Editing Charlotte Brontë (section)

==''Villette''==
Brontë's third novel, the last published in her lifetime, was ''[[Villette (novel)|Villette]]'', which appeared in 1853. Its main themes include isolation, how such a condition can be borne,<ref>{{cite book|last=Reid Banks|first= L.|title=Path to the Silent Country|publisher= Penguin|year= 1977|page=113}}</ref> and the internal conflict brought about by social repression of individual desire.{{sfn|Miller|2002|p=47}} Its main character, Lucy Snowe, travels abroad to teach in a boarding school in the fictional town of Villette, where she encounters a culture and religion different from her own and falls in love with a man (Paul Emanuel) whom she cannot marry. Her experiences result in a breakdown but eventually, she achieves independence and fulfilment through running her own school. A substantial amount of the novel's dialogue is in the French language. ''Villette'' marked Brontë's return to writing from a first-person perspective (that of Lucy Snowe), the technique she had used in ''Jane Eyre''. Another similarity to ''Jane Eyre'' lies in the use of aspects of her own life as inspiration for fictional events,{{sfn|Miller|2002|p=47}} in particular her reworking of the time she spent at the ''pensionnat'' in Brussels. ''Villette'' was acknowledged by critics of the day as a potent and sophisticated piece of writing although it was criticised for "coarseness" and for not being suitably "feminine" in its portrayal of Lucy's desires.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bronte.org.uk/bronte-shop/greetings-cards/194/vintage-ink-im-just-going-to-write-blank-greetings-card|website=bronte.org.uk|publisher=[[Brontë Parsonage Museum]]|first=Charlotte|last=Brontë|year=1855|title=I'm just going to write because I cannot help it|access-date=10 April 2024|archivedate=10 April 2024|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240410083807/https://www.bronte.org.uk/bronte-shop/greetings-cards/194/vintage-ink-im-just-going-to-write-blank-greetings-card|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Miller|2002|p=52}}