The Brontë Project 2021 discussion

Let's discuss Volume 3, the ending, and the book as a whole!

In the previous topic, Margarita commented that he loved Lucy's resilience, and after the end of the book, I fully agree with her. I also love Lucy's resilience.
I will not lie, the ending shocked me, but it needed to be that way! A ending that we will never discover the whole truth of it, and we will never know it perfectly, just like our protagonist.
I am not able to express myself well in English, so I will comment on some more personal points in Portuguese.

Eu não quero pensar no que aconteceu com M. Paul, prefiro que continue ambíguo na minha mente, a Charlotte foi muito esperta com esse final.
A solidão de Lucy e sua melancolia foram algo que me identifiquei muito. Eu, muitas vezes, entendia completamente o que ela estava sentindo. Como algumas coisas não tem importância para outras pessoas, e, para nós, tem um peso tão grande? A cena que Lucy fica desesperada porque perdeu uma carta e o Dr. John questiona, quase que tirando sarro, o motivo de tanto desespero, me tocou.
Estou louco para ler tudo o que a Charlotte escreveu!
Espero que a leitura de Villette seja agradável e marcante para todos, como foi para mim. ❤️

What I most enjoyed (and dreaded) about reading this book was the existential horror it brought up for me as a graduate student who has observed a number of very toxic relationships between advisor/mentee! As we shifted from reading Lucy's ruminations on the Golden Boy to M. Paul, I distinctly remember thinking, "I hope she doesn't fall in love with him..."

I think that many people may like the relationship that developed between Lucy and M. Paul - and I definitely appreciate Charlotte Brontë's craft in characterizing Lucy, showing her feelings unfold from odious and unpredictable to deep regard - but for me the ultimate darkness was everyone around Lucy, including M. Paul.

I read the Project Gutenberg version with no footnotes or translations so I really appreciated Brontë's ability to provide context to what the speaker said without directly translating it in the passage. In my opinion, it didn't detract from the novel at all. If only publishers would allow that for contemporary bilingual books!

Villette is a really fascinating story in lots of ways and at many levels. The Brontes lived and worked a short distance away from where I was raised in the UK so it has a deep connection for me.

The story is known to mirror in many ways Charlotte's own existence, feelings and experiences from her time as a teacher in Brussels. Lucy Snowe, was from my perspective, quite hard to work out. I found myself wondering whether I really know Lucy at all, in a similar way to Ginevra Fanshawe - 'Who are you really, Lucy Snowe?'.

The book really stood out for me for its descriptions of Brussels in the 19th century and its involving characters. Lucy is complex in particular. M Paul was easy to misjudge at first in relation to his views on the role of women which were widespread at the time. However, the revelations later in the book in relation to his character reflect him in an entirely different light.

The ending of the book was tragic. Lucy experienced true happiness in the period prior to M Paul's return in contrast to her experience during the Long Vacation. I know Charlotte left the ending deliberately ambiguous under pressure from her father, Patrick Bronte, but we all know the intention was that M Paul drowned and was lost at sea. It was not the ending I longed and hoped for, but it injected a heady dose of reality of the difficulties of life.

A great read.

I am enjoying the book much more since she got reacquainted to Polly and her godmother. Her existence until then was very dreary.
Now she has true friends.
Meanwhile I can also enjoy the writing more. The way CB writes Lucy’s thoughts is sometimes so convoluted that it is funny. For example, in the chapter Mr Paul she spends a whole page just to say that for her creativity takes time.

Finally I can say that I have read the whole story of Villette, instead of just skimming to have it read for my literature classes. Do I now like the book? Yes. Do I agree with the ending? Well.....at 2 am (when I finished the book this morning) I had no idea what had happened to M. Emmanuel and decided it was a happy ending full of sunshine and rainbows, much like we see in Jane Eyre. Upon thinking however, and being more awake, I realize how the story ended. Interesting that we see it as a tragedy, but Charlotte Bronte herself would have seen it as a triumph of the female spirit.

It is sad that Lucy lived her days without marital love, but she was not really alone. She had her school, her money, her pupils, and her talent. The toxic people in her life -- yes, even M. Paul -- were off living their own lives and Lucy can now live hers, free and unencumbered. In a way, it is how Jane would have ended had she not heard Rochestor's cry in the night and she had not agreed to St John's life.

There is, however, a major difference here. While Mr. Rochestor repents and changes for his wicked ways, becoming Jane's equal rather than her better, M. Paul does not. He does not change his abusive behavior nor does he repent for things has done to Lucy. Because of this, he could not be able to marry Lucy -- he was not worthy or deserving of her. The fact that he gifts her with her school to begin her life is probably his greatest act of charity to her.

In the end, I enjoyed this book, maybe not so much as I enjoy Jane, but I am a sucker for a happy romantic ending. Villette delivers on the happy, but not the romantic ending one could hope for.

This book has left me thinking long and hard about the character of Monsieur Paul--at times he seems the most misogynistic, the most awful, and at times, the kindest and most compassionate. I hadn't seen him as someone who required repentance and change and thus had to be thrown into the middle of the sea unlike Mr Rochester who deserves Jane Eyre after he is reformed. That was quite an interesting perspective for me.
For me, this feels like a story where 2 incredibly different people try to find love amidst all kinds of differences and prejudices against one another--from their nationalities to their religious differences. I thought that their love and union might have meant some kind of reconciliation between the two camps but perhaps the plot twist at the end signifies how some barriers and differences still can't be bridged for Brönte?