A Room Of One's Own

Virginia Woolf authored A Room of One’s Own, a book containing what would have happened had Shakespeare had a sister. Woolf first writes, “Shakespeare himself went… to the grammar school”( 46). Woolf’s word choice of “Shakespeare himself” excludes Judith from what Woolf writes next. This immediately begins contrast between Shakespeare’s experience and his sister Judith’s experience. Furthermore, Woolf lists all of the opportunities Shakespeare had, like “grammar school” and “seek[ing] his fortune in London” (46) then contrasts those statements by saying, “Meanwhile [Shakespeare’s] extraordinarily gifted sister, let us suppose, remained at home” (47). Woolf used the word “ meanwhile” to directly contrast Shakespeare’s mass of opportunities