Evaluation Paper #1
February 4, 2011
Ambiguous Presence Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Villette, examines Lucy Snowe’s journey towards maturity and fulfillment through the streets of Britain. The novel portrays Lucy as a complicated character who searches for independence in exchange for social acceptance. Lucy’s search for identity that is independent of society is very difficult to establish and express due to its existence in the sphere of ‘expected female social conduct.’ In the novel one of the characters, Ginevra, curiously inquires “Who are you, Miss Snowe”...”Who am I indeed? Perhaps a personage in disguise.” Since most women during that era were conditioned at an early age about social standing and gender roles, Ginevra has a very difficult time labeling Lucy as a traditional female. Bronte craftily created Lucy as this untraditional female protagonist in order to challenge Victorian ethics through her silence over her narrative. Throughout the novel, Lucy reveals her dissatisfaction with the Victorian values, however at the same time she represses information and keeps her identity concealed. This personality trait gives her great power over the reader, who longs to get more information about this mysterious character. The novel begins with Lucy saying, “When I was a girl I went to Bretton about twice a year, and well I liked the visit.” This line from the first chapter is clearly vague and does not give any incite to why Lucy Snowe is staying at Bretton. Instead, she then jumps right into introducing her God-mother to the readers. “I was staying at Bretton; my godmother having come in person to claim me of the kinsfolk with whom was at that time fixed my permanent residence. I believe she then plainly saw events coming, whose very shadow I scarce guessed; yet of which the faint suspicion sufficed to impart unsettled sadness, and made me glad to change scene and society.” Again, this excerpt from the novel does not explain why Lucy is glad to have a change of scene or why this society is better in favor than her prior home. Her words, though, have a psychological reason behind it and signify the foreshadowing of the events that she may or may not reveal to the readers. One of the reasons why Lucy withholds so much necessary information about her past from the narrative is because it gives her a sense of power. Those, like Madame Beck, who use surveillance as a means of power also present to the readers masculine characteristics. These engagements of narration are symbols of masculine authority which only men had power to; power to see without being seen. “She had sat listlessly, hardly looking, and not counting, when—my eye being fixed on hers—I witnessed in its irid and pupil a startling transfiguration.” To have the main female protagonist use this method of authority proves that Bronte is playing with going against the traditional form of England’s hunger for women’s silence. Instead Lucy confirms to tell her readers about everyone else and keep her own identity a mystery. In addition, in Villette, the readers notice that Lucy Snowe is an orphan who lives a quiet existence, and is tied to no one. She must break away in order to explore her identity within the Victorian standards. Lucy’s adventures and experiences are based upon her observations. She is an observer who delivers her narrative to the readers and vividly expresses the thoughts, emotions, and actions of others around her. “Two hot, close rooms thus became my world; and a crippled old woman, my mistress, my friend, my all. Her service was my duty—her pain, my suffering—her relief, my hope—her anger, my punishment—her regard, my reward. I forgot that there were fields, woods, rivers, seas, and ever-changing sky outside the steam-dimmed lattice of this sick chamber; I was almost content to forget it. All within me became narrowed to my lot.” This is a powerful scene that takes place when Lucy encounters the old Miss Marchmont. Within this chapter Lucy submits her life to taking care of her and mainly to observe. It keeps Lucy content to forget her own miseries and past by listening to Miss Marchmont talk of her lover’s death. Lucy finds comfort in filling her narrative with the stories of others. However, when it comes to expressing herself, she fails to let the reader know about the concrete details of her own life. Other than having power over her reader, Lucy does this because she feels more comfortable talking about others. Therefore, she has a tendency to suppress her own feelings. Lucy hides her passions behind her costumes because she also enjoys watching the opinions of other characters. What is ironic though, is that the readers get a glimpse of what she feels and thinks of when watching others. Her opinions on the observations of others are the closest canon readers have to understanding Lucy Snowe as a character in Villette. In the Vashti scene in the novel Lucy mentions, “When I took time and regained inclination to glance at him, it amused and enlightened me to discover that he was watching that sinister and sovereign Vashti, not with wonder, nor worship, nor yet dismay, but simply with intense curiosity.” Here Lucy again is verifying the idea to see without being seen. Lucy is withholding her thoughts to tell us her observation of Dr. John. She is holding power by observing how Dr. John reacts to Vashti and through this, Lucy has the advantage of conforming to what is appropriate in society. By Dr. John giving his honest opinion to Lucy about what he thinks of Vashti, “he judged Vashti as a woman, not an artist,” he is giving her the power to conceal her views of female social conduct. This also tells Lucy what is accepted of her in society through her clear observations of how Dr. John reacts to such a seductive woman. Even though, the readers are only given information on how Dr. John views Vashti, we are still reading between the lines of how and why Lucy discloses these details. Lucy’s ambiguous presence through the novel proves to reveal Bronte’s intention of showing readers how girls and women go through life silenced. By using Lucy as this fashioned character who evades issues in the novel, it brings Victorian ethics up to the surface. In the Cleopatra scene in the novel, Lucy conveys the question hypocrisy and equality. When Lucy is observing the painting of Cleopatra, she is interrupted by the paranoid M. Paul. M. Paul is worried that images such as Cleopatra are too racy and not appropriate for women who are alone to look at. M. Paul basically begins staring at the painting himself, while keeping a close eye on Lucy to make sure she stays in her “place.” Cleopatra and “La vie d’une femme” are in extremis identities a women may choose to lead. They are opposite beings that Lucy observes at the gallery. Before taken away from the image of Cleopatra Lucy states, “It represented a woman, considerably larger, I thought, than the life.” Again, this excerpt repeats Vashti in the way that it represents woman who are more then the traditional females, but artists indeed. On the other hand, when she is forced to look at “La vie d’une femme”, she notices that all four sets are a representation of scripts written for Victorian women. It included images of the traditional girl all the way to the traditional religious woman. Lucy observes at the gallery the hypocrisy of men who look at these same images and also the dysfunction of society in which she lives in. At the same time, Lucy tries to keep a cool temperament as a way of holding power by not allowing people to know who the real Lucy Snowe is. By living a life of silence, Lucy Snowe holds the highest rank of power. She is able to reveal the thoughts of others, while concealing her own identity. In Villette, Lucy’s ambiguity of nature is similar to how she reveals information throughout the book. She omits and cuts some information because she wants it to be pleasing to what society condemns acceptable and appropriate. Lucy is aware that she is different and labeled the “other,” but she chooses not to admit this difference to anyone who asks of her identity. Instead she leaves it to her readers and others around her to get the understanding of who Lucy Snowe is. It is a psychological mystery that leaves people wondering about her identity till the end of the novel, but it gives Lucy great awe as her repression of information is her gateway to power.