5). This is the most positive aspect of Woolf’s essay. Though it contains lengthy explanations and feminist arguments, it ends with a positive note. Woolf tries to prevail upon her female audience that though a sense of gender equality is essential, hostility towards the other sex is bad: “It is fatal to b a man or woman pure and simple, one must be woman-manly or man-womanly” (5). This takes the sting out of her extreme position as a feminist. Naomi Black writes that there “are no facts or figures, no sarcastic end notes or photographs that might disturb the male readers” (Naomi, 2004, p. 115). Woolf’s reasoning is genuine, her fight for woman’s emancipation is real, and her belief that truth as portrayed by man alone cannot be ultimate is also valid. A woman’s experience carries many fundamental truths about human nature, as such; man cannot be the sole custodian of truth and values. These are basic facts which prompted her to look back and present the female reality. However, she does not say what anyone should, particularly women. All that she says is “So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters” (Woolf, 5). Finally she removes all doubts likely to arise in the light of her long lecture. She sums up by saying that women “have had less intellectual freedom than the sons of Athenian slaves. Women, then, have not had a dog’s chance of writing poetry. That is why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one’s own” (6). The fact that women were treated like slaves, they had no intellectual opportunities, and that women were economically handicapped are true and all these might have contributed to women’s second place as writers in the history of literature. However, it is difficult to agree with her that once all these drawbacks are removed the world will get great writers like Shakespeare. Best literature in the world came from those who suffered very much, both physically and socially. The life of D. H. Lawrence was not a bed of roses, but his contribution to English fiction is par excellent. History of man is a slow process, and history gets written due to certain factors, natural and social, which are/were beyond man’s desires and calculations. Probably, evolution shows that it required time for women to seek or gain freedom. The introduction of contraceptives and the means of mobility enabled women to step out of the house and work independently. It is true that her domesticated situation was exploited by men in the past. Today, there is absolutely no resistance to woman’s freedom of any kind, leave alone that of a writer. Therefore, Woolf’s argument in favor of a woman’s room of her own should be seen in this light. When compared to Afro-American women’s social conditions, white women in Europe and America have had better conditions. Yet, some of the best novels came from these black women. Thus, Virginia Woolf’s views discussed in this paper are to be seen as a very positive development as far as the feminist movement is concerned. Let history prove whether a room of woman’s own will produce a successful Shakespeare. or not. Anne Fernald observes that “In her essays Woolf continually appeals to her mood, her opinion, her own knowledge” (Anne, 1994). Woolf’s final request to women, however, cannot be ignored by women: “I should implore you to remember your responsibilities, to be higher, more spiritual” (Woolf, 6). What the world needs is great writers, be it man or woman. Reference Black, Naomi (2004). Virginia Woolf as Feminist, Cornell University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=aSwRkiyyKGgC&pg=PA114&dq=a+room+of+one%27s+own+criticism&hl=en&ei=KqCeTZHGFsrnrAfWlNHyAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=a%20room%20of%20one%27s%20own%20criticism&f=false Fernald, Anne (1994). “A Room of One's Own,' personal criticism, and the essay”.Twentieth Century Literature, Summer, Woolf, Virginia (1929). “A Room of One’s Own”, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200791.txt Read More