| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 外國文學所 === 95 === In Orlando, Woolf attempted to challenge all kinds of conventions. She, for example, broke the boundaries between man and woman, between truth and fiction as well as between heterosexuality and homosexuality. The gender identities of characters in Orlando are indeterminate. Orlando, when s/he is about thirty, even transforms to a woman from a man. The sexuality of Orlando, on the surface, is heterosexuality; however, homosexuality is implicitly revealed everywhere. In fact, the sexuality like gender is fluid and superficial rather than naturally rooted in biological sex. Orlando’s desire, for example, can be aroused as soon as Orlando sees Sasha’s clothes. The Archduke loves Orlando deeply while he sees his portrait. In addition, the genre of Orlando, similar to Orlando’s gender, is ambiguous. It is neither a novel nor a biography. Woolf used the biographical skills to record a fictional figure. However, these breakthroughs of Orlando were not valued when it was published in 1928. Not until Judith Butler brings out the concept of “gender performativity” does Orlando attract much attention.
Orlando can be regarded as a visual feast of costume. Through clothing, we can realize that gender is not given in nature, but rather socially constructed. In Chapter One, I borrow Butler’s “gender performativity” to verify that gender is a kind of performance full of visual codes. Clothes, as visual codes, play a critical role in determinating gender identity. In addition, clothes can’t be separated from our material bodies. The body is neither natural nor passively constructed by society. In Chapter Two, I would like to discuss how Orlando’s sex change influences his/her gender identity and how the body is confined by clothes. Chapter Three focuses on clothes and fashion. Only when the clothes are fashionable can they have huge influence over gender identity. The fashion system will decide the acceptable images for us. On the contrary, we can manipulate it to constitute our preferable images. Through the study of these three aspects in Orlando—clothing, the material body, and fashion, I intend to prove that gender is a series of repeated performances without essences.
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