Write an objective summary of page 48 of A Room of One’s Own and determine a central idea introduced in the text. Cite evidence from the text to support the central idea you identify.
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-Sr. Ibtisam
Al Noor Literature 
“A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf describes an inciteful persona of women in the Shakespearean time period. She does so by creating a single individual to describe the general population of women at the time. As Judith Shakespeare displays talents and passion for the arts, she is bottled up in this Elizabethan era due to social constraints that keep her from pursuing her objectives. As she decides that she is by far extremely talented, it is too late. Her title in the house constricts her from leaving the house often nor developing her skills needed to pursue her dreams. As she yearns to please her father, she cannot agree with a forced arranged marriage, which drives her to run away to London where whe plans on acting. To her disappointment, the trials and tribulations she faces are mostly subjected to the stereotypes of the day that placed women under one rank that consisted of gender discrimination, to say the least. Soon enough, the same man that rejected her for labor in the theater took pity on her and started a family with her as he took her in. This though created its own dilemma for Judith now realizes that she has fit herself into the social construct of a woman- married in a home with a child and a husband instead of working and following one’s passion. She then buries her passion and talent along with herself six feet under when she kills herself. The key element that develops Woolf’s claim is mood, which creates the feeling the audience needs to thoroughly interpret that in order for women to start progressing in the very thing that has been denied to them for centuries, they must break social constructs that push barriers and make society give opportunity instead of taking it away-thus, providing the first step towards development and pursuit of talent in literature. Hence, the title “A Room of One’s Own,” which is interpreted based on the claim, creating the solution for women that they need opportunities such as going to college to flourish and break barriers.
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Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” illustrates the literary world if Shakespeare had a sister who wrote just as he had. During the Renaissance period-which was the climax of Shakespeare’s literary success-woman were expected to be housewives and education was not their given right. In the passage it states “But she was not sent to school. She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone of reading Horace and Virgil. She picked up a book now and then, one of her brother’s perhaps, and read a few pages. But then her parents came in and told her to mend the stockings or mind the stew and not moon about with books and papers.” Woolf is able in portraying the realistic image of what the life of fictional Shakespeare’s sister would be like if she has shown the same potential as him however, her talent were denied and scolded due to societal standards. Therefore, Virginia develops the central idea of the meager standards of woman and how they have been disregarded due to the shallow mindset that woman are less capable of being talented then men. Through the usage of the literary element characterization, one is able to detect and analyze the way in which a woman’s ambition and dreams are nothing but a complete jest. In the passage it states “ Like him, she had a taste for the theatre. She stood at the stage door; she wanted to act, she said. Men laughed in her face. The manager – a fat,looselipped man – guffawed. He bellowed something about poodles dancing and women acting – no woman, he said, could possibly be an actress.” Woolf is assertive in creating the image of woman in the society of the Renaissance and how even the sibling of a literary phenomenon would be taken as a laughingstock to her gender which completely highlights gender standard like shown in the following “ She cried out that marriage was hateful to her, and for that she was severely beaten by her father. Then he ceased to scold her. He begged her instead not to hurt him, not to shame him in this matter of her marriage.” Evident is the fact that she is simply expected to get married and sit at home when she has the ambition to go into theater and follow her dreams just as her brother has but is rejected, due to gender roles and status in society.
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11G1 #8
Throughout A Room of One’s Own, the narrator emphasizes the fact that women are treated unequally in her society and for that reason have produced less impressive works of writing than men. The narrator uses Judith to show how society represents women. Judith (female version of William) is just as talented as her brother William, but while his talents are recognized and encouraged by their family and the rest of their society, Judith’s are underestimated. The narrator invents Judith to prove that a woman as talented as Shakespeare could never have achieved such success because the way women are portrayed. Talent is an essential component of Shakespeare’s success, and even if Judith was as talented as him she’d still be viewed differently.
Basically all the attention was focused on him he was the one superior because his gender he had everything, then came his sister who is completely like him except when coming to her gender which discredits her writing she is viewed as inferior.
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11G1 Blog #7
In Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”, Woolf uses textual evidence and rhetoric to support her point of view that women of Shakespeare’s time who also were authors would not have been able to produce the same work. Rhetoric is a technique of using language effectively and persuasively in spoken or written form. It is an art of discourse, which studies and employs various methods to convince, influence, or please an audience. Virginia Woolf uses rhetoric within several parts of page 48. For example, Woolf uses rhetoric by extreme language such as “impossible”, “completely”, and “entirely” in order to strengthen her claim and also to place emphasis. Woolf’s claim tells us that it was not common for women to be writing works such as poems or plays, especially during the time of Shakespeare, suggesting that not only was it unpopular for women to be writing, but compared to Shakespeare, they’re basically irrelevant.
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In literary text, “A Room of One’s Own,” written by Virginia Woolf, the author initially presents a statement in which highlights that a woman could not have written any of the Shakespearean plays during that time. Through utilizing extreme diction such as “impossible” and “entirely” (p.48), the author provides an emphasis on this claim. She then proceeds to say “let me imagine, since facts are
so hard to come by” (p.48), this explains that the author so strongly believes the scenario of a woman writing Shakespearean plays is so absurd, that she has none other choice but to leave the circumstance up to her imagination since there could not possibly be any factual evidence to support it. Resultantly, she creates Judith Shakespeare, the imaginary sister of William of Shakespeare. The rest of the page alternatively though, presents a more in-depth perspective of what the life of Shakespeare may have been rather than Judith’s. She presents the “escapade[s] ” (p.48) of Shakespeare in which includes poaching rabbits, shooting deer, and courting and impregnating his wife too soon. These wild antics are what essentially had geared Shakespeare towards going to London as it states in the text, “That escapade sent him to seek his fortune in London.” (p.48) The reasoning of this may be that the term “fortune” refers to finances and that Shakespeare most probably had gone out searching for a job since he was likely financially unstable for having conceived a child too early. It was then, through his search for a job in London in which he discovered his affinity for the theatrical arts and then proceeded make a sort of living for himself out of it through his success in the acting field. The final line of the page then presents a shift in the situation as it quotes, “Meanwhile his extraordinarily gifted sister, let us suppose, remained at home.” This ultimately demonstrates the rather major contrasts of the probably lives of the two imaginary siblings. It presents one of William Shakespeare’s in which is chaotic and adventurous, and one image of Judith’s in which is likely dull since it is most probable all she did was stay at home as a result of the distinct roles of men and women prevalent in society during that time. Thus, this illustrates a potential central idea of the text due to the fact the story presents the contrasting lifestyles of the impulsive William Shakespeare as opposed to the more reserved Judith. This serves as a representation of the limits society during that age had placed on women, since they did not have the liberty of adhering to their will due to their confinement in their homes in order to preserve their reputation. Men, like William Shakespeare for example, did not have these limitations and thus made himself a successful career through exploration of London. Ultimately, this elemental concept of the text is apparent in the shift of scene where the author portrays the now prosperous life of Shakespeare, and the not-so-prosperous life of what would have possibly been of his sister’s if she were real.
(Clarification: We already know from the next line that she is adventurous as well, but due to her limitations as a result of gender roles, she can not give into her adventurous side. Thus, the term “reserved” in the end is more literal than it is an aspect of her personality since she is confined to her home mostly)
11G1_20
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“A room of one’s own” by Virginia Woolf develop’s a crucial subject of women and fiction, their isolation from access to eduction and personal right, where it’s now determined that men dominate. Woolf asserts the topic with the impossibility of women during the time of Shakespeare to produce the works of Shakespeare, however there could have been intellectual and imaginative women like him. There are no evidence to begin her story guideline with women and fiction, Woolf than creates a sister to Shakespeare, she is as adventurous and as imaginative.
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11g-1
A central idea the author is trying to establish is that women during the time of shakespeare could not have produced/ created the same work. the author uses strong emphasis and tone while describing the work ethics of then and now
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In Virginia Woolf’s essay, A room of one’s own on page 48, it sets a understanding of the people’s thoughts on women capabilities at that time in history. In this essay Virginia specifically explains how she thought that Shakespeare’s plays couldn’t of been written by His sister, Judith, because of how they looked at women as not being capable of coming up with a great written piece. An example in the essay is “Be that as it may, I could not help thinking, as I looked at the works of Shakespeare on the shelf, that the bishop was right at least in this, it would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any women to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare.(line 1-3)” This clearly demonstrates how Virginia Woolf shows the idea of a women from that time and she can rule out the probablility that if William did have a sister named Judith she wouldn’t have written the plays.
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In the article “A Room of One’s Own” written by Virginia Woolf the author is successful in portraying and developing a central idea to the reader. Virginia Woolf conveys the central idea of how women during the time period of Shakespeare (Elizabethan era) were prohibited to manufacture the same work as men. In the commence of the article the author’s language use helps the reader comprehend the central idea. Woolf uses words such as “completely” “impossible and “entirely” resulting in strong emphasis on her claim, which further portrays to the reader how important her claim is. “Let me imagine, since facts are so hard to come by, what would have happened had Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say.” Throughout this quote the author implies to the reader that she has to imagine a scenario in which Shakespeare had a sister for there weren’t facts about women throughout that specific time period, also portraying to the reader that her claim stands and women were treated with injustice in that time period.
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Nafisa Hoque:
Summary:
Virginia Woolf brings forth a fabricated concept in which Shakespeare is to have a sister, named Judith, who had lived during his time and had similar preferences and likings as Shakespeare. Much to Shakespeare’s predicament of having a child out of matrimony, he had sought a living in London. He garnered up pleasant renown by working in a theater, starting from the stage door as a door holder to the actual stage as an actor. The reputable renown he ascended with is what allowed him to network with other compeers and aristocrats in the realm of theater. In retrospect, Woolf introduces such a concept to set up a dichotomy. Woolf describes Judith with having of equal competence and ability as her brother, Shakespeare. Judith’s life comprises of “mending stockings or minding the stew.” Judith, is then, to be set off to marry a man. These standards is what makes up the life she doesn’t want to familiarize with, yet she is forced to do so, by what the peripheral society says to do.
Central Idea:
Woolf proposes a fictitious sister of Shakespeare’s (named Judith) to propagate the inequitable standards of society that girded Shakespeare’s time.
(When numbered from the line that says, “Be that as it may..” to the line that says, “…remained at home. She was as…”) Line 2 says the following, “…it would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare.” Woolf is putting forth an idea in which Shakespeare had a sister that lived during his time.” The following from line 10-13 sets up the substantial part of the central idea, “Very soon he got work in the theatre, became a successful actor, and lived at the hub of the universe, meeting everybody, knowing everybody, practising his art on the boards, exercising his wits in the streets, and even getting access to the palace of the queen. Meanwhile his extraordinarily gifted sister, let us suppose, remained at home. She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was.” From the given lines, one can extrapolate that Shakespeare had created incredible eminence and acclaim upon his name, while his sister could have garnered the same amount as what Shakespeare did. This is what ties in the central idea that was written above. Woolf, particularly, emphasizes this fictitious sister to show the capabilities of women during Shakespeare’s time, yet, they weren’t able to publicize their potential in the field of literature because of societal standards. This showcases unequivocal prejudice that was instilled within Shakespeare’s time.
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In the article ” A Room of One’s Own” written by Virginia Woolf the author is successful in portraying and developing a central idea to the reader. Virginia Woolf conveys the central idea of how women during the time period of Shakespeare (Elizabethan Era) were prohibited to manufacture the same work as men. In the commence of the article the author’s language use helps the reader comprehend the central idea. Woolf uses words such as “completely’ “impossible”and “entirely” resulting in strong emphasis on her claim, which further portrays to the reader how important her claim is. “Let me imagine, since facts are so hard to come by, what would have happened if Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say.” Throughout this quote the author implies to the reader that she has to imagine a scenario in which Shakespeare had a sister for there weren’t facts about women throughout that specific time period, also portraying to the reader that her claim stands and women were treated with injustice during that time period.
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In Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” , it discusses the fate of women through portraying the story of Shakespeare’s “sister.” The author thoroughly discusses the impact of Shakespeare’s life on Shakespeare’s sister. At the beginning of the story, Wolf sets out a scene of Shakespeare’s life in order to show the comparison of Shakespeare’s free will to his sister’s. As Wolf introduces the sister she informs the readers with her claim that , women at the time could have not produced the same work as men . She displays her expressive tone through using words such as “impossible”,”completely”, “entirely”. These portray her earnest belief that women have the same potential to be as successful as Shakespeare,however, this was limited by societal beliefs and values of women at the time. The idea of societal beliefs limiting women , was highlighted through her juxtaposition of Shakespeare and his sister: Judith. Wolf starts out by explaining Shakespeare’s life within a few lines to portray a short and sweet connotation . However, as she explains Judith’s life, she explains it with details to show the harsh and complex life that Judith leads. As it states “That escapade sent him to seek his fortune in London.” This quotation features the focal point of Shakespeare’s life. He had just started a family out of wedlock and needed to earn money to sustain his “family.” This almost portrays a kind of mockery in which Shakespeare obtained his needs through the easiest means possible. Contrary to what Judith’s solution to the situation may have been ; she might have been reprimanded by her parents for starting a family out of wedlock and achieved no success in following her passion and dream . Judith was only limited to what society taught women to do at the time. This all correlates to Virginia Wolf”s claim in that Women were unable to sustain the same success as men at the time.
11G1/26
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A central idea introduced on page 48 of “A Room Of One’s Own” is that woman could not write during the time of Shakespeare. By the usage of word choice Virginia Woolf is able to support this central idea. For example, “it would have been impossible, completely, entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare”. By using words such as “completely”, “impossible” and “entirely” a strong emphasis is created on what her claim is. In addition, the usage of words such as “successful” and “remained at home” compares how Shakespeare had the privilege and opportunity to follow his dream, while his sister was restrained to her home and not given an equal oppurtunity. In conclusion, by the usage of diction the central idea of woman not being allowed to write in Shakespeare’s time is supported.
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Page 48 of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolf was about Shakespeare and his imaginary sister named Judith. This page talks about what would have happened if Judith really existed. It begins by stating that women would have no chance that allowed them to write the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare. This automatically introduces the central idea. Later, it goes on to describe Shakespeare’s family as well as his characteristics. It states that his mother was a heiress to a grammar school which allowed Shakespeare to gain much knowledge regarding elements of grammar and logic. The page also makes Shakespeare to be very gifted and assumes that he marries a woman who gives birth “rather quicker than was right”. This event causes him to go to London where he becomes very successful and famous. Meanwhile, Judith is at home and isolated from all the opportunities. In this page the central idea of women being inferior to men is being displayed. For example it is stated in the beginning of the page, “it would have been impossible, completely, and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare”. Here it is evident that woman were not given the same opportunities as men were. Thus the claim of inferiority is valid. Another example that supports this central idea is the last sentence which states, “Meanwhile his extraordinarily gifted sister, let us suppose, remained at home”. Judith was blocked from exhibiting her talents just because of her gender; on the other hand, Shakespeare was becoming successful and was demonstrating his gifts fully. These examples prove that the central idea of women being inferior to men in the age of Shakespeare is true.
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In page 48 of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolfe, Woolfe examines how Shakespeare became the Shakespeare we know today. The central idea of the page is the advantageous opportunities offered to males who had wealth at the time of Shakespeare. In the paragraph Woolfe states, “Shakespeare himself went, very probably,—his mother was an heiress—to the grammar school, where he may have learnt Lat- in—Ovid, Virgil and Horace—and the elements of grammar and logic.” This illustrates how social norms in Shakespeare’s time had allowed him to become the person he is, whilst not offering the same opportunities to a wonderfully gifted sister. Woolfe highlights, “Meanwhile his extraordinarily gifted sister, let us suppose, remained at home. She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was. But she was not sent to school.” This portrays how even though Shakespeare and his sister had the same inclination towards adventure and imagination, the social norms for genders at the time played a significant role on who would become a world renowned writer.
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In page 48 of “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf, the author is discussing women’s struggles during the Shakespearian Age. She is explaining how it would have been impossible for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare during that age. Since facts are hard to come by, Woolf imagines what would have happened if Shakespeare had an amazingly gifted sister named Judith. Thus, Woolf continues this story and tells us how Shakespeare went to school, gained knowledge and became successful while the talented Judith was stuck home to mend the stockings or mind the stew and would soon be in a marriage that she hates. Virginia Woolf is trying to explain the struggle of womens life. She is using her imagination to convey the central idea of womens rights and equality towards man. After all, Woolf is trying to explain to the audience that every woman needs a room of her own which is a right that every male enjoys without any objection. Woolf supports this by her imaginative story about Judith. She also states “… his extraordinarily gifted sister…remained at home… she picked up a book now and then… but then her parents came in and told her to mend the stockings or mend the stew and not moon about with the books and papers” Basically, the author is trying to express that females and males arent equal and have different rights. She is explaining that men could freely do as they wish without any question, however, women like Judith would be told to do something else if she does something only men would do at that time which is reading or writing. To sum up, the author successfully potrays the message of womens struggle and successfully conveys the central idea of womens rights in the story. ( my name is Jihad Hasan from 11B)
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In the excerpt from A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf the author claims that if Shakespeare were to have a sister with the same amount of potential she would have not been able to meet the amount of opportunities and successes as he did because she is a female. At the time of Shakespeare women in literature was very uncommon if any, so there is no way to predict how that would work out. Also he experienced very different things then a women in that society were to experience. For instance in the excerpt it states “.. to marry a woman in the neighborhood, who bore him a child rather quicker than was right”. Shakespeare was with a women who was pregnant before getting married, which led him to London helping him branch out to his writing/ acting career. This sets up the contrast between him and his imaginative sister, showing that his child was what gave him all his opportunities. He was able to meet new people, become an actor and even meet the queen, as for his sister were to stay home. Throughout this whole excerpt we get to see the women and mans role in the time of Shakespeare and their ability to be able to do what they want.
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In “A room of one’s own” Woolf demonstrates a situation where two people of the opposite gender have expected roles as well as rights that differentiate them from each other.A sister of Shakespeare having the same passion as him yet being stopped at every step of her way.Yet Shakespeare having his passion being supported as well as accepted in his family as well as society in his time. In the text evidence to the sisters, mistreatment is when “a fat loosed lipped man guffawed.” stating that “no women- he said could possibly be an actress.” Here there is a clear view as to how gender role plays a part of their ideology as well as what they should can and cannot do.
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In the text by Virginia Woolf, the theme inferiority is thoroughly discussed to elaborate on the central idea. Woolf sheds light upon the central idea by addressing the status of “gifted women” during the Shakespearean era. Women were prohibited to exercise their talents and gifts due to the unjust social class, pressure, and conceited men who sought women more as objects of pleasure and breeding tools, rather than educated, and determined women who sought to better the world. Woolf’s usage of vigorous vocabulary such as impossible, completely, and entirely further signifies Woolf’s claim. Shakespeare was very talented, and had a natural perfection in the arts of acting and plays. The author says “rather sooner than should he have done”, “who bore him a child”,”that escapade sent him to seek his fortune in London”. This is quite contrary to his Judith’s ability to simply tread the path of her desire and achieve guaranteed success as he brother. Woolf indicated that occasionally women would rival men in writing, literature,English Language Arts, and raw talent. Woolf said about Judith “wonderfully, gifted sister”, “extraordinarily, gifted sister”. Yet, they were never given opportunity to shine like the sun, and thrive like bacteria. Virginia Woolf attempts to make the readers understand that if given the chance, maybe today we would know all the names of the unique writers, and poets known as anonymous.
-Yoosuf Siddiqui
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In the story “A room of one’s own” the author, Virginia Woolf, is trying to portray the way a woman would have been treated if she were to be as intellectual as Shakespeare. The literary work spoke about the differences a woman would have gone through if she was as intellectual and creative as Shakespeare, it speaks about how the girls mother and father would always impede her desires for learning. The author mentions that Shakespeare’s female twin wasn’t sent to school, but was instead forced to do the work of a housewife. It’s said in the passage that Judith, Shakespeare’s imaginary female twin, would pick up a book now and then, and read a few pages,which indicated that she had the same amount of curiousity that her brother had. But despite their loving nature, her parents would come in and tell her to do the house chores and leave the papers and books alone. Judith’s parent’s loved her and understood the trails and tribulations that women had to face during Shakespeare’s time so they don’t want their daughter to experience the harshness that the world puts on woman who try to go out of the norm at that time. The story tells us that Shakespeare’s sister was severely limited to what she could have become due to the limitations society has placed on woman. In comparison Shakespeare was allowed to become the genius that he became because of the opportunities that were presented to him because of his male gender.
(P.S.: Md Amin in 11B)
(P.P.S: I can’t find the HW for today. I don’t think it’s posted yet.)
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Page 48 of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolf discusses Shakespeare, his assumed sister, and how the people around them influenced them. In this page the reader finds that the Shakespeare era was very misogynist and regarded women as irrelevant. The reader also discovers that Shakespeare’s mother was an heiress of a grammar school and this helped Shakespeare a lot for his future goals which he later goes on to achieve. Shakespeare also later has a child at an unexpected time; this incident causes him to go to London and eventually become a successful actor. The central idea of this page is the bad treatment of women during Shakespeare’s time. For example in the page it is stated, “it would have been impossible, completely, and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare”. This impossibility is what ultimately leads to the “superiority” of men. Words such as impossible, completely, and entirely further emphasize the statement. Another example would be when in the page it is stated, “Judith remained at home.” Shakespeare’s imaginary sister, Judith, stayed at while Shakespeare himself blossomed. Both these examples prove why the central idea of bad treatment of women is accurate.
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In the article ” A Room of One’s Own” written by Virginia Woolf the author is successful in portraying and developing a central idea to the reader. Virginia Woolf conveys the central idea of how women during the time period of Shakespeare were not allowed to partake in the same work as men. In the the article the author’s language use helps the reader convey the central idea. Woolf uses words like as “completely’ “impossible”and “entirely” to put a great emphasis on her claim, which further shows to the reader how critical her claim is. “Let me imagine, since facts are so hard to come by, what would have happened if Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say.” In this quote the author implies to the reader that she has to imagine a scenario in which Shakespeare had a sister for there weren’t facts about women throughout that specific time period, also showing to the reader that her claim stands and women were not given anywhere near the amount of opportunities for men.
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A Room Of Ones Own by Virginia Woolf is mainly about comparing men’s rights to women’s rights. In the excerpt she uses as an example William Shakespear and she created him an imaginary sister named Judith. Woolf compares the rights William gets from his parents as to Judith also. This here creates the central idea of sexism, and men being treated with more privileges throughout the story. In the excerpt Woolf states “who bore him a child rather quicker than was right. That escapade sent him to seek his fortune in London”. Here William has a child out of wedlock and heads straight to London, but his parents did not have any say in this and let him go. Woolf also states in the excerpt about Judith “she was not sent to school. She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone of reading Horace and Virgil. She picked up a book now and then , one of her brothers perhaps and read a few pages. But then her parents cane in and told her to mend the stockings or mind the stew and not moon about with books and papers”. Here Judith’s parents did not want her to attain a education and become successful as they did with William. These examples here prove that the central idea of sexism and men being treated better is true.
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# 16 11g1
Throughout a “Room of Ones Own” by Virginia Wolf, the author describes a fictional scene which took place during the Renaissance. In order to properly convey the purpose of this “made-up” (but plausible) scene, Wolf emphasizes the social role of women in this time period by creating the female character “Judith” ,who plays the role of Shakespeare’s sister. In fact, the author utilizes the setting and ideals of this era in order to portray the central idea of confinement and the educational isolation constrained on women. Additionally, she employs the literary element of characterization by describing the struggles that women faced to receive basic education through illustrating the life of Judith, as well as her passions and skills. In the excerpt, Wolf begins with a brief discussion of Shakespeare’s success and his passion for literature and the arts, and emerges to bringing up an intriguing question: What if Shakespeare had a sister? Wolf then discusses the life of Judith as being isolated, confined, and dull given the fact that she wasn’t given the freedom of receiving an education or exploring her passion for literary arts. One example from the excerpt that recounts this is “But she was not sent to school. She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone of reading Horace and Virgil. She picked up a book now and then, one of her brother’s perhaps, and read a few pages. But then her parents came in and told her to mend the stockings or mind the stew and not moon about with books and papers.” This quotes explains that because of the societal role of woman, Judith was forced into steering away from education and literature and focusing on the “marital role” of the society during the Renaissance. It is therefore, that the author goes onto claim the reason there are “less writings from women than men” is because of this role women were forced to play, as well as the constant isolation of education that was brung upon them.
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In the excerpt of A Room of One’s Own on page 48, Virginia Woolf establishes her central idea through the theme of gender inequality. She emphasizes this to be the reason why women’s works were secondary/inferior to that of men. To further illustrate this idea of inferiority, Woolf introduces Shakespeare’s sister, this helps the reader to form a better visualization of what Woolf presents.
Virginia uses extreme language: impossible, completely, entirely to express her definite/undoubted belief that the society/era limited women’s abilities, stifling their creativity. Shakespeare’s sister, who was “so wonderfully gifted”, wasn’t given that chance to use her talent as her brother had. Circumstance just hadn’t favored her as it had her brother. The reason why Shakespeare was able to flourish the way he did was because of his circumstance of starting a family out of wedlock, as Woolf states: “To marry a woman in the neighborhood, who bore him a child rather quicker than was right. That escapade sent him to seek his fortune in London”. Whats interesting about this unique situation is if we were to apply it to Shakespeare’s sister, she would’ve been criticized for it. The author wants to express that society pressures on women is what limits her to use talent. While Shakespeare thrived in his career, his sister’s abilities were never given any recognition. This supports the central idea of women’s inferiority to men.
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In the excerpt “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf the author makes the claim that if William Shakespeare were to have a sister that had the same knowledge and potential he had, she would be given less oppurunities to thrive in her life because she is a female. We learn that Shakespeare was able to go to school, gain knowledge a was able to start his career in theatre very easily. On the other hand Judith, his sister, was suppose to stay at home while she “mends the stockings, minds the stew, and not moon about with books and papers”. So we immediately see that William and Judith had to completely different lifestyles. While William was free to chase his dreams and pursue his acting career, Judith was even given a chance to go to school. Her parents knew the comditions of the life of a woman so they mad sure Judith was under those conditions so she wouldnt be made fun of for trying to achieve a career in writing. Throughout the excerpt we see the major differences in lifestyles between men and women and could only think to ourselves, What if?
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Summary:
In the excerpt, A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf, it is elaborately conveyed that during the early 20th century, women were looked upon inferiorly. In page 48, the central idea of inferiority is exemplified with Woolf’s usage of diction. Judith is Shakespeare’s sister, she’s at a disadvantage as for she’s not able to expand upon her mind. However, Judith is described as having equal passion and ability towards the literature field just like Shakespeare.
Central idea:
In page 48 of A Room of One’s Own, the central idea is successfully portrayed. It is evident that the central idea is that women are inferior to men. The central idea places a doubt on the capability of women. According to the page, “it would have been impossible, completely and entirely for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare.” Woolf’s claim illustrates that women during the time of Shakespeare could not have produced the same work as men. Woolf’s usage of the terms “impossible” and “entirely” place strong emphasis towards the central idea and appeal to the emotions and meaning of the claim. Woolf examines the circumstances of the time period to question the opportunities given to women. This illustrates to the reader how nearly impossible it was for a women to express their abilities in the
literature field. Moreover, another quote to convey this central idea, states, “meanwhile his extraordinary gifted sister, let us suppose, remained at home.” The usage of the words “extraordinary gifted sister” shows that Judith possesses an ordinary talent, however, is unable to express it due to the fact that she is scorned rather than encouraged. She is expected to conform a social role that doesn’t allow the development of her talent. In the early 20th century, women had limited educational training. It was expected for a female to not expand her mind but instead to keep busy with her household. Woolf argues that this is how the life of a woman during the era was. In addition, the last sentence of page 48 further decodes the meaning of the central idea. Woolf usage of the word, “agog” shows how avid, and eager Judith’s will to incorporate within the literature field was. The author also describes her with the adjectives, “adventurous” and “imaginative”, which show she had the passion and creativity needed. These adjectives are used to compare her with Shakespeare, which puts her no under him as for they both possess the same talent, but because of this restriction she is unable to express it. Thus, one can conclude that it is evidence women were subordinate to men and their inferiority is proven continuously throughout page 48. Woolf is able to convey this central idea with her usage of diction to add meaning and appeal to emotion within the excerpt.
11g1, #9
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