Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando contains events based on historical as well as fictional concepts. One event with evident historical background is introduced early on in the novel as "the Great Frost" (Woolf 33). While the section of the novel that follows this introduction contains what some readers might classify as fictional descriptions, much of what is written within the story is based on fact. According to an article from New Scientist, the winter of 1709 still "holds the record as the coldest European winter of the past half-millennium," (Pain) though there is still no solid explanation for why the extremely cold event happened in the first place. While Orlando portrays birds freezing "in mid-air," (33) cases of "petrification," (34) and overall frigid suffering, it seems like most of these descriptions match up with historical accounts taken during this period of time that lasted roughly three months. According to an Upminster clergyman named William Derham, the temperatures were so low as to lead to fish freezing within water and "birds falling dead from the sky," (Taylor) which seems to seamlessly match up with Woolf's descriptions used in her novel. The overall impact of this period of devastation fixated on Britain's economy; the main areas of suffering had to do with "a decline in agriculture and industry" (Taylor) and riots formed as a result of the chaos, leading to "the Riot Act of 1714" (Taylor). Taylor's article from The Washington Post also makes interesting points about the similarities in the country's economy as affected by the titular events of first the Great Frost and now the COVID-19 global pandemic. "[H]istorians think the country's gross domestic product declined 13 percent" (Taylor) within the span of the Great Frost, and the rough estimations of Britain's economy according to data for the year 2020 show a fall "by 11.5 percent" (Taylor). Overall, the Great Frost as depicted in Woolf's Orlando displays a very accurate representation of England's (and the rest of Europe's) difficult predicament. It was obviously an event of great influence, as it found its way into Woolf's fictional terrain, and displays relevancy to 21st-century readers.

Works Cited

Pain, Stephanie. “1709: The Year That Europe Froze.” New Scientist, 4 Feb. 2009, www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126942-100-1709-the-year-that-europe-fr....

Taylor, Adam. “Amid Pandemics and Protests, Is Britain Facing Its Worst Economy since the Great Frost of 1709?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 June 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/06/11/amid-pandemics-protests-is-brita....

Woolf, Virginia. Orlando: A Biography. Harcourt Brace and Co, 1993.