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Chapter by chapter analysis Orlando by Virginia Woolf
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Chapter by chapter analysis Orlando by Virginia Woolf
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Chapter 1:Gender:
“HE - for there could be no doubt about his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it -”
Opening sentence prepares the reader to pay attention to questions of gender fluidity and performativity along
with the extensive description of Orlando’s physique which is feminine by its insistence on beauty, but of which
the traits are quite androgynous: “shapely legs, the handsome body,” “well-set shoulders,” “teeth of an
exquisite and almond whiteness,” “youthful beauty,”.
+ clothes → shows gender is a social construct
When Orlando first sees Sasha, he doesn’t seem to get what gender she is “the person,
whatever the name or sex” “the russian fashion served to disguise the sex” → reflects Woolf’s
overarching idea that gender is a social construction. + when he realises Sasha is a woman, he
turns “hot” → shows that how one perceives gender is deeply influenced by social norms.
Orlando associates Sasha’s courage to her masculine dress → how clothes influence how people
perceive your gender
Nobility, lineage:
“he was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters.”
The head of the moor comes from father or grandfather → first mention of Orlando’s family
history and nobility. He “had been noble since they had been at all.” His ancestors rode through
the “fields of asphodel” → symbol of the peace before death of Greek soldiers
Like the gipsies later, sasha is not impressed by Orlando’s nobility
Writing/ Language:
Orlando’s writing shows he’s young with tendency to imitate and conform → pretentious and
melodramatic writing “AEthelbert : a tragedy in five acts” with the personages “Vice, Crime,
Misery” → Orlando’s immaturity and oversimplification of human characteristics.
Use of “an old stained goose quill,” → shows Orlando’s long, consistent practice of writing and
pursuit for inspiration.
goose = recurrent symbol of chasing something elusive → Orlando’s attempt to capture nature in
writing → fails to describe the “green” of nature revealing the inadequacy of words and poetry:
“Nature and letters seem to have a natural antipathy,”
Idea of inability of words to fully describe certain topics recurrent in the novel → Orlando’s lack of
poetic skills.
Orlando speaks french with Sasha → “unintelligible speech” (just like with shel) → suggests that
meaning transcends language and implies much more than what is spoken or written. → makes
Orlando’s job as a poet, and the narrator’s job as a biographer, exceedingly difficult, for they
must put into words that which cannot be fully expressed through language alone.
Conforming to society:
To the Queen, Orlando = “innocence, simplicity,” “heart of gold, loyalty & manly charm.” → This
image is shattered after she sees him hiss another girl → Queen enraged: shatters the mirror +
insults the girl “brazen hussy”
Queen = England → Orlando’s failure to meet her standards = 1st example of his difficulty to
conform to societal expectations.
Biography:
Biographer’s first intrusions of interpretation → reader understands “biography” will be far from
pure fact.
Biographer states his opinion often → defends Orlando’s youthful indiscretions “It was Orlando’s
fault perhaps, after all, are we to blame Orlando? The age was Elizabethan; their morals were
not ours;” → insertion of his own opinions undermines claims of objective truth.
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, Nature:
“One day, Orlando witnesses Favilla beat a dog that had ripped her silk stocking (of which she had few, the
narrator points out). Forever a “passionate lover of animals,” Orlando suddenly notices that Favilla’s teeth are
“crooked,” which “is a sure sign of a perverse and cruel disposition in a woman,” so he breaks off the
relationship.”
throughout the novel dogs = Orlando’s love for nature. When he sees Favilla beat her dog he instantly finds
her ugly,
Sasha “is like a fox” → shows Orlando’s love for nature
Once he realises Sasha won’t come, nature mirrors his emotions showing how deeply connected
to nature he is → it rains (pathetic fallacy).
Subjectivity of truth:
the melting of the great frost i greatly unrealistic with people drowning all over the place gives a
sense of magical realism → questionable truth
Chapter 2:
Writing/ literature:
“The Oak Tree” = Orlando as a person and as an artist (embodies his evolution as a writer, his
changes in style etc) → often matches style and subject: recent heartbreak with Sasha, “lived in
complete solitude” embodied by 1st trance (echoes Woolf’s experience with depression) = small
“dose” of death, spends his days in a crypt, obsessed with death and decay DEPRESSION “life is
not worth living anymore” → makes him reluctant to write → his hesitation matches his
reluctance to reinvent himself.
+ his writing matches time period and fashions: at the time poets write sonnets, so does he.
Writing and literature is both the cause and the cure of the disease (recurrent motif in the novel) “infection,”
“afflicted with a love of literature,” “disease.” Later, he finds immortality in writing by publishing a book.
For most of the novel, Orlando longs for fame and only understands it’s not important at the end.
→ Woolf’s vision: power of writing in creating, not in publishing & fame
Orlando and his words are immortal → parallel between immortality (theme of time) and writing
Orlando identifies as a poet and says he belongs to the “sacred race” rather than to nobility →
central to his identity
When he meets Greene, disappointed with his physique “not above average height”, he says
nothing witty & profound like other poets later → poets are like everybody else, nothing special
(Woolf’s belief). Greene has apparently also suffered with his writing → Woolf implies to create
art ⇒ suffering ⇒ “disease” (depression)
Greene also says to him literature is going down and is decadent, he will also say that at the end of the novel.
After being crushed by Greene’s satirical novel, Orlando burs all his works → cuts off with writing
apart from the oak tree → central to his identity
He later realises he has to write for himself, writing to please critics only causes pain & defeats the true
purpose of writing “I’ll be blasted if I ever write another word to please Nick Greene.”
After refurnishing his house, Orlando goes back to writing the oak tree. His writing and change in style =
passing of time + new era = 17th century (not clear though). He now writes in a less complicated and lengthy
way.
Biography/ subjectivity of time:
Biographer comments that the difficulty of writing a biography lies in the melding of hard facts (the “granite”)
with intangibility of personality (“the rainbow”) in metaphor of what nature has made us.
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