Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire / Shel Character Analysis in Orlando

Orlando’s husband. Orlando meets Shel, as she often calls him, during the 19th century, and they are engaged within minutes. Shel has many feminine qualities and traits, and Orlando says he is “as subtle and strange as a woman.” Using the book’s fictional biographer as a mouthpiece, Woolf claims the sexes “intermix,” and that each person “vacillates” between the two, and Shel is a prime example of this. Despite Orlando’s own transition from man to woman, she is still primarily attracted to women, and Shel’s womanly features seem to be what appeals most to her. Likewise, it is largely Orlando’s masculine traits that attract Shel as well. Shel is a sailor, often gone sailing around the Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America, near the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage, where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet, is a famous route of passage to the New World, and it is known for being incredibly treacherous and dangerous to pass. This implies, despite his effeminate personae, that Shel is also very brave and even heroic, which further serves to disrupt popular gender stereotypes. Shel and Orlando are married on Orlando’s estate, but no one hears the word “Obey” spoken as the rings are passed. Wedding ceremonies typically entail vows to love, honor, and obey, and with the omission of the last, Woolf suggests that she deeply disagrees with this notion and considers it oppressive. To “obey” puts one beneath the other and promotes an unequal distribution of power. In this vein, Woolf suggest that a marriage should occur between equals and not require one to “obey” the other.

Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire / Shel Character Timeline in Orlando

The timeline below shows where the character Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire / Shel appears in Orlando. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...“they become engaged.” The next morning, Orlando learns that the man’s name is Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire. “Mine is Orlando,” she says dreamily. They had learned the night before “everything of... (full context)

Suddenly, “an awful suspicion” rushes “simultaneously” into Orlando and Shel’s minds, and they spring to their feet. “You’re a woman, Shel!” Orlando cries. “You’re a... (full context)

Orlando and Shel’s days are spent in loving splendor. “Shel, my darling,” Orlando says, “tell me…” but what... (full context)

...Royal officers arrive with word of Orlando’s lawsuits. “The lawsuits are settled,” she excitedly tells Shel. She tells him that her Turkish marriage has been annulled. “I was ambassador in Constantinople,... (full context)

On October the 26th, Orlando sits outdoors listening to Shel recite Shelley, “whose entire works he had by heart,” when a subtle wind begins to... (full context)

Subjectivity, Truth, and Biography Theme Icon

...seconds and a half, everything changed.” She broke her ankle, fell in love, and married Shel. She even has the ring to prove it. With “superstitious reverence,” Orlando spins the ring... (full context)

Since her marriage to Shel, Orlando’s finger hasn’t tingled once, but she still has her “doubts” about her marriage. “If... (full context)

Orlando goes immediately to the nearest telegraph office and wires to Shel a cyphered message. They’ve invented a “language” that can relay messages of the “utmost complexity”... (full context)

Suddenly, Orlando cries out: “Ecstasy! Ecstasy! Where’s the post office?” She must wire Shel immediately and tell him of her discovery. She has learned that “it is not articles... (full context)

...rose water. She can call on herself from the “gipsies,” or the Orlando who married Shel. Perhaps it is “the one she needs most kept aloof, for she is, to hear... (full context)

...and she sees “waves rippling peacefully in the moonlight.” She begins to cry. “Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine!” she yells, and the name “falls out of the sky” like a “feather.” (full context)

Shel is coming, Orlando thinks, he always comes when the water is calm. The first stroke... (full context)