Virginia Woolf argues in "Shakespeare's Sister," that there are no examples of women's literature and art during Shakespeare's time because women were denied opportunities that were given to men of the time. "Shakespeare's sister", which Woolf names Judith, would have been brought up in the same household as Shakespeare and was described as "as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was." They would have been the same except for the fact that she was a girl. If she picked up a book her parents would come in and tell her to "mend the stockings or mind the stew." She would have been taught traditional "women's" tasks and denied the opportunities her brother was given. People would not take her as seriously and she ends up dead at a young age. Her tragic life would be a result of a denial of opportunities because of the idea that girls are not worth teaching.
As if this idea is not shocking enough, Woolf also brings to attention that fact that little is known about women of the time anyway. Woolf says that when looking for information about women and their positions in Professors Trevelyan's History of England it led to pages about "Wife-beating" and that it " was a recognized right of man." This is the only type of information about women before the eighteenth century because history was written by the men of time. While denial of educating women prevented women from creating art like Shakespeare but it also prevented more historical information about women from being shared.
The Awakening is a perfect example of how educated women contribute to both art and society. Although Chopin wrote her book long after Shakespeare's time, her novel is a work of art as much as Shakespeare's plays are. Her novel also provides a look at life in the past and the traditional role of women then. Chopin and her novel are an example of what Shakespeare's sister could have been given equal opportunities and a different time period.
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