THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE

John Ruskin,
"Of Queen's Gardens"
"The man's power is active, progressive, defensive. He is eminently the doer, the creator, the discoverer, the defender."

"She must be enduringly, incorruptibly good; instinctively, infallibly wise...not for self-development, but for self-renunciation."

Coventry Patmore,
"The Angel in the House" (1854/62)

"Man must be pleased; but to please is woman's pleasure...

Coventry Patmore,
"The Angel in the House" (1854/62)

"Man must be pleased; but to please is woman's pleasure...

His Merits in her presence grow,
To match the promise in her eyes,
And round her happy footsteps blow
The authentic airs of paradise" (ll. 316-19)

She loves with love that cannot tire;
And when, ah woe, she loves alone,
Throughout passionate duty love springs higher,
As grass grows taller round a stone."

Virginia Woolf (1931)

Even when the path is nominally open...there are many phantoms and obstacles...looming in her way."
"Professions for Women"

Professions for Women

• "She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily...above all...she was pure."

"Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer."

"The Room is your own, but it is still bare" (287).

A Room of One's Own

• "The room is your own, but it is still bare. It was to be furnished... decorated... shared. How are you going to furnish it...with whom are you going to share it, and upon what terms?"