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Lady R.
An English writer and learned man of a wide variety of sciences from the 17th century. Woolf first mentions Browne in the preface, and he is one of the writers she is “perpetually in debt of.” Orlando, too, mentions Browne frequently, especially during his more depressed days spent in his family’s crypt. Browne’s work often involves the theme of death and burial, and this is reflected in Orlando’s own obsession with death. The novel also draws a parallel between Orlando’s own “melancholy,” the four temperaments (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic) that match the four humors (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm) that accounted for depression or moroseness in early medicine, and the melancholia of Browne’s work, which he is famously known for.
Sir Thomas Browne Quotes in Orlando
The Orlando quotes below are all either spoken by Sir Thomas Browne or refer to Sir Thomas Browne. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
Then, suddenly Orlando would fall into one of his moods of melancholy; the sight of the old woman hobbling over the ice might be the cause of it, or nothing; and would fling himself face downwards on the ice and look into the frozen waters and think of death. For the philosopher is right who says that nothing thicker than a knife’s blade separates happiness from melancholy; and he goes on to opine that one is twin fellow to the other; and draws from this the conclusion that all extremes of feeling are allied to madness; and so bids us take refuge in the true Church (in his view the Anabaptist) which is the only harbour, port, anchorage, etc., he said, for those tossed on this sea.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Sir Thomas Browne Quotes in Orlando
The Orlando quotes below are all either spoken by Sir Thomas Browne or refer to Sir Thomas Browne. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
Then, suddenly Orlando would fall into one of his moods of melancholy; the sight of the old woman hobbling over the ice might be the cause of it, or nothing; and would fling himself face downwards on the ice and look into the frozen waters and think of death. For the philosopher is right who says that nothing thicker than a knife’s blade separates happiness from melancholy; and he goes on to opine that one is twin fellow to the other; and draws from this the conclusion that all extremes of feeling are allied to madness; and so bids us take refuge in the true Church (in his view the Anabaptist) which is the only harbour, port, anchorage, etc., he said, for those tossed on this sea.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
