Reading Villette

Villette (Signet Classics)
By Charlotte Brontë

I have been reading Charlotte Bronte's book the Villette. Now I can sigh with relief! I have just finished it. And just like the last time, the book is fairly thick. My edition was 560 pages, so the only reason why I got it finished with in just a few weeks was due to two days of traveling. (My friend Dana who has a Masters Lit degree just told me that I should take a break from Charlotte. She told me that I just read to heavy deep Gothic novels and that I deserve a fun read! Thanks for caring Dana!)

About the book! This time, I felt more at easy with Charlotte Bronte's writing style. However just like her last book it took me awhile to get accustomed to all the details. She can bog you down in just a description! And I wanted to skip some paragraphs, but I knew that each sentence was important and might have that little hidden nugget that propels the plot deeper and forward that I would wish I hadn't missed. Also, I found Villette had many hidden scriptures but I did not find it as saturated like it was in Jane Eyre. Instead the French sentences were abundant (Villette is a make believe city in France) so I was thankful for the translations and foot notes since I don't have a French background. (The past two days I just asked Beloved to pronounce and articulate a french word for me! You know?! Beloved is really nice to have hanging around!)

Now, you should know that when Beloved and I read Classics, we first read the book, then we watch the movie and compare it. (He just finished reading the Count of Monte Cristo and while he was at war he watched the movie. And this was a short topic of conversation on our long drive home one day! I know that just sounds so excited doesn't it! -- chuckle! ) Well, I take it a step further than he does and I get on the internet to see if how the "Literary Geniuses" think. Then I compare their conclusions to mine. Once again I did this with Villette.

I found a site that gives a very good summary of the book. Here it is http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/villette/essays.html

Anyway, it was at this site that I just recently discovered that "The book is not as often read as Jane Eyre, and many readers, even those who admire Brontë, have no idea she wrote more than one novel. Villette often languishes unread on library shelves, attended to only by graduate students or literary scholars." Personally, I wasn't surprised by this statement. And my first thought was, "Um, Yah! -- Jane Eyre ends with a happy ending with the lady getting the man! Villette ends with the character feeling that she gets the man more to herself through his death." I bet I can tell you that more women are going to read the happy ending than the sad one.

Now in comparing all the Literary Geniuses thoughts to my own I came away with the feeling that I caught every little twist and turn that I was supposed to have! I understood the significant of the nun ghost, the play on names, the way the setting-seasons, weather, etc played into the plot, the change of names from when Lucy was young to when she was older, etc. However, in reading one commentary, I was side swiped. I missed a small parallel! It is between Lucy Snowe (the main character) and Miss. Marchmount who Lucy was a paid nurse companion to. You see, Miss Marchmount lost her fiance in a horse accident the night before she was to marry. She never married and Miss Marchmount loved his memory her whole life. Also, in the book, Lucy loses M.Paul and like Miss Marchmount she loses him just before they are to be reunited and married. M. Paul also loves and looses his 1st love and honors that ladies memory. --- I didn't connect the two characters of Lucy and Miss.Marchmount because Miss Marchmount is only spoken about in 3 pages of the 560 page book. (See you can't skip anything in Charlotte's books) The connection is small but there and it could be significant in comparing a triangle with three people who love and loss and love the past. The sad thing is M.Paul looses twice. M.Paul falls in love for the second time though and he falls in love with Lucy. He never makes it to Lucy to marry her! However while you are reading you are there cheering them on. Specially since all he has to do is finish an obligation and then he can come back and marry Lucy. Now the connection that is so obvious and one that Charlotte just spills out through her pin is the one with M.Paul. He dies at the end and Lucy will be ever faithful to M.Paul's memory as he was to his first love and as he would have been to Lucy if she was the one to have died! And like M. Paul (and also Miss Marchmount) the reader should come away with the feeling that Lucy's consistent and never changing personality through out the whole book (while other characters are changing names, etc) should give you the feeling she will love him forever. It was due to the connection that I missed about Miss Marchmount but discovered later that actually allowed me to see that you can also determine that Lucy will do so just like Miss. Marchmount and love only M.Paul until her dying day.

Now, I found a few things in the book that I just thought were excellent when used with in the story line. But one statement stood out more than others and also is my favorite ---- The Scenario: M.Paul (the man who Lucy is in love with) made Lucy very angry. But M.Paul made his peace with her. Lucy then says to the reader of the book, "I ought to have stood out longer, but when he looked kind and good, and held out his hand with amity, memory refused to reproduce with due force his oppressive moments. And then, reconcilement is always sweet!"

Conclusion: The book was okay. I did like it once the plot started to thicken and actually move. The first 250 pages were boggy but I felt the same way with Charlotte's other book as well. I like Jane Eyre better because of the story ending. As far as a Classic read my Children will read it. Charlotte writes not just for enjoyment but also so the reader comes away learning something. Just like Jane Eyre, Villette deals with social issues that were prevalent in that time period of England. I believe if you were studying England during that time both books would be a good pair up with History.

Finis!