Villette (Signet Classics)
by Charlotte Brontė
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Book Summary Information
Author: Charlotte BrontėAfterword: Helen Benedict
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-02-03
ISBN: 0451529227
Number of pages: 592
Publisher: Signet Classics
Book Reviews of Villette (Signet Classics)
Book Review: A Great book on character development
Summary: 5 Stars
In my view a five star book is one that touches your heart and leaves you better off as a human being. For me, Charlotte Bronte's Villette is just such a book.
It doesn't start out that way. The novel is divided into three parts which I might label, despair, hope and fulfillment. The story is told in the first person by the book's protagonist, Lucy Snowe. At the start Lucy is 14 years old and, bereft of parents, is living in 19th century England with her godmother, Mrs. Bretton and her 16-year-old son, John Graham, a good-hearted, fun loving boy. Into this household comes 7-year-old Polly whose mother has just died and whose father is arranging to move to Europe. Polly takes to the antics of John Graham but largely ignores the kind efforts of the bland Lucy. This beginning sets the tone for Lucy as a retiring introvert with low self-esteem and expectations from life.
The arrangement soon breaks up as Polly and her father leave and Lucy sets out to begin her working life. She finds a job taking care of a disabled woman and appears ready to settle for (she says) 30 years of living a marginal life. But fate intervenes when the woman dies and Lucy sets out again to find a means of support. She decides to go to France and on the way over meets a young girl who attends a school for girls in Villette and who, accordingly, suggests that Lucy seek employment there. Arriving at night, and in one of the many unrealistic coincidences that pervade the book, Lucy finds the school run by Mrs. Beck, a capable but prying women. Initially Lucy is employed to take care of Mrs. Beck's three small children but she soon is given the job of English teacher. The year progresses, but Lucy's negative worldview dominates. She criticizes the other teachers, and in particular the professor of literature, M. Paul. The novel reaches an initial climax at the end of the first part (Chapter 15,The Long Vacation) when left alone at the school for the summer Lucy becomes very despondent and, wandering out into a storm goes to a Catholic church, "confesses" to a priest and then going out collapses on the street. In another coincidence, she is found by the priest and a doctor just happens to be nearby.
Part two begins with Lucy waking up in seemingly familiar surroundings. She discovers that the doctor who rescued her is not other that John Graham, now in the ten years that have elapsed since she first lived with him has become "Dr. John" and has moved to Villette with his mother. Lucy stays with Mrs. Bretton and Dr. John for some time until she recovers physically. But she also begins to evolve psychologically. She finds comfort in the friendship these two people offer her, but her happiness is still a result of the actions of others. Upon recovery she returns to the school and begins to receive a series of letters from Dr. John. She treasures these letters and they become her only source of happiness.
At this point Polly and her father, now improbably a count, re-enter the story and Dr. John meets her by rescuing her from a fire at a theatre performance which he and Lucy attended. The inevitable happens and Polly and Dr. John fall in love. But here Lucy shows her continuing growth. She realizes that her happiness and fulfillment is not to be found with Dr. John and she puts away his letters.
As the story progresses through parts 2 and 3 it comes to focus on the evolving relationship between Lucy and Professor Paul. A number of circumstances develop, including the conflict between Lucy's Protestantism and the Roman Catholicism of M. Paul and the French people. Mysteries abound and things are never what they seem. As the book moves toward its climax relationships are settled and finally a bittersweet ending occurs.
I found the character development of Lucy and M. Paul in particular, and the evolution of their relationship, to be the most outstanding aspects of this book and the reason why, in the end, I gave it five stars. Bronte herself is said to have stated that she thought Villette to be her best work. Whether you will agree or not, it is certainly worth reading. Just do not give up on what seems at first to be a dull and uninspiring book featuring a dull and uninspiring main character. Finally I would say that one person gave this book a poor rating (one star) because "the plot turns on improbable circumstances." But Bronte was not especially concerned with plot in this novel; she was concerned with character development and in showing how a women in Victorian times could evolve. That is the meaning and greatness of the book, not the plot.
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