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Post by B. on Nov 30, 2011 5:45:28 GMT -5
Who was Dr.Orwell? I believe she (or perhaps he) was disguised, because of the description of the optician disguise in TUA suggests that she was disguised. Perhaps she was the famed Wart-faced-man? Or one of the several other shady characters described in TBB. Discuss. (I've always wanted to say that  |
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Post by Dante on Nov 30, 2011 7:56:53 GMT -5
It's a bit hard to disguise warts on one's face, and Dr. Orwell's gender doesn't seem to be particularly ambiguous. There is some evidence of a backstory for Dr. Orwell - Sally Sebald mentions her with trepidation in the U.A., implying she is a personal nemesis - but other than that, Dr. Orwell appears to be everything she seems to be: An evil optometrist. She was perfectly capable both of hypnotising Klaus and of providing him with functional new glasses, so I'm confident that she's a real optometrist; if you consult the disguise for that occupation in the U.A., the wig is actually in a different hairstyle (as I recall it), which suggests to me that Dr. Orwell is the real thing and has chosen that disguise as her true profession (although villainy is clearly a hobby).
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Post by csc on Nov 30, 2011 9:46:32 GMT -5
I agree. I think she was an evil optometrist that made a deal with Olaf to get some of the Baudelaire fortune, if she helped.
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Post by Leanora Crowe on Nov 30, 2011 13:17:48 GMT -5
Snicket obviously named Dr. Georgina Orwell her after George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and 1984. In 1984, the government tells people what they are and are not allowed to think. If they commit "thoughtcrime," they are severely tortured and, in essence, brainwashed. I believe Dr. Georgina Orwell, being a hypnotist, takes most of her character from 1984.
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Post by B. on Nov 30, 2011 13:44:32 GMT -5
Mmm....I'm still inclined to believe that she is not who she seems.
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Post by Dante on Nov 30, 2011 13:48:12 GMT -5
What does she seem to be to you, that you think she is more than?
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Post by B. on Nov 30, 2011 14:25:24 GMT -5
I don't know  Just a weird gut instinct maybe? |
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Post by Leanora Crowe on Nov 30, 2011 14:37:44 GMT -5
Perhaps she isn't what she seems. But we won't discover what she is by simply discussing our different views of her. She will remain a mystery, and Mr. Snicket intended her to.
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Post by B. on Nov 30, 2011 15:27:34 GMT -5
I agree. I don't think some mysteries will ever be revealed, that Sugar bowl in particular.
I don't think the Great Unknown will be completely revealed, rather just expanded on.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Nov 30, 2011 15:32:39 GMT -5
She will remain a mystery, and Mr. Snicket intended her to. I tend to disagree. Dr. Orwell's character isn't a particularly mysterious one. She has backstory, it's true, but to say her identity was meant to be enigmatic doesn't strike me as something that was planned. |
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Post by B. on Nov 30, 2011 15:36:52 GMT -5
Everything in the ASOUE universe is enigmatic.
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Post by thedoctororwell on Dec 1, 2011 12:52:03 GMT -5
The problem with Dr Orwell is that her disguise doesn't look like a disguise at all : she's a competent hypnotizer, she seems to have written that (apparently reliable) book about optometry herself and to have occupied her office in Paltryville for a long time.
In LSUA's VFD meeting transcript, there's mention of a young VFDer in training named G. Since Gregor is part of the "older" VFD generation, that would only leave Georgina as a potential suspect. I think that, like Olaf and Esmé, she's a legit VFD who actually had training before defecting to the other side of the schism. Since VFDers receive a rather good education, I'm willing to say that she probably has a diploma as well.
Therefore the fact that there's an optometrist disguise in the VFD training kit is rather a way to say that VFDers are often trained in optometrism and hypnotism.
However she does'nt seem to have a lot of links to the overall mythology of the series... Anyone thinks there may be one between her and Olivia/Lulu ? They're both described as blonde in a series with little to no physical descriptions, they both hold office in the middle of nowhere, they both make a living out of fooling people, they both like the "eye" motif... Sisters, perhaps ?
All in all she's my favorite character in the series. No wonder she was killed very early on, I shudder to think what use Olaf could have found to her abilities.
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Post by B. on Dec 1, 2011 13:55:25 GMT -5
I like your thinking!  I completely agree, and yes their could be a possible link between Olivia and Georgina, and if there is that leads me to believe that Georgina is also a fake name like Madame Lulu. What about the mysterious R in TUA transcript? In the transcript there is R as in the future duchess of winnipeg, and also another R. And in Madame lulu's tent there was that note signed R or K? Maybe this was from the mysterious R in TUA transcript(who is Georgina), thus the connection between Olivia and her. |
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Post by csc on Dec 1, 2011 15:20:58 GMT -5
You know, sometimes I fear we overthink things. I can easily picture Daniel Handler reading our comments on the series and giggling: "Oh... yes, yes... those were my intentions all along... Georgina isn't just an evil optometrist..."
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Post by Hermes on Dec 2, 2011 16:02:54 GMT -5
The problem with Dr Orwell is that her disguise doesn't look like a disguise at all : she's a competent hypnotizer, she seems to have written that (apparently reliable) book about optometry herself and to have occupied her office in Paltryville for a long time. I think that often 'disguise' doesn't really mean disguise; to say that someone is diguised as an X just means that she is using her life as an X as a cover for her volunteeer/villainous activities - while still really doing the job of an X. Jacques refers to 'duchess' as a diguise, but it seems clear that the Duchess really is a duchess; she succeeded to the title on her mother's death. So yes, I think Dr Orwell really is an optometrist, just as Larry really is a waiter etc. In the transcript there is R as in the future duchess of winnipeg, and also another R. And in Madame lulu's tent there was that note signed R or K? Maybe this was from the mysterious R in TUA transcript(who is Georgina), thus the connection between Olivia and her. I think the second R is Ramona Quimby. (It would be good, of course, if we knew when this meeting happened. At the moment my feeling is that it happened quite a short time before ASOUE - that the headquarters they have to leave is 667, with the result that they sell it to Jerome, with the result that Esme marries him, with the result... In that case R, who is only nine, couldn't be Georgina. But there are other ways of reading it, of course.) |
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Just a weird gut instinct maybe? 
I completely agree, and yes their could be a possible link between Olivia and Georgina, and if there is that leads me to believe that Georgina is also a fake name like Madame Lulu. 
