Feminism in Virginia Woolf Essay

Virginia Woolf is regarded to be a modern literary figure. She was an English novelist and essayist who
was a significant icon in London literary society. She was a member of the Bloomsbury group. Her
famous novels are “Mrs. Dalloway”, “To The Lighthouse” and “Orlando” and the essay “A Room of One’s
Own. “Contemporary feminists regard Woolf as an advocate of the movement. This paper will analyze
Woolf’s background and some of her works to bring up points of her beliefs on the matter. Growing up
in London, Woolf was influenced by a wide circle of Victorian society. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen was
an editor, critic and biographer.

He had conections to numerous British writers including William Thackeray. Novelists such as George
Elliot, Henry James, Julia Margaret Cameron, George Henry Lewes and James Russell Lowell often
dropped by in their house. (Maze, 18, 1995) Woolf and her sister Vanessa were sexually abused by their
half-brothers Gerald and George. According to modern scholars, this traumatizing experience triggered
her nervous breakdowns. The deaths of her mother Julia Prinsep Stephen in 1895, her half-sister Stella
in 1897 and her father in 1904 added salt to the wound. Woolf was institutionalized after her most
alarming breakdown.

(Maze, 20, 1995) Despite her mood swings, mental breakdowns and decline in social functioning,
Woolf’s abilities to write remained. Biographers claim that Woolf’s marriage to Leonard Woolf was not
consummated. According to them, she was a lesbian. Nonetheless, the couple had a tight relationship
and often collaborated in the literature industry. Leonard Woolf was the publisher while Virginia Woolf
was the writer. Hogarth Press published a majority of Woolf’s works. (Maze, 23, 1995) Woolf had a
relationship with Vita Sackville West, an English poet and novelist. Their affair lasted for two years but
thry remained friends.