Virginia Woolf A Room of Ones Own Shakespeares Sister Final

Sandhya Senthilkumar
Period 3 online
Virginia Woolf / A room of one's own: Shakespeare's sister
Summary:
In this part of Woolf’s extended essay, “A room of one’s own,” she introduces a
fictional character called Judith, who is supposedly the sister of Shakespeare. She
was adventurous, imaginative, intelligent and a genius, just like Shakespeare. But
due to the discrimination and inequality that women faced during that time, she
was not sent to school, while Shakespeare did. Her parents don’t allow her to read
books. They instead make her do the household chores. Despite this, her parents
loved her dearly; the reason for their actions was because of the fact that they were
well aware of the circumstances of women. Judith would scribble on paper while
she is seated on the apple loft- for her love of writing and theatre. She would then
either burn them or hide them carefully, so that her parents won’t find out. Judith is
then betrothed to the son of a neighboring wool stapler. When she refuses, her
father physically abuses her and forces her into the marriage. On the other hand,
William is well established. But she suffers due to the societal expectations of
women- to be oppressed by men. Disheartened, she then runs away from home to
London. When she tries to establish herself as an actor in the theatre, she is
ridiculed and harassed by the men in that profession. In the excuse of helping her,
an actor-manager makes Judith pregnant. In the end, Judith finally takes her own
life. Woolf talks about how women would have gone crazy and killed themselves
if they were born a genius and had a gift just like Shakespeare in that cruel world.
If they had indeed survived, there work would have been twisted and deformed.
Just like it is said in the essay, it would have been very difficult for women with
intelligence similar to Shakespeare to be born in a world where women are
controlled by everyone except herself. But it is not impossible; Women who are
genius could have been born. But the society suppressed them from attaining their
full potential.
Reflection:
This essay is relevant not only to the old times, but also to the current situation
faced by many women in every corner of the world. Gender inequality and
discrimination has existed on earth for more than 8000 years. Though the situation
has improved a lot in recent years, women in the 19th and 20th century have gone
through a lot. Being controlled by their father before marriage and being controlled
by their husband after marriage, women were held by chains. In my opinion, it is
not that women who were intelligent were not born at those times. It is the society
that prevented them from showing off their skills and talents. Each and every
female, no matter the age, who were locked up inside their houses, just like Judith,
could have had the potential to become a world treasure making global impact. But
the “restriction and guidelines” that the society had set conveying that men were
superior to women in all terms made the world to lose millions of human
resources. How many Marie Curies’ could we have lost during the past centuries?
How many Virginia Woolfs’ could we have lost? Just like Judith, many intelligent
women could have thought death to be better than the living hell on Earth and
taken their own lives. Women and men may be different biologically and
physically. But that doesn’t mean they should not have the same thoughts and
rights. If Shakespeare went to school, then Judith should also have the right to go
to school. If women are forced to marry, men should also be forced to marry. The
women during these times have suffered more mental damage than physical
damage. Women should be allowed to control their own lives and make their own
decision without having to depend on any men. If Shakespeare did have a sister
who was as intelligent as he was, if men and women were treated equally, who
would know what kind of wonderful women she could have grown up to be?

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Sandhya Senthilkumar

Virginia Woolf / A room of one's own: Shakespeare's sister

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