Virginia Woolf was born in Kensington, England in 1882. Her entire life she batted frail mental and physical health, debilitating her life in many ways. This lead to her being educated at home by her father, though he was not anything less than well educated. Her father was a well written-man who wrote letters, numerous articles critiquing literature, and biographical and philosophical works. Her entire life she did not despise being educated at home, and she ultimately appreciated it. While at home she took part in literary discussions with her father and his colleagues as well as reading the family’s extensive library. She married Leonard Woolf in 1912, however that marriage was more a marriage of necessity as her sexual partner was Victoria Sacksville-West whom she met in the early 1920’s. It was this sexual relationship that ultimately influenced a majority of her lesbian rhetoric pieces, however, it was Leonard Woolf who supported her to complete her first book The Voyage Out in 1915. It is important to note her husband was Jewish, and thus in 1941, she committed suicide, by waking into a river and drowning, out of fear Nazi Germany would invade England.
It was these experiences that would shape her writings and her beliefs as a feminist and a feminist rhetorician. Her admiration for strong women was only pushed by her dislike for male domination for in society. Her feminist ideals represent the changing nature of feminism from 1920’s-1940’s. Her involvement with the women’s movement of the time was as widely spread as could be. She was an involved suffragist and advocated for a woman’s right to vote. She supported the Working-Class Women’s Co-Operative Guild by writing letters to be published in their newsletter and magazine as well as giving speeches. Unlike the feminists of today, she distanced herself from the word ‘feminist’ as it is defined today.
The three overarching themes of her feminist rhetoric reflect these changing feminist ideals and are that rhetoric ultimately has a purpose, she discusses the ideal orator, and her rhetoric its self is inclusive yet still exclusive. Her rhetoric theory is never explicitly stated, and thus one must look at her works as a whole to determine, and infer, her thoughts regarding rhetoric. In this instance, looking at her wor1atyuioks in The Rhetorical Tradition anthology to determine her rhetorical theory. These works are Women and Fiction, Professions of Women, and A Room of One’s Own. These works are a good representation of Virginia Woolf as a writer as a whole, as they show her spectrum of works and ideologies.
The anthology makes the argument for a possible rhetoric theory provided by Virginia Woolf. On page 1249, the authors make the argument for her presenting possible a rhetoric that is uniquely female, (Bizzell, 2001). They argue, in Virginia Woolf’s writing one can see her rhetoric as being indirect, tentative, open ended for discussion with the reader, associative, and relying upon personal experience for evidence. Woolf ultimately chooses her writing style and then her intellectual purpose to help her analysis of the station of women writers in the past and at that time. Thus, Woolf became known for experimenting with multiple viewpoints, a new narrative form, and poetic language, (Allen, 2010). The authors of the anthology also argue in conjunction with this ‘female’ rhetoric Woolf has a tendency to use a rhetoric akin to a typically ‘male’ rhetoric, (Bizzell, 2001). This male Rhetoric is defined as being logical and hierarchal, however, even when she uses this ‘male’ rhetoric she refrains from being aggressive, (Bizzell, 2001).
Her intellectual purpose was to analyze the station of women with a focus on women writers, and how this station affects their ability to write for leisure and for a purpose, (Bizzell, 2001). She elaborates upon how the station of women, low education, and independence, inhibits the ability to write for pleasure. She states the language of English should be better known as the language of men. Thus, leading her to create a language useful to women in her fiction and non-fiction work. Women should be able to say what they need to say. She also argued for female independence from the male hierarchy. Meaning, women should be able to own their own property and be in charge of their own personal finances.
The first overarching theme to be discussed is her belief in Rhetoric having a purpose and how rhetoric was supposed to be used. Her personal usage of Rhetoric shows her belief in it having, and needing, a purpose as this is how she makes use of it in her writings. She personally, and advocated for, rhetoric being used to advance the equality of women and moving past the societal standards for women of 20th century England. In a conflicting belief, she argued the necessity of essays only to inflict pleasure for both the reader and writer and for essays not to inform or persuade the reader.
Her second overarching theme, is her determining the model of whom the ideal orator is. Her ideal orator is ideally female. This female is ideally educated and comes from a family of older money, but any kind of money is necessary. Having money and being well educated is necessary to be a successful orator in Woolf’s opinion. She elaborates upon how low education and independence often inhibit the ability of women to write. This ultimately become the basis for her intellectual purpose, advocating against the inherent station of women in 19th and 20th century Kensington, England. Ideally oratory, for women, is written and literature based. She specifically limits this to fiction. Women can give speeches that are oratory, however, it is only in certain circumstances that Woolf would define as oratory. As an example, giving a speech in front of an all-female audience advocating for protesting the female station.
The third overarching theme present in her works is her inclusive nature being relatively exclusive to a majority of the population. She advocates for women writers, as is her intellectual purpose, yet limits women writers to the women of the upper-class. She argues working class women do not have the means, education, nor the opportunity to be a successful orator. Paper is expensive, she argues, thus working-class women cannot write. It is important to note, in all her discussions regarding the ideal orator no reference to skin color was ever made as a distinction between a good orator and a bad one. However, an examining of racial tensions in England pre-World War II it can be assumed her ideal orator is a white female. An attempt to persuade more women to write is made, however, she specifically limits this to fiction. She argues on page 1257 of the anthology in Women and Fiction, “Novels are the least concentrated form of art. A novel can be easily taken up or put down more easily than a play or poem,” (Bizzell, 2001).
Her work Women and Fiction is the first present in the Anthology. At the beginning of the work, she questions the reasoning behind no continuous women writings existing pre 18th-century on page 1257 she states, “Strange spaces of silence seem to separate one method of activity from another,” (Bizzell, 2001). She comes to the conclusion that the lack of women’s individual wealth leads to an absence in women’s careers in writing, and thus an absence in women’s writings as a whole. It is in this work, the argument for women only being able to write fiction is made. It is in Women and Fiction a reader of the anthology first sees the inclusive yet exclusive nature in her works.
Professions of Women is the first, and only, transcribed speech from her in the anthology. This speech was given to the National Society for Women’s Services. This speech is in regard to the struggles for professional women in the ‘modern’ workplace. She argues, what society ultimately expects of women, to be unselfish and charming, is a barrier for them in the workplace. It is in this piece, Woolf is attempting to inspire the women of the society to be independent of the men in their life, “You are able, though not without great effort, to pay the rent,” (Bizzell, 2001). It is in this piece Woolf also contradicts herself, she argues the cheapness of paper is the reason women have been able to succeed in writing, (Bizzell, 2001). It is in Professions of Women her intellectual purpose becomes truly obvious, her argument for female independence.
While Virginia Woolf holds the belief, fiction is the easiest thing for a woman to write, and yet there is only one fictional piece in the Anthology which she wrote. A Room of One’s Own is that fictional piece. The main character is a self-described brilliant female writer named Judith Shakespeare, and she is the fictional sister of William Shakespeare. She, Judith, argued is a talented women poet if only she had the opportunity to show her gifts. It is through this fictional lens she first discusses the historical constraints encountered by women and introduces another one of her intellectual purposes. On page 1269 she argues, “Intellectual freedom depends upon material things, Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom and women have always been poor … That’s why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one’s own,” (Bizzell, 2001).
She, Woolf, was denied university education because of her gender and while she was content with an initial homeschool education, as she grew older she desired an education and grew bitter. As continued through the other pieces in the anthology, she discusses women’s rights for basic independence. It is in A Room of One’s Own she first discusses female sexuality in the anthology. On page 1263 she, Judith, states, “Do not start there. Do not blush. Let us admit in the privacy of our own society that these things sometimes happen. Sometimes women do like women,” (Bizzell, 2001).
As a feminist rhetorician, Virginia Woolf is unique among her peers. She is the first female rhetorician to discuss women’s rights outside of a religious context. For example, Phoebe Palmer is another female rhetorician. However, Palmer only argues for women’s rights inside the church and it is in religious contexts and texts she supports her argument. Virginia Woolf challenges this tradition. She in comparison argues for women’s rights in everyday life as an example, having the right over one’s own finances. She also does not reference the bible as a justification for female and male equality. Thus, making her add a new perspective to the anthology for female rhetoric.
Her version of rhetoric introduces something unseen previously in the anthology, a gendered rhetoric. A rhetoric specifically for one gender. Virginia Woolf and her writings are the first sense a reader of the anthology has of a gendered rhetoric. She uses language to provide an insight into the female experience. She uses language to express especially female thoughts, feelings, and sentiments. She then takes this female language and uses it to persuade her audience using this ‘gendered’ rhetoric.
This rhetorical perspective Virginia Woolf offers is relatively unseen, or highly unnoticeable, in today’s society. Her feminist ideals would be considered highly offensive in today’s highly inclusive society that strives to include everyone regardless of station in society. Her ideal orator theme in her works is therefore discarded as contemporary. The idea of rhetoric having, and needing, an innate purpose is not new to rhetoric by the 120th century when Woolf introduces it and is seen in the works of both the Greeks and the Romans. As previously stated she does, however, fight for female equality in societal standards in a way that is relatively unseen pre-her works. She discards the church justification and fighting for equality in the church and fights for equality in everyday life. Thus, her rhetoric is the ‘stepping-stone’ between the rhetoric of past and a more contemporary rhetoric.
The “stepping-stone” nature of her work, however, should not prevent her work from being included in the modern rhetorical conversation. While the inherent exclusivity of her theories should not be ignored, her ideas regarding a female rhetoric and a female language are important in today’s male-dominated world. Her rhetoric, at the time, would challenge the way one thought about rhetoric. More modernly, to a degree, her work challenges some aspects of modern rhetoric, but also in some aspects does not. Besides the authors of the anthology analyzing her texts to identify the female rhetoric and gendered language, she does not outright state her rhetorical opinion.
Virginia Woolf was born with frail mental and physical health, but that did not stop her from achieving moderate success in her lifetime, and extraordinary success today. Her three overarching themes are as follows; that rhetoric ultimately has a purpose, she discusses the ideal orator, and her rhetoric its self is inclusive yet still exclusive. It is through these themes the changing nature of feminist rhetoric from the 1920’s-1940’s is represented. She has written, in total, five volumes of essays and reviews, two biographies, nine novels, a volume of short stories, and a volume of selections from her diary. The selection for the Rhetorical Traditions anthology includes three of her works Women and Fiction, Professions of Women, and A Room of One’s Own. These three works represent her total collection of work well and include one written non-fiction piece, a speech, and a fictional piece. It is through these pieces a reader of the anthology can see her overarching themes well represented. Virginia Woolf pioneered a gendered rhetoric and language, which may possibly still be in use today. She has hypocritical tendencies but ultimately fights for women’s rights as well the prosperity of women writes. Her non-usage of the Bible or biblical contexts makes her unique upon her peers, and thus an interregnal part of the history of feminist rhetoric as well as necessary for the completion of the anthology.