Virginia Woolf was a renowned writer, who wrote many books in both fiction and nonfiction. Known for her soliloquy and her association of ideas, Woolf made a name for herself. “Professions for Women” was one of her famous works, and a shortened version of a speech Woolf gave to the Women’s Service League on January, 21, 1931. With the use of several rhetorical devices, Woolf shared her message about women in the professional world. These devices include the use of understatement, the change in tone throughout the speech, and the difference in sentence structure. Through the use of these techniques her message is conveyed clearly. To start, Woolf utilizes a great deal of understatements, that when looked at as a whole, help transmit her message.
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In her speech Woolf uses simple sentences and more complex sentence to help back up her point. Such as when she is talking about the Angle in the House, she used short simple sentences to show that she hated the angle. She states “She was immensely sympathetic. She was really charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult art of family life. She sacrificed herself daily.” Woolf demonstrates her hatred for the Angle of the house through the use of these short and simple sentences. By using this type of sentence Woolf is able to make her words about the agnel emotionless. This helps convey her message that women are placed into a stereotype, and that this social view is wrong. This allows the audience to to take in the fact that these social views are what hold women back, by showing the audience this side Woolf is able to make her message seem more important and right. Following this Woolf switch her sentence type to longer and more complex. Including her when she exclaimed “If there was a chicken, she took the leg; if there was a draught she sat in it--- in short she was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own, but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of other.” Through the use of this rhetorical strategy Woolf is able to show how ridiculous the “perfect” women is. She show the audience that being the perfect wine in the views of society makes you lack something within and that because of this no women or person is ever truly perfect. Since she had already gained the trust of the listers they believe her point and are able to believe that these views are truly unrealistic. By using the combination of both short and long sentences Woolf is able to show the audience how the social views of women are wrong, this allows her to take away the opposition's point of view and make her argument that women should
In her speech Woolf uses simple sentences and more complex sentence to help back up her point. Such as when she is talking about the Angle in the House, she used short simple sentences to show that she hated the angle. She states “She was immensely sympathetic. She was really charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult art of family life. She sacrificed herself daily.” Woolf demonstrates her hatred for the Angle of the house through the use of these short and simple sentences. By using this type of sentence Woolf is able to make her words about the agnel emotionless. This helps convey her message that women are placed into a stereotype, and that this social view is wrong. This allows the audience to to take in the fact that these social views are what hold women back, by showing the audience this side Woolf is able to make her message seem more important and right. Following this Woolf switch her sentence type to longer and more complex. Including her when she exclaimed “If there was a chicken, she took the leg; if there was a draught she sat in it--- in short she was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own, but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of other.” Through the use of this rhetorical strategy Woolf is able to show how ridiculous the “perfect” women is. She show the audience that being the perfect wine in the views of society makes you lack something within and that because of this no women or person is ever truly perfect. Since she had already gained the trust of the listers they believe her point and are able to believe that these views are truly unrealistic. By using the combination of both short and long sentences Woolf is able to show the audience how the social views of women are wrong, this allows her to take away the opposition's point of view and make her argument that women should