Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Women in Literature

Women as the Subject of Literature

The issue of women in literature dates back to the earliest written word. Perspectives change over time and across cultures, and literature and the roles of women are no different. There are many challenges that have faced women throughout human existence, but perhaps more so in the last couple of centuries. Virginia Woolf, the author of A Room of One's Own, felt that literature was "impoverished beyond our counting by the doors that have been shut upon women" (Woolf 59).

That was the sentiment of many women just a century ago, but as the roles of women within societies have evolved, so have the societies themselves — perhaps in part to accommodate these changes and make way for a rejuvenated view of women. A key change that can be noted is that of literature. Literature is our window into society and times past; it is an art form that allows us to view the world as it was seen by the author and gives us insight into the issues, debates, and struggles of the time. This teaches us not only where we have come from, but in many ways gives us a glimpse into the future and allows us to see where we are going. In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf presents a multi-faceted look at the presence — and, more importantly, the absence — of women in this art form, focusing on women as the subject of the art as well as the creator, through historical, sociological, and economic lenses. It is important to examine these topics from Woolf's perspective and analyze their relevance then and now. Just as Woolf explained that even she could not come to a conclusion concerning women in literature (Woolf 4), the goal here is not to reach a definitive conclusion, but simply to express a series of ideas, the opinions associated with them, and explain how one arrives there.

Historical Perspectives: The Literary Woman vs. The Real Woman

Women have been, at least in part, the subject of literature since its creation. The role of the woman in literature, however, has changed a great deal. In early literature, it is fair to think of the woman as a subject rather than a star of the story. Whether it is fairy tales, epic poems, or religious text, the woman always seems to play a subservient role. Women are often the subject of literature in the sense that they are either weak and in need of rescuing — the classic idea of the damsel in distress — or they are the evil temptress trying to thwart man's progress, as with Circe and the Sirens in the Odyssey. This is simply a sign of the times. Women have always been thought of as the weaker sex, both physically and morally. Ever since the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden, women have been thought of as a thorn in man's side — a necessary evil — and have even been described with imagery matching that of the serpent.

This idea of women as the weaker and less noble sex has led to patriarchal dominance in the majority of cultures worldwide. Women are told, to various degrees among cultures, that they are inferior and that their purpose is subservience and child-rearing. Teresa Brennan captured this succinctly with the idea that "always and everywhere the rational, active, masculine intellect operates on the passive, objectified, feminized body" (Brennan 189). Literature has proven to be no different, as its stories are simply an extension of the people and cultures that produce them. Over time, however, we have seen a shift in the concept of women and their role not only in our stories, but in our lives.

In looking at literature, one cannot help but notice how much it has changed over time. We have come a long way from Beowulf to Harry Potter, and while many things in literature have remained the same, much has changed — including the role that women play as subjects and participants in our stories. Virginia Woolf took a stand for this idea in her novel To the Lighthouse. The idea of a struggling female artist who had set aside the ideals of motherhood — and in many ways womanhood — to pursue art might have seemed absurd at the time, but Woolf was a pioneer for women. She championed feminist ideals before they were popular and worked, through her writing, to offer society a different view of women. In To the Lighthouse, "Woolf captures a woman painter at moments of breakthrough, not only into professionalism, but also into serious exploration of the emotional and intellectual possibilities of her art" (Munca 281). This coincides with the concepts in A Room of One's Own, where Woolf explains what a woman must have in order to obtain these things.

Sociological Perspectives: Society's View of Women

Historically, however, it has often been a fantasy for a woman to possess anything of her own, let alone a room or money with which to fund whatever artistic endeavors she pursued. For many years, women's role in literature was simply that of the subject — and a diminished subject at that. But thanks to feminist efforts such as those championed by Virginia Woolf, time has slowly but surely brought a change in the world's view of women, both as the subject of literature and as subjects of life itself.

Women had been the subject of literature long before Woolf, and though she certainly was not the only feminist of her time, she is still celebrated today because of stories like these. She did what she did well: she told the story of Woman — not one of subservience and reliance, but one of breakthrough and independence. Throughout history we have seen women's role as the subject of literature evolve. Credit must be given, at least in part, to the gift of communication possessed by women like Virginia Woolf. As Sara Mills states in her book Feminist Stylistics, an "analysis of language can help the reader be aware of ideologies of gender difference which are oppressive" (Mills 11). Woolf took this concept and made it reality in A Room of One's Own, and thanks to the efforts of women like her, the concept of Woman can now be considered its own entity among literary characters, holding just as much weight as their masculine counterparts. This is in part because of a broader social shift concerning women and the idea of what a woman is — a shift that is in no small part a result of feminist writing.

Society's perspective of women has changed a great deal over time. In recent centuries, a shift has taken place leading us away from the idea of men as the dominant sex. Though we have not escaped that concept completely, we have left many chauvinistic ideas behind in the pursuit of progress and social equality. If we go back in time, we find many periods in which women had no choice but to marry and raise a family. Society made it nearly impossible for a woman to function independently, and any woman who tried was viewed, at the very least, as a social deviant. Women were expected to marry, and whatever they owned or brought with them as a dowry became the property of their husband (Gamble 4). This created a huge barrier to women's progress, independence, education, and equality of any kind. Even in Woolf's A Room of One's Own, her narrator is turned away from a campus library and told that she could only enter if "accompanied by a Fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction" (Woolf 6). This concept seems absurd today, but for a long time women were not even permitted to be educated. If they were, it was done in private and often in secret, for fear of reprisal from a male authority figure. Society's view of women was one of inherent inferiority. Over time, with the advent of modern culture and often out of necessity, women managed to carve out a niche for themselves within society.

Today, women are in large part viewed as equals when compared to their male associates. Sociological perspectives have changed a great deal and opened many doors for women. As the subjects of literature, the change has been no less apparent — the result is simply a reflection of society. The women of our stories today encompass every role and venture that we see women involved in every day. It would take an entire paper just to explicate all of the roles that women play today and how society has changed as a result. The point is that it has changed, and that women play a much different role in literature today than they did even just a century ago during Woolf's time. Woolf saw only a glimpse of the social turn that has led to the present day and the feminist views that have permeated our society. Her era was still filled with male-dominated ideas — ideas that shaped her world and in many ways made her into the woman she was. Her feminist ideals would never have emerged had there not been a need for them. At the beginning of her essay, Woolf states clearly that she was asked to write on the subject of women and fiction (Woolf 1). It is a rather ambiguous statement, as she does not clearly identify who asked, but the point is that it expressed a need — the aching question of women and their role in literature — which Woolf found the resources of speech to answer in a thought-provoking and influential way.

Conclusion

Gamble, Sarah, ed. Feminism and Postfeminism. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Goldman, Jane. The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Mills, Sara. Feminist Stylistics. New York: Routledge, 1995.

Munca, Daniela. "Virginia Woolf's Answer to 'Women Can't Paint, Women Can't Write' in To the Lighthouse." Journal of International Women's Studies 10.4 (2009): 276–289.

Staves, Susan. A Literary History of Women's Writing in Britain 1660–1789. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Walters, Margaret. Feminism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. ebooks@Adelaide. University of Adelaide, 2005.