Introduction

Virginia Woolf, born on January 25^th, 1882, plays a leading role in the twentieth century (Nicolson, 2000). Being a critic writer, she advocates feminism and stream of consciousness. In order to further investigate into Virginia Woolf’s expression of feminism in her works, this essay focuses on the analysis of A Room of One’s Own, a typical essay of feminism. Therefore, this essay develops in the following three aspects: firstly, it discovers the denotations and connotations of certain images in A Room of One’s Own; secondly, it gives detailed explanation upon Woolf’s writing of stream of consciousness; thirdly, it explores the importance of Virginia Woolf and her masterpiece, A Room of One’s Own, to the development of feminism. In the end, this essay arrives at a conclusion that Virginia Woolf has been a pioneer in feminine literature and has done great contribution to the feminism development.

According to Virginia Woolf, the feminine features are disappearing gradually out of the ruling ideology of the male. In the patriarchal society, it is the male that sets up the standards while the female are those to abide by the existing rules quietly. As a result, the female have no independent pursuits except for those advocated by the male. In a sense, the female become “the angels in the room”, who are willing to accept the inferior values instilled by the male.

In order to fight for the female freedom, Woolf believes that it is essential for the female to recognize their own natures, especially in writing. In Virginia Woolf’s opinion, adequate money and an independent room are necessity for a woman to write a fiction (Woolf, 1984).  Based on such an idea, Virginia Woolf carries on her book-length essay A Room of One’s Own.

Denotation and Connotation of Images in A Room of One’s Own

The first images to be talked about are Judith Shakespeare and William Shakespeare, who are brothers and sisters. As a woman similar to Virginia Woolf herself, Judith stays at home without access to education whereas William is sent to school by the family. Unluckily and ridiculously, if Judith is found out to read any book at home, she will be punished by her parents. Even worse, poor Judith is threatened to marry with someone she does not love at all. In order to preserve her own freedom, she chooses to kill herself for a release in the end. In comparison, William, Judith’s brother, establishes himself with his rich knowledge and succeeds in accumulating his own fortunes and reputation. Instead of being restrained by the family or the society, William is able to live with freedom and gains great success.