WHY VIRGINIA WOOLF WAS NOT EDUCATED ?

"Nessuno trova pace sottraendosi a se..." (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Angela Schlafmutze

INTRODUCTION

Although Virginia is known for her feminist attitude, somewhere she does not believe in male dominating patriarchal society. But there were some conditions which were not under her control and consequently directly or indirectly she became the victim of gender discrimination.

DISCRIMINATING PARENTS

Although Woolf's father Sir Leslie Stephen was eminence as an editor, critic and biographic in Dictionary of national biography there was an atmosphere of victorious literary society. But education could not change their attitude towards female education –

"Julia was quite opposed to his men or female education."

(Lee 100)

Julia the second wife of Leslie Stephan believed that education is not for females, she believed that if they really want to get educated, they can get it in house spending money in Howard and Cambridge especially for girls is not required. Consequently this is the reason why Virginia and her sister Vanessa got their education in home itself, they never went to school, on the other hand their brother Adrian and Julian (Thoby) were formally educated and sent to Cambridge.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN MRS DALLOWAY

"Don’t run Clarissa young ladies don’t run"

(Mrs. Dalloway)

The above lines have been taken from the novel Mrs. Dalloway in which Clarissa Dalloway was running towards garden with girl friend Sally Seton and she was told 'not to run because young ladies don’t run'. This shows a kind of barrier in the freedom of girls of that society.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

"For most of history, anonymous was a woman"

-(Virginia, Woolf)

The above lines have been said by Virginia Woolf her quote on women's identity is justifying the male domination and gender discrimination which is still been there in the society. Till now, like in another important novel of Woolf is To the Lighthouse the theme of gender discrimination can be easily seen sometimes with the submission adjusting behavior of Mrs. Ramsay, sometimes with her role of perfect match maker who believes that a women is born to get married and for taking hold on house hold activities. It can be seen from the beginning till the end that Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay are like the sea and the land Mrs. Ramsay a soft spoken, embodiment of love and affection, who shows her motherly behavior to all her eight children.

She is a great human being , and a practical nurse who always gets ready to help poor and needy, without any selfish reason selflessly. She always treats her husband with intense care without any anger and regrets. In spite of knowing that Mr. Ramsay used to shout everybody in the house. He seems to be a villain of the novel, always demanding, always shouts Mrs. Ramsay. He always demands sympathy but does not give any sympathy to others. He over works his wife to death, and makes the life of his children hard and unpleasant and therefore hated by them. He bluntly said to his younger son James – “It won't be fine tomorrow” that he would not be able to go to the lighthouse and the harsh way in which he says "damn you" to Mrs. Ramsay. He is a cruel, hard hearted person who drives his children James and cam – to entire into a pact to resist his tyranny up to death. (Woolf)

Still Mrs. Ramsay respects him through her life without questioning his evil behavior. Now question rises, if Woolf is known for her feminist writings, then why she has portrayed an inferior submissive character of Mrs. Ramsay ? The answer is with the Era, with the society and the time period in which they have born and brought up, the time in which society supports male domination, female subjugation and gender discrimination. This is not the idea or fault of Woolf but the theme or genre of novels which have been written in that era.

Bibliography:

Harvey, Sarah. "These Virginia Woolf Quotes Blow My Mind." Elephant Journal. 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.

Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. New York: Vintage, 1999. Print.
“Mrs Dalloway”. Dir. Marleen Gorris. You Tube. 1997. Web.8 Arp. 2015.
Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. Feb. 2009. PDF.

Comments

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