But, I ask myself, What is reality? And who are the judges of reality?': The Appearance/ Reality Opposition in Virginia Woolf's Essays

Abstract

Virginia Woolf's essays are particularly appreciated for her interest in women's condition throughout history, and her revision of literary trends, works and well- and lesser-known characters. In her practice of this argumentative genre, she uses several rhetorical devices, such as the act-person interaction, similes, repetition, the rhetorical question and opposition. In this respect, the opposition of ideas or dissociation of notions is an argumentative technique that involves the confrontation and balance of elements in opposition. This paper is concerned with the occurrence of the appearance/reality opposition in Woolf's essays. Appearance, which corresponds to the most actual and immediate, is devalued, whereas reality, which is only indirectly recognized, is valued. However, the author practices a reversal of these concepts, and gives more prominence to those illusory imagined aspects of appearance, whereby women can possess a room of their own, develop a career and even enjoy the same rights as men.