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Tyler Tran
Lyndee Mckay
IB English 11
31 October 2019

Shakespeare’s Sister

Introduction

Wolfe starts off by bringing up the topic of women being poorer than men, and it being

the reality of society. She broaches about how women live and their conditions when compared

to men. She explores the social conditions that women face and questions opinions and why their

conditions are like this.

Background

Wolfe describes the realities in more detail, such as how men are just given much more

power within their own families and in society. One example she noted was how wife beating

was a right for the man. She also includes examples of fiction that involve women and how they

are portrayed. She uses these many examples to exemplify the idea the idea that men hold power

over women. She brings up writing and how it is utilized to construe women to having less

personality and purpose. In other instances, authors write women with power and influence in

fiction for their stories but reality, it is nothing like the books or writings in how they convey

women.

Lines of Argument

The fact that Wolfe brings up is that in the past, women had no opportunity to reach men

in terms of education and occupation. Men were sent to school to learn how to read and write,
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they would grow up to have bigger careers while women stayed at home. The example that she

uses here is that in Shakespeare’s time, if he had a sister just as talented as he, it would have been

impossible for her to succeed like he did. She points out the fact that there would be no way for

Shakespeare’s sister to learn how grammar and conventions, read influential texts, and start

writing on her own. She would instead, not be sent to school to learn, and would be told to stay

in the house and do work that most women did at the time. The argument here is that genius like

Shakespeare’s arise not from being born with it, but from upbringing through law and custom.

Women are predisposed to not being able to be as genius as Shakespeare was simply because of

the time’s custom. Women’s ideas are suppressed through society that if there were women of

high intelligence and ability, their work would go nowhere.

Alternative Arguments

She addresses how things have progressed a little bit to today, how women have a

slightly better chances of becoming a great author or having meaningful work. She brings up the

point that men still hold incredible influence over this, such as a woman’s father, or husband.

She cites examples of great works from women authors and their novels.

Conclusion

Even in the 19th century of today, women are often discouraged from being great artists

or authors even though it is better than the 16th century. The reality of the 19th century is that

women are still seen as inferior to men, and everything they do stays beneath men in regards to

artistic fronts as well as politics.