Analysis of Virginia Woolf´s Shakespeare´s Sister

702 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Introduction to gender inequality in Literature

In Virginia Woolf’s short essay, Shakespeare’s Sister (1928), she explores the misogynistic world’s effect on women artists from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Depicted through an imaginary sister of Shakespeare, and her own experiences, Woolf explains how “in the nineteenth century a woman was not encouraged to be an artist.” Instead, women were deemed of no value beyond the home or child bearing (Jacobus 702). Such gender issues have emerged in every facet of our society, primarily concentrating on gender equality in areas like education, status, awareness, and availing of socio-economic opportunities. In today’s context, with an overall look at history, in comparison to men, women remain relatively more constrained by domestic responsibilities that hinder their freedom for art, or as Rousseau said “leisure”. It’s not that women have no less artistic potential than men today, perhaps it’s that women have been given inferior training, women have been given a negative self-image from family or society, or women have found it difficult to break into the marketplace.
Female achievements in the arts can be strongly correlated with measures of available opportunities. One can even find that most of the notable female creators had exceptional artistic educations, or received extraordinary encouragement from their families. Since these forms of support are contingent, the evidence would suggest that women’s achievements could, in principle, have reached far greater heights, if not for discrimination. Large numbers of potential artists are born, but most of these individuals have no opportunity to develop their skills. The quality of artistic achievement is extremely sensitive to initial condition, such a favorable enviro...

... middle of paper ...

...ent of colored women’s work and the Guggenheim five percent. Today in the United States, The National Museum of Women in the Arts estimates that five percent of art currently on display was made by women (Bader).
As Virginia Woolf believed, women have always been stripped away of any abilities in the arts because of relative poverty and familial constraints. However, should it be any less that a woman must too endure exhortation from society? In the progressive United States, legal sanctions protect individual liberties, no matter what gender. However, while women can pursue liberties, they are still limited in their ability to pursue artistic genius. The United States may have progressed as a nation since the eighteenth century in every way of life; however, gender issues still emerge in the arts. And women should be entitled to equality in art - as well as life.

Show More
Related

  • Sofonisba Anguissola

    2074 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the most prominent female painters of the Renaissance. Not only was she one of only four women mentioned by Giorgio Vasari in his famous Lives of the Artists, she also paved the way for later female artists. One may look at Sofonisba’s upbringing and assume that her talents were a result of her wealth and family background. However, if investigated more carefully through both analytical secondary sources and primary sources, it becomes clear that Sofonisba’s painting abilities formed because of her talent, not her wealth. Sofonisba integrated herself into the artistic community and used her second-class status as a female painter to accelerate her career: because she was not able to study as an apprentice in a workshop, her models were usually family members, she pioneered the style of genre painting. Historian Joan Kelly argues in her essay, “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” that women did not experience a Renaissance during the actual Renaissance. Sofonisba’s training and connections were extremely helpful to launch her career, refuting Kelly’s argument that women only were taught “charm” during the Renaissance. In addition, Sofonisba married her second husband for love, not for money, debunking Kelly’s argument that marriages during the Renaissance were not based on love. Though Sofonisba’s life as a woman is a unique case in terms of wealth and profession, her success and fame, talent, and marriage (van dyck?) disprove Kelly’s argument that women did not have a Renaissance during the Renaissance.

    Read More

  • ANALYSIS OF ANGELICA KAUFFMAN ‘TELEMACHUS ON HIS RETURN TO HIS MOTHER’ 1770-1780 OIL ON CANVAS

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society 3rd ed. (NY: Thames & Hudson world of art, 2002), 153-160.

    Read More

  • The Role of Female African American Sculptors in the Harlem Renaissance

    1699 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jackson, P. (1992). (in)Forming the Visual: (re)Presenting Women of African Descent. International Review of African American Art. 14 (3), 31-7.

    Read More

  • How We Learn in John Berger's Ways of Seeing

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a young toddler begins to speak, naming things they see around them, it is because they saw their parents do it. As they grow into a teenagers, they give names to things based on what they have heard from their friends and social media. This pattern carries into adulthood. The way we identify things reflects the progression of understanding art featuring woman, as explored in John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. He presents the idea in chapter three that woman were portrayed in art since the beginning and how it transcends to modern times. His main points surround the portrayal of woman throughout the ages and what effects it has had on our view of women not only paintings, but as humans in society. The ideas of women are contradictory because it is facilitated by men and the way they see women. Berger talks about this concept, and much more in chapter three of Ways of Seeing.

    Read More

  • The Power of the Written Word: Literary Greats Paving the Way for Social Equality

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structure. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men.

    Read More

  • The Guerrilla Girls Breaking Barriers With Punch Lines

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    I believe viewers are more likely to communicate upon the works of the Guerrilla Girls with one another in society when they take on a more comedic approach. This investigation has examined the Guerrilla Girls through direct connection to the inequalities of power over women in the art world. Several themes were highlighted within society that reinstated these cultural norms of gender and sex within the institutions of art. With a variety of forms used by the Guerrilla Girls to redefine women's identity in history, they were able to break down such barriers that stood in the way which denied the prosperity of female artists.

    Read More

  • Breaking Down the Barriers to Feminist Art Work

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the sixties and seventies, the feminist art movement emerged that began to challenge the inequalities that faced women artists. This movement coincided with the feminist movement as a whole, that women across the country were taking part in. Many female artists including Judy Chicago, Hannah Wilke, Eva Hesse and others began to rethink art making and attempted to raise consciousness regarding womenís issues. Many of these women began to focus on their work on sexuality and acknowledging the fact that they were women and artists. This forceful and radical approach was instrumental in gaining the acceptance of females in the...

    Read More

  • Feminist Art Movement Analysis

    416 Words  | 1 Pages

    "Whilst some feminists have argued to be included in 'male stream' ideologies, many have also long argued that women are in important respects both different from and superior to men, and that the problem they face is not discrimination or capitalism but male power." (Bryson, 2003, p. 3). The feminist art movement is unclear in its description because some describe this movement as art that was simply created by women and others describe it as art with anti-male statements in mind. For the focal point of this paper, the goal will be to analyze several female artists and their works of art who influenced, and who are said to have made powerful influence both in the feminist art movement from a political and societal perspective, then and today. With that being said, we will start with the female artist Judy Chicago and a quote from her that calcifies her position as an artist. "I believe in art that is connected to real human feeling that extends itself beyond the limits of the art world to embrace all people who are striving for alternatives in an increasingly dehumanized

    Read More

  • Women in the Late 19th Century

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    Images of women throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have both shaped women’s outlook on their lives in the workplace, at home, and in politics, and have also encouraged change for them as individuals. While often times women are seen as weak individuals that have minor influence on society, artistic evaluations and various writings throughout history have successfully proved otherwise.

    Read More

  • The Significance of Art in Chopin's The Awakening

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edna seeks occupational freedom in art, but lacks sufficient courage to become a true artist. As Edna awakens to her selfhood and sensuality, she also awakens to art. Originally, Edna “dabbled” with sketching “in an unprofessional way” (Chopin 543). She could only imitate, although poorly (Dyer 89). She attempts to sketch Adèle Ratignolle, but the picture “bore no resemblance” to its subject. After her awakening experience in Grand Isle, Edna begins to view her art as an occupation (Dyer 85). She tells Mademoiselle Reisz that she is “becoming an artist” (Chopin 584). Women traditionally viewed art as a hobby, but to Edna, it was much more important than that. Painting symbolizes Edna’s independence; through art, she breaks free from her society’s mold.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Figurative Art

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is a long history of gender roles in society. The expectations of gender roles continually shift; however, there is not a time when women and men share the same equalities simultaneously. The idea of how men and women should act is instilled in us at a young age. I think it starts really young with girls and boys being told what they can be and when they see what they are expected to be, they abandon parts of them which society deems as undesirable. We don’t acknowledge how much pressure we put on men and women to conform to the ideas of gender roles but it is apparent in our media and in the history of our art. One of the most influential things about figurative art is that it has the ability to capture society’s concepts of how men and women are expected to be during that time period. One thing for certain about gender equality is that it has historically and predominantly been a women’s movement. This sculpture, entitled Portrait Bust of a Woman with a Scroll, stood out to me in particular. It is is made of pentelic marble and dates back to the early 5th century. The sculpture shows a woman with a restless face, clothed in a mantle and head piece while holding a scroll. This sculpture reflects the women’s intelligence and capabilities being overshadowed by her gender and

    Read More

  • Judy Chicago Feminism

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most influential and inspiring feminist artists to produce work, Judy Chicago was able to (how she changed the world) through her work including ‘the dinner party’ (1979).an instillation completed after 5 years of development. Triangular in configuration, equilateral in structure, reflecting the goal of feminism, an equalized world. Completed using ceramics, needle and fiber techniques as well as china painting. The table holding 39 place settings each commemorating a mythical or important woman or historical figure. Beneath the table was 2304 handmade porcelain tiles, 999 of which were inscribed of other important woman’s names. In her artwork the dinner party Judy Chicago gave recognition to woman both achievers and oppressed. In this way she gave a voice to the duality of woman’s issues, not only was she advocating for recognition of woman’s achievements but she was also bringing to the forefront the concept of inequality. Judy Chicago‘’ had been trying to establish a respect for woman and woman’s art; to forge a new kind of art expressing woman’s experience’- challenge and redefine conventions of gender’’ The fact that the names of woman were placed on a high end table setting challenged gender equality in itself as tables like this had previously been only acc...

    Read More

  • Feminism And Feminism Essay

    2509 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout this essay I hope to illustrate how the development of Feminism was shown through art into Post Feminism and how feminism not only gave rights to women but to other 'Minorities ', I also plan on showing how strong Political influence is involved in art and feminism.

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf Female Genius In Literature

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Victorian Era perpetually changed the history of literature; ironically, it was also a time period in which men heavily defined the status of women. A woman was at the mercy of her father before marriage and after marriage was dependent on her husband. Woolf asserts through her literature, that men historically belittled women as a means of asserting their own superiority (Roseman). This masculine desire for status and seniority may be exemplified best in a set of Woolf’s extended essays titled, “A Room of One’s Own.” In these essays, Woolf constructs a metaphor of a looking-glass re...

    Read More

  • Feminism Vs Virginia Woolf

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    The roles of women in society have constantly changed over time. The rights to be granted to both men and women have been a controversial subject often with the focuses on feminism and the cry from women to be equal to men. Over time we have seen a change in the way that women’s voices have been heard, each declaring their rights of what they should be entitled to. Literature gave women a way to express their feelings and concerns on this topic, and we see this with the emergence of Mary Wollstonecraft during the Romantic Era, and later on with Virginia Woolf in the early Twentieth Century. Mary Wollstonecraft was straightforward in her writings with her viewpoints on what she believed women to be entitled to, whereas Virginia Woolf used a more narrative route using characters and fictional situations to bring about her concerns pertaining to freedom and modern feminism. Wollstonecraft and Woolf both used their beliefs, backgrounds, and the written word to give women a voice regarding the feministic issues concerning the time periods in which they lived, with Wollstonecraft expressing her views on the importance of education and the strengthening of reason, and Woolf using her resentment of circumstances to express her ideas about gender equality, the trivial lives of women, and the social world.

    Read More

More about Analysis of Virginia Woolf´s Shakespeare´s Sister

Open Document