论文部分内容阅读
After reading Orlando，most of us are impressed by the transformation of protagonist Orlando from a man to a woman halfway through the novel. And we regard him as a person of androgyny. In my view，compared with gender itself，androgyny here mostly means the different qualities divided by gender. As we all know that even though gender may decide our characteristic to some degrees，it is still not so obvious. We often say that the external environment would shape it a lot. However，most of us usually would divide some qualities of man and woman just by gender. For instance，we say that sensitive、grace、obedient、melancholy，etc….belong to feminine quality and that strength、passionate、bold and active，etc…belong to masculine quality. But is that the nature of human being？ Or is there an absolute boundary of qualities between different genders？
1. Feminine quality in male Orlando
We may often say that in human being’s nature，no matter women or men，we possess the same qualities even though there is something different and natural quality which is decided by gender. All these disparity of characters especially the masculine quality and feminine quality are caused by experience and external factors. Generally speaking，we may say that the gender of a person cannot be ambiguous，and there is no doubt for a person’s gender if he is a man or she is a woman. At the beginning of the novel，we all know that Orlando is a man not only from the using of “he” by the author but also we can see that he slices the Moor’ head and eagers to behave like his ancestors fighting against the enemies at battlefields. All his masculine aggressiveness demonstrated that he is at least physically a man. When we saw a man，many masculine words may occur to our minds. Indeed，in the novel，Orlando is depicted as strong、gentleman-like and romantic，etc..，which is a very common phenomenon for us. However，when we read more，we may gradually find later that there are some feminine qualities used to describe Orlando. “The red of the cheeks was covered with peach down”，“the lips themselves were short and slightly drawn back over teeth of an exquisite and almond whiteness”，“we must admit that he had eyes like drenched violets，so large that the water seemed to have brimmed in them and widened them”，（9，Virginia Woolf）.
2. Masculine quality in female Orlando
After chapter3 of this novel，Orlando transformed into a woman physically. Even though there is no change in his appearance，his biological gender has changed. So “she” should be used to describe Orlando from chapter 4. As a woman，influenced by the conceptions of common sense，she should behave womanly just like most ordinary women do. “She remembered how，as a young man，she had insisted that woman must obedient，chaste，scented，and exquisitely appareled. ‘Now I shall have to pay in my own person for those desires，’ she reflected；“for women are not obedient，chaste，scented，and exquisitely appareled by nature. They can only attain these graces，without which they may enjoy none of the delights of life，by the most tedious discipline.（93，Virginia Woolf）when Orlando changes into a woman，she realized what he never experienced when she is a man. She knows that these so called feminine qualities of woman are imposed on them by disciplines or social rules. It’s not that women are born with these feminine qualities naturally. Woman are not obedient、chaste、scented by nature. Many these feminine qualities are actually requirements for women in the time that women are inferior to men. When Orlando is a man，he also took it for granted that woman should possess these feminine qualities，however，when himself changed into a woman，he even think that these qualities are not proper for woman. After Orlando converted into a woman，she still has the qualities of man. Even though she has become a woman physically. 3. Harmonious coexistence of masculine and feminine qualities in one gender
If fact，no matter man or woman they not only possess the quality of their own gender but also some qualities of their opposite gender. In Orlando，there is an exhaustive demonstration of this kind of phenomenon. Just as Orlando reads that clothes wear we people instead of we people wearing clothes. Clothes on our body not only keep us warm but change our view of the world and the word’s view of us. Similarly，our qualities or temperament of man and woman is not only decided by our gender but our own experience and other external experience. So，it’s very common for us to have a combination of these masculine and feminine qualities in one person. “if Orlando was a woman，did she never take more than ten minutes to dress？ And were not her clothes chosen rather at random，and sometimes worn rather shabby？ And then they would say，still，she is excessively tender –hearted.
4. Conclusion
We can say that in this novel Orlando’ character is shaped by ignoring the biological gender. Only in this way can we feel the specialness of Orlando compared with ordinal person. Moreover，we know that Orlando experienced a lot during his so long life. Definitely，his life is not so smooth and he also suffered a lot. But what helps him or her to get through these troubles？ In my view，it is the harmonious coexistence of his masculine quality and feminine quality regardless of biological gender. No matter he is a man or he has transformed into a woman，his quality was never divided by gender. Sometimes，he，a man，performs like a woman while she，a woman，performs like a man. In our daily life，we always obey the rules of gender. If we ask a boy to do something，we always expect that they behave manly and vice versa. And even sometimes we may regard those who are man behaves like woman as womanish which is a derogatory title. In my opinion，the novel Orlando may be instructive to us.
Work Cited
[1]陳燕华.性别身份的困惑—伍尔夫小说《奥兰多》中人物奥兰多的性别操演研究[D].华东理工大学，2013.
[2]钟标.从“性别戏仿”到“双性同体”[D].重庆师范大学，2015.
作者简介
凌丹霞（1992—），女，云南大学外语学院英语语言文学硕士，研究方向：英语语言文学和语言学
（作者单位：云南大学）
1. Feminine quality in male Orlando
We may often say that in human being’s nature，no matter women or men，we possess the same qualities even though there is something different and natural quality which is decided by gender. All these disparity of characters especially the masculine quality and feminine quality are caused by experience and external factors. Generally speaking，we may say that the gender of a person cannot be ambiguous，and there is no doubt for a person’s gender if he is a man or she is a woman. At the beginning of the novel，we all know that Orlando is a man not only from the using of “he” by the author but also we can see that he slices the Moor’ head and eagers to behave like his ancestors fighting against the enemies at battlefields. All his masculine aggressiveness demonstrated that he is at least physically a man. When we saw a man，many masculine words may occur to our minds. Indeed，in the novel，Orlando is depicted as strong、gentleman-like and romantic，etc..，which is a very common phenomenon for us. However，when we read more，we may gradually find later that there are some feminine qualities used to describe Orlando. “The red of the cheeks was covered with peach down”，“the lips themselves were short and slightly drawn back over teeth of an exquisite and almond whiteness”，“we must admit that he had eyes like drenched violets，so large that the water seemed to have brimmed in them and widened them”，（9，Virginia Woolf）.
2. Masculine quality in female Orlando
After chapter3 of this novel，Orlando transformed into a woman physically. Even though there is no change in his appearance，his biological gender has changed. So “she” should be used to describe Orlando from chapter 4. As a woman，influenced by the conceptions of common sense，she should behave womanly just like most ordinary women do. “She remembered how，as a young man，she had insisted that woman must obedient，chaste，scented，and exquisitely appareled. ‘Now I shall have to pay in my own person for those desires，’ she reflected；“for women are not obedient，chaste，scented，and exquisitely appareled by nature. They can only attain these graces，without which they may enjoy none of the delights of life，by the most tedious discipline.（93，Virginia Woolf）when Orlando changes into a woman，she realized what he never experienced when she is a man. She knows that these so called feminine qualities of woman are imposed on them by disciplines or social rules. It’s not that women are born with these feminine qualities naturally. Woman are not obedient、chaste、scented by nature. Many these feminine qualities are actually requirements for women in the time that women are inferior to men. When Orlando is a man，he also took it for granted that woman should possess these feminine qualities，however，when himself changed into a woman，he even think that these qualities are not proper for woman. After Orlando converted into a woman，she still has the qualities of man. Even though she has become a woman physically. 3. Harmonious coexistence of masculine and feminine qualities in one gender
If fact，no matter man or woman they not only possess the quality of their own gender but also some qualities of their opposite gender. In Orlando，there is an exhaustive demonstration of this kind of phenomenon. Just as Orlando reads that clothes wear we people instead of we people wearing clothes. Clothes on our body not only keep us warm but change our view of the world and the word’s view of us. Similarly，our qualities or temperament of man and woman is not only decided by our gender but our own experience and other external experience. So，it’s very common for us to have a combination of these masculine and feminine qualities in one person. “if Orlando was a woman，did she never take more than ten minutes to dress？ And were not her clothes chosen rather at random，and sometimes worn rather shabby？ And then they would say，still，she is excessively tender –hearted.
4. Conclusion
We can say that in this novel Orlando’ character is shaped by ignoring the biological gender. Only in this way can we feel the specialness of Orlando compared with ordinal person. Moreover，we know that Orlando experienced a lot during his so long life. Definitely，his life is not so smooth and he also suffered a lot. But what helps him or her to get through these troubles？ In my view，it is the harmonious coexistence of his masculine quality and feminine quality regardless of biological gender. No matter he is a man or he has transformed into a woman，his quality was never divided by gender. Sometimes，he，a man，performs like a woman while she，a woman，performs like a man. In our daily life，we always obey the rules of gender. If we ask a boy to do something，we always expect that they behave manly and vice versa. And even sometimes we may regard those who are man behaves like woman as womanish which is a derogatory title. In my opinion，the novel Orlando may be instructive to us.
Work Cited
[1]陳燕华.性别身份的困惑—伍尔夫小说《奥兰多》中人物奥兰多的性别操演研究[D].华东理工大学，2013.
[2]钟标.从“性别戏仿”到“双性同体”[D].重庆师范大学，2015.
作者简介
凌丹霞（1992—），女，云南大学外语学院英语语言文学硕士，研究方向：英语语言文学和语言学
（作者单位：云南大学）