Virginia Woolfe - A Room of One's Own - Keywords

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”
This sentence, which appears at the start of Woolf’s essay, can be seen as ironic. Over history, women without money and a quiet space to work have still managed to write great literature. (Although these things can certainly help)
However, Woolf is referring to a mans view of how women write literature. In those days it was rare that a woman would have a great deal of money that belonged to her, as well as her own private space. In even earlier times this was even less common, yet women have still been able to write good literature.
“In the first place, to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble, even up to the beginning of the nineteenth century”

Discrimination
“Ladies are only admitted to the library if accompanied by a fellow of the college or furnished with a letter of introduction”
Woolf encounters, or at least mentions various acts of discrimination towards women throughout her essay. The first is that she is denied access to a library because she is a woman, which angers her greatly.
Another act of discrimination or at least a view of women being of a lower status than men was when she reads Professor Trevelyan’s essay “History of England”, and its views of wife beating:
“Wife beating, was a recognised right of a man, and was practiced without shame by high as well as low.”
This also highlights the difficulties which women must have faced when writing fiction at this time, along with professors marking examination papers, one of which said: “Irrespective of the marks he might give, the best woman was intellectually inferior of the worst man”

Questions
“What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art? – a thousand questions at once suggested themselves”
Throughout her essay, especially in the first two chapters, Woolf asks a lot of questions, mostly rhetorical and often sarcastic. This could represent how unable she is to understand, or unwilling to accept the role that women have been given in literature.
“Why are women poor? –Until it became fifty questions; until the fifty questions leapt frantically into mid stream and were carried away”
“It is useless to ask such questions; for nobody can answer them”

Irony and Sarcasm
“We burst out in scorn at the reprehensible poverty of our sex. What had our mothers been doing then that they had no wealth to leave us? Powdering their noses? Looking in shop windows? Flaunting the sun in Monte Carlo?”
Virginia Woolf uses a great deal of irony and sarcasm during her essay, and this quote incorporates both. She is taking the male view of that time that her sex is “poor” and using it ironically. Then she sarcastically suggests reasons why mothers did not have any money to leave their daughters, by suggesting ridiculous ‘typically ladylike’ things to do, such as “Powdering noses” and “looking in shop windows”
She also sarcastically mentions how women submit to their husbands without question, when she mentions the issue of earning money.
“It is not a matter that interests me very greatly, I had better leave it to my husband”

Relationships between British and Irish during and after ‘The Great Famine’, ‘The Rebellion of 1798’ and 'The Easter Uprising'

Over history, Great Britain and Ireland have not had the greatest of relationships. Even today, some people remember history and find a reason to strongly dislike the other country. The reasons that they disliked each other differ as they have very different perceptions. The Irish were greatly repressed as they were thought of as being as second-rate beings. The fact that they were under British control and were treated so poorly is the main factors why the Irish disliked the British.
Three incidents which highlight the strained relationships of these two countries are the Irish Rebellion in 1798, the handling of The Potato Famine between 1845 and 1844 and the Easter uprising in 1916.
In my essay, I examine the three events and suggest reasons as to why the two countries had a relationship like they did.
The Irish rebellion of 1798 was an uprising of the Irish people against the British, who at that time were in control of the “Kingdom of Ireland”. The main organisers of the rebellion were known as the “United Irishmen” who were a republican revolutionary group who embraced Catholics, Protestants and dissenters. The rebellion was one of the most concentrated outbreaks of violence in Irish history. Over the course of 3 months, there were an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 deaths. The rebellion resulted in the 1801 act of union which brought Ireland tighter under British control.
The rebellion was inspired by the French revolution and the Irish had a lot of admiration for the new democracy which was in place in the United States. The United Irishmen sought a reformation of the Irish parliament. To achieve this they united Protestants, Catholics and dissenters in Ireland to join one single movement.
“From the beginning, Dublin Castle, the seat of government in Ireland, viewed the new organisation with the greatest suspicion and with outbreak of war between Britain (and Ireland) and France in February 1793, suspicion hardened to naked hostility. The unabashed admiration of the United Irishmen for the French seemed akin to treason.” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/irish_reb_01.shtml)
Dublin Castle was determined to stop this movement of the United Irishmen and by the spring of 1798 it looked as if they had been successful. It seemed almost impossible for the French to become involved, many of the organisations leaders were in prison and the organisation in general seemed in disarray.
Despite theses difficulties, the rebellion went ahead as planned, in the towns outside the capital. The rebellions outside of Dublin were meant as a distraction from the main uprising in the capital. However, a lack of co-ordination prevented Dublin from rising the way it wanted. The North Cork Militia reported half-hangings, floggings and pitch capping. This caused panic and terror and helped contribute to a full scale rebellion. The news of 34 suspected United Irishmen that were killed, along with 35 prisoners spread fast and everyone was prepared to rebel. The rebels also managed a victory in open engagement at Outlart. This encouraged many who were unsure over whether to rebel, to do so.
Upon hearing the news of the fighting in the south of Ireland, there were loud protests in the north over their particular failure to support the rebellion. The leader at the time was accused of having completely betrayed the people of both Leinster and Munster and was quickly relieved of his duties.
On the 21st of June, the British army surrounded Vinegar Hill, where the rebels were based, and attacked with around 20,000 men. After a large battle, the rebellion had been defeated.
Relationships between Britain and Ireland were hardly improved after the rebellion either, mainly due to the reaction of the British afterwards. The BBC history website describes the reaction as: “Little other than universal rape, plunder and murder.” The rebellion did very little to improve the relationship between Britain and Ireland and after the rebellion the two countries had more of a reason to hate each other. In political terms, Ireland became more under the power of Britain, as the hold by the British government became tighter after the 1801 act of union and the chances of the Irish gaining more power were diminished.

In the 1940’s it is estimated that over 1 million people died of hunger on Ireland (this was around 12% of the population). The famine (or ‘Great Hunger’) occurred between 1845 and 1849 and was partly down to the failure of the potato crop, which was one of the main food sources of the Irish people.
Around 2 million refugees are attributed to the great hunger. Around another 2 million emigrated afterwards, mainly to Great Britain, the US, Canada and Australia.
The Great Famine started as what was an extremely large natural catastrophe; however the effects of it were worsened by the actions (or inactions) of the Whig government in the years 1846 to 1842, which were crucial years.
The handling of the famine by the British government, who at the time were in control of Ireland, was not adequate and resulted in many more deaths than it should have.
The gap created by the loss of the potato was so enormous that it was impossible to fill with the grain produce, even if none of it was exported. Around the late 1840’s, probably 3 times more grain than was entering the country was leaving it.
“Thus there was an artificial famine in Ireland for a good portion of the late 1840’s as grain imports steeply increased. There existed – after 1847 at least – an absolute sufficiency of food that could have prevented mass starvation, if it had been properly distributed so as to reach the small holder and labourers of the west and south of Ireland” – BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/history/
With Ireland being such a small and compact country, it should not have posed Britain much of a problem to deal with the famine, especially as it was one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world at that time and was only a short distance away.
There were various steps which the British government could have taken to prevent the catastrophe from happening on such a large scale:
They could have prevented the export of grain from Ireland; they could have continued the ‘soup-kitchen’ scheme, which fed around 3 million people every day. (This was inexpensive and highly effective); they could have done something to prevent the mass eviction of tenants from ruthless landlords (as many as 500,000 people were evicted from their homes between 1846 and 1854)
“Last, and above all, the British government should have been willing to treat the famine crisis in Ireland as an imperial responsibility and to bear the costs of relief after the summer of 1847. Instead, in an atmosphere of rising ‘famine fatigue’ in Britain, Ireland at that point and for the remainder of the famine was thrown back essentially on its own woefully inadequate resources.”
The view of the Irish by the British was not a very good one. The British thought that the Irish should be left to cope with the famine on their own, with their own resources (which were not enough for them to sustain themselves). The view of the British by the Irish was also not good, even before the famine. This was worsened by Britain’s handling of the famine. The face that Britain was prepared to exploit Ireland and then cast it away when times were bad angered the Irish greatly and it is something which is still not fondly remembered, even today.

The Easter uprising was an attempt by the Irish to win independence from Britain. The rising lasted from April 24th (Easter Monday) till April 30th, 1916.
The uprising was largely organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which is described as: “a secret fraternal organisation dedicated to fomenting armed revolt against the British state in Ireland in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century” by Wikipedia. However it was mainly carried out by the ‘Irish Volunteers’.
The plan of the uprising was to seize various strategic buildings around Dublin in an attempt to cordon off the city and prevent any attack from the British army. If the plan was successful then the rebels would have held strategic points around Dublin surrounded by canals and circular roads. However, they did not have nearly enough men and left several crucial points in the city, most of all Dublin Castle and Trinity College in control of the British, meaning that their own men were separated from each other. As a result the positions of the rebels left them isolated and they were able to be picked off one by one by the British troops.
In the west of Ireland, local volunteers were to hold the west bank of the river Shannon for as long as they were able. These troops, however, did not have the numbers, or military experience to be able to do this effectively. “Overall, the insurgents' hope was that the British would concede Irish self-government rather than divert resources from the Western Front to try to contain a rebellion in their rear.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Uprising
From the start of the rebellion, there was a breakdown of law and order in the city of Dublin. People from the slums of the city took to looting shops and were actually ordered to be shot if caught looting, a decision which was quickly overturned.
Sean Connelly was thought of as the best tactical mind of the group and many fell under his command. He wrongly predicted, though, that a capitalist government would not use artillery against its own buildings. (Something that the British army did very quickly).
Brigadier General Lowe, who was in charge of the British army, decided that defending Dublin Castle be the main objective of the troops.
The British troops managed to isolate most of the Irish in their positions until they were forced to surrender.
After the rebellion, General Maxwell quickly signaled his intention “to arrest all dangerous Sinn Feiners,” including “those who have taken an active part in the movement although not in the present rebellion”
A total of 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested, but most of these were set free eventually. A series of courts, which began on may the 2nd sentenced 90 people to death.
“Most historians would agree that the decision to shoot the rebels backfired on the British authorities. However, from the authorities' point of view, given the circumstances of the time and the nature of the offences, it is difficult to see that there was any other appropriate punishment. Britain was fighting a war on an unprecedented scale, a war in which many thousands of Irish volunteers in the British forces had already lost their lives. Armed rebellion, in time of war and in league with the enemy, was always going to attract the most severe penalties.” – Wikipedia.org
Originally, the people in Ireland were opposed to the rebellion and the public jeered at the prisoners because of the surrender. Many people, including some prominent Irish newspapers, such as the Irish Independent and The Irish Times actually demanded executions. However, the swiftness and large number of executions of the prisoners, along with the large number of arrests and deportations, not to mention the destruction of Dublin’s city centre, changed the opinion of the Irish people and upon the return of the prisoners, they were given hero’s welcomes.
Although the rising was thought of as unsuccessful as it did not bring about immediate independence, it was the first stepping stone to Ireland achieving its independence in 1922. With many survivors of the rebellion going on to be leaders of the country, it cannot be said that the rebellion was an overall failure.
The way that the executions took place could not have improved relations between England and Ireland, as they were already not on the best of terms. Over time, there were more and more bad memories that the British were inflicting on the Irish and this one was just the latest in a long line.

These three events are remembered still today, by both countries, although some prefer to try and forget these terrible times. Many have not forgiven the way the British controlled Ireland and this feeling has been passed down through generations and there are still some who carry this bad feeling, which is understandable as the famine happened only just over 150 years ago and the Uprising less than 100. It is obvious that the strained relationships between these two countries have more behind them than just politics. There is definitely a cultural difference there too, with the way that the British treat the Irish after the rebellion. These are events which are probably best forgotten, from both sides of the Irish Sea; however they are of historical significance and explain a lot about some modern day feelings from the Irish towards the British.


Bibliography:
Internet sites:
Professor Thomas Bartlett. The 1798 Irish Rebellion. 13th June 2007 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/irish_reb_01.shtml

Jim Donnelly. The Irish famine. 13th June 2007 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml

Irish Rebellion of 1798 – Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia. 13th June 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1798_rebellion

Great Irish Famine – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 13th June 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_famine

Easter Rising – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 12th July 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Uprising