Mia Boudreau Boudreau 1

AP Lang P2

1/31/19

Woolf Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Virginia Woolf’s ​Professions for Women​, is an ode to feminism that empowers and

inspires women. In the transcripted speech, Woolf discusses the effects of societal standards,

expectations, and the patriarchy on women. She also communicates that to be successful and free

of restrictions professionally, women need to resist and defy these social limitations.​ ​Addressing

a branch of the National Society for Women’s Service in her honest and empowering speech,

Virginia Woolf argues that women need to resist stereotypes and gender roles, such as “The

Angel in the House,” in order to empower them to fight for equality in the professional world.

In paragraph 1, Woolf recalls prominent women in literature that helped pave a path for

her as a female in the professional world in order to establish a humble and trustworthy persona.

She starts to familiarize herself with her audience to curate a persona that they will be responsive

towards. Woolf begins her speech by asserting her presence and role by stating “it is true that I

am a woman; it is true that I am employed,” and then questioning “but what professional

experiences have I had?” (Woolf para. 1). Woolf is merely presenting obvious facts about herself

as being both a woman and employed, but the purpose of this is to set up an opportunity to

downplay her experiences in the professional world, as well as establish trust, connections and

commonalities with her audience. She wants to do this because she is trying to bridge the gap

between her, an esteemed writer, and her audience, who may feel like they are made up of

average women. She follows these statements with a rhetorical question that humbles her

accomplishments and questions her profession and the experiences that come alongside it. The
 Boudreau 2

intended effect of this question is to get her audience to realize that just being employed, doesn’t

guarantee automatic professional experiences, especially if you are a woman. However, in

reality, Virginia Woolf was a noted and prolific writer with many professional accomplishments

and experiences. Her intentions of underestimating herself to her audience is to further add to her

persona by giving a humble impression, which continues to add trust and bonds between them.

Woolf then proceeds to underestimate and deemphasize her accomplishments with mentions of

famous female writers. She claims, “for the road was cut many years ago- by Fanny Burney,

Aphra Behn, by Harriet Martineau, by Jane Austen, by George Eliot- many famous women, and

many more unknown and forgotten, have been before me, making the path smooth and

regulating my steps” (para. 1). Woolf is separating herself from these acclaimed women, who

she claims are notable and famous, in order to make her audience feel closer to her and not so

distanced. This creates a sense that Woolf and her audience are on the same level, whereas many

successful female writers may be seen as top tier, or unattainable. She is putting her personal

accomplishments into context and perspective by saying that she “has it easy,” or that the path

has “already been cut” for her. By doing this, she is intending to present herself as humble and

non-notable, or at least not as notable as her role models. To conclude the first paragraph of her

speech, Virginia Woolf establishes a claim about why she thinks women are able to succeed as

writers. She says, “the cheapness of writing is, of course, the reason why women have succeeded

as writers before they have succeeded in other professions” (para. 1). By stating this, Woolf is

implying that being a woman in the professional world is difficult, but attainable in the world of

literature due to the advantage that the cost of paper provides. When Woolf discusses this, she is

partially accrediting her success, that she won’t even fully admit to, to the cost effectiveness of
 Boudreau 3

being a writer. The intentions of this are to underestimate her profession as a female writer as

well as her successes. Woolf is also using irony and humor in this statement to criticize men and

patriarchal society. She is pointing out the fact that the only way that women could succeed in a

profession was in one that didn’t cost them, or their husbands too much. By doing this, Woolf is

acknowledging how undervalued they are in society.

In paragraphs 2-5, Woolf narrates her experiences as a professional as well as creates a

metaphor that reflects how women are impacted by societal standards and the patriarchy in order

to magnify the negative effects of these social factors. She begins by detailing how she became a

journalist, which justifies that she is a professional, but then discredits her self by claiming she

does not deserve to be referred to as a professional woman. She tells her audience what she spent

her initial earnings on, she illustrates, “I have to admit that instead of spending that sum upon

bread and butter, rent, shoes and stockings, or butcher's bills, I went out and bought a cat--a

beautiful cat, a Persian cat” (para. 2). By mentioning this, Woolf is putting her experience into

context for her audience. She is letting her audience know that her experience and success in her

profession is and will be different from the experiences of those in her audience. She mentions

that she bought herself luxury goods instead of necessities to magnify the fact that she wasn’t in

dire need of the earnings that her profession brought. Understanding that most of her audience

will mostly likely be in more need of their earnings for a living, she is informing them about a

key difference in their experiences. Woolf also implies a warning to her audience that her

experience may have been easier than theirs will be, and to take her advice and knowledge with

this in mind. Woolf lays the foundation for her argument about the difficulties women face and

how living up to the ideal, may actually be limiting them. She continues to tell another anecdote
 Boudreau 4

from her life. She uses an extended metaphor of “The Angel in the House.” The term “The

Angel in the House” refers to Victorian ideal of a “perfect” woman, one who is pure, passive,

and submissive to her male counterparts. She introduces this “phantom” as an obstacle to her

success as a writer. She states, “I discovered that if I were going to review books I should need to

do battle with a certain phantom… and when I came to know her better I called her… The Angel

in the House” (para. 3). By using “The Angel in the House” as a metaphor to the patriarchy,

societal standards, limitations, and the oppression of women, Woolf is hoping that her audience

will be able to make a connection between and visualize how these factors impact women.

Without always being able to physically see these effects, it could be difficult to truly know the

extent to which they were impacting these women in their day to day lives. Woolf is intending to

bridge that gap by presenting these limitations as something more physical and haunting. Woolf

mentions that in order to successfully write reviews, she would have to get rid of the “phantom,”

because with it constantly lurking, she has to uphold the image of a passive, and pure woman.

She is trying to begin to really empower her audience by getting them to realize how restrictive

and unfair these societal standards can be for a professional woman. Woolf proceeds to describe

“The Angel in the House” with details of what a woman ought to be, and how The Angel

embodies them all. She then magnifies the severity of the effects that societal expectations have

had on her by reflecting on what she felt as if The Angel was telling her, ‘“My dear, you are a

young woman. You are writing about a book that has been written by a man. Be sympathetic; be

tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you

have a mind of your own. Above all, be pure.’ And she made as if to guide my pen” (para. 3).

Woolf is personifying The Angel and assigning her a voice in order to make apparent the
 Boudreau 5

messages that the patriarchy sends to young woman. She wants to ensure that her audience

knows the messages they are being sent, and also how damaging they can be. She is using a

sarcastic tone when she speaks as The Angel to show her audience that she thinks these messages

are unwarranted, ridiculous, and unfair. The sarcastic tone is revealed in how Woolf mocks the

messages that society has told her in bursts of brief words or phrases, like “be sympathetic,” and

“flatter,” and “be pure.” Wolf also makes sure that she phrases these in the imperative to show

that they are orders given to women and not suggestions. By listing the things that a woman is to

do when reviewing a man’s work, she is hoping that her audience will realize how women have

been trained as slaves to the patriarchy, forever waiting and serving men, but treading lightly, in

fear and caution of making the men feel like less than, or inferior. After she personifies The

Angel, she adds in her own statement on how the messages of The Angel impacted her. She

claims that they guided her pen, and controlled her. Woolf is arguing that that with society’s

pressures always upon her, she cannot be truly free to speak her mind, and have independent

thoughts. The intended effect of this is to inspire her audience to fully grasp how damaging

patriarchal ideals have been on her, as well as many other women. Woolf builds a passionate

tone, which serves to empower and inspire her audience. Woolf further enforces the outcomes of

these restrictions on women with a powerful statement, she says “[women writers] are impeded

by the extreme conventionality of the other sex. For though men sensibly allow themselves great

freedom in these respects, I doubt that they realize or can control the extreme severity with

which they condemn such freedom in women” (para. 5). Woolf states that while men “allow

themselves great freedom,” they are in turn severely limiting the freedoms that the opposite sex,

or women, get. Woolf is telling her audience that the pleasures, and freedoms that men enjoy
 Boudreau 6

come at the expense of women. By saying this, she is hoping that her audience will acknowledge

that they are, in a way, victims of society, but not to pity themselves, but instead take a stand and

fight for their equality. She is also implying that men may not even notice the severity of their

behavior and the implications of their mindsets. Thus, she is suggesting that the cause is rooted

deeper, perhaps in the way society has been designed and the way people act within society. She

intends for her audience to comprehend the magnitude of the issue, and the dire need for action

from not just one person, but many people. This constructs a transition into her next topic, of

needed and necessary action for the future.

In paragraphs 6-7, Woolf projects necessary actions to be taken in the future for women

to break free from societal expectations in order to spark change and empower her audience.

Woolf summarizes her argument by saying, “she has still many ghosts to fight, many prejudices

to overcome. Indeed it will be a long time still, I think, before a woman can sit down to write a

book without finding a phantom to be slain, a rock to be dashed against” (para. 6). Woolf uses

the word “she” to refer to a universal groups of women, by doing so, she is hoping that her

audience will feel united, together, and fighting the same fight alongside one another. This

unifies her audience and empowers them as a whole. Woolf also uses the word “she,” in the

feminine, singular, and third person, to emphasize that individual action is needed and each and

every one of the women in the audience has a responsibility to take action. By still

acknowledging the women as individual women, she is hoping that they will feel empowered

and inspired to fight back. Woolf is anticipating that creating a unified opposition to the

patriarchy will yield better results than a scattered, unconnected one. Her diction is also

aggressive and violent. She uses words and phrases like: “slain,” “a phantom to be slain,” and
 Boudreau 7

“rock to be dashed against,” to emphasize the scale of the actions needed to defeat these

restrictions on women. She is using this violent language to suggest that drastic measures need to

be taken in order for women to defeat their “phantoms.” She then begins to project a plan for the

future. One necessary action, she claims, is “to discuss and define [the obstacles/phantoms

women face] is I think of great value and importance” (para. 7). Woolf is relaying to her

audience that she believes education and discussion of the issues is a very important strategy in

resolving them. She emphasizes this to her audience in hopes that they will continue to educate

other women, as well as men, and have healthy discussions, so that one day, women can

overcome these obstacles. Another plan for action, Woolf claims, is “to discuss the ends and the

aims for which we are fighting, for which we are doing battle with these formidable obstacles.

Those aims cannot be taken for granted; they must be perpetually questioned and examined”

(para. 7). Woolf is highlighting the importance of having clear goals within the “fight.” The

intended effect on this is to get her audience to know what they are fighting for, why they are

fighting for it, and what their end goals are. This connects to the women being a strong and

unified force, with common goals as a major factor in their unity. By setting goals, and

projections for the future, Woolf is hoping to inspire and empower her audience to make them

feel as if social equality within the professional world can, one day, be achieved, and that it is a

cause worth fighting for.

While Woolf mainly refers to the inequalities and oppressions that women face in the

professional world, her message can be broadened and interpreted as a fight and a push towards

equality for all women, in all aspects of life and society. The phantom, or “Angel,” that she

refers to can easily be applied to most, if not all, sectors of a woman’s life. Woolf’s rhetoric is
 Boudreau 8

effective because through establishing a humble and trustworthy persona, she is able to

empower, inspire and uplift women through her personal anecdotes and projections for the

future.
 Boudreau 9

Works Cited

“Professions for Women.” ​The Death of the Moth and Other Essays,​ by Virginia Woolf, Hogarth

Pr., 1981.