The narrative of Sir Nicholas Greene, a character in Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando is so full of paradoxes that it makes Greene a paradox in himself. It is quite telling that the fact that Greene has lived for over three centuries is not the weirdest part of the narrative. The weirdest aspect is Mr. Greene dismissing Mr. Orlando’s poem as mediocre only for Sir Greene to applaud the same poem, now that Lord Orlando has become Lady Orlando! For a start, Greene is a scoundrel who takes advantage of the kindness of Mr. Orlando for pecuniary gain. Secondly, Greene is a hypocrite who has not made any worthy publication yet spends his time vilifying great writers including William Shakespeare. Finally, Greene is a terrible husband who has the audacity to write while his wife is in labor inside the same house. However, Greene is a man, hence given enough time; he still rises to the cream of the society, becomes a knight, and attains the capability of assisting Lady Orlando to get her work published.
Mr. Green appears in the narrative as a scoundrel and a dishonest man who abuses the hospitality of Orlando for his own pecuniary gain. The novel introduces Mr. Greene as a respectable poet, writer, and critic, although there is no evidence that he has any successful publications: …(for Green was a famous writer at that time)… (62). Orlando, a wealthy man has aspirations of publishing his own poems and needed the help of a successful player in the literary world like Mr. Greene. Orlando thus extended a hand of hospitality to Mr. Greene by inviting the latter to visit his home. Greene accepted the invitation and visited with Orlando. During the visit, Greene enjoyed all the pleasures and comfort provided to him while he kept rambling on about different topics without allowing his host to express the reason for the invitation. It suffices to say that by the end of the visit, Orlando did not procure any assistance from his guest. Instead of taking the time to discuss with Orlando about the latter’s literary works, Greene is consumed with vilifying great writers. Greene argues that all great writers are in the past and all their contemporaries were mediocre writers. As indicated in the novel: “ All that he could say, he concluded, banging his fist on the table that the art of poetry in England was dead ” (65). Indeed, Greene even accused Shakespeare of plagiarism as he argued that Shakespeare had copied his best scenes from Marlow! Greene castigated great authors yet he did not have any successful publication to his name.
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On the contrary, Greene used the visit to spy on Orlando and garner material that he would use to scandalize Orlando for pecuniary benefit. As it turns out, Greene was in need of money for personal use and a scandalous narrative would fetch good money on the literary market at the time. After Greene left Orlando’s house, he penned a narrative about visiting with an affluent man. Granted, Greene did not openly indicate that his narrative referenced Orlando. However, Greene did add enough details so that anyone who read the narrative would know that it was about Orlando. As indicated in the novel about Greene’s pamphlet: “ It was done to a turn that no one could doubt that the young man who was roasted was Orlando; his most private sayings… ” (70). Reading the pamphlet visited so much agony to Orlando that he decided to buy himself some hounds so that he would not have to interact with humans anymore. In Orlando’s own words: “ For….I had done with men ” (71).
A subtle addition to the reprehensible character of Mr. Greene is a reference to what kind of a husband Greene was to his wife. A passing reference about their relationship leaves the reader with no doubt that Greene was a terrible husband. As outlined in the novel, Greene elected to start writing his pamphlet at the very moment when his wife was in labor: “ Mrs. Greene, that is to say, was giving birth in one room ” (70). In another room in the same house, a friend of Greene called Fletcher was having Gin, meaning Greene was entertaining guests with alcohol while his wife was in labor. Finally, instead of being there for his wife or in the very least showing concern for her plight, Greene elects to use his time writing his scandalous pamphlet about Orlando. In an interesting twist, Greene uses the money he makes for the salacious pamphlet to pay the bills associated with his wife’s delivery. It is a terrible man whose strategy for raising money for something as important as a delivery is to scandalize an innocent man.
A few centuries later, Orlando, now a woman meets Greene who remains as reprehensible as ever but now has a different opinion about Orlando’s poem. As opposed to their first meeting, Orlando no longer wants to have her poem published. The poem accidentally falls into the hands of Mr. Nicholas Greene who now goes by the name of Sir. Nick Greene. Sir Greene urgently peruses the poem and concludes that it is a masterpiece and that he could find a publisher for the poem. True to his word, Greene finds a publisher and the poem is a major success. The publication is not only famous but also the source of some handsome loyalties for Lady Orlando who no longer values it: She was reminded of old Greene getting in the platform the other day, comparing her to Milton (save for his blindness) and handing her a cheque for two hundred guineas ” (238).
It is possible to make an argument that Mr. Greene was indeed a worthy literary critic who criticized literary works based on merit. Under this argument, Greene would be an integral and necessary component of the literary scene. To limit the spread of literary mediocrity, the scene requires harsh and uncompromising critics who are willing to tell inconvenient truths to writers. A kind person could make that argument on behalf of Mr. Greene. However, the fact that Sir Greene applauds a contemporary poem when Mr. Greene earlier thought contemporary poems as mediocre at best. It is possible that even as a critic, Greene was still a scoundrel. The only reason for him to support the publication of her poem was that she was a woman, thus he could profit from her publication. This perspective highlights the plight of women in a male-dominated world.
The character breakdown above makes Mr. Greene, later sir Greene an important component of narrative in the novel Orlando. Just as with the title character, Greene lives for centuries and undergoes a change of status to become a knight. However, Greene is constantly a reprehensible character who takes advantage of young Lord Orlando. Greene publishes a salacious pamphlet about Lord Orlando for pecuniary purposes. Further, Greene negatively presents major writers although he does not have any successful publications of his own. Later in the narrative, Lady Orlando, having changed in gender meets Sir Greene, who had risen in society. Sir Greene is impressed by Orlando’s poem, which he quickly gets it published. Indeed, Greene is more excited about publishing the poem than the poem’s writer Lady Orlando. Whereas a kind person may argue that Greene is a worthy critic thus an important component of the literary scene, he does seem like a scoundrel who seeks to profit from those who need him.
