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Emma Wang
489230555
Ms.Kate Liu
Literary Criticism-- Identity, Trauma, and Globalization
Journal 1
Women’s Social Status in History in Woolf’s View
As a novelist, essayist and critic, Virginia Woolf demonstrates her feminist view
through her narration in this novel Orlando. Orlando, a nobleman, possesses both
qualities of male and female, and lives an immortal life through Elizabethan age to
modern time. Orlando bears witness to the development of women’s position. Parallel
between historical narration from Elizabethan age to the modern time, and Orlando’s
life leads readers into a grey zone, within which Orlando can be seen as a biography
of Orlando and a document of women’s history..
When it comes to Orlando’s life, the relationship between Virginia Woolf and
her lover Vita Sackville-West must be mentioned first. After marriage to Leonard
Woolf in 1912, Woolf had an affair with Sackville-West, the writer and the wife of the
diplomat Harold Nicolson. With similar background of being self-educated and
bisexual woman with Woolf, Sackville possessed a more amorous and subtle life than
Woolf. In1913, Sackville-West gets married to Harold West. After West admits his
affair with a male lover, Sackville also began bisexual life with Woolf and Violet
Trefusis (Sasha in Orlando) afterwards. To explore Sackville’s life, Woolf delineates
Sackville through Orlando.
In writing Orlando, what concept does Virginia Woolf hold towards history? As
a literary critic, Woolf deals with the problem of time in virtue of New Criticist
conception. First of all, it is obvious that Woolf focuses on the portrayal of Orlando’s
life, instead of that of the whole historical context. From the following paragraph, it is
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perceived that historical facts are less regarded as a foil to the text:
To give a truthful account of contemporary London society is beyond the
powers of the biographer or the historian. Only those who have little need
of the truth, and no respect for it—the poets and the novelists—can be
trusted to do it, for this is one of the cases where the truth does not exist.
Nothing exists. The whole thing is a miasma—a mirage. (184)
Woolf heightens the imagination of novelists and poets, rather than the importance of
history. Interwoven by sex change and amorous affairs, the narration in Orlando
successfully draws readers’ attention from the historical flow.
Then, the arbitrariness of historical definition acts against New Historicism.
Chronological writing offers Woolf chances to lead her readers by definite historical
assumption:
The biographer is now faced with a difficulty which it is better perhaps to
confess than to gloss over. Up to this point in telling the story of
Orlando’s life, documents, both private and historical, have made it
possible to fulfill the first duty of a biographer, which is to plod, without
looking to right or left, in the indelible footprints of truth; unenticed by
flowers; regardless of shade; on and on methodically till we fall p lump
into the grave and whit finis on the tombstone above our heads. (63)
From the foretold paragraph, Woolf does not deny the importance of peripheral
document; however, it explains her historical view of homogenizing a historical
period to give a specific definition based on objective reality.
Furthermore, Orlando in intended to narrate in chronological time, which goes
against Foucault’s principle that history, is neither “linear” nor “teleological”
(Bressler242). From Elizabethan age onward, Orlando grows up from boyhood to
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adulthood until his sex change. Hiss life stops at the age of 36, while history goes on
till modern time. Woolf intends to liken indefinite time span to the eternal pursuit of
love and life, regardless of the limitation of time and gender. Thus, in Orlando,
continuation of time is ensured and shaped on purpose.
In the course of narration, Orlando is gradually aware of the difference of
gender. In sixteenth century, women were valued lowly. Elderly Queen Elizabeth
admires Orlando’s innocent appearance and promotes him to the courtier and steward
in order to be intimate with him. His lover Sasha betrays him by embracing a Russian
crew member and leaves Orlando in secret. Due to Sasha’s treason, Orlando falls into
trance for seven days. Then, he applies for being ambassador in Turkey to escape
from Romanian Archduchess Harriet’s suit. After his second trance in Turkey, he
becomes a woman. On her way to England, she is gradually conscious of the
difference of gender by interacting with crew members aboard. When she arrives at
England, seventeenth century begins. Disguising her gender by dressing male clothes,
Orlando has chances to hear woman’s voice and perceives both male and female
identities inside her. In 19th century, finding herself incapable of writing poetry
because of the dampness and darkness of the age, she is determined to marry
Shelmerdine. At the same time, Orlando’s lawsuit is settled, which still holds doubts
about Orlando’s gender. In modern time, Orlando finally finishes her poetry which has
been composed for nearly 400 years, and gains the praise from Nick Greene who
criticized her poetry severely in her boyhood.
Some critics point out Woolf admits the existence of androgynies. I’d like to
interpret it as women’s awakening from historical perspective. At first, people learn
less knowledge about human from literary works, for only men have the privilege to
study, and cannot delineate women’s life from all aspects. Women make a mysterious
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impression for the world. After the first trance, Orlando begins his poet “The Oak
Tree,” which records his life and feelings. After the second trance, Orlando is really
transformed into a real woman. Though Orlando possesses both qualities of male and
female, the differences between the two genders are distinguished by social and
cultural values. In 19th century, Orlando feels tingle in her fingers in the extremely
damp weather so that she cannot compose her poetry. In A Room of One’s Own, a
literary critique just published one year after Orlando, Woolf laments that few female
writers are able to criticize literature or write poetry. They tend to compose novels,
such as the Brontes, George Eliot, and so on. Male writers occupy the domineering
position in literature. However, with the accomplishment of Orlando’s poetry,
women’s intellect is highlighted under Woolf’s narration.
To sum up, women’s social status is gradually improved in Woolf’s view. After
long-term suppression, women are deprived of chances of studying so that they are
considered inferior to men. In the end, Woolf is not quite satisfied with current
women rights (Orlando’s wealth is lost,) but women’s intellect is somehow
illuminated by their self-education. Nowadays, unlike Virginia Woolf, our women are
lucky enough to enter college and share the same education with men. Though sexual
discrimination still exists, Orlando brings our women some hope toward the future.
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Works Cited
Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 2nd Ed.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998
Green, Keith and Jill LeBihan. Critical Theory and Practice: A Course book. New
York: Routledge, 1996: 92-124.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. New York: Oxford, 2000.
﹤http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/sackvill.htm﹥
﹤http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/vwoolf.htm﹥
﹤http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/orlando﹥