Blog 14: Virginia Woolf

In "Shakespeare's sister," by Virginia Woolf, a fictional character is created realistic to women of the Shakespearian time. This character, Judith Shakespeare would have been completely unable to compose such works as Shakespeare did; for women were less than men. Only men could write such beautiful plays with all their intellegence, for women lacked in education because society would not let them continue. Women in this time were expected to raise the children and tend to the household needs. Not go out and think up the next big, famous play (Woolf 768).

Although Judith was fictionaly just as gifted as her brother, she could not become as successful as him. She had to remain in the house, and there were no dues given to exceptional women who completed their household chores on time. As Woolf described, "She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone of reading Horace and Virgil" (Woolf 769). Because of the education system barring women from continuing their schooling and even barring them competley from it, she could not follow in her brother's footsetps. Although she would have been just as good a playwrite if not better.

While reading this piece from "A Room of One's Own," I could not help but wonder, what if she was given a chance to prove her skills. Would the society at the time just allow her to write plays and learn the works of Horace and Virgil? Or would she have broken the mold and paved the way for other women to follow? It would have been interesting if Judith Shakespeare was not fictional, but a real live woman who had the chance to change society's "norm." Woolf was an obvious feminist, yet I would not call her radical. She just as others of her time wished the currcumstances would have been different for women, but the harsh reality was that things were not equal between men and women. I know I would have gone nuts if I had lived in the sixteenth century...for I am not published, gifted author or playwrite, but I am a woman seeking higher education and going into a career that would have very "off limits" to me in that time, dentistry. Just as Woolf stated, ..."that any woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazy, shot herself, or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village" (Woolf 770). It is unfair and hurtful to know that giften women were seen as crazy loons, and evil witches. If only thoes women had lived in today's society... they could fully express their views, emotions, poetry, and excellence.

Woolf, Virginia. "Shakespeare's Sister." From "A Room of One's Own." A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. pp 761-777.