Villette (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Charlotte Brontë
- First Published: 1853
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The early nineteenth century
- Setting: England and Belgium
- Principal Characters: Lucy Snowe, Graham Bretton (Dr. John), Mme Beck, Mrs. Bretton, Ginevra Fanshawe, Paulina de Bassompierre (Polly Home), Paul Emmanuel
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: Teaching or teachers, Memory, Love or romance, Self, Nineteenth century, Doctors, Personality, Loneliness, Private schools, Belgium or Belgian people
- Locales: Belgium
Form and Content
In Villette, Charlotte Brontë effectively uses the format of the traditional romance novel to tell a story of a most unlikely heroine who achieves an unusual fate for ladies who inhabit the pages of such works. Like many of her fictional sisters, Lucy Snowe is an orphan; unlike them, however, she is plain looking and seemingly unaffected by the social interactions that characterize the lives of so many heroines in women’s novels of the nineteenth century.
As a teenager, Lucy spends a brief time with her godmother, Mrs. Bretton, and Graham...
[The entire page is 2569 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
Related Topics
