Response to A Room of Ones Own by Virginia Woolf

Response to “A Room of One's Own” by Virginia Woolf
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Response to “A Room of One's Own” by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf, in ‘A Room of One's Own' (1929), strives to indicate the significance of allowing women to exercise their artistic literary talents as well as men by not overburdening them with perceived roles they stereotypically hold as lesser persons in society. In her writing, the renowned author emphasizes the need for hard-working input to be realized and applied in literary works of talent by both sexes on an equal basis. It is understood that women throughout history have had lesser rights and opportunities than men. Over time, being a wife and mother has been regarded as a woman's most significant vocation. This paper aims to emphasize the reality in Woolf's writings that disprove the conventional ideology of depriving women sufficient opportunities and rights to express their talents on a socio-economic platform while overburdening them with traditional roles of family care giving, hence denying them the ‘room' they require; a “shut up on women”.
It is no doubt that Virginia Woolf's works of literature from the Victorian era are highly distinguished and renowned. Still, it is important to note that the role of women in the society at the time was characterized by relatively less opportunities compared to their male counterparts, especially in terms of education. “A room of One's Own” categorically indicates the evident aggravation that was rampant at the time. Woolf strives to elaborate the conventional social tendencies of the time that forced women to be submissive and passive in action as far as communal and formal matters were involved. This paper fully agrees with sentiments put forward by Woolf in the mentioned essay.
In a figurative sense, women have over time not been able to enjoy ‘rooms' of their own, resulting in emotional and mental isolation or withdrawals, despite them playing vital roles of tending to their families. This was an aspect of more weight in England compared to places like America, where women took up responsibilities to support the cause of independence and even fought alongside men.
Woolf embraces the idea that female authors were faced with more serious challenges of a social perspective compared to their male counterparts. The society emphasized the role of women as domestic caregivers; in fact, it was illegal for a woman to own property at the time. In addition, they were not allowed to vote, ideologies of which their essence Woolf was right to challenge. She in effect went a step further to offer fellow women writers' advice regarding how they would fight for better rights. In ‘A Room of One's Own', she maintains that women ought not to be restricted by social boundaries of the past; instead, they should take action for the sake of women of the past, who could not act as per their heart desires.
A major aspect that stands out in the work of Virginia Woolf is financial independence of women, in addition to them as writers having a ‘room' where they could on their volition engage in writing of literature. It is true that there arises a serious problem when women lack ‘rooms' to create works of fiction due to shortcomings created by the society and men in particular. To demonstrate the plight of talented women during the Victorian Era, Woolf uses a character named Judith Shakespeare- a prominent author during the 16th century. Despite her skills and talent, her life is filled with numerous challenges, the main one being lack of formal education and so she was disrespected by members of the society, with complete disregard for her literal abilities. Woolf also states that, “any woman born with great gifts in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazed”. Even so, she believes that it is vital for the sake of literature writing that there exists a level of partnership between schools of thought of both women and men. This represents a critical point in that the writers' mindset ought not to be limited by gender for the sake of perfection. Indeed, there is invaluable importance in both women and man engaging in the ‘perpetual struggle' considering the way Woolf believes women are left behind for the most part despite them lacking sufficient excuses for the same.
A similar case in point is illustrated by the same author in the essay “Professions for women”, wherein she draws attention to the many obstacle faced by women in their quest to gain professional status in the society. However, in this essay the author puts a degree of emphasis on the notion of women having fears and doubts in addition to beliefs and judgments propagated by society in general. Such result in mental obstacl...