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Queen elizabeth role of women
About the life of virginia woolf
About the life of virginia woolf
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There are two women from the near and distant past that have become strong female role models in recent years: Queen Elizabeth I and Virginia Woolf. These women were not without problems while growing up, though. Elizabeth’s mother was beheaded after being charged with treason when she was only three; she grew up viewing women as indispensable after her father had six wives; her family kept dying (mother, step mother, father, half brother, sister), and she was locked away by her sister Queen Mary in the Tower of London for a number of years. Virginia Woolf on the other hand battled with depression and mental disease her whole life, was denied a typical education because she was female, had many mental breakdowns after death of mother, and was institutionalized after father’s death. Both Elizabeth Tudor and Virginia Stephen-Woolf shared many of the same family problems in their lives, but their life paths and careers were drastically different from one another.
Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth I had many of the same problems within their families. Before Elizabeth Tudor became the Queen of England, she had a series of unfortunate family events fall upon her. First, when she was only three years old, her mother Anne Boleyn was wrongly beheaded for treason by her husband King Henry VIII. After that, King Henry remarried a number of times and finally settled down with Catherine Parr. Henry’s third wife also produced him a son named Edward. After Elizabeth’s father passed away in 1547, Catherine became Queen of England. Shortly after Henry, Catherine died, which passed the throne to Elizabeth’s half-brother Edward. Edward died in 1553 at age fifteen, leaving the crown to his half-sister Mary Tudor. Five years later Mary died, and Elizab...
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... was seen as a headstrong and opinionated individual; while Virginia is quoted as always need confirmation and approval in her actions. Even though very similar, their differences are what set them apart as individuals.
It is obvious that the similarities between Queen Elizabeth I and Virginia Woolf outweigh the differences. Both were learners and thinkers, advocates for they believed in and strong women despite all of the issues that had happened during their short lives. It is important to recognize the similarities between these women, for the traits of bravery, persistence, and wisdom are what make brilliant role models for people throughout time. By pointing out the similarities and differences between these two women, it is easy to see examples of what people in modern times should follow: advocacy for what one believes in and triumphs over life’s dilemmas.
It has been noted that Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s father on several occasions expressed that he wished Elizabeth had been a boy. Even when she excelled in life and completed tasks in attempts to please him, he constantly reminded her it was a shame she was born a girl. His constant reminder expressed to Elizabeth that her father believed that only males could be successful, which merely fueled her ambition to succeed and prove the contrary along with ensuring that other women follow...
Women in fiction, according to Woolf, are very intellectual and independent. We see this reflect greatly in Harriet Vane in Sayers’s Strong Poison. Harriet is very intellectual as she is a well-established writer within the Bloomsbury group and shows her independence throughout the entirety of the novel. However, this was not the case for women in real life during the time of Virginia Woolf’s documentary. Women could hardly read or write and were considered as property of their husband, removing and individuality that they might have.
How does one compare the life of women to men in late nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century America? In this time the rights of women were progressing in the United States and there were two important authors, Kate Chopin and John Steinbeck. These authors may have shown the readers a glimpse of the inner sentiments of women in that time. They both wrote a fictitious story about women’s restraints by a masculine driven society that may have some realism to what women’s inequities may have been. The trials of the protagonists in both narratives are distinctive in many ways, only similar when it totals the macho goaded culture of that time. Even so, In Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing we hold two unlike fictional characters in two very different short stories similar to Elisa Allen in the “Chrysanthemums” and Mrs. Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour”, that have unusual struggles that came from the same sort of antagonist.
*"(Adeline) Virginia Woolf." Feminist Writers. St. James Press, 1996.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRCć
Queen Elizabeth I, also known as the “Iron Queen”, was a remarkable woman of her time, she ruled with great power and longevity. She was one of the greatest feminist of time. Coming to the throne in 1558, she took the place of her father, Henry VIII. She was given one of the most difficult jobs fit for a man or King, ruling England. At the time women were second class citizens, they could not vote nor own properties and such. Surprising England with her intelligence and fierce rulings, she changed herself to make better decisions. She proved through her rulings, to everyone that females were strong and could rule just as well as a king. She refused to marry, giving a feeling of “I don’t need a man for anything.” The Queen was responsible for giving females a voice in literature and it is shown through Shakespeare’s writings.
There are numerous numbers of novels and books that offer different portrayals of the female gender and femininity in the early nineteenth century, each novel shedding a different light on women, their gender role, and the definition of femininity during this time period. The first thought that pops into most people’s minds is Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman or any Jane Austen novel. People do not typically think of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Nonetheless Frankenstein offers us the reader an extremely well portrayal of the female gender in the early nineteenth century while also providing us with the cautionary tell on why no man should ever attempt to play God for the reason that only God can play God. In this essay I will be discussing how Mary Shelley used the description of femininity her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft created in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. For that to be done I will analyzing three female characters from the novel and discuss how these characters are leading examples of the early nineteenth century woman. I will be using examples from both A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Frankenstein to support my arguments. Lastly I will discuss what the characteristics of the female characters in the novel say about Mary Shelley’s thoughts on women and femininity during the early nineteenth century.
Fears are an overwhelming aspect of our life from birth until old age. Whether we fear an object such as something lying underneath the bed, a certain figure such as Michael Myers, or an intangible idea such as the future or even death, fear always exists. In several cases, fear leads to a suppression of one’s self and the wonderful ideas that one’s minds may contain. For example, the cure to cancer could very well be trapped inside the mind of someone who has been constantly oppressed and taught to believe that they are not smart enough to get far in life. In “Professions for Women,” author Virginia Woolf persuades her audience, intellectual women, to overcome her insecurities in order to improve her life. To soundly achieve this purpose, Woolf utilizes rhetorical questions, an extended metaphor, and allusion.
Virginia Woolf is not unlike any other truly good artist: her writing is vague, her expression can be inhibited, and much of her work is up to interpretation from the spectator. Jacob’s Room is one of her novels that can be hard to digest, but this is where the beauty of the story can be found. It is not written in the blatant style of the authors before her chose and even writers today mimic, but rather Jacob’s Room appears more like a written painting than a book. It is as if Woolf appeared tired and bored of the black and white style of writing that dominated her culture and chose to use a paintbrush to write her story. This individualistic technique is essential to how Woolf creates a portrait of Jacob, the title character of the novel. The portrait the reader gets of Jacob is entirely questionable throughout the entire story, just like any understanding of a human in life is more about opinion than fact. This is how Woolf captures life, the reader’s view of Jacob is almost completely based on interpretations from other characters. These various assessments of Jacob form together to make the collective portrait of Jacob. Woolf states that “Multiplicity becomes unity, which somehow the secret of life” (147), the secret of the novel as well.
Elizabeth led England during it’s greatest time of influence as a nation despite the prejudices against her gender. Many people believe that her life was like a fairy tale-“Beloved by the kingdom; dressed by servants in jewels and gold, silk and velvet; pampered and treasured by kings and married to princes”, but in reality her life did not come close to being a fairy tale. Many of her subjects hater her from the moment she was born. She experienced imprisonment, her sister threatened to kill her, and she was almost forced in marriages with men she hated. Some of her friends caused uprisings in her name. Her enemies tried to assassinate her. Her father had her mother beheaded and ignored her for most of her life. Although she had many suitors, she never loved any of them. She understood the common people and eventually gained the loyalty of those who hated her. She could also be ruthless. The city gates and London Bridge held the bodies of the people that she executed during her reign.
Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been widely recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman in society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women characters in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a woman during the time of the Restoration Era and give authors and essayists of the modern day, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a platform to become powerful, influential writers of the future.
It is easy to accept one character’s version of reality as true and Woolf periodically warns us, through the confusion of her characters...
Virginia Woolf, in her novels, set out to portray the self and the limits associated with it. She wanted the reader to understand time and how the characters could be caught within it. She felt that time could be transcended, even if it was momentarily, by one becoming involved with their work, art, a place, or someone else. She felt that her works provided a change from the typical egotistical work of males during her time, she makes it clear that women do not posses this trait. Woolf did not believe that women could influence as men through ego, yet she did feel [and portray] that certain men do hold the characteristics of women, such as respect for others and the ability to understand many experiences. Virginia Woolf made many of her time realize that traditional literature was no longer good enough and valid. She caused many women to become interested in writing, and can be seen as greatly influential in literary history
Virginia Woolf, one of the pioneers of modern feminism, found it appalling that throughout most of history, women did not have a voice. She observed that the patriarchal culture of the world at large made it impossible for a woman to create works of genius. Until recently, women were pigeonholed into roles they did not necessarily enjoy and had no way of
"So it is naturally with the male and the female; the one is superior, the other inferior; the one governs, the other is governed; and the same rule must necessarily hold good with respect to all mankind." Aristotle’s quote rings especially true in reference to the Victorian Era. In the late 1800s and early 1900s men were considered the dominant of the two sexes. Because of this, “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman” (Woolf 51). Female genius was undistinguished or nonexistent in the century in which Virginia Woolf lived, because it was completely and utterly dominated by males. Her surroundings influenced her to explore the history of women in literature through an unconventional examination of the social and material circumstances necessary for the process of writing. Virginia Woolf asserts that female genius cannot be attained in a society that solely praises the masculine desire for status and seniority because it opposes creativity, which is essential to the education and independence of women, which fosters genius.
Many female writers see themselves as advocates for other creative females to help find their voice as a woman. Although this may be true, writer Virginia Woolf made her life mission to help women find their voice as a writer, no gender attached. She believed women had the creativity and power to write, not better than men, but as equals. Yet throughout history, women have been neglected in a sense, and Woolf attempted to find them. In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, she focuses on what is meant by connecting the terms, women and fiction. Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and fiction, what they think of; Woolf tried to answer this question through the discovery of the female within literature in her writing.