14

Professions For Women - Virginia Woolf

Summary

When Virginia Woolf wrote Professions for Women, she had an urge to satisfy, a will to explain, and to be understood by men, and especially women. She had a message of urgent importance that she needed to transmit. Her words tell of a story behind the story. Women and writing seemed harmless enough, even in times of male dominated literature, for as Woolf put it herself. "Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation. The family peace was not broken by the scratching of a pen. No demand was made upon the family purse."

In other words, some women succeeded as writers among other professions due to the relative cheapness associated with the work. In Professions for Women, the character realizes that before she can accept herself as a professional woman, however, she must first confront her demons. She believes in the necessity of destroying what she calls "The Angel in the House". "The Angel in the House" is an ideal. She is the woman writer's subconscious, a subconscious brought on by generations of an oppressive Victorian society. This woman is the creation of men. She is the charming, quiet, unselfish, and "pure" woman of the house. In other words, she did not have or want to have a mind or wish of her own, much less "a room of her own".

The only way for the character to be able to write honestly about novels written by men was to kill the "Angel in the House", to get rid of this submissive image of a woman who never disputes anything, and goes along with everything. "...I took my pen in my hand to review that novel by a famous man, she slipped behind me and whispered: 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 of the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own. Above all, be pure." The character's only way out was the vanquishing of this mindless Victorian product. "Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer." The character, much like the author, could not accept that the only way for a woman to succeed in life was to charm, conciliate, and lie her way through the maze of male dominated social structures.

The author concludes with questions future generations of women writers must inevitably ask themselves: "You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men. You are able, though not without great labor and effort, to pay the rent. But this freedom is only a beginning; the room is your own, but it is still bare. It has to be furnished; it has to be decorated; it has to be shared." What will those women do with their freedom? Who will they want to share it with? For the first time in history these women will ask themselves these questions, and be free to answer them as they please...

हिन्दी सारांश

जब वर्जीनिया वूल्फ ने महिलाओं के व्यवसायों के बारे में लिखा, तो वे चाहती थीं कि उन्हें पुरुषा और विशेष रूप से महिलाओं द्वारा समझा जाये। उनके पास एक महत्त्वपूर्ण सन्देश था जिसे वह संचरित - करना चाहती थी। उनके शब्द कहानी के पीछे की कहानी बताते हैं। पुरुष प्रधान साहित्य के समय में महिलाओं द्वारा लेखन काफी हानिरहित लगता था, क्योंकि वूल्फ ने खुद कहा था "लेखन एक प्रतिष्ठित और हानिरहित व्यवसाय था। परिवार की शान्ति एक कलम की लिखावट से नहीं टूटी थी। न ही पारिवारिक धन पर कोई प्रभाव किया गया था।

दूसरे शब्दों में कुछ महिलायें इस व्यवसाय के किफायती होने के कारण अन्य व्यवसायों के मुकाबले लेखक बनने के रूप में सफल हुई। Professions for women में, लेखिका को पता चलता है कि इससे पहले कि वह खुद को एक व्यवसायी महिला के रूप मे स्वीकार कर सके, उसे पहले अपने अन्दर के दानव का सामना करना होगा। वह "द एंजल इन द हाऊस को नष्ट करना आवश्यक समझती है। "द एंजल इन द हाऊस एक आदर्श है। वह महिला लेखक का अवचेतन है, विक्टोरियन समाज की पीढ़ियों द्वारा लाया गया अवचेतन । वह स्त्री पुरुषों की रचना है। वह घर की आकर्षक, शान्त, निःस्वार्थ और 'शुद्ध' महिला है। दूसरे शब्दों में, उसके पास खुद का कोई मन या इच्छा नहीं थी. "अपना खुद का एक कमरा* तक भी नहीं चाहती थी।

लेखिका के लिए पुरुषों द्वारा लिखे गये उपन्यासों के बारे में ईमानदारी से लिखने में सक्षम होने का एकमात्र तरीका "एजेल इन द हाऊस" को मरना था, एक महिला की उस विनम्र छवि से छुटकारा पाने के लिए जो कभी भी कुछ भी विवाद नहीं करती है। वे कहती है कि मैंने एक प्रसिद्ध व्यक्ति द्वारा उस उपन्यास की समीक्षा करने के लिए अपनी कलम अपने हाथ में ली, वह मेरे पीछे आयी और फुस्फुसायी मेरी प्रिय, तुम एक युवा महिला हो। तुम एक किताब के बारे में लिख रही हो जिसे एक आदमी ने लिखा है सहानुभूतिपूर्ण बनो कोमल बनो और चापलूसी करो। तुम्हारा कभी भी किसी को यह अनुमान न लगाने दो। तुम्हारा अपना मन है। सबसे बढकर, शुद्ध रहो। "Angel in the house” को मारना एक महिला लेखिका के व्यवसाय का हिस्स था।' लेखिका यह स्वीकार नहीं कर सकी कि एक महिला के लिए जीवन में सफल होने का एकमात्र तरीका पुरुष प्रधान सामाजिक संरचनाओं के चक्रव्यूह से आकर्षण, मेल-मिलाप करना है।

लेखिका उन सवालों के साथ समाप्त करती है जो महिला लेखिकाओं की आने वाली पीढियों को अनिवार्य रूप से खुद से पूछना चाहिए: "जो आपने घर में अपने खुद के कमरे में जाते हैं जो विशेष रूप *से पुरुषों के हैं। आप किराए का भुगतान करने के लिए महान श्रम और प्रयास के बिना सक्षम नहीं हैं। लेकिन यह स्वतन्त्रता केवल एक शुरुआत है, इसे साझा करना होगा।" वे महिलाएँ अपनी स्वतन्त्रता के साथ क्या करेगी ? वे इसे किसके साथ साझा करना चाहेंगी ? इतिहास में पहली बार महिलाएँ खुद से यह सवाल पूछेंगी, और अपनी मर्जी से उनका जवाब देने के लिए स्वतन्त्र होगी।

Explanations

Text 1. "It is true, I am a woman, it is true I am employed; but what professional experiences have I had? It is difficult to say My profession is literature; and in that profession there are fewer experiences for women than in any other, with the exception of the stage-fewer I mean, that are peculiar to women.”
Reference - These lines are taken from the speech of Virginia Woolf's "Professions For Women." This speech is delivered before a branch at The National Society for Women's Service. It was published posthumously, in "The Death of the Moth and other Essays."
Context - In this speech, Virginia Woolf tells the truth about her own experiences as a woman and as a writer. She discusses the nature of a woman writer, analyzing the major obstacles that she has to over come to achieve success. There lines are the expression of her womanes.
Explanation - In these lines, Woolf asks this question to simplify a very complicated subject. The place of women in modern society. This simplicity actually turns the purpose of the speech on its head. She has faced 'no material obstacles' in her professional life as a writer. In these lines, she wants to try to understand to others that she is obsolutely woman that is true and also employed. But Woolf's question is that what professional experiences the women had? It will be difficult to say that her profession is literature. But in that profession, women had no experiences than in any other, with the exception of the stage-fewer that means, Experience as very important for women.
Text 2. "But to tell you my story it is a simple one. You have got to figure to yourselves a girl in a bedroom with a pen in her hand. She had only to move that pen from left to right from ten o'clock to one. Then it occurred to her to do what is simple and cheap enough after all to slip a few of those pages into an envelope, fix a penny stamp in the corner, and drop the envelope into the red box at the corner."
Reference - As above.
Context - As above.
Explanation - Here, in the speech of Virginia Woolf, she tells her story that is a simple one. She wants to tell about the writer (women) who has only a figure to herself a girl in a bedroom with a pen in her hand. She wants to write freely but she can't. She is an angel in the house. Woolf introduces us to the figure of the Angel in the house, which she uses as a symbol of women's submission and inferiority in the domestic and working environment. A women writer had only to move with pen from lefts to right from ten 'o'clock to one then it occurred to her to do what is simple and cheap enough. She writes and her writings are closed into an envelope and fixed a penny stamp in the corner and then drop the envelop into the red box of the corner. It means a woman writer's writing has no name, reputation for her professional life.

Question- Give an introduction of 'Profession For Women' by Virginia Woolf.

Ans-

Introduction of "Profession For Women": Virginia Woolf (1882- 1941) was an outstanding English feminist writer, literary critic and publisher. Her literary works inspired many writers of inter and postwar periods. Her style of writing is focused on exploration of the concepts of time and memory, and human inner feelings and consciousness Profession For Women' is an abbreviated virson of the speech. Virginia Woolf delivered before a branch of the National Society for women's service on January 21, 1931. It was published posthumously in "The Death of the Moth - and other Essays' on the day before the speech, she wrote in her diary: "I have this moment while having my bath, conceived an entire new book a sequel to a Room of One's Own about the sexual life of women to be called 'Profession For Women" perhaps - Lord how exciting', more than a year and a half later, on October 11, 1932, Virginia Woolf began to write her new book: "The Pargiters". An essay based upon a paper read to the London National Society for Women's Service. "The Pargiters" evolved into the years and was published in 1937. The book that eventually did become the sequel to A Room at One's Own was Three Guineas' (1938) and its first working title was "Profession For Women".

The essay printed here concentrates on that Victorian phantom known. as The Angel in the House' (borrowed from Coventry Patmore's poem celebrating domestic bliss) that selfless, sacrificial woman in the 19th century, whose sole purpose in life was to soothe, to flatter and to comfort the male half of the world's population.

When Virginia Woolf wrote 'Profession For Women', she had an urge to satify, a will to explain, and to be understood by men and especially women. She had a message of urgent importance that she needed to transmit. Her words tell of a story behind the story. Women and writing seemed harmless enough, even in times of male dominated literature, for as Woolf put it herself : "Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation. The family peace was not broken by the scratching of a pen. No demand was made upon the family purse.

In "Profession For Women", the character realizes that before she can accept herself as a professional woman, however, she must first confront her demons. She believes in the necessity of destroying what she calls "The Angel in the House". "The Angel in the House' is an ideal. She is the woman writer's subconscious, a subconscious brought on by generations of an oppressive Victorian society. This woman is the creation of men. She is the charming, quiet, unselfish and "pure" woman of the house. In other words, she did not have or want to have a mind or wish of her own, much less "a room of her own."

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