Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf: Death

Woolf had struggled with depression since the death of her mother in May of 1895. Just as she was coming out of the depressive episode caused by her mother's death, the successive losses of her half-sister Stella Duckworth in 1897 and her father in 1904 precipitated a nervous breakdown.

Woolf attempted suicide for the first time when she was 22 by jumping out of a window, but fortunately the window wasn't high enough off the ground to do any serious damage. Her sister, Vanessa, took over motherly roles of caring for Woolf and moved the family to London in the bohemian Bloomsbury section.

Depression and what is now thought to be a bipolar disorder plagued Woolf for the majority of her life. From 1910 to 1913 she was hospitalized several times for minor suicide attempts, having to stay intermittently at Burley House, a private institution for women with nervous disorders, on "rest cure therapy."

In September of 1913, Woolf's manic-depressive thoughts that she was unloved by her siblings and husband, as well as a failure, caused her to attempt suicide once more, this time very seriously. She took 100g of barbital, a sedative used for central nervous system depression. She would have died if her stomach hadn't been pumped. It took until August of 1914 for Woolf to be considered fully recovered. She spent much of her life looking for a cure for her mental health issues, and finally started to feel better in the summer of 1914.

In 1940, her mental health deteriorated once again due to several factors. For one, World War II was a constant stress on Woolf's mental state. She struggled to write when writing seemed to insignificant due to the war. As writing was the chief factor in staving off Woolf's depressive episodes, not being able to write due to feeling its futility in the face of WWII was disastrous to her mental health and made her feel like a failure.

Woolf's family's London homes were destroyed during the Blitz that year. Her biography of Roger Fry didn't receive the praise she had anticipated and finishing Between the Acts left her exhausted and weak. On March 28, 1941, Woolf decided to end her life. She filled her pockets with rocks and walked into the River Ouse near her home. Her body was not found until April 18. Her final novel, Between the Acts, was published posthumously later that year.

Fig. 3 - Virginia Woolf committed suicide by drowning herself in a river.

Virginia Woolf: Famous Works

Let's have a look at some of the famous works of Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse

This novel is broken into three different parts. The first part of the novel focuses on Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, who are at their summer house with their eight children and several guests just before the start of World War I. The youngest of the Ramsay children asks if they can see the lighthouse the following day.

Mrs. Ramsay agrees, but Mr. Ramsay says no. Mr. Ramsay is not well-liked by his children and tension has separated him and his wife emotionally. Lily, one of the guests and an unmarried painter, struggles to complete a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay that she was commissioned to do. Following an ambivalent dinner party where Mr. Ramsay yells at a guest for asking for more soup, everyone in the room seems to connect with one another.

Mrs. Ramsay hopes there will be a permanent connection. In the second part of the book, "Time Passes," 10 years have gone by since the family has gone to the summer house. Mrs. Ramsay along with two of the children have died. The housekeeper, Mrs. McNab, goes back to the house to tidy it up when she hears the remaining family members will be returning.

In the last part of the book, "The Lighthouse," Mr. Ramsay takes his reluctant children out to see the lighthouse. Although they are annoyed by him, they feel a new connection to him. Lily finally finishes her painting. The novel's themes include the complexity of human relationships, the passage of time, and subjectivity.

Fig. 4 - A lighthouse becomes the source of major conflict in one of Woolf's most famous novels.

Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway tells the story of a day in the life of fictional London socialite Mrs. Dalloway. Essentially plotless, the novel relies more on the character's consciousness to control any action in the story. The narration switches from Mrs. Dalloway as she prepares for a party, to that of Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of World War I who is experiencing shell shock (now known as PTSD).

Mrs. Dalloway gets ready for the party, coming face to face with an old flame, and questioning if she's really happy or not. When her husband brings her flowers home, he is unable to tell her that he loves her. Mrs. Dalloway reflects on how she and her husband are isolated from one another.

Septimus, meanwhile, is with his Italian-born wife and getting ready to see a psychiatrist to talk about his condition. The psychiatrist wants to have him taken away to an institution, so Septimus jumps out a window and impales himself on the fence below.

Back at the party, Mrs. Dalloway reflects on how many of her contemporaries and friends are actually happy. When she hears about Septimus's suicide, she respects him for choosing death over compromising his happiness, integrity, and soul. She returns to the party. The novel's themes include disillusionment with society, isolation, oppression, and fear of death.

Virginia Woolf: A Room of One's Own

Woolf's most famous essay, A Room of One's Own, is a political piece that argues for female equality and freedom of expression. In this essay, Woolf expands on ideas that she presented in two separate speeches at two women's colleges in 1928.

Woolf's thesis is that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf comments on women's lack of free expression using the metaphor of a fish. Women have thoughts and can cast their lines, but they're not allowed to express those thoughts, so the ideas (fish) get away.

Throughout her essay, Woolf argues that if women were given the same opportunities as men, especially in literary circles, they would produce just as much literature as men do. She says that women have been kept out of education throughout history, limiting their freedom of thought and ability to advance socially.

Woolf concludes the essay by telling women that they need to take up the tradition of the female writer and pass it on to their daughters. Woolf's social activism, especially for women's rights, was unconventional during her time and it has proved to be highly influential. A Room of One's Own is now one of the most widely-read essays in history.

Virginia Woolf Quotes

A Room of One's Own is often viewed as Woolf's feminist critique of female oppression in a patriarchal society by keeping women trapped in subordinate roles. This quote reflects that sentiment well, arguing that women have never gotten the recognition or respect they deserve in their writing. Although Woolf was given an education (albeit informal) and her writing was encouraged, the same could not be said for all women in the early to mid-20th century.

Woolf had an advantage because her father was a writer and actively encouraged her writing. However, other women throughout history were deterred from writing, and even when they did write, they would not publish the work under their own name for fear of not being taken seriously. Women had far fewer opportunities than men, and their work was generally not as well-respected.

Many women either published under a male pseudonym (e.g., Charlotte Brontë under the name Curer Bell) or published anonymously. Woolf herself had some experience with anonymity, as all of her reviews for the Times Literary Supplement had to be anonymous, a tradition that held until 1974. In this quote, Woolf essentially argues that women contribute much more to society and literature than they are given credit for.

Again, Woolf equates education with freedom. With her vibrant literary education at home, her parents taught her to read and write and gave her access to a plethora of books. Woolf used those skills to get through life: she turned to reading to combat her depression, owned a successful printing business with her husband, published novels and essays, and met with other literary geniuses.

Her childhood education allowed Woolf to do all these things as a woman. Instead of being a housewife and a mother, Woolf had the education she needed to thrive in spheres that women were traditionally kept from. Her education gave her the freedom to break free of societal constructs that she found limiting.

In many ways, this sense of freedom links to the principles of modern feminism, in that women have the same capacity and potential for success as men but have been systematically held back from being able to achieve it.