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Analysis Of Thinking About Shakespeares Sister By Virginia Woolf

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I definitely agree with you it is still apparent that the "Second Sex" and the "Other" still exist today. “Gender influences who we are, what we think, and what opportunities are available to us (Anderson, 3).”One of my favorite writers Virginia Woolf, wrote an essay that was incredibly touching called: "Thinking about Shakespeare's Sister." In this essay Woolf tries to find the main cause of why there are not any great female authors (Shaw,275) . For a moment, she considers: is it because females do not have the ability or talent become great writers? She quickly shuts the notion down by creating a fictional character called Judith Shakespeare. Woolf compares the lifestyles in which Judith and William Shakespeare led. Where William Shakespeare …show more content…

“Doing gender is unavoidable. Doing gender means creating differences between girls and boys and women and men, differences that are not natural, essential, or biological. Once the differences have been constructed, they are used to reinforce the “essentialness” of gender (West, 56).” Gender roles are represented within movies such as Mulan, Pocahontas, Snow White, and the Lion King. In these movies you can observe the gender roles within the family dynamic. None of these movies have a nuclear family, however, the observation of gender roles is still apparent. Individuals are enforced by the norms within a society. We see the enforcement of gender roles, during the movie Mulan, where her mother is teaching her the values of a woman. However, Mulan and Pocahontas are portrayed as free-spirited yet are still compassionate. In the movie Snow White, it shows the importance of male character. For instance, in order to come back to life Snow White requires a kiss from the Prince, this generally exhibits the “superiority and power of males.” We also see that Snow White is the image of a caring, virginal, obedient women. We also can see that while completing household tasks such as cleaning, Snow White is singing and seems help to be doing it. In Lion King, even though the lionesses are physically stronger than the lions, they are still treated as secondary. Although, they do the hunting they are ordered by the lions, thus, stripping them of their independence because they rely on

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Adding to the ever growing library of women, Virginia Woolf used her unique stream of consciousness style of writing to convey new ideas about gender roles and gender identity, paving the way for more women to find rooms of their own. One can only hope to influence generations of people with one’s writing, bringing about new conversations and ways of communicating. Eventually, Virginia Woolf committed suicide, ending her highly original career and perhaps echoing a point she makes in her own essay, “To have lived a free life in London in the sixteenth century would have meant for a woman who was a poet and playwright a nervous stress and dilemma which might well have killed her”

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Although Judith thirst for knowledge, she is forced to stay at home and perform household duties. In contrast, Shakespeare was sent to London in search of a higher education and adventure. He would study latin, grammar, and logic, while Judith become a household slave or forced into marriage. In addition, Woman in this time period were not considered signifiant enough to have an education, and having no money, could not provide it on their own. Even in 1929, when Woolf is writing this essay she is denied access into a library unless she is, “ accompanied by a fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction” (8). How could Judith have produced anything that would have compared to Shakespeare, when she was uneducated and he

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