Orlando: What's Inside

Orlando
Study Guide by Course Hero
TENSE
What's Inside Orlando by Virginia Woolf is told in the past tense.
ABOUT THE TITLE

j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 Orlando is the name of the subject of this fictional biography. It
is an allusion to the Shakespearean character of Orlando from
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 As You Like It, who also reflects gender fluidity. Orlando is
likewise the name of the hero of Italian writer Ludovico
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2
Ariosto's epic poem, Orlando Furioso, who, like Woolf's
h Characters .................................................................................................. 3 Orlando, is a poet.
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 8
c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 13

d In Context
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 22
l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 24
Friends to Lovers and Back
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 25
Again: Virginia and Vita
b Motifs ........................................................................................................... 27
Virginia Woolf's love affair with poet and novelist Vita Sackville-
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 28
West is well documented in biographies, screenplays, and
published collections of their letters, but few show the depths
of Woolf's devotion as Orlando, which was inspired by
j Book Basics
Sackville-West and her family history. Woolf and Sackville-
West first met in 1922. Both women were in unconventional
marriages: Woolf's relationship with husband Leonard Woolf
AUTHOR was based more on friendship than passion, and Sackville-
Virginia Woolf West and her husband, Harold Nicolson, were both gay. By
1925, Woolf and Sackville-West's friendship had turned into a
YEAR PUBLISHED
romance, and in 1927, Woolf decided to turn her lover into her
1928
muse.
GENRE
Orlando's titular character and Sackville-West have more than
Satire
a few things in common. Both descended from nobility, both
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR were poets, and both had long lists of lovers. Just like Orlando,
Orlando is told by a third-person limited narrator who at times Sackville-West was known to dress in masculine or feminine
veers into omniscience. The narrator is identified as the clothing, depending on her mood. She also had a deep
biographer of Orlando's life story. connection to her ancestral home, Knole, which she wrote
Orlando Study Guide Author Biography 2
about in 1922's Knole and the Sackvilles. Knole served as the women was more masculine than a woman who loved men.
model for Orlando's country home in Woolf's novel, and it was She also rebuffed the commonly held belief that men are
every bit as grand as Woolf's lush descriptions. The loss of innately thinkers and doers, while women are nothing more
Knole was a sore point for Sackville-West, who wasn't allowed than sensual beings who passively wait for life to happen. In
to inherit the property because she was a woman. Woolf her mind, the biggest problem with theories of female sexuality
rectifies that in Orlando by rewriting history so that female is that they were all created by men. In A Room of One's Own,
Orlando has full ownership of the home she loves so dearly. she asks, "Where shall I find that elaborate study of the
psychology of women by women?"
Woolf and Sackville-West's romance ended after the
publication of Orlando. Literary scholars haven't uncovered any Lesbianism exited the drawing rooms of the literary elite and
explicit explanations for the breakup, but some believe Woolf entered the public sphere in 1928 with the publication of three
was more comfortable writing about the fictional Sackville- novels that explored sapphic, or lesbian, themes: Woolf's
West than expressing her love physically. They remained close Orlando, Compton Mackenzie's Extraordinary Women, and
friends through 1934. Though their affair didn't last, it had a Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness. The term sapphic
profound impact on the quality and quantity of their respective derives from the ancient Greek poet Sappho from the island of
work, and the decade in which they were close is considered Lesbos, who ran a school for unmarried young women. Woolf's
to be the apex of both of their careers. and Mackenzie's use of humor, satire, and fantasy made
Orlando and Extraordinary Women palatable to a conservative
audience, but Hall's serious presentation of lesbian
Sapphic Thought and relationships resulted in a public outcry. Authorities were
particularly troubled by the earnest tone of the book, which
Literature in the Early 20th they said preached "unacceptable sexual doctrine" through a
virtuous main character who was never blamed for her sexual
Century preferences. The Well of Loneliness was tried and convicted
for obscenity and banned from further publication. When
Woolf was taking a major risk by positioning Orlando's main pressed for her opinion on Hall's book, Woolf made no mention
character as a lover to both sexes. Lesbianism has always of its subject but opined that the novel itself had very little
been a part of human society, but it wasn't very long ago that it artistic merit.
was considered a taboo topic in literature and in everyday life.
It was so frowned upon that it wasn't even mentioned in
England's 1885 Labouchere Amendment, which prohibited a Author Biography
"gross acts of indecency" between men. Attempts were made
in 1921 to add lesbianism to the law, but legislators found the
Virginia Woolf, christened Adeline Virginia Stephen, was born
thought of relations between women so repulsive they couldn't
January 25, 1882. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen, was a
even talk about it. When Orlando was published in 1928,
prominent historian, author, and mountaineer. Her mother, Julia
lesbianism wasn't strictly against the law, but it wasn't
Prinsep Stephen, was also a published author in her field of
accepted, either.
expertise: nursing. Virginia's childhood home was a bustling
place and included her three full-blood siblings and four half-
Sexuality was a common topic of conversation among the
siblings. While their brothers went to school, Virginia and her
members of the Bloomsbury Group, the collection of artists,
sisters were educated at home. Virginia's writing career had an
writers, and philosophers with whom Woolf socialized and
early start—at age 9 she began writing Hyde Park Gate News, a
debated in the early 20th century. Many of the group's
newspaper chronicling family events. Publication of the cheeky
members subscribed to the theories of philosopher Otto
articles stopped upon her mother's death in 1895, which sent
Weininger, who thought homosexuality was caused by an
Virginia into her first of many depressions. Her father's death in
"inversion" of a person's gender, and psychoanalyst Sigmund
1904 triggered a full mental breakdown.
Freud, who famously believed sexual "perversion" was rooted
in childhood experiences. Woolf disagreed with both ideas,
After Woolf recovered she and her three full-blood siblings
particularly the assumption that a woman who loved other
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Orlando Study Guide Characters 3
moved into their own house in the Bloomsbury section of "The Oak Tree," which serves as an evolving record of her
London, where they continued their studies and honed their art thoughts and experiences. Orlando has close connections to
and writing. The residence became a magnet for radical artists, the political and literary circles of the 16th through 19th
writers, and thinkers, including the novelist E.M. Forster and centuries and experiences, but finds love and happiness to be
the economist John Maynard Keyes. The Bloomsbury Group, fleeting. She has a particularly difficult time during the Victorian
as they dubbed themselves, questioned ideas commonly era, when marriage seems to be almost required of every man
accepted by society in search of what is good and true. Woolf and woman. Orlando feels this goes against the rules of nature
herself questioned popular literature of the era with her first and attempts to become "nature's bride," then reverses her
novel, Melymbrosia, which aimed to explore aspects of life position the moment she meets Shel. With Shel, who was once
omitted from traditional Victorian novels. It was finally a woman, Orlando finally feels understood and complete. She
published in 1915 as The Voyage Out. is able to finish her long-worked poem and unite all of her
disparate experiences into one true self.
Virginia married writer Leonard Woolf in 1912. Between bouts
of manic depression, she continued writing literary reviews,
novels, and essays. Among the most famous are Jacob's Room
(1922), Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), A Room
Sasha
of One's Own (1929), and The Waves (1931). Woolf's body of
Orlando meets Russian Princess Marousha Stanilovska
work is known for its exploration of nature and the contrasts
Dagmar Natasha Iliana Romanovitch at the king's court during
between the feminine and masculine. The satirical biography
the Great Frost. The only language they have in common is
Orlando (1928), written in honor of Woolf's lesbian lover, poet
French, which no one else seems to speak. Orlando quickly
Vita Sackville-West, addresses both themes. The tongue-in-
becomes besotted with the princess, whom he nicknames
cheek novel, which Woolf once referred to as "a writer's
Sasha after a pet fox that once bit him. Sasha is not impressed
holiday," was hailed as a critical success for its genre-defying
with Orlando's bouts of melancholy and depression, and she
content and structure. Hailed by Sackville-West's son as "the
has very few niceties to say about the English court. Her
longest and most charming love-letter in literature," Orlando
dismissive air only fuels Orlando's adoration. Though he is
was also a commercial success, selling more than 8,000
never quite sure about her feelings for him, he is completely
copies in its first six months. Comparatively, Woolf's previous
obsessed with her. Years later, when Orlando turns into a
novel, To the Lighthouse, sold only 3,800 copies during an
woman, she can understand Sasha in ways she couldn't as a
entire year.
man.
Woolf's literary success did little to quash the depression she

had struggled with her entire life. She committed suicide on
March 28, 1941. Today, she is remembered as one of the Shel
leading voices of the modernist literature movement in the
20th century. Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine is a former soldier and
sailor whose life's ambition is to sail around Cape Horn. He
stumbles upon Orlando in the park, and they immediately
h Characters recognize kindred spirits in one another and become engaged.

He, like Orlando, started life as the opposite gender, which is
perhaps what makes them such a good match. He doesn't
mind when she disappears into the woods to enjoy one of her
Orlando contemplative moods, and she doesn't question his dedication
to life at sea. They make one another feel whole.
Orlando's story spans four centuries and two genders, yet the
character changes very little from his/her early years as part of
Queen Elizabeth I's court. Throughout his/her long life, Orlando
prefers nature to people and holds poetry above all else.
He/she spends nearly her entire life working on one poem,

Nick Greene
Orlando invites Nick Greene to his country home to talk about
Orlando's poetry, but the snide and low-class Greene is more
interested in talking about himself and the death of literature.
Nearly 300 years later, Greene has risen through social and
academic circles to become a man of importance and wealth.
He despises the popular literature of the time and helps
Orlando publish "The Oak Tree" because it has no trace of "the
modern spirit."
Archduke Harry
Archduke Harry is from the Roumanian territory. He saw a
portrait of male Orlando years before, immediately fell in love,
and decided to move close to Orlando's country home, where
he disguises himself as the Archduchess Harriet. Orlando is
horrified by the archduchess's attentions and flees to
Constantinople. When he returns as a woman, Harriet reveals
himself as Harry and asks for Orlando's hand in marriage.
Orlando finds Harry terribly boring—they have nothing in
common and nothing to talk about. He remains loyal even when
she cheats him out of money. Orlando finally gets rid of him by
dropping a toad down his shirt. When they meet a few days
later, he once more asks her to marry him.

Character Map
Nell
Prostitute; shows Orlando
the secrets of womanhood
Friends
Archduke Harry
Sasha
Disguises self as
Unrequited Russian princess;
archduchess; wants to win
admirer questionable loyalty
male Orlando's favor
Lovers
Orlando
Aristocratic male-turned-
female; lives for centuries
Spouses
Patron
Shel Nick Greene

Female Orlando's soul Crotchety poet; lives
mate; formerly a woman for centuries
Main Character
Other Major Character
Minor Character

Full Character List Canute, Orlando's beloved elk hound,

recognizes Orlando upon her return
Canute
from Turkey, even though she's now a
woman.
Character Description
Nurse Carpenter is Orlando's

Orlando, the story's protagonist,
Nurse childhood nanny who resides in his
begins life as a male, becomes female
Carpenter country home years after he
Orlando at age 30, and though she is 36 at the
becomes an adult.
end of the novel, her lifetime spans
almost 300 years.
King Charles II, king of England from
1660 to 1685, grants Orlando's
Sasha is the nickname Orlando gives King Charles
request to become an ambassador to
Sasha to the Russian princess who is his
Constantinople.
first love and his first heartbreak.
Chastity is one of the three feminine

Shel, whose full name is Marmaduke
Chastity graces that visits Orlando as she
Shel Bonthrop Shelmerdine, is Orlando's
transforms into a woman.
husband.
Clorinda, one of the three women

Nick Greene is a bitter poet who
who wants to marry Orlando, is
writes a scathing poem at Orlando's
Clorinda known for falling faint at the sight of
Nick Greene expense. He is the only other
blood and trying to cure Orlando of
character, besides Orlando, who lives
his sins.
for hundreds of years.
Mr. Dupper is the chaplain at

Archduke Harry disguises himself as Mr. Dupper
Orlando's country home.
Archduke Harry Archduchess Harriet to get close to
Orlando.
John Dryden, a real and very famous
poet, dramatist, and critic during the
Joseph Addison, a real poet, essayist, John Dryden
17th century, becomes friends with
and dramatist who lived in the 17th
Orlando during the 18th century.
and 18th centuries, founded two
Joseph Addison
popular periodicals, The Tatler and
The Spectator. He becomes friends Euphrosyne, whose real name is Lady
with Orlando. Margaret O'Brien O'Dare O'Reilly
Euphrosyne Tyrconnel, is the woman Orlando
nearly marries before falling in love
After Mrs. Grimsditch's death, Mrs.
with Sasha.
Bartholomew, known as Widow
Mrs. Bartholomew, becomes Orlando's
Bartholomew housekeeper, and it is her wedding Orlando breaks up with Favilla, one of
ring that helps Orlando identify her Favilla the women who wants to marry him,
uncontrollable urge to get married. because she is cruel to animals.
Basket serves Orlando as a butler Mrs. Field is a servant at Orlando's

Basket Mrs. Field
during the reign of Queen Victoria. country home.
James Boswell, Dr. Johnson's friend Giles Giles is Orlando's groom.

and biographer during the 18th
James Boswell
century, is part of the group of
"geniuses" whom Orlando watches. Mrs. Grimsditch is Orlando's longtime
Mrs. Grimsditch
housekeeper.

Nell Gwyn, King Charles II's mistress, Prue Kitty is one of the prostitutes
Nell Gwyn comments on Orlando's "shapely Prue Kitty Orlando befriends during the 18th
legs." century.
Halls Halls is Orlando's falconer. Queen Queen Elizabeth I is the queen who
Elizabeth I dotes upon young Orlando.
Giles Isham is Orlando's friend who

Giles Isham
introduces Orlando to Nick Greene. Lady R. is the London socialite who
Lady R. hosts gatherings of "geniuses" during
the 18th century.
King James I hosts the festival during
King James I
the Great Freeze.
Rustum el Sadi is the gypsy man who
Rustum el Sadi delivers Orlando from Turkey to the
Dr. Samuel Johnson, a real writer gypsy tribe.
Dr. Samuel during the 18th century, is part of the
Johnson group of "geniuses" whom Orlando
watches. William Shakespeare, considered to
be one of the greatest poets and
William dramatists from the 16th and 17th
Modesty is one of the three feminine Shakespeare centuries, is the fat and shabby poet
Modesty graces that visits Orlando as she young Orlando sees in the servants'
transforms into a woman. quarters.
Nell is the prostitute female Orlando Mrs. Stewkley is a servant at

picks up when dressed like a man, Orlando's country home; in her sitting
Nell
and becomes close friends with Mrs. Stewkley room Orlando sees a poet at work, an
Orlando. image that stays with him for the rest
of his life.
Captain Nicholas Benedict Bartolus is
Captain the captain of the ship that takes Stubbs works for Orlando as a
Nicholas Orlando from Turkey back to Stubbs gardener during the reign of Queen
England. Elizabeth I.
Rosina Pepita, a gypsy, marries Jonathan Swift, a real writer during

Orlando during his ambassadorship in the 17th and 18th centuries whose
Rosina Pepita Turkey, and her three sons sue Jonathan Swift most famous work is Gulliver's
female Orlando for their share of her Travels, becomes friends with
property. Orlando during the 18th century.
Alexander Pope, a real 17th and 18th- Twitchett Twitchett is Orlando's mother's maid.
century poet and satirist known for
his wit, whose most famous works
Alexander Pope include An Essay on Man, The Rape Queen Victoria, who ruled England
of the Lock, and An Essay on Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, becomes pregnant
Criticism, becomes friends with at the same time as Orlando.
Orlando during the 18th century.
Mrs. Ann Williams, a real 18th-century

Purity is one of the three feminine Mrs. Ann poet who lived in Dr. Johnson's home,
Purity graces that visits Orlando as she Williams is part of the group of "geniuses"
transforms into a woman. whom Orlando watches.
Prue is one of the prostitutes Orlando

Prue
befriends during the 18th century.

Orlando Study Guide Plot Summary 8
before the gypsies have a chance to kill her.

k Plot Summary
Orlando ponders the differences between men and women on
the voyage back to England, worrying that her life as a female
Orlando is presented as a biography of an English nobleman
will be one of conformity and deference to men. Upon her
named Orlando. His story begins in 16th-century England
arrival, she learns that the ownership of her property is in
when, at age 16, he catches the eye of Queen Elizabeth I. He
question due to a secret marriage to a gypsy woman and
goes to live at the palace at 18 and becomes the queen's
Orlando's own change of sex. She returns to her country home
favorite companion. Though their relationship is not presented
and is soon visited by Archduchess Harriet, who turns out to
as being sexual, the queen dies of a broken heart after seeing
be Archduke Harry. He wants to marry Orlando. She finally
Orlando kiss another woman.
manages to shake him off and finds herself in the whirlwind of
Orlando leaves court to experience the seedier parts of 18th-century London society, where she socializes with the
London, returning shortly after King James I takes the throne. literary geniuses of the age. After a falling out with Alexander
The Thames River freezes and court relocates to the ice for Pope, Orlando puts on an old suit and picks up a prostitute.
the entire winter. It is there Orlando meets Sasha, a Russian They become close friends. Orlando spends the next few
princess. Though Orlando is effectively engaged to another years dressing as both a man and a woman, depending on the
woman, he falls madly in love with Sasha. They talk about circumstances and her mood.
running away together, but when the moment arrives, Sasha is
The 19th century arrives and a dark cloud is cast over England.
nowhere to be found. Heartbroken, Orlando returns to his
Like many other women, including Queen Victoria, Orlando is
palatial country home. He falls asleep for seven days. When he
pregnant. Her writing is interrupted by a tingling in her left ring
wakes, he remembers almost nothing about the past six
finger and she realizes the "spirit of the age" is compelling her
months, but memories of Sasha surface every now and then as
to take a husband. The idea is foreign to Orlando, who thinks
he wanders through the family crypt and thinks about death.
mating for life is unnatural. She declares herself nature's bride
Orlando eventually recovers from his depression and returns moments before she meets the man who will become her
to his youthful passion of writing, resuming his work on "The husband, Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine. Shel and Orlando
Oak Tree," a poem about his favorite lounging spot. He vows to have an immediate connection, and they each realize the other
dedicate his life to becoming a famous writer, and invites a was once the opposite gender. They marry 10 days after they
poet, Nick Greene, to stay. Orlando hopes to get feedback meet. Shel leaves the same day to continue his adventures
about his work, but Greene is much more interested in talking sailing around Cape Horn.
about himself and the death of poetry in England. When
Orlando returns to her writing and finally finishes "The Oak
Greene returns home, he writes a scathing poem about an
Tree." She takes it to London and runs into Nick Greene, who
unnamed aristocrat whom everyone knows is Orlando.
is now a respected academic, literary critic, and member of the
Humiliated, Orlando swears off poetry and human
nobility. He rants about the death of English literature, then
companionship. He focuses instead on filling his enormous
offers to help Orlando publish her poem. She agrees without
house first with furniture, then guests to enjoy it.
fully understanding what he means, as she has never seen an
The affections of a new neighbor, Archduchess Harriet, spur actual book before. She makes it her duty to catch up on
Orlando to ask King Charles II for an ambassadorship to modern literature. Her baby is born soon after, but the narrator
Constantinople. Riots break out after the celebration of refuses to document the occasion.
Orlando's dukedom, and hundreds of foreigners are killed.
Time speeds up quickly, and suddenly it is 1928. Orlando is
Orlando lives only because he falls into a deep sleep and looks
assaulted by memories of her past during a shopping trip. Each
like he is already dead. When he wakes a week later, he is a
memory is a different version of herself, and Orlando wishes
woman. Orlando leaves Constantinople to live with a band of
they would all coalesce into one true self. She gets her wish
gypsies. After living together companionably for a while, the
and returns to her country manor, of which she is now the legal
gypsies start to mistrust Orlando's obsession with nature and
owner. Thoughts of the past accompany her on the tour of her
material goods, and Orlando wants to live somewhere that has
house, but the chiming of the clock keeps dragging her into the
pens and paper in good supply. She sets sail for England

present. She finds herself in the garden at midnight, baring her

breast to the moon as Shel jumps to the ground from an
overhead airplane. It is October 11, 1928.

Plot Diagram
Climax
7
Falling Action
6
Rising Action
5 8
4
9
3
Resolution
2
1
Introduction
7. Orlando accepts herself for who she is.

Introduction
1. Orlando is fascinated by a poet in the servants' quarters.

Falling Action
8. Orlando's memories are pushed away by the present.
Rising Action
2. Orlando abandons his fiancée for Sasha.

Resolution
3. Sasha disappears and breaks Orlando's heart.
9. Orlando eagerly awaits Shel's return.
4. While in Turkey, Orlando suddenly becomes a woman.
5. Orlando changes gender roles depending on the situation.
6. Orlando struggles against conformity in the Victorian era.
Climax

Timeline of Events
Age 16, Elizabethan era
Orlando meets Queen Elizabeth I and later becomes her

favorite companion.
Elizabethan era
The queen dies and Orlando hangs out in bars and

brothels for a few years.
Stuart period
Orlando meets Sasha during the Great Frost and

immediately falls in love. She breaks his heart.
Stuart period
Exiled from court, Orlando dedicates himself to poetry.

His work is ridiculed by Nick Greene.
Stuart period
Orlando petitions for an ambassadorship in

Constantinople to escape Archduchess Harriet.
Age 30, Stuart period
Following a riot in Constantinople, Orlando sleeps for

seven days and wakes as a woman.
Stuart period
Orlando lives happily with a tribe of gypsies until they

question her values.
Georgian era
Orlando returns to London. All her property and titles are

seized because of her gender.
Georgian era
Orlando becomes friends with the literary geniuses of

the era and finds them rather uninteresting.
Georgian era

Orlando, dressed as a man but revealing herself as a

woman, picks up a prostitute.
Georgian era
Orlando spends a few undocumented years dressing as

both genders depending on mood and circumstance.
Victorian era
Orlando is revealed to be pregnant.
Victorian era
Orlando feels a tingling sensation in her left ring finger.

She feels compelled to marry.
Victorian era
Orlando decides to become "nature's bride," immediately

meeting Shel. They become engaged.
10 days later
Orlando and Shel marry. He leaves to sail around Cape

Horn.
Victorian era
Orlando finishes writing her life's work, "The Oak Tree."

Nick Greene helps her publish it.
Victorian era
Orlando gives birth to a son.
Age 36, October 11, 1928
Orlando is confronted with her past selves while on a

shopping trip. She accepts her one true self.
October 11, 1928
Shel comes home.

Orlando Study Guide Chapter Summaries 13
language they have in common is French, Orlando becomes

c Chapter Summaries completely enamored with the young woman and forgets all
about Euphrosyne.
Sasha and Orlando spend their days away from the prying
Chapter 1 eyes of court, ice skating over the Thames to the countryside
where they make love on the ice and talk. His long-winded
tales of his personal history are usually met with silence, and
Summary Orlando realizes he knows very little about Sasha. Who is she,
really? Is she even a princess? His fears are more pronounced
Chapter 1 begins near the end of the 16th century. Orlando, when they visit the ship that brought Sasha to England. She
age 16, is in his family's large home, practicing his sword work goes below deck with a member of the crew to find something.
on a severed head. The narrator describes the young noble's When she does not return after an hour, Orlando goes after
good looks and his dedication to writing and poetry in great her. He sees Sasha sitting on the crew member's knee, as so
detail. His favorite topic, "as all young poets are forever many women had sat on Orlando's knee in the past. Orlando
describing," is nature. Orlando sits underneath his favorite oak swoons. When he comes to, Sasha says the crew member was
tree and enjoys the solitude before falling asleep. He awakes only helping her move a box. Orlando isn't sure whether he can
to hear the arrival of the queen. A shortcut through the trust his memory or not.
servants' quarters reveals a "rather fat, shabby man" holding a
pen but not writing. Orlando assumes the man is a poet. He is Though there seems to be "something coarse flavoured,
overcome with admiration but too shy to say anything, and something peasant born" about Sasha, Orlando is still madly in
instead runs into the banquet hall. He bows before the queen love with her. They agree to meet at an inn at midnight and run
and offers her a bowl of rosewater, into which she dips her away together. Orlando arrives early and waits outside. It
fingers. The queen can only see the top of Orlando's head, but starts to rain for the first time in months. The bells at St. Paul's
she falls in love with him immediately. That night, she gifts the Cathedral chime midnight, but Sasha doesn't appear. Orlando
king's house to Orlando's father. waits for two more hours, then runs toward the river. The rain
has broken up the ice, and people are stranded on the huge
Two years later, Orlando is summoned to Whitehall, the icebergs floating out to sea. He runs even farther, to the place
queen's palace. The elderly queen gives him a good long look where the visiting ships had been anchored in the ice for so
and sees "[s]trength, grace, romance, folly, poetry, youth." She long. The Russian ship is gone. Its flagged mast sails into the
gives him a ring from her own hand and names him her distance as he hurls insults at the woman who stole his heart.
treasurer and steward, and thereafter keeps her with him at all
times like a treasured pet. She gives him land and houses and
plans his future. Her heart breaks when she sees, in the Analysis
reflection of a mirror, Orlando kissing a young woman in the
hallway. The queen dies shortly after. Orlando leaves court and Orlando takes place over the course of 300 years. Virginia
spends time in the downtrodden back alleys of London, Woolf's use of real events and historical figures sets the scene
bedding girls from all walks of life. for each era of Orlando's life, while providing a realistic
backdrop for this fictional biography. The story opens in the
He soon grows bored of "the primitive manner of the people" 16th century, during Queen Elizabeth I's reign. Queen
and returns to court. Three young women vie for his hand in Elizabeth's refusal to marry led to the nickname "the Virgin
marriage. Orlando is in the middle of negotiations to join Queen," and scholars have long debated whether she actually
Euphrosyne's wealth with his when the Great Frost arrives. The remained chaste throughout her life. Orlando's narrator
river freezes to at least 20 feet deep for a stretch of almost 15 comments on this, saying the queen did not know men "in the
miles, and King James moves the court outside for a three- usual way" but loved Orlando all the same. The relationship
month-long festival. That's where Orlando meets a Russian between Orlando and the queen was not sexual, but in her
princess, Marousha Stanilovska Dagmar Natasha Iliana mind, at least, it was romantic, which is why she's so
Romanovitch, whom he calls "Sasha" for short. Though the only heartbroken to see him in an embrace with another. The

narrator excuses this by saying things were different in distance himself from the court and the trappings of nobility.
Elizabethan times. "Girls were roses, and their seasons were He and Sasha spend their time hiding in the throngs of
short as the flowers," so they must be "plucked" before they commoners surrounding the roped-off area of the ice. Orlando
are too old to be beautiful. Orlando can't be blamed for is torn between wanting to conform to the expectations of
breaking the queen's heart because he was "young; he was nobility and wanting to do what makes him happy. He is
boyish; he did but as nature bade him." learning that there is very little overlap between the two.
From the very first page, the narrator is insistent about Though Orlando does not age much during the story, he does
Orlando's gender. Though he is described as physically experience emotional and mental growth. Emotionally and
beautiful with "eyes like drenched violets" and "shapely legs," physically immature during his time as Queen Elizabeth I's
his actions are wholly male, from his repeated bedding of companion, Orlando turns into an adult man experiencing his
lower-class women to his battle with the shrunken head. His first great love during King James's reign. His desire to leave
name is borrowed from the titular character of Aristo's epic everything behind and go to Russia with Sasha indicates that
poem, Orlando Furioso, in which a heroic knight is driven mad though he looks like a man, he is still ruled by childish
by his love for a pagan princess. Like his namesake, Virginia impetuousness and idealism. He has not yet been touched by
Woolf's Orlando's masculinity is most thoroughly defined by the bitterness of loss. It finally arrives with the unexpected rain,
the presence of a woman. This is a reversal of the commonly which breaks both the drought and his heart. The end of the
accepted idea that a Victorian woman's femininity was most Great Frost and Sasha's departure signals the end of
thoroughly defined by the presence of a man. After meeting Orlando's childish follies.
Sasha, Orlando becomes even more manly in the eyes of King
James's court. He is no longer a clumsy boy, but rather "a
nobleman, full of grace and manly courtesy." Sasha's femininity Chapter 2
and human qualities are overshadowed by Orlando's insistence
on labeling her: she is at various times a jewel, an olive tree,
rushing waters, or a fox. Though Sasha defines Orlando as a
Summary
man, Orlando treats Sasha like an object or a dangerous pet.
This is characteristic of male romantic poets, such as Percy
In Chapter 2, Orlando has been exiled from court for
Shelley, who often compared women to forces of nature or
humiliating Euphrosyne. He retreats to his home in the country,
animals as a means of showing women to be distinctly
where he sleeps for seven days straight. With the exception of
different from the model human being, who is male. It has not
the dark moods that accompany any mention of Russia or
yet occurred to Orlando that Sasha is a complete person. She
princesses, he seems to remember nothing of the past six
is an object on which he can project his love. The closest he
months. He savors his solitude, and ruminates on death and
gets to seeing her as a person is when he blames her for the
decay while hanging out in the family crypt. His depression
failings of her sex and calls her "[f]aithless, mutable, fickle ...
intensifies, and he walks around the house looking at paintings
devil, adulteress, deceiver." Woolf is pointing out how gender
and sobbing "for the desire of a woman in Russian trousers,
labels affect one's identity and personal interactions. When
with slanting eyes." He is a mess, and his devoted servants are
Orlando changes genders later in the story, she empathizes
worried about him.
with Sasha and regrets her previous inability to recognize
women as equals to men. Orlando finds solace in his love of literature, which the narrator
teasingly refers to as a disease. Reading naturally leads to
Chapter 1 also brings up questions of class and conformity.
writing, and Orlando vows to become "the first poet of his race
Orlando enjoyed his period of "slumming it" with low-born pub-
and bring immortal lustre upon his name." Poetry turns out to
dwellers, but returns to court because, according to the
be much harder than anything done by Orlando's ancestors,
narrator, "crime and poverty" don't have the same allure in the
even the knights. In search of guidance, Orlando reaches out
Elizabethan era as they do today. Social standing is important
to a friend who is acquainted with several writers, which results
to Orlando—he dismisses a potential marital match because
in a visit from Nick Greene, a pompous and angry poet who
the woman in question isn't refined, and he worries that Sasha
both fascinates and frightens Orlando. Greene has no interest
isn't actually a princess at all. Yet Orlando takes great pains to

in hearing about Orlando's work, so Orlando simply listens as ending of the chapter, Orlando has aged no more than 12
Greene rants about the death of poetry in England. Most years. This serves a few purposes. For one thing, Orlando has
notably, Greene wants a benefactor to provide a quarterly to age slower than normal or else he wouldn't live long enough
pension so he can dedicate himself to writing poems for "the to experience the similarities and differences between cultural
Glories" in the classic Greek tradition. Orlando agrees to be his eras in Europe. More importantly, Virginia Woolf is showing
patron, though he's mostly relieved when Greene finally how the passing of time should be judged not by a rigid
departs a few weeks later. That relief turns to anger when structure of minutes and seconds, but by the activity at hand.
Greene releases a scathing poem about visiting a nobleman in The narrator says an hour spent thinking seems to last days,
the country, the descriptions of which clearly point to Orlando while an hour spent doing lasts a mere second. That's why "[i]t
as the subject. Even worse, the poem quotes and ridicules the would be no exaggeration" that Orlando would leave the house
play Orlando had given him to critique. Orlando reads Greene's "a man of thirty and come home to dinner a man of fifty-five at
pamphlet, has it destroyed, then sends his footman to Norway least." If being older makes one wiser, then the "years"
to bring home two elk hounds, "For ... I have done with men." accumulated by thinking are far more beneficial to one's
intelligence than the mere "seconds" spent engaging in activity.
Now 30 years old, Orlando has had "every experience that life Orlando spends hours upon hours doing nothing but thinking,
has to offer, but had seen the worthlessness of them all." He which makes him wiser than his years.
swears off love and poetry, and burns all his poems except his
"boyish dream," "The Oak Tree." He reacquaints himself with Orlando understands life to be both of a "prodigious length"
nature and spends years thinking about love, friendship, and and astoundingly swift, and he is acutely aware there will not
truth under his favorite tree. He decides to only write for be enough time to accomplish everything he wants. Death is
pleasure, then busies himself by furnishing all 365 bedrooms of always hovering in the back of his mind, and that constant fear
his nine-acre mansion. The house still doesn't seem complete, is the impetus for his decision to dedicate his life to poetry.
so he fills the rooms with neighbors and friends. At night, when He's not doing it for the sake of the art, but rather for the
"his guests [are] at their revels," Orlando sneaks upstairs to glorification of the family name and as a means of establishing
work on "The Oak Tree." He scratches out as many lines as he a legacy for himself. His invitation to Nick Greene is meant to
writes. improve his chances of becoming one of "the greats," but
results in Orlando's decision to abandon the project altogether.
His work on the poem is interrupted one afternoon by the The bitter and unhappy Greene whom scholars think was
presence of a tall, unfamiliar woman wearing riding clothes. based on literary historian Sir Edmund Gosse or playwright and
She trespasses on the property several times before Orlando vocal Shakespearean critic Robert Greene, is the exact
introduces himself. She is Archduchess Harriet Griselda of opposite of who Orlando wants to be. Orlando is creeping
Finster-Aarhorn and Scandop-Boom from the Romanian toward understanding that personal fulfillment comes not from
territory. Orlando doesn't really want anything to do with her, notoriety or showy displays of grandeur, but from inner
yet finds himself overcome with passion when she tries to fit a contentment. This is true even when he's entertaining
suit of armor to his legs. He excuses himself to deal with the hundreds of guests in his newly furnished home. These month-
"beating of Love's wings," and soon realizes that this love isn't long affairs, designed to make use of his sumptuously
a graceful bird of paradise, but a black and brutish vulture. His decorated house and position him as a gracious host, are not
home is no longer his sanctuary, and he asks King Charles to stimulating enough to prevent Orlando from sneaking away to
make him an ambassador to Constantinople. the comfort and solace of his only remaining poem. Orlando
wants to be liked and admired, but he also wants to be happy.
He is figuring out that those two things may be mutually
Analysis exclusive.
Time doesn't make a lot of sense in Orlando. For example, Poetry is one of the two things Orlando remembers after
Orlando is kicked out of court sometime during King James I's waking from his week-long sleep, which serves as a dividing
reign, which was 1603–25. He asks Charles II, who was king line between versions of Orlando's self. The other thing he
from 1660 to 1685, for the ambassadorship to Constantinople. remembers is love, or more accurately, the pain of losing it.
Though at least 35 years pass between the beginning and Though he can't remember any concrete events from the three

months he spent with Sasha, the loss of her love has made an of a different gender. She gets dressed in the customary
indelible mark on his heart. Orlando carries this sadness unisex clothing of the Turks, feeds the dog, grabs "The Oak
forward into his "new" life, and with it comes his hesitation to Tree" manuscript, and leaves Constantinople on a donkey
engage with members of the opposite sex. Young Orlando was guided by a gypsy man.
an innately sexual creature, yet 30-year-old Orlando, at least
according to the narrator, is as reserved as a monk. Instead of They go to Broussa, the main camping ground of the gypsy
experiencing love, he analyzes its worth and meaning and tribe. The narrator surmises Orlando had been in contact with
concludes the pain of heartbreak isn't something he wants to the gypsies long before the revolution, and they welcome her
experience again. When the Archduchess's touch rekindles his as one of their own. She easily adapts to their nomadic, rural
long-dormant "passion," Orlando perceives his lustful feelings lifestyle and spends her days milking goats and following the
as a dark threat over the happiness he has worked so hard to herd. This idyllic life soon turns uncomfortable as the gypsies
achieve. begin to understand Orlando's devotion to nature. Rustum el

Sadi, the man who brought Orlando to Broussa, is particularly
bothered by Orlando's fascination with nature's beauty. He
Chapter 3 thinks she should believe what he believes, and their difference
of opinion prompts Orlando's return to deep thinking about
love, friendship, and poetry. She wishes for pen and paper to
flesh out her thoughts and ends up writing in the margins of
Summary "The Oak Tree" using ink made from berries and wine.
Chapter 3 begins with an admission that not much is known The gypsies are unnerved by the way Orlando stares at her
about Orlando's time in Constantinople, as most of the records surroundings and her companions, and she eventually picks up
were damaged or destroyed. Orlando apparently spends his on the growing gulf between her and the rest of the group. She
days signing official documents and engaging in social niceties initially attributes it to the gypsies being "an ignorant people"
with other dignitaries but makes no actual friends. After two- while she herself "came of an ancient and civilised race," but
and-a-half years of service, he is awarded a dukedom, the it's actually the opposite. Orlando's family has been around for
highest rank given to nonroyals. A firework-laden celebration 300 years, while gypsy bloodlines "went back at least two or
held in honor of his new position is marked by a sudden uproar three thousand years." Heritage is not important when
from the crowd, which is quelled by British troops. Orlando everyone has a long family history. Material possessions, like
goes back to his room after the party's end. What happens furniture-filled mansions, mean nothing when "the whole earth
next is uncertain. Some say Orlando locked his door and went is ours." Orlando doesn't want to stay with the gypsies any
to bed, while others say he sneaked a peasant woman into his longer, but she doesn't want to go back to the life of an
room. The next morning, Orlando's staff is unable to wake him. ambassador, either. A vision that makes her homesick for
On his desk are papers documenting the marriage of Orlando England spurs her to leave the very next day. The gipsies are
and Rosina Pepita, a gypsy woman. glad. They young men of the tribe were plotting to kill her "for
she did not think as they did," and they "would have been sorry
Orlando's slumber lasts for a week. A brutal revolution takes
to cut her throat."
place and almost all the foreigners in Constantinople are killed.
Orlando escapes death because the rioters think his
slumbering corpse has already been killed. The narrator wishes
Analysis
this is where the story could end, but is pushed on by "Truth,
Candour, and Honesty, the austere Gods who keep watch ... of The theme of gender and identity is rooted in Orlando's
the biographer." They cry "Truth!" and the doors to Orlando's transformation from man to woman in Chapter 3. This event is
room open to reveal three ladies: Purity, Chastity, and Modesty. not only notable for the fact it happens, but for Orlando's and
They try to cover and protect Orlando, but the trumpet of the narrator's simultaneous reactions. Orlando is aware that
Truth scares them away. Orlando wakes. He is now a woman. she has become a woman, but she is not bothered by it. "The
Female Orlando remembers everything of the male Orlando's change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing
life and doesn't seem bothered at all to suddenly be in the body whatever to alter their identity," the narrator notes, using "they"

to refer to both the male and female versions of Orlando. West's husband, Harold Nicolson, served on a diplomatic staff
Orlando's memories, thoughts, and personality are exactly the in Turkey from 1912 to 1914. When they married in 1913,
same in this new body. She isn't bothered by her new form. Sackville-West joined him abroad. She soon became pregnant.
The male narrator, on the other hand, is. He would rather Sackville-West figuratively became a mature, adult woman in
Orlando die than have to pronounce her a woman. The body Constantinople. Woolf mirrors those events by having
that he had written about in such glowing terms earlier in the Orlando's literal change into womanhood occur in the same
book, particularly those "shapely calves," is now marked place. The city also features heavily in Sackville-West's first
indecent, as the spirits of 17th-century womanhood, Chastity, volume of poetry, Constantinople: Eight Poems. Setting the
Modesty, and Purity, try to cover Orlando's form. The double- book's most important moment in Constantinople is evidence
standard to which women are subjected is evident in the of Woolf's adoration of her muse.
narrator's sudden distancing from the subject of his writing and
in the three "Gods" of female worth. Later in the text, it
becomes apparent the author thinks women aren't worth Chapter 4
writing about at all. Simply by changing genitalia, Orlando
becomes less interesting in the opinion of the narrator.
Orlando's change of gender isn't a problem for the gypsies,

Summary
who liked her enough as a male to invite her to live with them,
In Chapter 4, Orlando sails home to England, and she is
then allow her to stay even after she shows up as a woman. To
startled to realize that her gender dictates how people treat
them, Orlando is not defined by her gender, but rather her
her. The ship's captain is both solicitous and flirtatious, and a
heritage and beliefs. The gypsies pity Orlando's short family
member of the crew nearly falls off the mast after seeing a
history and obsession with material goods, and they begin to
flash of her ankle. Though there are dozens of things she'll
despise her for having beliefs different from their own.
never be able to do again—fight, lie, swear, walk in a
Positioning Orlando as wrong and the gypsies as right satirizes
procession, wear medals—she finds herself appreciative of the
the usual trope of "Westerners good, foreigners bad," and
power of the feminine form, as well as how very little is
serves as commentary on the universal human desire to make
expected of her. Yet as the ship gets closer to land, Orlando
others share our point of view. Instead of accepting their ideals
worries about the lifetime of conformity that sprawls in front of
as her own, Orlando dives even deeper into that which they
her. Her initial idea of returning to the gypsies is put on hold as
don't trust. She has no interest in conforming to a society that
she remembers the poet she saw long ago in the servants'
fears what she holds most dear: nature.
quarters of her family's home. Her thoughts drift away from her
Constantinople is the perfect setting for Orlando's gender and go instead to "the glory of poetry." As the captain
transformation and subsequent reconnection with nature. narrates the changes in London since Orlando's departure, she
Standing at the junction of Europe and Asia, Constantinople latches onto the names "Addison, Dryden, Pope," three poets
(now Istanbul, Turkey) has been the site of much turmoil and of the time.
bloodshed for hundreds of years. It was also a place where
Upon her arrival, Orlando learns of the three lawsuits pending
Western European women could take a vacation from the
against her, all regarding her property and her gender. While
shackles of femininity at home. Traditional Turkish garb was
her suits are tried, her property is held by the court and her
basically unisex—both men and women wore pants, and the
titles are suspended. She can go to her country home, where
loose, flowing clothes easily concealed the feminine form.
she is immediately recognized by the local deer and her elk
Female Orlando is treated almost exactly the same as male
hound. The servants are glad to have her back, as is
Orlando, and as of yet she is unaware of the gender
Archduchess Harriet. The archduchess turns out to be a man,
discrimination facing her at home. Instead, she can focus on
Archduke Harry. He saw Orlando's portrait long ago, fell in love,
finding inner happiness, which her experiences prove is totally
and moved to town to get closer to the attractive young man.
unrelated to gender. Virginia Woolf also chose Constantinople
Now that Orlando is a woman, he wants to marry her. He visits
as the location of Orlando's metamorphosis because of the
daily to declare his love, which Orlando finds tedious. She
connection between the city and Woolf's lover, Vita Sackville-
devises a betting game involving flies and sugar to pass the
West, on whom the character of Orlando is based. Sackville-

time. The archduke catches her cheating, denounces her, then

immediately forgives her. Orlando purposefully drops a small
Analysis
toad down his shirt, which has the desired effect. The
Orlando's voyage to England highlights the differences
archduke leaves in a huff, and his departure triggers a longing
between manhood and womanhood. On the surface, being a
in Orlando for "[l]ife and a lover." She goes to London to find
man seems more desirable, as men hold all of the power,
both, but runs into no other than the archduke. He wears a
wealth, property, and titles. Not only do men define what it
small jeweled lapel pin in the form of a toad and again asks her
means to be a man, but they also decide what it means to be a
to marry him. Orlando is livid.
woman. Orlando quickly realizes that the standard to which
She calms the next day as ladies of high social standing invite she held women in her previous life doesn't come naturally—a
her to join the folds of London society. The most coveted woman must work hard to be "obedient, chaste, scented, and
invitation is from Lady R., who is known for exclusive get- exquisitely apparelled." It's a lot of work to be a woman, and
togethers of the literary geniuses of the time. Alexander Pope, there is little compensation for the trouble if one isn't
he of "Addison, Dryden, Pope," infuriates Lady R. at one of the interested in marriage and children, which Orlando isn't. Her
parties, and Orlando invites him to come home with her. This experiences with the court system and Archduke Harry leave
leads to her friendship with several "men of genius," and her feeling unsure of her place in the world. She cannot
Orlando is sure "future ages" will be jealous of her proximity to change her body back to that of a man, nor can she deny the
cultural giants. Yet she feels uncomfortable around these men increase in femininity that comes with living in a woman's body.
because she knows no man ever fully respects a woman. Pope Without realizing it, Orlando becomes less self-confident the
is angered by Orlando's inability to give him the level of longer she lives as a woman. She hides her poetry from others,
adulation he thinks he deserves, and a rift develops between which is evidence that she "was becoming a little more modest,
the two. as women are, of her brains." She takes far greater pains with
her appearance, and she fears she cannot handle the same
After their icy parting, Orlando changes into one of her old activities she could as a man.
suits and goes for a walk. The masculine clothing affects her
gait, speech, and gestures, and suddenly it's as if she were a It isn't until Orlando meets Nell that she finally finds her footing
man again. She picks up a prostitute, who takes Orlando back as a woman and regains her self-confidence. This counters
to her room. Orlando's own experience of womanhood gives everything she had known as a man, when she assumed
her insight into the deceptive flirtations, and she finally cracks women were "incapable of any feeling of affection for their
and reveals herself as female. The prostitute, Nell, laughs and own sex and hold each other in the greatest aversion." Men
drops her facade. She and her friends take Orlando under their thought women were incapable of sustaining a conversation
collective wing. The narrator admits he has a hard time keeping that wasn't guided by a man or about one. This is in part
track of Orlando at this point in her life because her fortune because men rarely saw women interact with one another.
and poetry are linked to the name of a male cousin, not Women made sure "the doors [were] shut and that not a word
Orlando herself, who bounces back and forth between of it [got] into print." They kept to themselves as a means of
masculine and feminine clothing (depending on the situation) protecting their conversations from male influence and control.
and takes lovers of both genders. Orlando's introduction into an all-female group of companions
makes her privy to one of the only things women have that men
One hundred years after Orlando first arrived back in England, don't: intimate friendships. She has never had close friends like
she still lingers around the coffeehouses to see (but not hear) this before—as a man, she preferred her own company, and
the geniuses at work. She realizes just how much has changed everyone she associated with in the early days of her
since the Elizabethan era and reflects on the tranquility of the womanhood was male and looking for her admiration. For the
age. Just then the clocks strike midnight and dark clouds roll first time in her female life, Orlando is free to be herself. She
into view, cloaking London in darkness. The 19th century does not have to dress, speak, or act in ways that will please
begins. men unless there is pleasure in it for her. This rejection of
cultural norms is a distinct attribute of postmodernism, of
which Virginia Woolf is recognized as an early influence.

Orlando regains control of her life via cross-dressing. She

dresses to fit her mood and activities, so some days she is a
Summary
man and others she is a woman. Orlando finds great benefit to
As Chapter 5 opens at the beginning of the 19th century, a
this strategy, as "the pleasures of life were increased and its
dark cloud drastically changes life in England, beginning with
experiences multiplied." She is no longer bound by restrictions
the climate. A chill fills the air and damp pervades everything.
of gender, even when it comes to her lovers. This parallels the
That leads to a change in clothing, home decor, food, and even
experiences and thoughts of author Virginia Woolf, who took
how the sexes interact. Men and women are more separate
both male and female lovers, and frequently wrote about the
than ever, and open conversations between genders are a
expression of the feminine in a male-dominated society. She,
thing of the past. It seems as if the only time they come
like Orlando, believes gender does not alter a person's values,
together at all is for procreation, and the women of the 19th
intelligence, or sexual identity, but it does determine how one is
century are just as fertile as the ivy and evergreen growing
treated by society at large. Acceptance and discrimination are
over every available surface. Most women over the age of 19
based on the exterior. Orlando finds a way around that by
are perpetually pregnant, including Queen Victoria and
presenting herself as a different gender whenever she sees fit,
Orlando.
and she is all the happier for it.
Orlando starts working on "The Oak Tree" again once the early
Orlando's female experiences also dampen her interest in the
days of pregnancy pass. She first penned the poem in 1586
lives of poets and other literary "geniuses." Since she was 16,
and hasn't changed much in the nearly 300 years since. Yet
she's been obsessed with the image of the fat, shabby poet
when she sits down to write this time, it is as if another person
sitting in the servants' quarters, and since then she has made
has taken over her hand. The words flowing from her pen turn
great efforts to improve her own writing by becoming close
into "the most insipid verse she had ever read in her life." Even
with poets. Her relationship with Nick Greene ends
the penmanship doesn't look like it belongs to her. At the same
disastrously, but it doesn't prevent her from wanting to rub
time, the ring finger on her left hand begins to tingle. Orlando
elbows with Joseph Addison, John Dryden, and Alexander
can't figure out why until she notices the gold wedding band
Pope, three well-regarded poets of the 18th century. This time,
circling Mrs. Bartholomew's own ring finger. Suddenly, it seems
she immediately realizes that these "men of genius" are just
as if "the whole world was ringed with gold," and Orlando feels
like everyone else. As a man, she was unable to see Greene's
enormous pressure to get married. She buys herself a gold
insatiable need for attention and adulation. As a woman,
band to calm the tingling of her finger, but it only grows worse.
Orlando finally understands that the vanity of poets and their
There is no other choice but for her to take a husband. She is
social circle is what makes them popular, not their actual wit,
loath to do it, and as she wracks her brain for a suitable match,
which is like a lighthouse, sending "one ray and then no more
she realizes everyone in her life is already paired up. She goes
for a time." These men are no better than she is, and when
into the park adjacent to her property and walks for ages
Orlando comes across poets in the future, she watches them
before tumbling over raised roots. Ignoring her broken ankle,
without listening, using her imagination to supply them with far
she remains sprawled in the grass and says, "I have found my
more interesting conversation than is probably taking place.
mate ... It is the moor. I am nature's bride." Her ruminations on
Orlando's realization that she is equal to the male poets of the
the people she's loved and the lives she's lived are interrupted
time is Woolf's way of showing how female writers, such as
by a man.
herself, must look past the patriarchal world of literature to
gain confidence in their own talents. The man is Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, a man of good
name and terrible fortune who spends his time attempting to
sail around Cape Horn. He and Orlando take one look at each
Chapter 5 other and understand everything important about the other,
and they immediately become engaged. After that is settled, "it
remained only to fill in such unimportant details" such as their
names, occupations, and fortunes. As they talk, they both
realize the other used to be of the opposite gender—Shel was
once a woman as Orlando was a man. They are inseparable for

the next nine days. Shel is there when news arrives that the as she pleases, one moment pretending she is dead in the
lawsuits against Orlando have been settled. Her property and woods, the next scrambling back to him "with the crocus and
titles are restored, though she is "excessively poor" after the jay's feather in her breast." She can be delicate and
paying for lawyers for the past 100 years. She doesn't mind. feminine in his arms while telling swashbuckling stories of her
The town celebrates the reinstatement of her position, and she previous adventures and foibles. Orlando no longer feels the
receives invitations from all the important ladies of London, but shame of nonconformity because Shel understands her need
she eschews all of it for Shel's company. They marry on the to express all the facets of her personality, not just those
tenth day, after which Shel immediately departs for Cape Horn deemed "proper" by Victorian society.
to chase the changing wind.
At this point in the novel, Orlando has been alive for nearly 300
years, but by her own account she hasn't changed much since
Analysis she was a boy in Queen Elizabeth I's court. Though she has
gone through extraordinary external transformations, internally
Virginia Woolf portrays the Victorian age as being more she maintains "the same brooding meditative temper," and a
conservative and more restrictive than any other era of love of animals, the country, and the seasons. Woolf is implying
Orlando's life. Women are more reliant on men than ever, and that the fundamental aspects of a person's character cannot
even the men need someone to "lean" on. Children are born at be altered by changes in fortune, circumstance, societal
an alarming rate, and the feminine focus is narrowed to expectations, or even gender. We are what we are. While it can
encompass only family and home. Orlando's struggle to ignore be argued that Orlando does change her values by marrying, it
"the spirit of the age" points out everything Woolf finds is important to remember that she is marrying the reverse
distasteful about the Victorian era: the emphasis on image of herself. Shel is, for all intents and purposes, Orlando
monogamy, the suppression of female sexuality, and the of the 16th and 17th centuries. He is a sailor and an adventurer,
overall hindrance of female independence. Male/female which recalls the more daring escapes the narrator declined to
partnerships come under particular scrutiny because, as elaborate upon in Chapters 1 and 2. Orlando is not marrying
Orlando says, "[i]t did not seem to be Nature." Animals don't just any random man—she is marrying the man through whom
mate for life, and life-long pairings weren't nearly as she can access her masculine side, which allows her to feel
emphasized in any other era of Orlando's life as in the like a complete person. Her marriage is not a change in
Victorian. Because Orlando sees no evidence "that Nature had personality or values, but rather the answer to a problem that
changed her ways or mended them," she believes humans are has followed her throughout all her lives.
responsible for pushing the "unnatural" act of marriage, which
at the time encompassed only male/female partnerships.
Woolf, who was married to a man but had a female lover, Chapter 6
believed people should be able to love whomever they want
whenever they want. Orlando's psyche is an extension of
Woolf's own beliefs. Summary
Orlando "marries" nature because all her efforts to find
In Chapter 6, Orlando goes back to "The Oak Tree" after Shel
happiness, love, and fame have come up empty. She believes it
leaves for Cape Horn. She writes furiously throughout the next
would be better to die in the arms of nature than seek
year, which the narrator refuses to document because, as he
something that doesn't exist. This "marriage" could also be
says, nothing interesting happens. There are no adventures or
viewed as a marriage within the self: Orlando's opposing male
affairs, so he turns his attention to what is happening outside
and female selves coming together to form a "whole" human
Orlando's window, which is: nothing. At long last, "The Oak
being. Shel's arrival changes everything. He is her soul mate,
Tree" is finished. The manuscript pulses as if it is alive, and
her true other half, and Orlando is free to be herself when she
Orlando is consumed with the desire to have someone read it.
is with him. He is the opposite of the "spirit of the age" that
She goes to London and runs into Nick Greene, now Sir
plagues Orlando throughout the first half of the chapter in that
Nicholas Greene, who has become a knight, a professor, and a
he does not require her to conform to any standard of
Doctor of Literature since Orlando last saw him in the 17th
womanhood. She is free to follow her moods and come and go

century. Orlando struggles with her feelings about this well- four times and her memories disappear into a fine powder.
groomed and moneyed version of the man who publicly Tense and afraid, Orlando loses herself in deep, dark thoughts,
shamed her so long ago. Greene dominates the conversation finally surfacing to bury "The Oak Tree" at the base of its
just as he did 200 years before, lamenting how "the great days namesake as a tribute to "what the land has given" her. That
of literature," mostly the Elizabethan era, are now over. "We seems conceited and pompous all of a sudden, and she
must cherish the past; honour those writers ... who take wonders what "praise and fame [have] to do with poetry." A
antiquity for their model," he says, and Orlando is positive she church clock chimes and night has fallen. She calls Shel's
has heard all of this before. Orlando grows more and more name. She hears the "roar of an aeroplane" and bares her
bored as the conversation continues—Greene no longer breast in the moonlight. Shel jumps to the ground as the clock
gossips about writers, but rather drones on and on about strikes midnight. It is Thursday, October 11, 1928.
Orlando's "own blood relations." Orlando is so agitated that her
manuscript pops out of her bodice. Greene reads it and
immediately declares it to be magnificent and assures Orlando Analysis
he will help her get it published. She has no idea what he
means by that, but reluctantly lets him take her life's work. Though Orlando hasn't changed much throughout the course
of the novel, the narrator has. He who once spoke in glowing
She tries to shake off the empty feeling caused by the loss of terms about young male Orlando can barely conceal his
her manuscript by going into a bookstore, the first she has ever disdain that he has to document the life of a woman in the 19th
seen. She's mesmerized by the stacks of books, and asks for century. He says "nobody objects" to a woman writing and
"everything of importance" to be sent to her home in the city. thinking as long as it is about a man, but Orlando is writing and
She comes home to find an astonishing number of wrapped thinking only about herself. The narrator would be appeased if
parcels and methodically goes through each one. Her reading Orlando took a lover, as "[l]ove ... is woman's whole existence,"
is interrupted by the birth of her son. The narrator declines to but because Orlando will "neither love nor kill," the narrator
document this momentous event and once again details decides that "she is no better than a corpse" and turns his
everything except what's actually happening with Orlando. The attention to what is happening outside the window. The same
narrative picks up years later when King Edward is on the thing happens when Orlando goes into labor, an allusion to
throne (1901–10). Orlando observes the changes in the world Gustave Flaubert's equally cursory treatment of the birth of a
from her window—automobiles, electric lights, changes in the daughter in 1856's Madame Bovary. The male narrator's
female form, the disappearance of facial hair, and realistic complete disgust with anything having to do with the feminine
artwork. Suddenly, the long "tunnel in which she seemed to is Virginia Woolf's commentary about how very little women's
have been travelling for hundreds of years widened" and she is lives were valued during the Victorian era, particularly by men.
thrust into the present, October 11, 1928. When a momentous occasion does occur—the birth of
Orlando's son—the narrator deems it indelicate, and ignores
Orlando drives herself to a department store and is
the entire thing. That Woolf portrays the narrator as thinking
overwhelmed by the crowds of people on the streets, the
this very natural but feminine act is a source of shame speaks
elevators in the building, and the sheer number of items for
volumes about attitudes regarding women during the Victorian
sale in one place. She has visions of Sasha as an old, fat
era.
woman and tastes her life in Turkey. As she drives home, she
imagines a cottage in the countryside to calm her nerves and One character who barely changes during the course of
calls out her own name, trying to summon another one of her Orlando is Orlando's former frenemy Nick Greene. Despite his
selves. Dozens of selves present themselves in a frenzy as she steady ascent up the social and intellectual ladder, his
is flooded with memories of her storied past. She wishes they attitudes and ideals haven't changed a bit since the 17th
would coalesce into one true self. When they finally do, "[t]he century. He once thought Elizabethan poets and writers were
whole of her darkened and settled." She goes into the house, the death of literature; now he finds them to be the pinnacle of
changes into more masculine clothing, and visits every room in literary perfection. Like many people, particularly the English
her centuries-old mansion. She sees the ghostly images of Romantic poets who draw upon nostalgia to idealize the past,
Addison, Dryden, Pope, and Swift, as well as the numerous Greene glorifies what was then instead of what is now. He has
kings and queens who slept under her roof. The clock strikes no problem praising the past he slammed when it was the

Orlando Study Guide Quotes 22
present. His viewpoint is very different from that of Orlando,

who does not look back at the past as "the good old days," but g Quotes
rather as a collection of past selves. The past is simply a
memory to Orlando, not something to be championed. Though
she says she is set in her ways and unwilling to bend to the "He had been kissed by a queen
spirit of the age, she appears to accept modern inventions and
without knowing it."
customs, save marriage, with barely any trepidation. Orlando's
acceptance of the present is the key to her happiness, just as
— Narrator, Chapter 1
Greene's obsession with the past is the root of his bitterness.
The intrusion of Orlando's past into her shopping trip marks a

Orlando's good looks, charm, and loyalty earn him Queen
change in both the story's narration and Orlando's personal
Elizabeth I's favor after just a momentary introduction. She
sense of self. The narrative voice goes from that of a slightly
gives the family royal property and sets Orlando on a path of
biased biographer to a stream-of-conscious rambling that
extraordinary adventure. Without her help, Orlando most likely
reflects Orlando's innermost thoughts. As she drives home
would have never left his family's country home and
from the department store, it seems as if she's on the verge of
experienced the world.
a nervous breakdown as each memory, or past "self," battles
for supremacy. This is the point of all of Orlando's adventures
and brushes with history, and perhaps even why she has lived
as long as she has. She has been trying on different "selves"
"However open she seemed and
for size, altering her behavior, experiences, and even gender to voluptuous, there was something
fit within the social constructs of each era. She is forever
wrestling with the desire to be herself and the desire to hidden."
conform, and it all comes to a head during that manic drive
home. She stops trying to summon different versions of herself — Narrator, Chapter 1
and decides it would be better to have one true self that is, for
better or for worse, the sum of her experiences. The arrival of
Male Orlando loves Sasha, but he doesn't fully trust or
her "single self" is a somber occasion marked by silence, which
understand her. He worries that she may not be royalty after
emphasizes the importance of Orlando's decision to accept
all, or maybe she doesn't love him as much as he loves her.
herself exactly as she is.
When Orlando becomes a woman, she is better able to
Orlando's tour of her home signals another change. The understand the mysteries behind Sasha's demeanor.
enormous house has become more of a museum than an

abode. Velvet ropes and small signs keep visitors away from
the historical artifacts, and Orlando admits to herself no "It was the fatal nature of this
ambassadors, kings, or queens will ever stay in the house
disease to substitute a phantom
again. The memories of the house and its previous guests are
extraordinarily dear to Orlando, but they are relics of the past. for reality."
New, single-self Orlando lives in the present, as she is
constantly reminded by the chiming of clocks. Her present — Narrator, Chapter 2
doesn't involve royalty, great wits of the age, or even literary
fame. The only things that are truly important are her
relationships with Shel and herself. Orlando has finally found After Orlando's exile from court, he turns to literature to ease
what she has been looking for all along: life and a lover. his troubled soul. "This disease" is the love of reading. By losing
himself in books, Orlando doesn't have to deal with his past
transgressions.

Orlando Study Guide Quotes 23
"I have done with men." "If it meant conventionality ... then
she would ... set sail once more for
— Orlando, Chapter 2
the gipsies."
Orlando is greatly hurt by Nick Greene's humiliating poem and
decides animals and nature are far better company than — Narrator, Chapter 4
duplicitous humans. Orlando trusts no one except himself.

Orlando's realization that life in England will be different as a
woman makes her want to return to Turkey, where the gypsies
"It looked as if in the process of treated men and women pretty much the same. She has no
interest in being fettered by British social conventions that
writing the poem would be silence the opinions and desires of women.
completely unwritten."
— Narrator, Chapter 2 "They change our view of the

world and the world's view of us."
Orlando's constant revisions to "The Oak Tree" represent the
poem's function as a record of Orlando's life. He is always — Narrator, Chapter 4
altering it because his situation is always changing.
The narrator is speaking about clothing's effect on the wearer.

Orlando finds herself becoming more feminine the longer she
"But men want us no longer, the wears women's clothing. Though her inner self hasn't changed,
women detest us." her exterior dictates how others treat her and how she
responds in turn.
— Purity, Chapter 3
"She ... enjoyed the love of both

Purity, Chastity, and Modesty, the three virtues of womanhood,
try to cover Orlando's figure, which has been transformed into sexes equally."
that of a woman. Purity's lament speaks to the changing values
of the Georgian period. — Narrator, Chapter 4
Male Orlando was attracted to women, and as his inner self did
"The change of sex ... altered their not change when he became a woman, female Orlando is
future, did nothing whatever to attracted to women, too. Orlando's bisexuality is presented as
a matter of fact, not one of scandal or shame. Orlando's
alter their identity." approach to sexuality mirrors that of Virginia Woolf, who also
had both male and female lovers.
Female Orlando looks different from male Orlando, but her "Orlando felt positively ashamed of
thoughts, dreams, and values haven't changed at all. Virginia the second finger on her left hand
Woolf is showing how gender does not affect a person's inner
self. without ... knowing why."

Orlando Study Guide Symbols 24
— Narrator, Chapter 5 The narrator has inserted himself into the narrative throughout
the novel, but he gets particularly indignant when Orlando is
acting altogether too "feminine" for his tastes. He doesn't
Orlando's desire to be married is not of her own invention, but
discuss her year of writing because it doesn't give him anything
rather the pressure of the Victorian era for men and women to
to write about. He is of the belief that women should write and
pair for life. This concept is so foreign to her that she doesn't
speak only when the subject is a man, and he finds it difficult to
realize why she is ashamed until someone explains it to her.
write a biography about a woman, particularly one who doesn't
engage in affairs or adventures.
""You're a woman, Shel!" she

cried." "What has praise and fame to do
with poetry?"
— Orlando, Chapter 5
Orlando sees a kindred spirit in Shel, whom readers can
assume used to be a woman as Orlando used to be a man. At
Orlando has wrestled with the idea of fame for most of her life.
the very least, Orlando understands that she is attracted to
She wants it, she doesn't want it. When she finally does
Shel not only because he is a man, but because he has some
become famous for "The Oak Tree," she realizes that a poem's
of the feminine qualities to which Orlando has been attracted
fame has very little to do with the quality or the meaning of the
her entire life.
poem. Poetry is supposed to be a secret conversation between
the author's various selves. It should not matter what others
think of it.
"There was a clap of thunder, so
that no one heard the word Obey
spoken." l Symbols
Oak Tree
Thunder may have drowned out the word "obey" in Orlando
and Shel's marital vows. They also might not have said the
word in the first place. Orlando certainly isn't interested in a
Orlando loves nothing more in life than his ancestral country
marriage where she is expected to obey, and she wouldn't
home, and one of the highlights of the property is his favorite
have married a man who thinks it is the wife's duty to follow his
tree, a towering oak "so high indeed that nineteen English
lead. The omission of this word indicates the equal partnership
counties could be seen beneath." Of all the places on his
between husband and wife.
father's vast property, Orlando feels most at home here, and
that is exactly what the tree represents. It is "something which
he could attach his floating heart to," where he can think and
"If only subjects ... had more find peace. He immortalizes the tree in his poem "The Oak
consideration for their Tree," carrying it close to his breast wherever he (and later,
she) goes. When he returns from his adventures in town and
biographers!" abroad, he comes back to his safe haven. At the end of the
novel, Orlando is right back where she started, underneath the
— Narrator, Chapter 6 oak tree as she waits for Shel's return.

Orlando Study Guide Themes 25
the same person from beginning to end.

Light and Dark
Gender doesn't affect one's internal self, but it does affect how
one is perceived by others. This is apparent long before
Orlando puts on her first crinoline or petticoat. At the Great
Authors often use light and dark imagery to show the
Frost festival, held when the River Thames freezes (in Chapter
difference between good and bad. Woolf puts a spin on that
1), male Orlando spies a lithe figure skating across the ice. The
trope by using it to show the difference between truth and
person's clothing disguises his or her gender, and Orlando
imagination, particularly with regard to one's opinion of another
assumes it is a man because "no woman could skate with such
purpose. Orlando's carriage ride with Alexander Pope in
speed and vigour." He is frustrated by his attraction to
Chapter 4 is a good example of this. They are traveling at
someone of his own sex as "all embraces were out of the
night, and the lampposts are spaced so far apart that "for ten
question," then relieved to see features that are distinctly
minutes Orlando and Mr. Pope would be in blackness,"
feminine. Orlando's bitterness and jealousy when he thinks the
followed by 30 seconds of light shining in the windows.
figure is a boy turn into feelings of lust and admiration when it
In the dark, Orlando feels "the most delicious balm" throughout turns out she is a woman. Sasha has not changed at all during
her body, which is the assurance that Pope is so wise and witty these few minutes of examination, but Orlando's opinion of her
that Orlando will be the most envied woman of the era for has, based on the perception of her gender.
being in his company. When the carriage is lit, however, she
Orlando experiences this phenomenon several times during
realizes her folly. "What a foolish wretch I am!" she thinks.
her life as a woman. The first is on the ship from Turkey to
"There is no such thing as fame and glory." The carriage grows
England, when a crew member nearly falls off the mast after
dark and she admires his rounded forehead, but the next lamp
catching a glimpse of her ankle. Orlando is the same person
reveals his silhouette to be plumped by a nearby cushion.
who until very recently lived in a man's body. The crew member
Orlando literally sees the truth of the situation in the light, then
wouldn't have blinked an eye at seeing male Orlando's ankle, or
reverts to the glorified version of events in the dark. As the
even his whole leg. But because the crew member perceives
narrator says, "[t]he less we see the more we believe." Light is
Orlando as female, he subconsciously filters her exposed body
the truth, but the darkness covers everything we want to
part as being obscene. When Orlando dresses as a man in
forget.
Chapter 4 and picks up Nell, a prostitute, Nell looks at Orlando
with a gaze that is "appealing, hoping, trembling fearing." Her
manner is flirtatious as she tries to amuse the masculine-
m Themes looking Orlando. When Orlando reveals she is actually a

woman, Nell's manner immediately "change[s] and she drop[s]
her plaintive, appealing ways." Orlando's inner identity remains
the same no matter how she looks, but the way she is treated
Gender and Identity is entirely dependent on how others perceive her gender.
More than anything else, Orlando is a commentary on gender

and how it affects a person's public and private identities.
Nature
Through Orlando's various experiences as both male and
female, Woolf and her main character conclude that gender
does not affect the inner self. Though the change of sex Orlando has had many lovers over the course of her 36 years,
changes Orlando's future, it "did nothing whatever to alter their but none are loved as much as Orlando loves nature. Nature is
identity." "Identity," in this case, is Orlando's core values and akin to God in Orlando's mind, something that is all-powerful
passions: poetry, nature, and love. Thirty-six-year-old Orlando, yet completely unknowable. She worships it under the open
after living through three centuries, is wiser than 16-year-old sky and in her writing. Whether she is leaning against her
Orlando and has more experiences, but they are fundamentally favorite tree or walking through the woods while she ponders

Orlando Study Guide Themes 26
the spirit of the Victorian age, nature is her solace in times of

personal trouble. She even finds comfort in the thought of Death
death. It is, after all, the natural end of life. In Orlando's eyes,
even the negative aspects of nature are to be treasured.
Death plays a pivotal role in much of Virginia Woolf's work, and
It is nature, not humans, from which Orlando takes her social
Orlando is no exception. Though Orlando doesn't die or grieve
cues. If it were natural for a person's inner self to be dictated
the loss of a loved one during the story, he does spend a lot of
by their gender, then Orlando would have gladly accepted the
time thinking about what it means to die. For Orlando, death is
traditional role of the Victorian woman during Queen Victoria's
not always viewed as a something to fear. True, Orlando often
reign. Yet Orlando knows that she is exactly the same person
focuses on death during his more morose moments, but there
as when she was a man, so she strongly resists the spirit of the
are also times when the thought of death brings him great
age's effort to make her conform to an ideal that isn't evident
comfort. He does not believe in immortality or the afterlife, so
outside of the human race. Nature's role in Orlando is to serve
to him death is an eternal rest where he will be reunited with
as a reminder of what is truly important in life as Orlando
his ancestors in the family crypt. This is particularly soothing
identifies her own values and desires.
after his ejection from King James I's court.
The narrator also wonders about the nature of death,

particularly at the beginning of Chapter 2 when Orlando falls
Futility of Conformity asleep for an entire week. He asks, "Are we so made that we
have to take death in small doses" to get through the perils of
daily life? Perhaps there are different types of death.
As a young man, Orlando is constantly torn between what
Orlando's two episodes of lengthy slumber are akin to death in
society expects him to be and what he wants to be. He goes to
that they serve as breaks between his former lives. These
court as Queen Elizabeth I's companion but is caught kissing
small deaths help Orlando start anew after heartbreak and
another woman; he is engaged to be married to increase his
great stress. Orlando recognizes this, and as she grows older,
family's wealth and fortune but throws it all away for a Russian
she purposefully chooses to enter a state of "death" to
princess who breaks his heart. Orlando knows what is
preserve her well-being.
expected of him and endeavors to fulfill society's expectations,
but he is always sidetracked by his own desires. This generally In Chapter 5, she is besieged by "the spirit of the age" to take a
leads to a punishment of sorts—his banishment from King husband, a thought so harrowing that she decides to "become
James I's court, Queen Elizabeth I's death—and he starts anew nature's bride" and "lie at peace here with only the sky above
with the intention of upholding his family's noble legacy. [her]." Moments later, she meets Shel and tells him she is dead.
Her body is not dead, of course, but her spirit is. Play-acting
Female Orlando's attempts to conform to society's
death allows her to regain her strength and her senses, and
expectations are even less successful than male Orlando's.
her life changes the moment she "comes to life" again. Woolf
Her gender is an inherent disadvantage to someone who is
presents death not as something to be feared or the end of
used to being the dominant party in all relationships. Though
oneself, but rather a pause in the action. When life-ending
Orlando's inner self did not change with the change in gender,
death does occur, it is with the honor of one's ancestors and
society's expectations did. Orlando has very little interest in
the pleasure of a life well lived.
becoming a passive, subservient object of feminine admiration,
and she fails even when she tries. Even when she succumbs to
the "spirit of the age" and secures a husband, her
unconventional marriage violates the traditional marital
structure of the man at the head of the household. Yet Orlando
Legacy and Fame
is happier than she has ever been. Throughout the course of
the book, Orlando learns that following her own desires, not
those of the crowd, will lead her to true happiness. Family legacy is extremely important to Orlando. It influences
his decisions, his behavior, and his outlook on life. For Orlando,

Orlando Study Guide Motifs 27
a legacy is what his forefathers left behind on which he can women's clothing. Between personas, she wears gender-
establish his own name. The literal legacy they have left behind neutral clothing. Woolf uses Orlando's cross-dressing to show
is all of Orlando's property, most notably the country manor he that Orlando is fundamentally the same person she has always
fights for 100 years to keep. The metaphorical legacy is built been. It is society's reaction to her choice of clothing that
upon "killing and campaigning, that drinking and love-making, dictates her opportunities and capabilities. This is true for
that spending and hunting and riding and eating," but Orlando everyone. As the narrator says, though people dress to portray
doesn't see much to show for it. He decides he can do even a particular image of self, "underneath the sex is the very
better than his ancestors and really give the family name opposite of what it is above." Clothing is but a costume that
weight in history. To do that, he needs to become famous, and shows society the aspect of our personality we want it to see.
in Orlando's mind, the direct route to fame is through poetry.
Orlando's early years writing poetry don't go well, and his

humiliation at the pen of Nick Greene spurs him to retire the
Orlando's Poem
idea that he needs to be upstage his forebearers. Orlando
Oak trees are some of the longest-living flora in nature, easily
looks at his palatial home and realizes it is "vain and arrogant in
surpassing the traditional human lifespan. This is emblematic
the extreme to try to better that anonymous work of creation."
of the 300 years Orlando works on his poem "The Oak Tree,"
He decides to work hand-in-hand with them and furnish the
which surfaces in every chapter of the novel. This is more than
home they so lovingly established. Yet it isn't long before the
just a poem. It is an ever-evolving record of Orlando's inner
siren song of poetry is heard again, and Orlando picks up his
self. He began writing it as a teenager in 1586 and she finishes
pen once more. This time it is to please himself, not the
it in her mid-30s during the latter half of the 19th century.
masses. "The Oak Tree" is eventually published in the 19th
century to great acclaim and awards. Orlando is initially proud The poem has traveled with her to her country home, her city
of her award, but quickly understands fame has nothing to do home, Turkey, and other parts unknown, and it is the only piece
with poetry, which is meant to be a conversation wholly of writing that survives Orlando's tantrum following his
contained in the writer's mind. The existence of the poem and humiliation at the pen of Nick Greene. "The Oak Tree" is under
the meaning it has to the writer is more valuable than the brief perpetual revision to reflect Orlando's most recent revelations
spotlight of fame. Orlando's legacy will continue even if she is about life, and at one point it seems as if Orlando is "unwriting"
not famous: in her house, in her son, and in her poetry. She will it. This is symbolic of the way Orlando incorporates his and her
always exist. past experiences into the present day. Orlando's decision to
complete the poem foreshadows her desire to find "one true
self" that is an amalgamation of all her experiences. She has
lived dozens of lives and is finally ready to set them aside and
b Motifs focus on the present.
Cross-Dressing Time
Time is fluid and subjective in Orlando. It cannot be measured
As a woman in the 18th century, Orlando's role in society is to
by hours or minutes or years, but rather in thoughts and
listen to the "great wits," nod, and act impressed. She is
experiences. The narrator tells the reader, "time when [man] is
completely passive, which goes against her very nature. She is
thinking becomes inordinately long; time when he is doing
dissatisfied with her position as a woman and takes charge of
becomes inordinately short." Orlando spends months,
the situation by dressing like a man.
sometimes even years, thinking about the same thing, which
As soon as she puts on her old black suit she feels more could possibly be why he ages so slowly. The poet Nick
masculine, more powerful, and more in control of her destiny. It Greene also ages slowly, and as a writer he is probably
is thrilling. But there are also times when she wants to be afflicted with the same propensity to think rather than do.
demure and seductive, which is when she goes back to

Orlando Study Guide Suggested Reading 28
Woolf is making the point that time is a construct that has "no
... simple effect upon the mind of man." Time is relative to the
person experiencing it, and no two experiences are alike.
People, therefore, should not be a slave to time and the
expectations of what should be achieved by certain points in
their lives, but rather follow their inner clocks to find fulfillment.
e Suggested Reading
Bell, Quentin. Virginia Woolf; a Biography. New York: Harcourt,
1972. Print.
Sackville-West, V. Knole and the Sackvilles. London:

Heinemann, 1923. Print.
Winterson, Jeanette. "Shape Shifter: The Joyous

Transgressions of Virginia Woolf's Orlando." New Statesman 18
Feb. 2013. Web.
"Woolf in the World: A Pen and a Press of Her Own." Woolf in

the World: A Pen and a Press of Her Own | Smith College
Libraries. Smith College, 2011. Web.
Woolf, Virginia, and Jeanne Schulkind. Moments of Being:

Unpublished Autobiographical Writings. New York: Harcourt,
1976. Print.
Woolf, Virginia, Maria DiBattista, and Mark Hussey. Orlando: A

Biography. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006. Print.
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with respect to reproduction or distribution. This document was downloaded from Coursehero.com on 07-19-2021
by 100000817764887.

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Orlando

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ABOUT THE TITLE

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 8

c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 13

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Woolf's literary success did little to quash the depression she

h Characters recognize kindred spirits in one another and become engaged.

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Shel Nick Greene

Other Major Character

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Full Character List Canute, Orlando's beloved elk hound,

Nurse Carpenter is Orlando's

Chastity is one of the three feminine

Clorinda, one of the three women

Mr. Dupper is the chaplain at

Basket serves Orlando as a butler Mrs. Field is a servant at Orlando's

James Boswell, Dr. Johnson's friend Giles Giles is Orlando's groom.

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Giles Isham is Orlando's friend who

Nell is the prostitute female Orlando Mrs. Stewkley is a servant at

Rosina Pepita, a gypsy, marries Jonathan Swift, a real writer during

Mrs. Ann Williams, a real 18th-​century

Prue is one of the prostitutes Orlando

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before the gypsies have a chance to kill her.

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present. She finds herself in the garden at midnight, baring her

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7. Orlando accepts herself for who she is.

1. Orlando is fascinated by a poet in the servants' quarters.

8. Orlando's memories are pushed away by the present.

2. Orlando abandons his fiancée for Sasha.

5. Orlando changes gender roles depending on the situation.

6. Orlando struggles against conformity in the Victorian era.

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Age 16, Elizabethan era

Orlando meets Queen Elizabeth I and later becomes her

The queen dies and Orlando hangs out in bars and

Orlando meets Sasha during the Great Frost and

Exiled from court, Orlando dedicates himself to poetry.

Orlando petitions for an ambassadorship in

Age 30, Stuart period

Following a riot in Constantinople, Orlando sleeps for

Orlando lives happily with a tribe of gypsies until they

Orlando returns to London. All her property and titles are

Orlando becomes friends with the literary geniuses of

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Orlando, dressed as a man but revealing herself as a

Orlando spends a few undocumented years dressing as

Orlando is revealed to be pregnant.

Orlando feels a tingling sensation in her left ring finger.

Orlando decides to become "nature's bride," immediately

Orlando and Shel marry. He leaves to sail around Cape

Orlando finishes writing her life's work, "The Oak Tree."

Orlando gives birth to a son.

Age 36, October 11, 1928

Orlando is confronted with her past selves while on a

October 11, 1928

Shel comes home.

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Mrs. Ann Williams, a real 18th-century