"The Ending of Villette." Harper's Bazaar 23 Dec. 1876: 820.

        Every reader knows in what fashion Villette ends, and most persons also know from Mrs. Gaskell that the reason why the actual issue is left in some uncertainty was the author’s filial desire to gratify her father. Charlotte herself was fully resolved that she would not make Lucy Snowe the happy wife of Paul Emanuel.  She never meant to, “appoint her lot in pleasant places.” Lucy was to bear the storm and stress of life in the same manner as that in which her creator had been compelled to bear it; and she was left in the end alone, robbed forever of the hope of spending the happy afternoon of her existence in the sunshine of love and congenial society. But, Mr. Brontë altogether unconscious of the tragedy of heart-sickness and soul-weariness which was being enacted under his own roof, and which furnished so striking a parallel to the story which ran through Villette, would not brook a gloomy ending to the tale, and by protestations and entreaties induced his daughter at least so far to alter her plan as to leave the issue in doubt.  

Annotations

Villette

This novel was written by Charlotte Brontë and was published in 1853 (Brontë 9). The story focuses on the life of the character, Lucy Snowe, who does not take on the typical female role of the time.  Lucy leaves her home in England and sets off to find a job.  She went on her journey alone without any plan of where she wanted to go.  She finds a job working as a nurse for a widow. The woman dies just before she wrote Lucy into her will which leaves her jobless and without money. The she gets on a boat and goes to Villette, France based on the recommendation of a stranger. She finds employment as a governess at a girls’ boarding school. While Lucy is working here, she tries to remain as invisible as possible, and seems to be content not having any friends. She is offered a job as an English teacher, but is hesitant to take it even though it is a promotion. She does end up taking the position and earns the respect of the students. During her stay she learns that the doctor for the school, John, was the son of Mrs. Bretton whom she lived with for several years. Oddly enough he does not recognize her until it is pointed out to him. She ends up developing feelings for him, but he winds up marrying Polly, another former member of the Bretton household. Another man comes into her life by the name of M. Paul, who is another teacher at the same school, and they seem to have a love- hate relationship. He pushes her to better things in her life, but she usually resists. Eventually she ends up falling in love with him even though he has a mysterious past with another woman who died years ago. They move past that and decide to get married. However, he has to go over seas for three years while she is in Villette running her own school, that M. Paul sets up for her. Finally during the week that M. Paul was to return by ship, she looked out at the ocean and saw a wild storm raging over the water. The storm went on for a week straight. At the end of the novel, she does not indicate whether or not M. Paul died in the storm on his way back home, only that she had hope that he would make it back alive. The author never tells the reader if he died, if he had a delayed return, or if he never chose to come back, leaving the final scene open to interpretation (Brontë).

Charlotte Brontë

 Charlotte Brontë was born in Thorton, Yorkshire, England on April 21, 1816 to Patrick and Maria Brontë. She was one of six children.  Her mother died in 1821 when Charlotte was only five years old. Just four years later her two older sisters died due to an outbreak of typhoid. The remaining children, including Charlotte, began to write short stories and plays. In 1835 she taught at Roehead, a school she once attended. Later she worked as a governess for the Sedgwick family. In 1842 she traveled to Brussels to study French and meets Monsieur Heger.  While in Brussels she developed a romantic relationship with M. Heger. In 1844 she returned home and is able to write a variety of her novels. Unfortunately, within a short time her remaining siblings die. In 1850 she meets Elizabeth Gaskell, who later wrote Bronte’s biography. In 1854 Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, and she died on March 31, 1855 (Dunleavy 111). In addition to writing Villette, she wrote several other books, including two in which she published, Jane Eyre and Shirley.

Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell was born in 1810 and was a friend of Charlotte Brontë.  She wrote Brontë’s biography, The Life of Charlotte Brontë,, as well as several other novels. It is possible that there was bias in this biography as evidenced by her friendship with Charlotte Brontë and her dislike for Charlotte’s father, Patrick Brontë, and her husband, Authur Bell Nichols (Wikipedia). “She was determined to make her brilliant unconventional friend acceptable to her contemporaries…” (Fraser 24).  This is seen in her biography of Charlotte Brontë’s life. Gaskell died in 1865 (Wikipedia).

Lucy Snowe

Main character/protagonist of Villette.

Paul Emmanuel

Teacher in Villette that falls in love with Lucy Snowe. At the end of the novel, he must leave for a trip and is gone for quite some time. He does not return from his trip and, his whereabouts contribute to the controversial ending of Villette.

She never meant to, “Appoint her lot in pleasant places.”

This quote used in “The Ending of Villette,” is taken from a letter written by Charlotte Brontë to George Smith, her publisher. Bronte used this quote to describe her intention of Lucy Snowe not to have a “happy ending ” (Gaskell 484).  

Mr. Brontë

 Patrick Brontë was an Anglican clergyman. His preaching style emphasized “Fire and Brimstone” instead of salvation. He had strong views on how one should live their life according to the Bible and societal norms of the early nineteenth century (Fraser 46).  After Mrs. Brontë’s death in 1821, Mr. Brontë became somewhat of a recluse. He no longer would eat dinner with his six children and spent most of his time in his den. He was more active in the community than in his own home (23). Mr. Brontë made sure that his children had ample access to reading material including novels, newspaper, and magazines. His focus was more geared toward their intellectual ability than their emotional and spiritual development (21). Charlotte stated once to Mrs. Gaskell that her father was, “solitary and misanthropic in his habits, though far from mad,” (Fraser 22).  Gaskell describes Mr. Brontë “as having opinions ‘often both wild and erroneous, his principles of action eccentric and strange, his views of life partial and misanthropical” (Fraser 25). It is thought that Gaskell may have had a negative bias towards Mr. Brontë.  Even though he was very harsh, Charlotte spent most of her adult life with her father until she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. When Charlotte became ill, she made sure that her husband would take care of her father after she died (484).

Analysis

            The ending of Villette is significant because it appears that Charlotte’s own life influenced the outcome of the novel. Charlotte Brontë’s life was full of sorrows which all started early in life with the loss of her mother and two siblings. Her remaining three siblings also died in quick succession later in Charlotte’s life (Dunleavy 111). She was then left with an uninvolved father who was dealing with depression (Fraser 27). Her lived experience comes through in the tone of this novel.

            There were many similarities between the life of Charlotte Brontë and the character Lucy Snowe. Charlotte Brontë grew up without a mother and had an inadequate relationship with her father. She was a governess before she began her career as a writer and lived a somewhat isolated life (Dunleavy 111). Even though as a child her father was uninvolved, he seemed to be very protective of her when it came to relationships (Fraser 428). Charlotte Bronte had two significant men in her life, James Taylor and Arthur Bell Nicholls.  James Taylor worked for Bronte’s publisher, George Smith. Brontë and Taylor built a relationship and he ended up proposing to her, but she declined (396). Taylor then left for India and stayed for five years (415).  Arthur Bell Nicholls was her father’s curate (Dunleavy 111). Nicholls also proposed to Brontë two times, the first time she declined because her father did not approve.  Her father had liked James Taylor, but did not like Nicholls and would not accept his daughter’s marriage to this man (Fraser 428-429). It has been thought that Mr. Brontë preferred that Charlotte not marry until after child bearing years because he was afraid she would die while giving birth (397). The second proposal by Nichols was accepted by Charlotte seemingly out of pity because her father had been so harsh to him. She also felt that that no other man would want her due to her age, physical appearance, and low income (455-456).  

            In Villette, the character Lucy Snowe never mentions her biological family or her relationship with them.  Lucy lived an isolated life just as Brontë did while working as a governess because she had very limited social interactions and kept to herself.  In the novel, Lucy had two love interests, Dr. John and then M. Paul, just as Charlotte did.  The idea of M. Paul never returning to Lucy Snowe may have been linked to the idea that Brontë’s father made it difficult for her to have a happy marriage.

            Charlotte Brontë’s father played a major part in the ending of this novel. His influence on her and their inadequate relationship led to the controversial events in Villette. Charlotte intended to make the ending of Villette unhappy because of the events of her own life; although her father disagreed with this.  After she  finished Villette, “her father, to whom she had read some passages, was partly responsible for its enigmatic finale. He could not bear a sad ending, and in the first version M. Paul had died in the shipwreck.” (Fraser 426).  With the influence of Brontë’s father, Paul Emmanuel’s fate is left uncertain.  

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Villette. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press Ltd., 2006.

Dunleavy, Gweneth A. “Charlotte Bronte.” Research Guide to Bibliography & Criticism 1 Jan.1985: 111-114.

Fraser, Rebecca. Charlotte Bronte: A Writer’s Life. New York: Pegasus Books LLC, 2008.

Gaskell, Elizabeth. The Life of Charlotte Bronte. Great Britian: Penguin English Library, 1975.

“The Ending of Villette.” Harper’s Bazaar 23 Dec. 1876: 820.

Wikipedia. 4 Apr. 2009. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 13 Apr. 2009        <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gaskell>.

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