Shirley by Charlotte Brontë (February 26 - March 6, 2004)
Shirley is a very special book, particularly because historical context explains its character's motivations. Set in 1811-1812, during the Luddite riots, we see the opposition to machinery and new ideas, and confrontations between the poor and the entrepreneur. Entwined in this, are two romantic tales. Shirley tells the story of two outstanding female leads: Caroline Helstone and Shirley Keelder (the novel's namesake). It’s dramatic, romantic, suspenseful, and in some parts adventurous too.
Shirley followed Jane Eyre and was a shift in focus from Brontë’s earlier book. I think that Brontë started out trying to write a historical book that was very different from Jane Eyre since she was criticized for its melodrama. She begins the story with a different angle, but the book didn't stay that way. Maybe she just couldn't write it without bring personalities and interpersonal drama?
The first 60 or so pages of the book are a trial to get through, in part because Shirley and Caroline have not entered the story. The dull curates' scenes were meant to highlight the problems she saw with the church, but Charlotte drops that theme to the background later in the book. I’m glad for that because once Caroline enters the book, the story shifts and for me, the book became more difficult to put down.
One of the most outstanding aspects of the book is the look at Caroline and Shirley’s lives. Both of them face the plight of being a single woman, the pressure to marry, and the fetters of expectation. It’s unfortunate that these themes still ring with some true in the year 2004. Caroline’s life is barren without prospect of a husband, and without company except her unexpressive uncle. She tries to reconcile herself to spinsterhood, and a life of doing good works, but she craves more. Shirley enters as an example of untiring independence and power in the form of an estate and wealth. She has the freedom to do as she likes and refuse marriage offers of men interested in only her money. At times, she charmingly takes on a male persona to get her way.
Another great aspect of the book was the relationship between Caroline and Shirley. Their first talk was really something special because their intuitive understanding of each other was so profound. That was the one thing I felt was still unresolved at the end. We know that the pair had a long talk in which they discussed both Robert and Louis, but unfortunately we missed it. Since Caroline felt betrayed by her friend, and what she believed was a romance between her love and her best friend, it seemed necessary to me to show how they resolved it. Shirley and Caroline's friendship was so sincere and genuine. That was a wonderful portrayal of friendship between two women. I wish we had seen more of it in the third part.
I've read quite a lot on the Brontë's, and I've read comments online that said Emily was the basis for Shirley and Anne the basis for Caroline. I didn't really see it. I think both of Charlotte's sisters were strong women, and both faced illnesses during the time Charlotte was writing this, but after that, I don't see any other common ties. I think Emily was very introverted and shy, but at the same time Charlotte may have thought she was headstrong in wanting to be solitary. With Charlotte being the dominating sister and the most outgoing, she must have felt the adverse nature of Emily in opposing her will, not for Emily to be a competing power, but to maintain her independence. Also, Emily has been said to be the only sibling to be able to reign in Branwell, so she had more physical strength that the others. It's possible that some of Charlotte's ideas of Emily are in Shirley, but I don't think it's a direct portrayal of her. I don't think Caroline is a complete sketch of one person either. She may be in part a composite of Anne and Charlotte herself, since we know of Charlotte's unrequited love in the house she was governess.
Louis came across as an interesting character from his diary entries, where he would basically act like he owned Shirley in one paragraph, and then seem as if he was owned by her in the next. I believed his feelings were very strong, but was less convinced of Shirley's. I could have seen her live independently, but I do agree that Caroline very much wanted to marry. The tutor/professor relationship was in many ways forced and copied the plot of The Professor. Perhaps that is why Charlotte does not let us get close to the story. Instead of bringing to us understanding by watching characters interact and their dialog, we are left with the story narrated to us, after events have taken place. This is one of the reasons that the third volume was the most disjointed. All of the main characters were so isolated from one another, some are absent from the plot all together, and I really missed their interactions.
In some ways I was satisfied with the conclusion and in other ways I was not. Did both of the heroines have to marry? Both Caroline and Shirley were so forceful in their independence, but the concluding chapters washed their strengths out. Our view of them was so distant, that they seemed shadows of the selves we had met in the first two books.
Charlotte packed Shirley with vivid characters: the foolish curates, the two-faced, misogynist Mr. Helstone, the romantic young boys (Martin and Henry), the young Rose and Jessy, and the tedious and imposing Sympson family. Hortense Moore refuses to conform to English dress and cookery. Mrs. Pryor is a gentle, forgiving woman, but her reputation is soiled with lies. Miss Mann and Miss Ainley are overlooked spinsters who work in the shadows for good.
Robert Moore was complex and interesting. As the mill owner, he doesn’t compromise for his business or in seeking justice. At the same time, the fact that he refuses to let his humanity shine through, hurts his cause. He is so charming when he expresses flickers of love for Caroline, but then he proposes marriage to her best friend. I liked him, and then at other times disliked him. Most of all, I wondered if Caroline should have forgiven him so easily. He did curb his feelings often, but he kept leading her on at the same time. I wish she had put up a greater fight with him and he had to prove himself worthy before he won her. In spite of Charlotte’s plot device to punish him and shoot him to make him sympathetic again, I would have rather had a verbal resolution and long struggle to win Caroline back. She was very willing to forgive, and it’s hard to believe his personality would change so readily.
The Mrs. Pryor plot device was a ridiculous. While I had a feeling that Caroline's mother would make an appearance, being mentioned and craved for so often, I still didn’t catch on that it was her. This plot device didn't bother me as much as in Jane Eyre when you learn who Jane's cousins are, and have to read the waste of time third book. I found that completely irritating and it makes me put Jane Eyre down at the bottom of the list of books I’ve read by Charlotte.
In my view, Shirley and Villette are far superior to both The Professor and Jane Eyre. Shirley, in particular, deserves a much greater readership in the light of its compelling portrayals of social, political and religious struggles, and most importantly, its portrayals of characters faced with these struggles.
