"Room" In Virginia Woolf’s Works:a Feminist Perspective

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), who was regarded as a goddess-like originator of the stream of consciousness novel as well as the master in modern British essay writing, had been playing an extremely significant role in modern English Literature. Her works—novels, biographies and essays, caught eyes of lovers and researchers in literature all over the world. However, the researches on Woolf’s works were basically restricted to her writing techniques in stream of consciousness novels. Then with the development of feminist thought and movements, there came a new way to interpret Woolf’s works:the perspective of Feminism.This thesis includes the following parts:the introduction part (chapter one), the body part (chapter two-chapter four), and the conclusion part (chapter five). The introduction part briefly introduces the typical feminist works and the writing style of Virginia Woolf, and summarizes the aims and meanings of her writing. Chapters two to chapter five comprise the central part of this thesis, analyzing the imagery of "Room" and the author’s feminist opinions from four different perspectives. The conclusion part of chapter five illustrates the significance and impact of these works to the modern society.Based on the findings of previous researches, and thorough reading of texts and theories, along with the use of feminist perspective to interpret and study the imagery of "Room" in Woolf’s works, this thesis aims to analyze, illustrate and assess Virginia Woolf’s feminist ideas through the sequence of Western feminist development. This thesis also aims to thoroughly examine Virginia Woolf’s feminist thought and its place in the development of feminism through analysis on the imagery of "Room". This perspective has rarely been dealt with in the previous researches conducted in China. As Woolf herself said, in her novels she often described the "rooms" as "prisons" for the female. Virginia Woolf already uncovered the nature of the society, as in A Room Of One’s Own she pointed out so concisely yet so ruthlessly, that over thousands of years, the human society is essentially a patriarchal society. Patriarchy is a family-society ideology; it is also a political system which is the strut of the patriarchal society. Patriarchy forced women to hold a passive position, it has also hindered the healthy development of both men and women, physically as well as mentally. Only by overthrowing patriarchy can we truly achieve the liberation of women and the mankind.