Virginia Woolf Professions For Women Analysis

Professions for Women At the beginning of the 19th century, ideas of the roles of men and women has taken a turn as women take a stand to encourage other women to overcome obstacles that society’s perspectives of gender roles confine them in. Women’s conflict to find their voice during this time struggle has taken a turn in the evolving male-dominated society. An English writer, Virginia Woolf, delivered her speech “Professions for Women”, published in 1931 for the National Society for Women’s Service, and she argues that it is important for women stand up for themselves and allow their imagination to flow despite society’s oppression. Woolf begins with building her credibility with personal anecdotes, expresses the phantoms that limit women’s

Woolf describes the “Angel in the House”, “if there was a draught she sat in it...she never had a mind or a wish or her own.” (Woolf). Woolf demonstrates how the “Angel in the House” represents the stereotypes that society oppresses women with. The ideal woman was seen as someone who had to be selfless without any imagination of her own. By creating a visual image of a woman sacrificing herself, the audience can understand how Woolf senses an obstacle of not being able to complete her writing without getting restricted by gender roles. The “Angel in the House” talks to Woolf while Woolf is writing, “My dear, you are a young woman...Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex…”. The Angel in the House’s words affirms that women should mainly focus on being appealing towards men, alerting the audience’s sense of hearing. Furthermore, this auditory imagery uses sounds that invokes the sense of being forced to align with another perspective (The Angel in the House), which pulls the audience’s heartstrings forcefully in the oppression by society. This relates back to the claim of how women were placed as the inferior sex since birth where they were raised to take advantage of their youth in order to simply please the opposite sex. Thus, society’s “ideal woman’s”

In “Professions for Women”, Woolf uses rhetorical strategies to strengthen her argument. Woolf boosts her credibility by starting off with personal anecdotes of her occupation as a female writer. Imagery is used to allow the audience to visualize how the “Angel of the House” represents strict gender roles from society’s implications that confines the Woolf’s writing. An urgent tone is used to highlight the necessity of overcoming the phantoms that restrict women’s abilities. After the change from society and implications of gender roles, women have more opportunities to stand up for themselves, reflect on their accomplishments. In conclusion, there are still phantoms that women face in society after moving on from the “Angel in the House” and there are a various of steps in the future to come to evolve society’s implications of men’s and women’s positions in