Summary Of Orlando By Virginia Woolf

1605 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender roles in present

Orlando by Virginia Woolf The first time I read Orlando by Virginia Woolf, I was very confused. It seemed that the book was about time travel, as if Orlando was like Dr. Who or Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap. Then the lead character changes gender and decades so effortlessly without any explanation or alarm. Upon further investigation, I realized how interesting Orlando and Virginia Woolf really were, especially for the time period. The plot context doesn’t really necessarily matter. Like Roger Ebert writes in Chicago Sun-Times, "it is not about a story or a plot, but about a vision of human existence." Woolf wrote this faux-biography as playful fun and without too much seriousness. I believe she based a great deal of the story on her own …show more content…

She spent time vacationing with her parents and 5 siblings in the summers at St. Ives. She had a happy childhood, until her mother died when she was 10 years old. The death of her mother sparked a chain reaction of disasters in her life. A few years later her father died and then her older sister. The remaining siblings decided to move away from the city, where they were subject to observation and scrutiny, and they relocated to Brighton. This was considered scandalous because it wasn’t a desired area at the time, but they Stephens’s children took refuge in their new home. They flourished in the arts. After a trip to Greece her older brother came down with Typhoid fever and died. Virginia had seen too much tragedy and it took a toll on her mental stability. Virginia struggled with manic depression and sometime schizophrenia. She would go through phases of her life where she was out of control. She also had issues with …show more content…

She has us follow Orlando’s journey through life, and experience how the genders were approached in the different eras. Also, she constantly reminds the reader that even though Orlando has changed genders, dressed in both male and female clothes, and took male and female lovers, Orlando has always remained the same. Woolf resented the education that she received as a child, her brothers were allowed to attend proper school, but Virginia and her sisters had to stay at home and get home schooled by their parents. Even though her Parents were well educated people, Woolf found the inequality to be extremely

Show More
Related

  • Synopsis of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel Jane Eyre, it narrates the story of a young, orphaned girl. The story begins shortly after Jane walk around Gateshead Hall and evolves within the different situations she face growing up. During Jane’s life the people she encounter has impact her growth and the character she has become.

    Read More

  • Virginia Wolf

    332 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Virginia Woolf’s two passages describing two very opposite meals that was served at the men’s college and the other at the women’s college; reflects Woolf’s attitude toward women’s place in society.

    Read More

  • College Meals

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Virginia Woolf’s writings, she describes two different dinners: one at a men’s college, and another at a women’s college. Using multiple devices, Woolf expresses her opinion of the inequality between men and women within these two passages. She also uses a narrative style to express her opinions even more throughout the passages.

    Read More

  • Death Of The Moth Rhetorical Analysis

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    Woolf’s pathos to begin the story paints a picture in readers minds of what the

    Read More

  • Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens and Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    She even comes to recognize them as saints as she describes their faith as "so intense, deep, unconscious, the they themselves were unaware of the richness they held" (Walker 694). In a passage in which she speaks about the treatment and social status of the women of the sixteenth century, Woolf explains that a woman who might have had a truly great gift in this time "would have surely gone crazy, shot herself, or ended up in some lonely cottage on the outside of town, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked" (Woolf 749). Her use of some of these powerful nominatives shows that she feels strongly about what she is writing. Also for her, life growing up and stories she may have heard may have influenced this passage greatly. In her passage she imagines what it may have been like had William Shakespeare had a sister.

    Read More

  • Cordila Fine's Delusions Of Gender, By Cordelia Fine

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    She wrote this novel to inform readers that there are differences and similarities between the genders of male and female and how each of their minds work. She says, In other words, when we are not thinking of ourselves as “male” or “female” our judgements are the same. This quote directly shows us that she is trying to tell us what life is like with each gender.

    Read More

  • The Contrast of Virginia Woolf and Alice Walker

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her passage she imagines what it may have been like had William Shakespeare had a sister. She notices how difficult it would be even given the same talents as Shakespeare himself, to follow throughout and utilize them in her life. It is clear after reading further into Woolf's passage that obviously she lived in a different time period, only about fifty years apart though. The way she relates and tells a very similar story with an entirely different setting shows without the reader even knowing that she wa... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Clothing and Gender in Virginia Woolf's Orlando

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her novel Orlando, Virginia Woolf tells the story of a man who one night mysteriously becomes a woman. By shrouding Orlando's actual gender change in a mysterious religious rite, we readers are pressured to not question the actual mechanics of the change but rather to focus on its consequences. In doing this, we are invited to answer one of the fundamental questions of our lives, a question that we so often ignore because it seems so very basic - what is a man? What is a woman? And how do we distinguish between the two?

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf's Orlando Pros And Disadvantages

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her struggles began when she realized she couldn’t swim to save herself dressed in all that clothing. She would have to depend on others for her protection. It was important for her to ware such bulky clothing because if anyone were to see her legs they may have a heart attack or fall to their death in the water. One day, when Orlando stomped her foot, her dress came up and a sailor was able to see her leg and he fell into the water. He did not die but Orlando thought he could have. She then knew that she must keep covered. It was inappropriate and not accepted for women to show their legs. Not only were women to be exquisitely appareled, but they were to be obedient, chaste and scented as well. Women had to respect the opinions of men no matter what it may be. Those expectations were extreme for Orlando and she knew she had to be

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Woolf From A Room Of One's Own

    1755 Words  | 4 Pages

    1. If Shakespeare had a sister, she would not have been sent to a grammar school in

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf

    413 Words  | 1 Pages

    Virginia Woolf, in her novels, set out to portray the self and the limits associated with it. She wanted the reader to understand time and how the characters could be caught within it. She felt that time could be transcended, even if it was momentarily, by one becoming involved with their work, art, a place, or someone else. She felt that her works provided a change from the typical egotistical work of males during her time, she makes it clear that women do not posses this trait. Woolf did not believe that women could influence as men through ego, yet she did feel [and portray] that certain men do hold the characteristics of women, such as respect for others and the ability to understand many experiences. Virginia Woolf made many of her time realize that traditional literature was no longer good enough and valid. She caused many women to become interested in writing, and can be seen as greatly influential in literary history

    Read More

  • The Tiger's Bride Gender

    1910 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rognstad points out how, in the second half of the novel when Orlando has lived as both sexes, Woolf presents Orlando’s personality traits in conflicting ways both “typically male and typically female: ‘if Orlando was a woman, how did she never take more than ten minutes to dress?’ and at the same time ‘she could drink with the best and liked games of hazard’ (133). Orlando was tender-hearted, but she detested household matters, she rode well, but she would burst into tears on slight provocation, (133) signalizing a personality made up of stereotypical traits of both femininity and masculinity” (Rognstad 31). These conflicting traits existing simultaneously show Woolf poking fun at gender conventions, challenging the very idea of why people think of these traits as belonging to one gender or another. The character of Orlando cannot be placed into any category, a deliberate effort by Woolf to show how freedom can be found by not being limited with a specific gender

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own

    1324 Words  | 3 Pages

    Woolf empowers women writers by first exploring the nature of women and fiction, and then by incorporating notions of androgyny and individuality as it exists in a woman's experience as writer.

    Read More

  • Woolf Colloquial Language Analysis

    361 Words  | 1 Pages

    Essay W provides a limited overview of Woolf’s use of colloquial language and rhetorical devices. Although the author uses multiple quotations, they are poorly placed and do not fully illustrate the significance. Additionally, the author has multiple grammar mistakes, but the purpose can be understood. There are some examples of SOAPStone in the response such as tone, and the author mentions the purpose of the anecdote that Woolf tells. If I was a teacher, I would give this essay a score of a five. It contains some lapses in diction and syntax, but the reader is able to understand the meaning; and there are some inconsistent explanations of the provided examples.

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own: Women and Fiction

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout her life Virginia Woolf became increasingly interested in the topic of women and fiction, which is highly reflected in her writing. To understand her piece, A Room of One’s Own Room, her reader must understand her. Born in early 1882, Woolf was brought into an extremely literature driven, middle-class family in London. Her father was an editor to a major newspaper company and eventually began his own newspaper business in his later life. While her mother was a typical Victorian house-wife. As a child, Woolf was surrounded by literature. One of her favorite pastimes was listening to her mother read to her. As Woolf grew older, she was educated by her mother, and eventually a tutor. Due to her father’s position, there was always famous writers over the house interacting with the young Virginia and the Woolf’s large house library.

    Read More

More about Summary Of Orlando By Virginia Woolf

Open Document