Orlando versus The Passion, Use of Fantasy Elements

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Both novels use fantastical elements in order to manipulate history, thereby giving the authors a freer rein in narrating the stories. Orlando is the story about a man who turns into woman, and experiences changes in eras and the social expectation that comes with them. The Passion, on the other hand, is a story about Henri, “a simple French soldier” and Villanelle, “a red haired, web-footed woman whose husband gambles away her heart” (back cover). Both novels are able to investigate the idea of identity by drawing a thin line between mind and reality and in the process, questioning one’s idea of reality in general.

Orlando spans over three hundred years with Orlando being thirty-six years old and a woman at the end of the narration. Virginia Woolf is able to examine gender differences and the idea of identity by having the protagonist experience both sexes in one life. Orlando becomes a woman at the age of 30 and is confronted with feminine issues only when she puts on female apparel for the first time; on the deck of Enamoured Lady, she is confronted with the thought of chastity and piety as “it was not until she felt the coil of skirts about her legs and the captain offered, with the greatest politeness, to have an awning spread for her on deck that she realized, with a start the penalties and the privileges of her position” (Woolf 153). Orlando starts acting in a way that she would probably have considered frivolous when she was a man. Woolf shows that the idea of identity in relation to gender is actually decided by society and not by one’s biological constitution. Orlando is still Orlando no matter the change. S/he does not feel the gravity of his/her change until she moves back to England and assimilates herself back to the civilized society. Orlando’s identity is not in her gender, but rather in the concepts placed on her gender by the society.

In The Passion, Jeanette Winterson makes use of fantasy to tell history in a different manner and capture the attention of the reader. It is no secret that history is sometimes considered boring and loses its audience at some point. In an interview, Winterson says that “the past is not sacred; the past is not static. There are a few facts we can rely on - dates, places, people, but the rest is interpretation and imagination. I like that freedom. I liked the idea of setting an intensely personal story against a brutal impersonal background” ("The Passion"). In The Passion, Winterson tells the story of a Napoleon era and the different level of passions that a person can feel through the use of magical elements, which heightens the emotional state of each individual. In Villanelle’s case, the issue surrounding her captured heart is set in magical realism. Her heart is physically removed from her being and is kept in a jar, and she was able to get whole again by “mak[ing] terrible swallowing and choking noises…She touched my back…took my hand again and placed it on her breast. Her heart was breathing” (Winterson 121). The whole incident heightens the depth of love that Villanelle has for Josephine, strong enough for her to physically lose her heart.

Both women were able to harness the use of fantasy to create a piece that defies the odds. Woolf is able to showcase gender differences and identity issues by having Orlando change his/her sex, and Winterson is able to depict passion of both Villanelle’s and Henri’s obsession with Napoleon by juxtaposing history with make-believe; thereby creating a strong case of their experiences. I dare say that each novel would have a different feel to it and might not be this powerful and entertaining if the magical realism aspect were not present.

Works Cited

"The Passion." Jeanettewinterson.com. Jeanette Winterson. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=18
Winterson, Jeanette. The Passion. New York: Groove, 1987. Print.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. New York: Harvest Book/Harcourt, 1973. Print.