In the long course of history, countless talented women have crossed the night sky like shooting stars, and their stories are full of emotion. In her book A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf depicts the subtle entanglement between women's creativity and social dilemmas with sharp and profound strokes.
Her Shakespeare's sister, Avra Bain, and Woolf herself, are gifted people, but they are all bound by the constraints of the times and society. After reading the book, I dug further into the stories behind these women. I was amazed that there was so much to think about and ponder in the story. This article will take you into their world.
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Suppose Shakespeare had a sister
Woolf had a brainstorm and made a hypothesis: what would be Shakespeare's fate if she had a sister Judith who was equally talented, adventurous, imaginative, and eager to learn about the outside world.
She may pick up her brother's book and read a few pages, but she will soon be called by her parents to do chores and tell her not to waste her time on books. Maybe she also secretly wrote some words, which were either hidden or burned. When his brother impregnated another girl and gave birth to a child, and then went to London, she was arranged by her father.
Unwilling, she chose to flee overnight. Like her brother, she loves drama, she has the same talent and appearance as her brother, and she also has the sharpest imagination. She stood at the door of the theater and said that she wanted to act, but was ridiculed by the men in front of her, and eventually became possessed by a theater manager and became pregnant with a child. One winter night, she ended her life and died at a crossroads.
Her tragedy is that her talent is buried and her voice is silenced. Gender stereotypes and unfair treatment in society often stifle women's potential. Woolf wrote: "Any talented woman born in the sixteenth century is destined to go mad, to commit suicide, or to die in some deserted house far from the village, half witch, half warlock, made fun of, yet feared." ”
Although Judith is a fiction created by the author, there are many unknown "Shakespeare's sisters" in reality. Xiao Hong, one of the four talented women, her story is strikingly similar to this. Dissatisfied with her feudal family and arranged marriage, she ran away from home, only to be recovered by her fiancé and repented. After she ran away from her family again, she could not escape the tricks of fate. Desperate, she could only take refuge with her repentant fiancé, and after living together, she became pregnant but was abandoned, and since then she has begun her wandering life. When she was destitute, she met Xiao Jun, thinking that she had found support, but she ended up disappointed. In the end, she ended her short life in Hong Kong with regret at the age of 31.
According to Woolf, a woman should have money and a room of her own. Just imagine, if Xiao Hong had an economic foundation, would she still regard the man she met as a lifesaver every time, leading to a tragic fate? Xiao Hong has been looking for a "room" that belongs to her and can be relied on.
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The first woman in Britain to write for a living
Afra Bain, the first female professional writer in British history. Her life was legendary, from a commoner background, with no formal education, but an adventurous spirit. Bane's husband died shortly after her marriage, and her business failed, leaving her to fend for herself. She was commissioned as a military spy before switching to writing for a living. It is worth mentioning that she was not only a famous writer, playwright and poet, but also a recognized translator of French literature at that time.
Even so, Bain was strongly criticized by literary authorities for her work to be ** and shameful for a woman, and she herself was accused of "lacking ladylike demeanor". Such a "notoriety" has always made her a negative example and warning.
It wasn't until two centuries later that Woolf spoke highly of her. In her book, Woolf wrote: "All women should go to the grave of Aphra Bane to lay their flowers, and she deserves the honour of being buried in Westminster Abbey, because it is she who has earned women the right to express their thoughts." ”
Her tombstone bears the ironic verse: "Intellect can never compete with morality, as is evident by those who lie here." "A female playwright struggling in a male-dominated theatrical world, her name is also drowned in the dust of history.
Her tragedy is that her work has been neglected and her name has been forgotten. Nowadays, you can't even find an entry for this name on the encyclopedia.
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A feminist vanguard
Virginia Woolf, a feminist pioneer, lived a life full of the pursuit of free thought and spiritual struggle. Although she lived in a relatively open era and was fortunate to be well educated and had the opportunity to publish her work, she also faced various pressures from society and family.
Woolf's father was a prominent Cambridge literary critic, scholar and biographer, and her mother was an art model, inheriting her father's intellect and her mother's beauty. Due to the influence of the times, she never set foot in school, but her parents would teach her to read themselves, and there was a small library at home with all kinds of books. She read extensively in literature from Shakespeare onwards, as well as the writings of Greek philosophers. However, the painful experience of being abused by her half-brother in her childhood left a deep shadow on her and left her traumatized.
Her mother died, she went insane for the first time, and from then on, the depression that accompanied her all her life began to eat away at her body. Later, when her sister died pregnant, her father died, and Woolf broke down again and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where her mental condition deteriorated.
It wasn't until she met her husband, Leonard, that her situation eased. But due to her childhood nightmares, she was unable to face any man and continued a sexless marriage with her husband. For decades, she suffered from mental illness, and by the time of World War II, her London home was bombed and her spirit was once again fragile. Finally, on March 28, 1941, Woolf chose to end his troubled life with the sinking river.
She has hovered between elegance and madness all her life. As a pioneer of modernism and feminism, her unique wisdom and rich imagination have left many far-reaching works, but at the same time, she has also suffered deep spiritual pain. On her tombstone, the end of her ** "Waves" is engraved: "Death, even if I am in your arms, I will not give in and will not be dominated." ”
Her tragedy is that her spirit is tormented and her quests are repressed. As a writer with deep insight into society and human nature, she has long struggled with mental illness. Throughout her life, she challenged and critiqued traditional gender roles and societal expectations, and the quest for women's independence and creativity was seen as a challenge to tradition at the time, which undoubtedly exacerbated the pressures and contradictions in her life.
ConclusionAll three stories are tragic, but they are instructive. At the end of the book, Woolf offers advice for women:When you have time in your hands, you can have some books and knowledge in your head. I hope that women will do their best to find ways to earn enough money for themselves to travel, to enjoy their free time, to think about the future or past of the world, to read books, to dream.
In modern society, despite the improvement of women's status, there are still many problems, such as gender discrimination in the workplace, gender role stereotypes, work-family balance pressure, and the objectification of women in advertising and so on. In addition to gender issues, discrimination also exists in terms of age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, educational background and physical appearance.
I hope that more people will see such stories, reflect on history, pay attention to reality, strive to eliminate any discrimination, and provide everyone with dreams with equal opportunities to pursue their ideals.
Note: ** to the Internet.