In Professions for Women, Wolfe’s sugarcoated cunningness exposesher two-fold identity-one of a combative conformist and one of a timidVictorian woman trying to blend in to stay alive. She used very complextones to manipulate her audience and softly express the urgent need totransform the role and expectations of women in society. Throughout her essay, Woolf uses a series of metaphors to furthercommunicate argument that women were irrationally unaccepted in theprofessional world. In paragraph five, Wolfe used an extended analogy of afisherman to explain the plight woman faced when attempting to writenovels during the Victorian era. She explained that the process of writing anovel is somewhat like fishing. To catch a fish, fishermen must first let theirrods suspend down into the depths of the water. This is parallel to howwriters, before creating a novel, must place themselves in the story andessentially reach the depths of their imagination until they reel the story in.Wolfe claimed that it was necessary to dwell in an “imaginative trance” andget inside the characters heads to fill the pages of a story. However, Wolfealso admitted that for women, this daze was sometimes uncouthlyinterrupted. The farther the rod subsided into the deep ocean abyss, themore it was faced with unruly obstacles and eventually the rod hit animpenetrable wall. The wall of societal ideology. This wall restricted andlimited women’s full potential to produce great masterpieces. The wall waslike a huge hurdle and only an audacious few were brave enough to jumpover it. Most female novelists were stopped short when so called“inappropriate thoughts” flooded their minds. Thoughts that were necessaryto justifiably complete a story. Thoughts women of the era were not allowedto reverie. Thoughts seen as acceptable only for men to translate on paper.Women were said to possess no such thoughts, and essentially to possess nomind at all for that matter.At the closing of her speech, Wolfe presented, yet again, anothermetaphor. She claimed that every woman requires a separate income and a“room of her own” if she is to become independent and productive. Woolf went on to say that women have finally reached the level of professionalismin writing and because of this deserve their “own room.” It makes sense, withgreat success comes great reward. She insisted that these women couldn’tstop however with just a single room. She said the room was still “bare” andlacked furnishings and decorations. These missing fixtures for women wereindependence. Women needed forge a path for themselves complete withtheir own life and decisions. They couldn’t just stop there and accept a littlefreedom. They must acquire all they are worthy of. Once you get a little taste

of something, you’ll automatically want more. The women of the era had notever tasted sweet freedom so with this, Wolfe is trying to encourage them toover indulge for once. If you are told you are repeatedly told you areinsignificant, even if it’s not true, you will eventually start believing ityourself. These women were constantly reminded of their lacking self worth.It’s almost like they were brainwashed into thinking they were worthless andsenseless. Wolf was attempting to wake up them up and make them realizethat they are in fact deserving and commendable. “Your are able, though notwithout great labour and effort, to pay the rent.” With this, Woolf expressesto her audience that they are in fact able to “pay the rent” and rise abovethe pressures of society that are holding them down. They could actuallystand on two feet and support themselves. But not without greatdetermination and hard work. Throughout the course of her essay, Woolf’s tone is constantly shiftingand evolving. She is somewhat like an emotional rollercoaster, changingabruptly and without any notice. In the beginning of her essay, she is veryappealing to her audience. She assumes the persona of a humble and timidtraditional Victorian woman. She includes a lot of parallel structure, andmodest rhetorical questions to establish her ethos and make her readerswant to listen to what she has to say. She also includes an understatementas she tries to make writing seem easy, almost attempting to lure womeninto the profession. Later on, she shifts into talking about killing the “Angel of the House.” She then assumes a more aggressive and combative persona.She speaks of a violent murder with the victim being the traditionalexpectations of women that constantly taunt her. Once again, her tone isaltered, as she swiftly shifts back to a sweet and innocent woman when sherefers to a general novelist as a “he.” Novelists were almost alwaysdominantly male at this time. However, wasn’t she herself a novelists? This iswhere her sly and cunning nature is revealed. With this, she proves she isaware of her audience. Her audience being the whole world, not just thegroup of women was speaking to that day. She realizes that she must appealto everyone to make her voice heard. Throughout the essay, she ispurposefully manipulating her audience. She plays two roles in her own story.One of a charming Victorian woman and one of a combative conformisttrying to make a difference. She knew that if she came on too strong heraudience would tune her out. She approached her target from a familiarstandpoint instead of scaring her audience away with new and radical ideas. Throughout the course of her essay, Wolfe uses several effectivetechniques to bring her audience back from the state of delusion they were