Rhetorical Analysis Of Virginia Woolf Professions For Women

Since the early 1900s, women have been able to take great strides in ensuring that they have the same rights as men do. It was certainly not easy because it was widely accepted to think that women exist to serve and please men at the time. One woman instrumental to this movement towards equality was Virginia Woolf. In fact, in her speech, Professions for Women, she details her own story about becoming a writer and her realization of the struggles that female writers have to face. This speech was delivered to women who had their own jobs and who were interested in Woolf’s experiences as a writer and professional, which was demonstrated when Woolf wondered about the difficulties of entering the professions that the women in the audience had entered. Even though Woolf delivered her speech nearly a decade ago, her message still rings true. She wants women to stand up for themselves in the face of societal expectations. She urges women to not take their freedoms for granted and to vocalize the struggles women face in their jobs. Even though they have won the rights to their positions, they must not stop there. They must personalize their experiences, their “rooms”, because the females before them have not been able to. …show more content…
In Professions for Women, there is an Angel of the House who constantly reminds Woolf to lie about her true feelings about a man’s novel and to “ ‘Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive” to fulfil her role of being a woman. It represents the pressures of society for women to act as an ideal woman, one who is obedient and acts as if she has no opinions of her own. By implanting this symbol in her speech, Woolf solidifies the experience that women face when writing, and compares it with a phantom restricting women from freely expressing