Villette Part 1: Chapter 1. Bretton
"My godmother lived in a handsome house in the clean and ancient town of Bretton. Her husband's family had been residents there for generations, and bore, indeed, the name of their birthplace—Bretton of Bretton: whether by coincidence, or because some remote ancestor had been a personage of sufficient importance to leave his name to his neighbourhood, I know not.
When I was a girl I went to Bretton about twice a year, and well I liked the visit. The house and its inmates specially suited me. The large peaceful rooms, the well-arranged furniture, the clear wide windows, the balcony outside, looking down on a fine antique street, where Sundays and holidays seemed always to abide—so quiet was its atmosphere, so clean its pavement—these things pleased me well."
- Villette, by Charlotte Bronte
Welcome to an analysis and close reading of the novel "Villette," by Charlotte Bronte. Villette (1853) was Charlotte Bronte's last published novel while she was alive. Her prior publications included Jane Eyre, published in 1847, and Shirley, in 1849. The first novel she wrote, The Professor, was not accepted for publication but was published posthumously in 1857. She was also working on another novel, Emma, which she did not complete. She died shortly after finishing Villette in 1855.
Villette has some superficial similarities to her more famous novel Jane Eyre. Both are first person narratives about an orphan who leaves her home to become a school teacher. However, the two books are very different and the character of Lucy Snowe in Villette is very different from Jane Eyre. Before I read Villette I came across a quote from George Eliot in which George Eliot claimed that Villette was better than Jane Eyre. I was dumbfounded by this remark. I had just read Jane Eyre and it immediately became the best novel I had ever read. I couldn't imagine that there could be anything better. And even while starting to read Villette, I held on to the notion that it could not possibly be better and I resisted the thought as vigorously as possible. However, I eventually came to realize that indeed Charlotte Bronte had written something as good and even better.
The novel begins in England, in an ancient town of Bretton. Lucy Snowe the protagonist of the novel is spending time with her godmother Mrs. Louise Bretton. It is not clear why she spent so much time with her godmother as a child (months at a time). Maybe that was the custom in 19th Century England. There is no explanation given and the first person narrator, Lucy Snowe, doesn't talk about her family. She is 14 years old when the novel begins. We find out in the first few paragraphs that Lucy Snowe likes the quiet atmosphere there. So right from the start we are presented a picture that is to be duplicated by what other characters say about her later in the novel. From the very start we see Lucy Snowe in a very different situation from that in which we find Jane Eyre in the opening of that novel. Jane was anything but happy staying at the Reeds.
In the next part we will expand on the differences in the opening of the two novels.
When I was a girl I went to Bretton about twice a year, and well I liked the visit. The house and its inmates specially suited me. The large peaceful rooms, the well-arranged furniture, the clear wide windows, the balcony outside, looking down on a fine antique street, where Sundays and holidays seemed always to abide—so quiet was its atmosphere, so clean its pavement—these things pleased me well."
- Villette, by Charlotte Bronte
Welcome to an analysis and close reading of the novel "Villette," by Charlotte Bronte. Villette (1853) was Charlotte Bronte's last published novel while she was alive. Her prior publications included Jane Eyre, published in 1847, and Shirley, in 1849. The first novel she wrote, The Professor, was not accepted for publication but was published posthumously in 1857. She was also working on another novel, Emma, which she did not complete. She died shortly after finishing Villette in 1855.
Villette has some superficial similarities to her more famous novel Jane Eyre. Both are first person narratives about an orphan who leaves her home to become a school teacher. However, the two books are very different and the character of Lucy Snowe in Villette is very different from Jane Eyre. Before I read Villette I came across a quote from George Eliot in which George Eliot claimed that Villette was better than Jane Eyre. I was dumbfounded by this remark. I had just read Jane Eyre and it immediately became the best novel I had ever read. I couldn't imagine that there could be anything better. And even while starting to read Villette, I held on to the notion that it could not possibly be better and I resisted the thought as vigorously as possible. However, I eventually came to realize that indeed Charlotte Bronte had written something as good and even better.
The novel begins in England, in an ancient town of Bretton. Lucy Snowe the protagonist of the novel is spending time with her godmother Mrs. Louise Bretton. It is not clear why she spent so much time with her godmother as a child (months at a time). Maybe that was the custom in 19th Century England. There is no explanation given and the first person narrator, Lucy Snowe, doesn't talk about her family. She is 14 years old when the novel begins. We find out in the first few paragraphs that Lucy Snowe likes the quiet atmosphere there. So right from the start we are presented a picture that is to be duplicated by what other characters say about her later in the novel. From the very start we see Lucy Snowe in a very different situation from that in which we find Jane Eyre in the opening of that novel. Jane was anything but happy staying at the Reeds.
In the next part we will expand on the differences in the opening of the two novels.
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