51 pages 1 hour read

Virginia Woolf

Three Guineas

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1938

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

Part 2 (Pages 39-56)

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2

Summary: Pages 39-45

In Part 2, Woolf discusses what she will do with the second of her titular guineas. She turns her attention to “the professions” (39). Those clever individuals "who are earning their livings in the professions" (39), Woolf wonders, would surely see the inherent horror of war and would not need much convincing to help prevent it. But there is still “some hesitation, some doubt” (39).

Woolf turns to another letter, also asking for money. The sender is “another honorary treasurer” from “a society to help the daughters of educated men to obtain employment in the professions” (40). Firstly, Woolf examines why the letter writer is asking for money. She drafts a hypothetical response asking for answers. Men, she writes, do not believe that this woman is as poor as she claims, and Woolf provides examples of advice and criticisms offered by men. She quotes famous men who lament women’s lack of effort to “resist the practical obliteration of their freedom by Fascists or Nazis” (42), even after winning the right to vote. She ends the hypothetical letter by telling the recipient to burn down her building and learn to cook.

Woolf then discusses two facts she believes to be pertinent to this issue.

Related Titles

By Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

A Haunted House

Virginia Woolf

A Haunted House

Virginia Woolf

Plot Summary

logo

A Haunted House and Other Short Stories

Virginia Woolf

A Haunted House and Other Short Stories

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf

A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

Between The Acts

Virginia Woolf

Between The Acts

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

Flush: A Biography

Virginia Woolf

Flush: A Biography

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

How Should One Read a Book?

Virginia Woolf

How Should One Read a Book?

Virginia Woolf

Plot Summary

logo

Jacob's Room

Virginia Woolf

Jacob's Room

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

Kew Gardens

Virginia Woolf

Kew Gardens

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

Modern Fiction

Virginia Woolf

Modern Fiction

Virginia Woolf

Plot Summary

logo

Moments of Being

Virginia Woolf

Moments of Being

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown

Virginia Woolf

Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

The Death of the Moth

Virginia Woolf

The Death of the Moth

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

The Duchess and the Jeweller

Virginia Woolf

The Duchess and the Jeweller

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

The Lady in the Looking Glass

Virginia Woolf

The Lady in the Looking Glass

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

The Mark on the Wall

Virginia Woolf

The Mark on the Wall

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

The New Dress

Virginia Woolf

The New Dress

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

The Voyage Out

Virginia Woolf

The Voyage Out

Virginia Woolf

Study Guide

logo

The Waves

Virginia Woolf

The Waves

Virginia Woolf