Discuss Virginia Woolf’s “What If Shakespeare Had Had a Sister?” Do you believe that our culture has changed so significantly in its attitudes toward women that Woolf’s arguments have lost their relevance? Why or why not? How might we see Nora, from Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, fitting in to Woolf’s discussion of women?

Woolf discusses the reasons why women writers from the Elizabethan era are absent from the bookshelves of history, both literally and figuratively. She posits that the life of women during that time period would have prevented them from ever pursuing a career like Shakespeare’s, since they were destined to do women’s work and be married “from the cradle” onward. She fictionalizes a scenario in which Shakespeare’s talented sister would eventually commit suicide after she was unable to achieve her true potential as a creative.
Within her signature rambling style, Woolf suggests that women were and are limited in multitudinous ways, including but not limited to the following:
1) They are conditioned to desire domestic lives.
2) They are driven to insanity by an inability to express themselves openly.
3) They are deemed inferior to their male counterparts, regardless of talent or field.
Once could argue that these claims are no longer relevant in today’s world by discussing the advancements in women’s rights and opportunities in the workplace, citing examples such as the majority of bachelor’s degrees being earned by women, the “Lean In” have-it-all careerist movement, and increases in female professionals across industries.
Conversely, one could argue that Woolf’s ideas are pertinent in light of the #MeToo movement, the continued enforcement of gender norms from childhood forward, and the dearth of female politicians and CEOs. Furthermore, the top-paid professionals in many creative fields are overwhelmingly male, even in traditionally female pursuits, like cooking.
Woolf’s tortured, stifled woman is reflected in Nora Helmer from “A Doll’s House.” Treated as a beautiful source of entertainment by her husband Torvald, Nora is disregarded as a thinking person with an independent will. Nora’s ability to secure a fraudulent loan in order to secure her family’s lifestyle indicates her intelligence and foresight. However, Torvald’s disgust when he discovers Nora’s independent actions indicates the prevalent attitude that women who acted outside the confines of their roles as wife and mother violated propriety. Throughout the play, Nora realizes that she has been playing the roles of perfect wife/mother (“playing tricks”) in order to satisfy these societal expectations and please her husband—all at the expense of her individuality. Upon realizing that she has been stifled throughout her life, Nora abandons her husband and family in order to live life on her own terms.
This directly coincides with Woolf’s fictional sister of Shakespeare, who must venture out alone in London to pursue her dreams of theatre and poetry.