Analysis Of Virginia Woolf's What If Shakespeare Had A Sister?

Women have always struggled to break through an invisible glass ceiling that separates them from their goals. Women are kept from attaining higher positions in business, they are kept from studying math and science, and are deterred from playing certain sports. However, once upon a time women were kept from being themselves. Many women were discouraged from trying to learn at all, instead kept in the confines of the home. Virginia Woolf’s “What if Shakespeare Had Had a Sister?” brings to light the struggles that women faced in the sixteenth century, many of which spill into post-Civil War America, as evident in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” Woolf’s “What if Shakespeare Had Had a Sister?” details the hypothetical life of Shakespeare’s younger sister, Judith, and her struggle to pursue her art, just as her brother William was allowed to. While William went to school to learn Latin, grammar, and logic, Judith would be kept home, constantly being chastised for wanting to study as well. “He (Shakespeare) got work in the theater, became a successful actor, and lived at the hub of the universe, meeting everybody, knowing …show more content…
The reader is first introduced to Emily after she dies. The entire town goes to her funeral, since she was a woman that had piqued their curiosity for many years. The reader soon learns that, as the last remaining member of a wealthy family, Emily tends to keep herself away from the common people in the town, much to their chagrin. Soon, a Yankee by the name of Homer Barron comes to town and sparks the interest of all the townspeople, most notably Emily, as evident in the fourth section of the story: “When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron, we had said, ‘She will marry him’” [Faulkner]. When it’s revealed that Homer wasn’t a “marrying man”, the town expressed sadness and pity for