Virginia Woolf s Orlando Is A Work That Bends The Rules...

Virginia Woolf’s Orlando is a work that bends the rules in multiple ways. It plays with the idea of biographies, it questions the nature of fiction writing, it incorporates humor in bizarre ways. And on top of all that it brings into view certain controversial topics, and certain prejudices of Woolf’s time. The two prejudices this paper will be focusing on are homophobia and sexism. By looking at the character of Orlando and examining his/her relationships, romantic feelings, and place in society, we can clearly see Woolf writing back against society s prejudices and fears of the 1920s. In a society of gender roles and sexuality closely monitored and defined, Woolf creates something unexpected, â€Å"unacceptable† (in some people’s eyes), and†¦show more content†¦Woolf never blatantly states that any of the characters in Orlando are homosexual. Instead she uses almost mischievous undertones to hint the fact to her readers. This can be found right at the beginning of the novel, when Orlando meets Sasha. â€Å"Orlando is unable to tell whether Sasha is a man or a woman, for her height and her clothes make her appear androgynous. Orlando is attracted to Sasha as an ‘individual,’ entirely separate from the fact about her ‘gender’† (Kao, 2). One of the main arguments of the homosexual movement is to see people as people, not as men and women. An individual can love whoever he/she wants no matter what their sex. It is not about a person’s gender, it is about the person him/herself. And though our narrator later does tell us that â€Å"Orlando was ready to tear his hair with vexation that the person was of his own sex†¦,† we don’t forget those mischievous undertones Woolf threw at us upon their first meeting (Woolf, 17). Right off the bat, Woolf is introducing us to a character who is embracing this idea of â€Å"individualistic love,† and hinting at relationships th at may not be heterosexual. Woolf is fighting against the idea of being attracted to a person because of their sex, and welcoming the idea of being attracted to someone as an individual. We can also see homosexual undertones in the relationship between Orlando and the Archduchess