Villette

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1853

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Themes

The Scope of Internal Life

Though psychological realism would truly come to prominence in the late 19th century—a few decades after Villette’s publication—Villette shares that genre’s focus on the internal thoughts and motivations of one character. In psychological realism, the development of the characters becomes more important than the plot or sequence of events. Charlotte Brontë, in her novel Villette, explores the interior of the mind through the first-person narration of Lucy Snowe.

Though the setting of the novel is a rich, cosmopolitan landscape, much of the action takes place inside Lucy’s mind. The narrative at times feels claustrophobic, with Lucy confined inside a convent and shackled by society’s expectations of females. Her lack of external freedom draws both her and the narrative inward, where she is only bound by the limits of her faith and imagination. This is perhaps one reason why Lucy clings tightly to certain secrets; her inner world is one of the few things she “owns,” and maintaining its expansiveness and mysteriousness is important in a world that rewards people (particularly women) for being like Ginevra—all superficial mannerisms and charms.

However, Lucy’s world is also a place of conflict, which she reveals only to the reader, as in her description of wishing for death: “A sorrowful indifference to existence often pressed on me—a despairing resignation to reach betimes the end of all things earthly” (157). Even in her suffering, however, Lucy’s interior landscape springs to life; she anthropomorphizes emotions and faculties, such as reason and truth, as female entities that inhabit her brain and guide her through life, functioning as a kind of secondary and internal cast of characters.

By only allowing the reader inside the mind of one character, the author presents a one-sided view of the events and personalities of the narrative. Lucy’s narration is often unreliable, as she omits details of important events and delivers jaded, judgmental descriptions of other characters. Lucy’s accounts can also be disorienting, bordering on a stream of consciousness. Ultimately Lucy’s internal solitude becomes her outward path through life as it becomes clear that she is destined to go it alone: “If life be a war, it seemed my destiny to conduct it single-handed” (384). By understanding her mind, Lucy can endure the lonely life to come.

Role and Status of Women in 19th-Century Europe

The Victorian period was a time of great social change but saw uneven progress towards greater equality for women. The era gave rise to the first modern feminist movements, and legal efforts in the latter half of the century began to chip away at the doctrine of “coverture,” which among other things restricted married women’s property rights. On the other hand, the Reform Bills of 1832 and 1867 granted wider voting rights for the working class but did not include women, and England’s female ruler, Queen Victoria, remained unconvinced that women should live equally as men.

The role of strong, passionate women is a subject Charlotte Brontë explores in all her works. In the novel Villette, the cast of characters is flush with complex and controversial women who often challenge traditional gender roles and present an alternative path to marriage and domestic propriety. Protagonist Lucy Snowe, finding herself with no family or marital prospects, is mentored by three single women who help guide her through her solitary path to financial and emotional independence. Her godmother, Mrs. Bretton, gives her a home and compassionate care when Lucy is adrift. Miss Marchmont offers employment and companionship when Lucy has lost everything. Madame Beck entrusts Lucy with responsibility and models female entrepreneurship. Though in beautiful, high-society ladies like Ginevra and Polly, Lucy sees all that she can never be, Lucy navigates the male-dominated world with courage and resourcefulness: “Whatever my powers—feminine or the contrary—God had given them, and I felt resolute to be ashamed of no faculty of his bestowal” (454).

In addition to the material challenges facing an unmarried woman, Lucy also struggles with societal beliefs about how women “should” think and feel. Though she maintains a congenial façade through most of her existence, she combats feelings that, if known, would call her “womanliness” and even sanity into question. In her day, for a woman to be publicly passionate or discontent was seen as suspect; if marriage and motherhood (or, in lieu of those, “domestic” work like teaching and caring for children) were a woman’s natural role, any woman unhappy in those circumstances must have had something “wrong” with her. Lucy personifies her fiery, female spirit as a tiger she must keep tamed. She secretly lauds the unashamed nakedness of Cleopatra and the violent indignation of Vashti.

It is only in the presence of M. Paul that Lucy reveals something of this hidden side of herself. It is also M. Paul who helps establish Lucy as proprietress of her own school, enabling and blessing her financial independence. Their marriage would presumably have been as close to a relationship of equals as a woman of the era could expect (and perhaps as a female writer of the era could imagine). However, the narrative instead ends with Lucy alone but at peace. She had transcended the archetypal portrait of a Victorian housewife or socialite and built a life of meaning and purpose without marriage or progeny.

Religion’s Role in Life and Identity

The practice of faith was an important part of the lives of most 19th-century Europeans. Charlotte Brontë, a devout Anglican and ardent defender of the Church of England, often addresses the role of faith and religion in her characters’ lives. In Villette, Brontë typifies the pious life in the character of Lucy Snowe. Despite dramatic and often calamitous and disorienting shifts in her journey, Lucy’s faith is constant.

Faith gives Lucy context and meaning for her suffering. She abides by the Protestant belief in the perseverance of the saints: Her endurance and immovability in the face of dire circumstances, she believes, is indomitable proof of her faith. Lucy uses Old Testament references to explain her trials but holds a genuine belief in a benevolent God to whom she can make supplication in time of need:

[T]ake it to your Maker—show Him the secrets of the spirit He gave—ask Him how you are to bear the pains He has appointed—kneel in His presence, and pray with faith for light in darkness, for strength in piteous weakness, for patience in extreme need (231).

The author juxtaposes the evolution of Lucy’s faith alongside her coming of age. Through her mystical dreams and fervent petitions to her deity, Lucy reveals her deepest fears and desires.

Lucy’s faith undergoes its strongest test when she leaves the largely Protestant England for a land where Catholicism is pervasive. Lucy mostly derides the Labassecourian faith, seeing its practices as too focused on ceremonial flourish and lacking an unmediated, personal connection to God: “There as elsewhere, the CHURCH strove to bring up her children robust in body, feeble in soul, fat, ruddy, hale, joyous, ignorant, unthinking, unquestioning” (164). In this, Lucy’s Protestantism dovetails with her fierce sense of identity and the novel’s overall emphasis on inner life. Finding herself desperate for spiritual succor, she at one point stumbles into a cathedral and makes a confession to the priest. However, Lucy ultimately holds fast to her Protestant convictions. When her faith brings her into direct conflict with her true love, M. Paul, she uses it as a chance to espouse the common sin nature shared by all humans. The two agree to respect one another’s differing approaches to religion in a scene that serves as a proxy for their respect for one another as individuals.