Anita Onyimah
Lives of Women and Girls G
09/26/2015
The Paradox of Androgynous Genius
In ‘A Room of One’s Own’, Virginia Woolf argues that women have been barred from fiction by a set of societal obstacles that would thwart creativity in anyone, no matter their gender: poverty, domesticity, illiteracy, and social criticism. She claims that, because women have been financially dependent on men for centuries, their creativity has been modified to fit masculine standards. Thus, they have had neither the time nor the space to create a ‘feminine’ style of fiction. However, Woolf seems enamored with the idea of ‘feminine’ language and ‘masculine’ language, and says that failing to incorporate both feminine and masculine forces in fiction will …show more content…
‘Androgynous’ has two main definitions: having both masculine and feminine characteristics, and being neither masculine nor feminine. Woolf incorporates all facets of the definition throughout her essay, saying that “a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine.” (97) Woolf commends Shakespeare’s works, saying that his creativity displays an androgyny that many male writers find hard to emulate because of their inflated gender self-awareness. Woolf writes that masculine writings often display “an extraordinary desire for self-assertion...an emphasis upon their own sex and its characteristics” (98) Woolf lauds Shakespeare’s androgynous mind, saying that it abets his poetry to “flow from him, free and unimpeded”, (57) and that “all desire to protest, to preach, to proclaim injury...was fired out of [Shakespeare] and consumed. Therefore his poetry flows from him free and unimpeded” (57). After discussing Shakespeare’s genius, Woolf assesses the creative works of Charlotte Bronte and, surprisingly, finds Bronte’s work lacking. “If one reads [Bronte’s novels] over and marks that jerk in them, that indignation, one sees that she will never get her genius expressed whole and entire. Her books will be deformed and …show more content…
She explains that “the androgynous mind is resonant and porous; it transmits emotion without impediment; it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided” (98). By invoking androgyny, Woolf implies that creativity should not be gendered, and that “anything written with that gender-conscious bias is doomed to death. It ceases to be fertilised.” (103) However, Woolf’s tendency to characterize fiction in gendered terms throughout her essay contradicts her assertions. Early in her essay, Woolf agitates against the saturation of masculine language in the intellectual realm, demanding an integration of femininity rather than an androgynous approach. Woolf touts the unity of male and female genius, but warns female writers against trying to adapt a masculine style in their writing, saying that “the weight, the pace, the stride of a man’s mind are too unlike [a woman’s]...for her to lift anything substantial from him successfully” (76). Woolf argues that an androgynous mind is a self-fertilizing mind, and a non-androgynous mind “cannot grow in the minds of others” (103). However, her use of words like growth, reproduction and fertilization point towards the distinctly feminine nature of the ‘androgynous’ mind. Though she spends a significant portion of her essay explaining the absence of
Lives of Women and Girls G
09/26/2015
The Paradox of Androgynous Genius
In ‘A Room of One’s Own’, Virginia Woolf argues that women have been barred from fiction by a set of societal obstacles that would thwart creativity in anyone, no matter their gender: poverty, domesticity, illiteracy, and social criticism. She claims that, because women have been financially dependent on men for centuries, their creativity has been modified to fit masculine standards. Thus, they have had neither the time nor the space to create a ‘feminine’ style of fiction. However, Woolf seems enamored with the idea of ‘feminine’ language and ‘masculine’ language, and says that failing to incorporate both feminine and masculine forces in fiction will …show more content…
‘Androgynous’ has two main definitions: having both masculine and feminine characteristics, and being neither masculine nor feminine. Woolf incorporates all facets of the definition throughout her essay, saying that “a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine.” (97) Woolf commends Shakespeare’s works, saying that his creativity displays an androgyny that many male writers find hard to emulate because of their inflated gender self-awareness. Woolf writes that masculine writings often display “an extraordinary desire for self-assertion...an emphasis upon their own sex and its characteristics” (98) Woolf lauds Shakespeare’s androgynous mind, saying that it abets his poetry to “flow from him, free and unimpeded”, (57) and that “all desire to protest, to preach, to proclaim injury...was fired out of [Shakespeare] and consumed. Therefore his poetry flows from him free and unimpeded” (57). After discussing Shakespeare’s genius, Woolf assesses the creative works of Charlotte Bronte and, surprisingly, finds Bronte’s work lacking. “If one reads [Bronte’s novels] over and marks that jerk in them, that indignation, one sees that she will never get her genius expressed whole and entire. Her books will be deformed and …show more content…
She explains that “the androgynous mind is resonant and porous; it transmits emotion without impediment; it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided” (98). By invoking androgyny, Woolf implies that creativity should not be gendered, and that “anything written with that gender-conscious bias is doomed to death. It ceases to be fertilised.” (103) However, Woolf’s tendency to characterize fiction in gendered terms throughout her essay contradicts her assertions. Early in her essay, Woolf agitates against the saturation of masculine language in the intellectual realm, demanding an integration of femininity rather than an androgynous approach. Woolf touts the unity of male and female genius, but warns female writers against trying to adapt a masculine style in their writing, saying that “the weight, the pace, the stride of a man’s mind are too unlike [a woman’s]...for her to lift anything substantial from him successfully” (76). Woolf argues that an androgynous mind is a self-fertilizing mind, and a non-androgynous mind “cannot grow in the minds of others” (103). However, her use of words like growth, reproduction and fertilization point towards the distinctly feminine nature of the ‘androgynous’ mind. Though she spends a significant portion of her essay explaining the absence of