One & # 39 ; S Own And Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

The historical subjugation of women has left a bitter legacy.
To what extent do Woolf and Albee show this view?
The subjugation between the genders throughout history has led to hostilities amongst them over time. A Room of One’s Own and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, written by Virginia Woolf and Edward Albee respectively, both explore the contextually relevant gender roles and gender politics. Both texts demonstrate the statement to be true, however Woolf’s text explores how throughout history, gender roles within patriarchal society have been represented, whereas Albee’s text analyses the standings between the genders in a post WWII context. Both texts can be seen to be regarded as being written outside the values and ideas of the context
Virginia Woolf is optimistic about equality between the sexes. During the Modernist period, when Woolf was writing, society was dominated by the patriarchal and there were distinct differences between the ways the two sexes were treated. When Woolf discusses the women’s food, she uses plain prose, short sentences and repetition to juxtapose and contrast the inequity between men and women. “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well” alludes to the inequality and injustice between men and women. In comparison Edward Albee is pessimistic about equality and in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? social equality between the genders is represented as being dysfunctional. The boxing match between Martha and George that is referenced is a prime example of the gender conflict presented in the text and exemplifies the challenge to masculinity. Albee, in comparison, looks to reassert the superiority of the patriarchy in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?. He achieves this in the very last few pages of the play, where George asks “Who afraid of Virginia Woolf….” and Martha replies, “I… am… George… I… am…”, which confirms George’s
This dehumanises the female sex and makes apparent the lack of female voice in institutional academic discourse. Woolf evokes the economic imbalance through the description of the separate genders meals as well as the language she utilises to reflect each genders economic standing. The cultural restraints that had once stopped women from attaining the same level of accomplishment as men had been relaxed during the post WWII period. Throughout Albee’s text this is made apparent through Martha’s subversion of the traditional conception of a passive demure woman. Martha is represented as being disenchanted and dis-satisfied and the relationship shared between her and George is made to appear dysfunctional in order to present to the reader that by Martha going against the natural order of things by refusing to be a stereotypical house wife, that society cannot function properly and that it threatens the very foundations of the world’s