FREE Woolf Essay (original) (raw)

"I am coming across the divide to you," sings and angel, toward the end of Sally Potter's film of Orlando. The angel is poised above Orlando and her daughter, resplendent and androgynous, pealing out the ecstasy of being "neither a woman nor a man," its exuberance inviting the audience to celebrate the eradication of chronology, distance and gendered characteristics. The mins opens out not only to consider Orlando's previous incarnations within the film, but also the previous incarnation of the film itself, in the form of Virginia Woolf's novel. But the angel continues to croon: "I am born and I am dying." For the purposes of this essay I will be exploring the question of whether or not the formalities of literature have to be expunged so that adaptations can translate convincingly to cinema or can we see a much more fruitful relationship between these two texts, and one in which can grant Woolf a degree of prescience with which she is rarely credited. Many critics have observed that in Orlando Woolf absorbs cinematic devices, adapting zooms, change-in-focus, close-ups, flashbacks, dissolves and tracking shots. Although coinciding with contemporary modernist writing, Woolf's Orlando has been described as almost specifically written as a screenplay. .
However parodically, Woolf's Orlando tightens the correlation between gendered subjectivities and social order. The opening sentences interlace the governmental strands of patriarchy, property and empire: "He- for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it- was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters Orlando's father, or perhaps his grandfather, had struck it from the shoulders of a vast pagan who had started up under the moon in the barbarian fields of Africa; and now it swung, gently, perpetually, in the attic rooms of the gigantic house of the lord who had slain him".

1. Virginia Woolf - Depictions of Sexism

In the first passage, Woolf describes the lavish lives of men. ... Woolf also employs a hyperbole to add to the flamboyance of the rice pudding by calling it a "confection." ... On the other hand, Woolf describes the plain lives of women through the meals they receive. ... Woolf also utilizes imagery: "Far from being spring was an evening in October." ... Today, women face less, if not less intense, sexism than women did in Woolf's time....

2. Orlando by Virginia Woolf

This essay will begin with explaining Woolf's writing style in Orlando and move on to explaining how Woolf used time with regard to the past, present, and future. ... How Woolf treated time impacted all other relationships in Orlando. ... Woolf rejected the idea of the exclusive moment. ... Ten times she was struck" (Woolf, 2000, p.206). ... (Woolf, 2000, p.70). ...

3. Virginia Woolf Biography

(Bloom, Modern Critical Views: Virginia Woolf pp. 1-6) Woolf was motivated by her feminist causes in writing To The Lighthouse and Mrs. ... (Bell, Virginia Woolf Volume II: Mrs. ... Such a view of Woolf is not particularly useful." ... Woolf's goals in writing To The Lighthouse and Mrs. ... Outside of her fiction, Woolf was an outspoken female activist; and, at all times, Woolf strove for truth. ...

4. The Waves by Virginia Woolf

Written by Virginia Woolf, the book echoes her poetic style of writing, standing as one of her most revered works. ... Word choice plays an incredibly important role in understanding Woolf's novel. ... At first, I expected Woolf to personify characteristics of nature as many offers do. ... Woolf uses unique metaphor constantly throughout the novel. ... Like Jinny, Woolf uses the other characters in the book to represent important points of their own. ...

5. Virginia Woolf on Genius and Its Flowering

Virginia Woolf describes a story about Shakespeare and what if he had a sister. ... Woolf's Idea of Genius Virginia Woolf believed that, no one can be a genius by born. ... Criticism of Woolf's Idea on Genius and its Flowering In Virginia Woolf's feminist essay "A Room of One's Own," Woolf argues that "a woman must have money and a room of her own" if she is to write fiction of any merit. ... Woolf significantly stated the requirements of being a genius. ... Conclusion Virginia Woolf made us think about how many things woman of the 21st century were not...

6. Viginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was a female writer who pioneered the field of modernism with novels and essays that focused on the female point of view. ... In 1912 she married Leonard Woolf with whom she founded Hogarth Press. ... I think that Virginia Woolf wrote this book to show that women could indeed write and they could do it very well. ... It's not what I am interested in and its ideals have already been met for the most part by our society and Woolfs ideals are already shared by me anyway. ... Virginia Woolf wrote this novel in a way that was beautiful to read and even though I ...

7. The Plight of Women in Literature - Gilman and Woolf

Together Gilman and Woolf emphasize the significance of women's interior and exterior motives. ... The perspective Virginia Woolf takes in A Room of One's Own is different compared to Gilman's; Woolf approaches her work with an emphasis to exterior elements. ... This approach gives an open point of view to the problems Woolf addresses. ... " (Woolf, 4) Through this excerpt we get a sense of what Woolf considers essential problems a woman must deal with due to not being financially independent. ... Women according to Woolf are essential to men as opposed to men to women. ...

8. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

In 1912, Virginia got married with Leonard Woolf in St. ... Virginia Woolf never went to school but her father allowed her to access his father's library. ... At the end of the novel, both James and Lily have achieved their goals (Woolf 1994). ... Another well-known writer for this technique is Virginia Woolf and she used this technique in her two books; Mrs. ... " (Woolf 27) In this example; there is a clear image of Mrs. ...

9. Comparing Viginia Woolf and D.H.Lawrence

Virginia Woolf and D.H. ... Virginia Woolf criticised men and D.H. ... Virginia Woolf and D.H. ... Virginia Woolf never hided her identity. ... VIRGINIA WOOLF Virginia Woolf based on feminism in all her works. ...

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