by Mostafizur Rahman

Created on: November 06, 2009

William Shakespeare is a classic playwright in the history of world literature. He is a masterpiece litrerary craftsman. It is because there is universality in his writings. But there might be a question about the genius of his sister if he had. Virginia woolf has created an imaginary character named Judith Shakespeare in her "A Room of One's Own". Judith is Shakespeare's sister. But she meets a pathetic fate as we have seen in "A Room of One's Own". The purpose of creating this imaginary character is to draw a parallel comparison between an Elizabethan male writer and an Elizabethan female writer.

An Elizabethan male writer could enjoy all the facilities. Their fame and popularity was easier as compared to that of a female writer. Such a discriminatory fate touches the career of Judith. She wants to enjoy a life of freedom. Thats why she wants not to maryy as her father wants to impose upon her. So she goes to London and joins a theatre club. There also she can not make her free from the fierce attack of male animalism. She falls under the victim of sexual desire of the manager. That is to say, Judith could not choose her profession according to her own choice. It is because she does not have a room of her own.

It should be mentioned here that Judith possesses the same talent as William Shakespeare possesses. But nobody knows her as everybody knows her brother as a universal plawright. On the contrary, she has been bound herself to suicide. This imaginary character has a special siginficance. Though she is a fictonal sister of William Shakespeare, she represents the true sister of William Shakes peare. In other sense she represents the race of female character.

Actually, Virginia Woolf tries to prove through this character that female writers do not have rooms of their own. It means they do not have freedom of their life. Even if one possesses more intellectual talent than that of a male writer, she could not be as popular as a male could. The same thing would be happened in the case of William Shakespeare's sister ( if he had a sister). Virginia Woolf has proved in "A Room of One's Own" that Shakespeare's sister could not be so popular as Shakespeare has been. It would be severely impossible for her to be known by all throughout all ages and all times.

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