English IV AP/DC – period 7
Ms. Stokes
October 6, 2013
Woolf: Shakespeare’s Sister
“Shakespeare’s Sister” by Virginia Woolf describes a story about Shakespeare’s sister and how being a woman she would have been treated and what types of opportunities she would have had compared to men. What kind of life would she have? What kind of education would she be given? Would she be a playwright like her brother with the same kind of talent? During the time of Shakespeare, his sister would live in a different kind of world compared to her male brother. Men were allowed to wife-beat. Women had arranged marriages from the time they were born. If they refused to be married to their picked husband, their father would beat them. Women were made to feel like their thoughts were stupid and that their ideas were not valued. If Shakespeare had a sister, she would be declined from many things. She would not be allowed to go to school and learn the things that he learned. She would not be allowed to act and learn the stage. Because she is a woman, she is not allowed in theater. She also would not be allowed to read, learn, or write. She would be expected to do housework, follow the rules of her family, and do the activities expected of a “proper” woman. His sister would have no chance of learning the many things that Shakespeare learned. Therefore, if Shakespeare’s sister lived to grow up as he did, she would not be able to experience the same things just because of her gender and would be forced to suffer alone. Woolf described her story of Shakespeare’s sister and wrote that she would run away from her betrothed to be an actress and live a life that would be looked down upon by everyone. She would not live up to the greatness of her brother because "genius like Shakespeare's is not born among laboring, uneducated, servile people". Woolf stated that for a writer to attain genius like Shakespeare’s there must be no external obstacles, nor can there be personal grudges within the work and only then can genius be "incandescent” (776). A woman’s entire life was planned by someone else. They had no choices or life or their own. Woolf encourages the readers of today to go out and accomplish things for the woman before us who were not granted the simple freedoms that we have today. We must follow our passions and act on ideas and feelings that we had because we are allowed to and have the right to. Simple daily activities are there for us to do if we chose. However, woman years ago were forced to follow the same daily plans every day and do them without disagreement. Today woman are allowed to have different opinions and ideas and act on our impulses. We must appreciate that and not forget it.
It is interesting to me to think that Woolf wrote about all of these topics so honestly even in the time period she lived in. She went against all the rules of a common woman and spoke what she believed was the truth. Today, we read her work not understanding the restrictions that past women had in their lives. Thanks to Woolf we have a chance to remember the freedoms we have in life today and appreciate her courage to write about these restrictions.
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