George Santayana once said, "[those] who cannot learn from history are condemned to repeat it." (1). If Helene Cixous's arguments in “The Laughter of the Medusa” were considered an axiomatic approach to feminist theory, history would be forced to repeat itself. Although Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own was published in 1928, it still contains ideas that are more relevant to the modern world than those of Helene Cixous in “The Laughter of the Medusa,” published in 1975. Many of Cixous's assumptions ignore examples literary works that were prevalent during the time she was writing, but these ideas in the literature that she ignores have resurfaced today in modern formats. If Woolf's piece had been ignored, modern society would have to rediscover her very relevant ideas. Cixous and Woolf have different beliefs about how women interact with each other. Woolf argues “. . . women are hard on women.” (111), while Cixous claims “ . . . women . . . [it must] lead women to writing. (311) During the 1970s, when Cixous was composing “The Laughter of the Medusa,” he should have been familiar with Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In the novel, Hester Prynne is oppressed in society for her sin by the comments of other women. This comment includes: “'. . . let him cover the mark as he will, the pain will always be in his heart.'” (Hawthorne 49), made by a young wife. Clearly, this comment was unnecessary and was only made to continually shame Hester for her sin. Considering the argument Cixous makes, it is obvious that he does so because he believes that society has changed since the publication of The Scarlet Letter, or because he completely rejects the idea that women stand in the way of progress… middle of paper… . ..times, and over time they lose any relevance they once contained in a dynamic society. Through the examples provided, it is clear that A Room of One's Own is relevant to today's society despite its divergence from the arguments made after its publication. Sometimes, the most insightful glimpses into the human experience come from older subjects, but it takes time to realize their true impact on society. If Cixous had approached his argument through examples from historical literature, patterns in human experience might have been observed and made his argument more relevant to the modern world. If literary theory ignored date-based arguments, society would relearn many of Woolf's original contributions, which are based primarily on human experience (with enough concrete examples from her time period to establish her credibility).)