A Room of one's own by Virginia Woolf: Women and gender-based violence in literature

This paper focuses on the themes of gender-based violence and dominance of women writers in the field of literature. A Room of one's own by Virginia Woolf represents the financial needs of women and liberty in the patriarchal society. Two important things that a woman need to explore are, a room of one's own and a proper income. Even though a woman has all the power and knowledge, society does not allow them to explore their talents in the outer world. Virginia Woolf compares Judith Shakespeare in the fictional work, Judith is a talented woman but she was not able to execute herself to the world because of psychological impacts. Even though woman is willing to explore themselves through the writings, they are being dominated by men which explains about the emotional distress undergone by a woman. The society's discouragement had made it more challenging for a women in order to achieve their desires, which resulted in losing their confidence. Women were not allowed to get proper education, and were restricted as per the societal conventions. This paper focuses on the materialistic impact on women. The idea of this paper discusses about the class, gender and power oppression faced by a woman in the patriarchal society. Woolf argues the fact that women are always dependent on men for financial stability which results in losing their individual identity. Therefore, as a feminist writer Virginia Woolf highlights the problems and struggles encountered by a women in the society.

Keywords: Private space, Income, Patriarchal society, psychological sufferings, Materialistic world.