Virginia Woolf's Argumentative Essay

Writer and modernist now known as a feminist, Virginia Woolf, in her informative essay, “What if Shakespeare had had a sister”, described the oppression of women in the literary world during the Elizabethan era; known as the golden age for everyone, except for women. Woolf’s purpose is to present to her readers the restrictions and obstacles women faced in order to obtain little or any literary achievement. She adopts an informative, yet frustrated tone in order to answer her own question and inform her audience, “why no woman wrote a word of that extraordinary literature” (466). In order to solve her problem effectively, Woolf utilizes rhetorical devices such as: diction, allusions, metaphors and by using pathos in order to convey to the readers

the hardships of prospective women writers.
Woolf opens her essay by addressing that women did not write although “every other man, it seemed, was capable of song or sonnet” (466). She begins to solve the puzzle of why women did not write by including metaphors such as, “fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life” (466). When Woolf includes this figurative language she introduces fiction into her essay, by doing this she lays foundation for the fictional story of “Judith” that she will later introduce. This style of writing allows the audience to experience the tone that the essay will express and keep the readers attentive with the informative, yet easy to read essay. Woolf’s choice of diction also allows her to state her argument with visible stance. She includes phrases such as, “women are poorer than men”, allowing her to express her frustrated tone (466). She moves to mention the, “recognized right of a man” in order to show the contrast in men and women and adding to her agitated tone. Woolf uses metaphors and diction in order to accurately state the problem of her argument and express her emotions toward it.
Woolf shifts from stating her problem to solving it throughout her essay.

In order to prove why women did not write in the past she appeals to several literary allusions. In her essay she mentions the ideas of Professor Trevelyan on the lives of women, “they were married whether they liked it or not before they were out of the nursery, at fifteen or sixteen… It would have been extremely odd… had one of them suddenly written the plays of Shakespeare” (479). Woolf includes this statement in order to help demonstrate why women could not write in the time of Shakespeare. When including this piece of information it allows her audience to being to understand her argument of the essay. Woolf argues that women did not write because they were restricted and could not. She continues to unveil that women were oppressed by including allusions to female writers such as, “Currer Bell, George Eliot, George Sand, all the victims of inner strife as their writings prove, sought ineffectively to veil themselves by using the name of a man” (473). When woolf mentions the pseudonyms of the female writers it enhances her argument by proving that women were not supported in the literary world, thus resulting in injustice for women. The literary allusions used in Woolf’s essay allows the audience to understand the origin of her argument, and why the problem was

stated.
Woolf concludes her essay by appealing to the emotions of her female audience through the use of pathos. Throughout her essay she includes the fictional life of Shakespeare’s sister, “Judith” and her miserable suicide. In Woolf’s conclusions she brings her back to life figuratively. Woolf appeals to her female audience when she writes, “She lives in you and me, and to many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed” (475). Woolf includes her female audience explicitly when she mentions that Judith, “lives in you and me”, by doing this she obtains the attention of her audience in the most powerful part of her essay. Woolf’s goal is to succeed in persuading her audience to sympathize with Judith and the lives of past women writers, and those who never obtained literary achievement. The use of pathos in her concluding paragraph shifts the issue from being one of her own to one that all women share in solidarity.
Woolf successfully states her problem with the use of rhetorical devices such as diction and metaphors. She continues to appeal to several allusions throughout her essay in order to achieve a method to prove her argument. Woolf concludes her essay with the use of pathos in order to strengthen her writing. When doing this it allows her issue to influence her audience in a more effective way. The use of these rhetorical devices allows the audience to be captivated by the emotion she expresses through her frustrated tone resulting in the support and understanding from readers.