1.

The author, his One of the most talented and innovative novelists in English
background, the literature, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was born Virginia Stephen in
literary trend he London. Her father was the eminent critic Leslie Stephen, and
belongs to; some though Woolf received little in the way of formal education, her
more of his mind was shaped by her avid reading from her father's extensive
works. book collection and from conversations with his friends, many of
whom were prominent writers of the era. After her father's death in
1904, Woolf moved with her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell, to a
house in the Bloomsbury district of London and became a member
of the "Bloomsbury Group," which had many of England's finest
young artists and intellectuals - the economist John Maynard
Keynes, the biographer Lytton Strachey, the art critics and painters
Roger Fry and Clive Bell, the novelist E.M. Forster, among others.
She married fellow Bloomsburian, Leonard Woolf, socialist, thinker
and writer in 1912. Leonard and Virginia Woolf set up the Hogarth
Press in 1917. Woolf's first novel The Voyage Out (1915) explored
the tensions experienced by women who want marriage and a career.
Woolf's major works such as Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the
Lighthouse (1927), and The Waves (1931) * rejected the boundaries
of traditional narrative form. She sought to develop a "stream of
consciousness" narrative, that could capture the essence of the
sensibility, the experience itself in terms of time, memory, and
consciousness. t She is considered one of the founders of the
Modernist movement. Besides making her mark as a novelist of
great renown, Woolf's spirit of creative adventure led her to explore
and experiment with the short story genre, in stokies like 'A Haunted
House,' 'Monday or Tuesday,' 'Kew Gardens.' 'The Mark on the
Wall,' 'The New Dress,' 'The Lady in the Looking-Glass,' 'The
Legacy,' etc. Woolf used her short fiction as a 'testing ground' for her
novels; the stories reveal the evolution of Woolfs experimental
methods and the origin of some of the major themes in her novels.
Woolf has also written a large number of essays and book reviews
collected in books like Modem Fiction (1919), The Common Reader
(1925), The Common Reader second series (1932) and The Death of
the Moth and Other Essays (1942). The majority of Woolfs essays
are devoted to literary matters. Her social and political concerns
revolved chiefly around the rights of women and women writers. In
A Room of One's Own (1929) Woolf argues that "a woman must
have money and a room of her own" if she is to write fiction of any
merit. Despite the material comforts enjoyed by her family, Woolf s
childhood was a traumatic one. She suffered sexual abuse by her half
brothers after the death of c her mother in 1895. She had to contend
with frequent bouts of depression throughout her life. Sensing the
onset of another breakdown, on 28 March, 1941 Woolf drowned
herself. Before committing suicide she had left the following
poignant note behind for her husband Leonard Woolf: Dearest, I feel
certain I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of
 those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. In October 1940,
Virginia Woolf wrote the story called 'The Legacy' about a widower
(a right-wing politician) who discovers from reading his wife's
diaries that she had fallen in love with a radical working man and
committed suicide.
2. Genre definition Short story
of the literary
piece under
consideration.
3. Setting of the 3.1.Time
story The events of the story happen in 20th century, it's not indicated
directly, because The Legacy is one of the short stories from the
book A Haunted House, and other short stories that was written in
1921.The span of the time pictured in the story can be measured by
one day.
3.2.The place of the action isn't indicated directly but the country is
easily recognizable due to the lexical chains which specifies Britain,
London: Piccadilly, East End, Gilbert, Miller.
3.3. Social environment of the characters (social status, manners,
customs, moral values).
Suggested by the isolation and alienation of Lily Everit, who feels
inadequate when introduced to Bob Brinsley, symbol of thoughtless
male power and conceit. Despite Everit’s esteemed essay writing
(paralleling Woolf’s), Brinsley negligently assumes that she must, as
a woman, write poetry, as his initial question shows. Everit feels
crushed, stifled, and silenced by the weight of masculine
accomplishment in the arts and sciences.
3.4. Atmosphere (effect, sensuous quality of setting).
The story begins on a calm note. We don’t seem to think that there
could be anything fishy in Angela’s death until Gilbert is told by the
secretary Sissy that he would need her soon.
4. The theme of the The central theme in "The Legacy" by Virginia Woolf is that a
story troubled marriage can lead to loneliness, with a final result of death,
as seen in the climax of the story when Angela purposefully stepped
into traffic. In the short story, Angela had a bad marriage and it
destroyed her personal life indirectly, like, Angela has a discreet
relationship, B.M. basically because of her husband’s careless, as
shown in this quote, “ . . . he had become more and more absorbed in
his work.” It shows that Gilbert did not pay attention to Angela She
died because she wanted to escape from her husband, Gilbert who
just cared about his work, as shown in these quote, “And she, of
course, was more often alone. . . . "How I wish," . . . "that Gilbert
had a son!”” and “ . . . And we so seldom have an evening alone.”
This is significant because these quote show that how Angela felt
lonely was and she thought Gilbert does not love her. This also is
one of the reasons that she had an affair. She wants some love from
her husband but B.M. can satisfy her. Gilbert was busy at his work,
 and ignore Angela in a casual way. Therefore, at the climax of the
story, Angela chose death to leave her husband. To conclude, the
theme is that a troubled marriage can lead to the death, which occurs
at the climax and resolution of the story.
5. Point of view The story is told from Gilbert´s point of view. We discover the truth
about his marriage little by little, while he is reading Angela´s
diaries.
Although we can guess that Angela and BM had an affair before
Gilbert, we we really grasp the full significance of Gilbert´s legacy at
the very end of the short story: “He had received his legacy. She had
told him the truth. She had stepped off the kerb to rejoin her lover.
She had stepped off the kerb to escape from him.” (last words of the
short story)
6. Cohesion of the
story (lexical,
conceptual,
country-study
chains)
7. The composition Exposition:
comprises three Gilbert Clandon gives his wife's gift to Sissy Miller and stars to read
elements: the the diary.
characters, the Raising action:
plot and the Gilbert faces up with B.M and his wife's love affair with him.
types of speech. Therefore, at the climax of the story, Angela chose death to leave her
7.1. The husband. To conclude, the theme is that a troubled marriage can lead
characters to the death, which occurs at the climax and resolution of the story.
depicted in the Falling action:
story are … Gilbert Clandon learnS who B.M is. Denouement: He figures out
Character that his legacy is the truth
representation is
direct or
indirect. 7.2.
The plot runs as Gilbert
follows: (the He is a stock and flat character. He is a stock character because in
exposition, the those times we can see a lot of Gilberts in terms of being arrogant
nouement, the and patriarchal one. Also as I said before he is a flat character
story, the climax because he is always busy with her business. Moreover, he can be
& the described as selfish because he focuses his attention anyone but
denouement are himself. He thinks Angela's conversations are unintelligent. He
to be pointed seems his wife like a little child.
out. Or there is Angela Clandon Gilbert´s wife died 6 weeks ago: she was run over
no plot in its by a car younger than Gilbert She committed suicide: she threw
classical form). herself under a car.
7.3. The types of Angela: independent-minded woman Angela was neglected by her
speech husband who took her for granted a passionate woman
employed by the Sissy Miller Angela´secretary and friend trustworthy (you can trust
author are … her) and discreet B. M.´s sister
 (narration, “B.M came unexpectedly after dinner” we see how strong is their
description, passion. As we can see when he passes, Angela commits suicide, we
meditation, can see the effect he had on her. He’s a revolutionary and a tragic
monologue, lover (=self destructive love). As the journal goes on, we can see
dialogue, how much of an influence he had onto her, changing her mind.
represented
speech, etc.)
8. In order to Symbolism
portray the
character vividly diary
and
convincingly the the printed word when no words are able to be said = it is a legacy
author resorts to has the utmost value since it is bequeathed to someone; shows
the following deceased’s feelings regarding the heir
devices. 8.1. diary = truth = freedom
Lexical 8.2. Angela’s only means of expressing her thoughts were through the
Syntactical 8.3. diary
Phonetic
it was the only thing she kept from Gilbert (the only reason they
8.4.Graphical
quarrelled, as Gilbert noted) meaning it was the only thing Gilbert
Lexical
couldn’t control
expressive
means: what she wrote in the diary was the truth of her existence
metaphor, she was free to write whatever she wanted
metonymy, in the end, by giving the diary to Gilbert she allowed him to see her
irony, epithet, for what she really was 
simile, alternative interpretation: diary is not vindictive
hyperbole, it’s a way for Angela to share with Gilbert again ⇒ she is able to
zeugma, pun, connect with him now, sth impossible when she was alive (see
oxymoron, set above: theme of marriage)
expressions,
praseological though there is an element of bitterness implied in it, it is Angela’s
units, allusions, most prized possession where she kept her innermost thoughts and
symbols, etc.; feelings: the fact that she left it to Gilbert and not Sissy Miller says
strong position sth
Syntactical her diary is there to help make Gilbert a better man: Angela is
expressive opening Gilbert’s eyes to his narcissism, giving him the chance to
means: see his faults and correct them
inversion,
detached
constructions,
Title
parcellation,
repetitions, word “legacy” mentioned twice in the story: paragraph 3 & last
enumeration, paragraph
climax,
antithesis, creates a neat connection between beginning and end which reflects
ellipsis, Angela’s desire for order (how she labelled all the tokens she had left
asyndeton, for those she cared about)
 reported speech, the word is directly linked to the diary (focal point of the short story)
rhetorical “To him, of course, she had left nothing in particular, unless it were
questions, her diary… So she had left it him, as her legacy.”
litotes, “He had received his legacy. She had told him the truth. ”
aposiopesis,
chiasmus,
suspence, etc.
Phonetic
expressive
means:
onomatopeia,
alliteration,
assonance,
graphon.
Graphical
means: italics,
bold type,
punctuation, etc.
9. Poetic detail Ironies:
1. Gilbert Clondon thinks that Angela is trustworthy, she says
everything about her life and Gilbert says that "She had been the soul
of candour." But she has got a secret, she deceives her husband and
he does not know until he reads the legacy.
2. In the legacy, Angela writes that she is proud of being his wife and
she describes how handsome Gilbert is although she thinks so, she
deceives Gilbert.
The irony is in the fact that that’s how she really is, she kept it to
herself. When Sissy leaves, she says “if by anytime there’s anything
I could do to help you”. He thinks that she may have had  a passion
for him. We suppose his legacy is her diary. He remembers her
mourning her brother, but actually it was her lover. “If only she had
stopped for a moment, she would be alive now” which is ironic
because of her true intentions.

10 Implication This short story deals with the life and aspiration of Angela Clandon
. who yearns for a life of happy togetherness with her beloved B.M..
Trapped within the fetters of a conventional marriage, Angela
realizes how societal norms of propriety forbid her from deserting
her husband Gilbert for her lover. Virginia Woolf wrote this story in
1940 but it significantly anticipates the primary concerns of the real
women's movement by presenting women as intelligent, rational
creatures who had the ability and desire to make their own way in
the world.
11 The Marriage of convenience. \The development of spouses after years
. message/idea of you don’t know who the other person is idea of partnership.
the story.