A Critical Study Of Gender Identity In Virginia Woolf’s Orlando

Orlando: A Biography is often interpreted as a novel about transvestism,androgyny and lesbianism.The central question asked by Virginia Woolf in Orlando is: How much of the self is unchangeably and essentially our own? By depicting Orlando as androgynous and sexually polymorphous,who undergoes sex change,the novel echoes with the contemporary queer theorists? claim that gender identity is not fast and hard,and deconstructs the prevailing belief in two relatively fixed,immutable,complementary but opposing genders.By adopting Judith Butler?s theory of gender performativity,this thesis aims to analyze Woolf?s opinion on the interrelated issues of gender,race and nationality,revealing the fact that gender is not natural and stable;rather,it is constructed by the social conventions.The thesis gives a detailed analysis of the phenomena of androgyny,the ever-changing identity of the protagonist Orlando,and the phenomena of transvestism in the novel.Moreover,the thesis discusses the conjunctions of gender and other axes of identity including sexuality,race,and nationality.The conclusion is that gender identity itself is fluid and situational,which means that it cannot be isolated from other axes of identity such as sex,race,and nationality.The significance of interpreting Orlando: A Biography in the perspective of queer theory especially gender performativity lies in the pondering of the important social issues that British people concerned at the beginning of the twentieth century,such as homosexuality,race,and nationality.The interpretation of the novel reveals the fact that people?s gender identity is fluid,relational and situational.The revelation of these issues provides us with more reflection room about challenging the hegemony of heterosexuality,eliminating gender discrimination and bias,and constructing a harmonious and comprehensive social atmosphere.