Line #25 Literature/Villette


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5	[[quoteright:322:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vilette_bronte.png]]
6	A novel by Creator/CharlotteBronte, ''Villette'' follows Lucy Snowe, an orphan from England who searches for greener pastures in the fictional town of Villette. She takes care of the headmistress's children at a school for girls until she is thrust into the role of an English teacher. Lucy struggles to find companionship and a place where she belongs, often having depressive episodes and supernatural encounters. She also deals with the strange new culture she lives in, overcoming the LanguageBarrier and feelings of being an outsider, and sorts out her affections for two very different men.
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8	The novel is notable for portraying Lucy's depression very accurately, as well as for its mysterious and clever usage of the UnreliableNarrator.
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10	This was Charlotte Brontë's final and most autobiographical novel, partly inspired by her own experiences in Brussels and her unrequited passion for Constantin Heger. ''Villette'' was written after all of Charlotte's siblings had died, and her outlook on life is [[CreatorBreakdown decidedly bleaker]] than it was in ''Jane Eyre''.
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12	!!Contains examples of
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14	%% * {{Angst}}: Chock full of it.
15	* AtTheOperaTonight: Lucy goes to the opera with the Brettons. Cue [[InsistentTerminology the pink/red dress discussion]] with M. Paul.
16	%% * AuthorAvatar: Lucy. It's a semi-autobiographical work, after all.
17	%% * BelligerentSexualTension: M. Paul and Lucy have trouble being nice to each other for a while.
18	* BrokenBird:
19	** Lucy certainly qualifies; though we never find out what her family tragedy was, by the time she narrates her story she is noticeably pessimistic and attempts to maintain a stoic image around others, saying very little. She even plays mentor to Paulina Home (a.k.a Polly) and (unsuccessfully) to Ginevra Fanshawe.
20	** Six-year-old Polly might also qualify. Having just lost her mother, she displays some TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior and is considerably more restrained and morose than one might expect of a girl her age. When Lucy re-encounters her as a young adult, Polly has largely grown out of it.
21	* BolivianArmyEnding: Lucy tells her readers that M. Paul's ship back to Villette was caught in a storm, and then basically tells the reader to pretend that their love had a happy ending. She never actually says that he died. WordOfGod had it that Paul did indeed die. Charlotte Bronte reputedly considered it a kinder fate than life with Lucy Snowe.
22	%% * BrokenBird: Lucy.
23	* CabinFever: Lucy is left alone during the vacation. It's dangerously close to GoMadFromTheIsolation.
24	%% * TheChessmaster: Madame.
25	%% * ConvertingForLove: Subverted.
26	%% * CoolOldLady: Mrs. Bretton.
27	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Lucy's undisclosed family tragedy. We only know she is left all alone in the world. Older and kind Mrs. Bretton is her only reliable friend, but her situation is hard as well and Lucy must depend on herself only.
28	* DeadpanSnarker: Lucy. Most notable in her friendship with Ginevra Fanshawe, but also to Dr John when teasing him about the object of his admiration.
29	* DiabolusExMachina: After finally gaining true love, Lucy very probably loses M. Paul in a storm.
30	* DudeLooksLikeALady: de Hamal falls somewhere between these tropes. In Lucy's words, "he was pretty and smooth, and as trim as a doll" (she'd used similar terms to describe Polly earlier) and "[his] hands were scarce larger than Miss Fanshawe's own" to the point the two could share gloves. Lucy even compares him to [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Apollo]]! In fact, de Hamal's appearance comes in handy later [[spoiler: when he disguises himself as the ghostly nun to visit Ginevra.]]
31	%% * EccentricMentor: M. Paul. He's kind of a SinkOrSwimMentor, too, but Lucy doesn't respond to it well.
32	* GrayRainOfDepression: It rains when Lucy is depressed and she seems to actually ''like'' when it rains.
33	%% * TheHedonist: Lucy sees your average Labascurian as this.
34	%% * HerHeartWillGoOn
35	%% * HeroicBSOD: "My heart will break!"
36	* HolierThanThou: Lucy tries hard to avert this, but still her attitude towards Catholicism has shades of it.
37	* HotBlooded:
38	** The word Lucy uses most often to describe M. Paul? Passionate. He even treats school plays like matters of life and death.
39	** When M. Paul reads Shakespeare at one point, Lucy remarks that his eyes blaze.
40	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Graham is noted as being rather tall, whereas Polly's petite frame is often remarked upon- her own father compares her to a fairy and thinks of her at 18 as still a little girl. Naturally, they end up together.
41	%% * IfICantHaveYou: Mme. Beck sabotages Lucy and M. Paul's relationship because of this.
42	* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Lucy Snowe puts up with a lot of crap from Dr. John because she is almost completely without any companions.
43	* InnocentlyInsensitive: In a conversation with Dr. John (whom at that point Lucy has a crush on), Lucy remarks she thought he might've disliked her as a child; he answers he couldn't dislike someone "as inoffensive as a shadow". Lucy has spent over 200 pages singing the man's praises and is substantially more talkative around him than most other people, so naturally, she is heartbroken to learn that he thinks so little of her. Dr. John doesn't seem to notice.
44	%% * ItsAllAboutMe: Ginevra Fanshawe.
45	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: When Dr. John showed romantic interest in Ginevra, Lucy objected because Ginevra was leading him on because he gave her gifts. When Dr. John showed romantic interest in Polly Home, Lucy approves because Polly is a decent lady.
46	%% * KarmaHoudini: Lucy says that Mme. Beck, Père Silas and Mme. Walravens all had long and happy lives.
47	* LanguageBarrier: Lucy is having a hard time in Villette at first, not speaking French and nobody around who would understand English.
48	* LickedByTheDog: M. Paul is the school dog's favorite.
49	%% * LikeBrotherAndSister: M. Paul, but even he probably knew that he and Lucy were more than that.
50	* TheLostLenore: The nun Justine-Marie to Paul, in the backstory Pere Silas tells Lucy of him.
51	* LoveDodecahedron: Lucy is romantically interested in Dr. John and M. Paul and they kind of reciprocate the interest but it is not sure how serious they are. Dr. John is really good friends with Lucy, but he's also way out of her league. M. Paul is more unapproachable, but less out of her league, though Madame Beck has feelings for him. Dr. John considers being with Lucy, is infatuated with Ginevra (who likes him back but they are both not serious about the relationship) and falls in love with and later marries Polly. Ginevra elopes with another guy.
52	* LovableAlphaBitch: Ginevra Fanshawe, a superficial pretty GoldDigger apparently popular among her peers who values Lucy's friendship, even when Lucy pushes her away.
53	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: At three points in the novel, Lucy sees the ghost of a nun around Villette; whether the explanation is purely supernatural or not is unclear for most of the novel. [[spoiler: A letter from Ginevra Fanshawe finally clarifies that the nun was... her boyfriend.]]
54	* MeaningfulName: "Lucy Snowe" stands for all the contrasts she's filled with: a light name for someone with DarkAndTroubledPast, a cold name for someone who's of a very passionate nature.
55	%% * MomentKiller: Way to go, Mme. Beck...
56	* MushroomSamba: In the third volume, Madame Beck gives Lucy an unspecified drug that, instead of putting her to sleep, intensifies her emotions and sensations.
57	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Vashti is the legendary French actress Rachel.
58	%% * NotSoStoic: Lucy.
59	%% * ObliviousToLove: Dr John seems to be this, but [[SubvertedTrope is he really]]?
60	* OddFriendship: Lucy and Ginevra are polar opposites in terms of looks and character, but perhaps owing to them being two Englishwomen in a foreign setting (and the latter's clinginess to Lucy) they end up spending an awful lot of time together at Villette, and Lucy speaks more [[BrutalHonesty frankly]] to Ginevra than to nearly anybody else in the novel.
61	* OverlyLongName: Downplayed by virtue of his two middle names being short, but M. Paul's full name is Paul Carl David Emmanuel.
62	%% * PapaWolf: Polly's father.
63	%% * PrecociousCrush: Polly on Graham at the beginning.
64	* ProudBeauty: Ginevra will rub her good looks in Lucy's face whenever possible, and is noted to check herself out in the mirror at least once.
65	* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Ginevra is courted by two men and she chooses the rich one; she finds him much prettier anyway.
66	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Dr John was based on Charlotte Brontë's publisher George Smith. Because Charlotte was in love with Smith and realised he didn't care for her, she decided not to make him the hero. It didn't go well with him. Also, those you love die and you are left alone. There can be no true love and happiness for people like Lucy. [[SoleSurvivor Guess where that attitude came from]].
67	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Lucy is hard on ''herself'' all the time. It would be HeroicSelfDeprecation if it wasn't for the fact that Lucy isn't involved in much heroicking.
68	* RomanAClef: Based on Charlotte Brontë's life in Brussels, her feelings for Constantin Heger and George Smith, and her morose attitudes to life.
69	%% * ShesAllGrownUp:
70	%% ** Lucy, when Dr. Bretton learns who Lucy is. She had the same reaction to him, apparently.
71	%% ** Lucy when she re-meets Polly.
72	* ShrinkingViolet: Played with. Perhaps owing to her family tragedy, Lucy is certainly quiet, withdrawn, and passive, and lacking confidence; and for the most part does her best to avoid attention. Graham himself calls her as inoffensive as a shadow. However, she's nowhere near as gentle as this trope implies; whenever Lucy ''does'' talk to people, she often veers into BrutalHonesty.
73	%% * SittingOnTheRoof: To watch the storm, no less.
74	* SpeechImpededLoveInterest: Downplayed, but Polly is this to Graham; Lucy mentions her having "lisp" at points, though it becomes less obvious as Polly ages.
75	%% * StarCrossedLovers: Lucy and M. Paul.
76	* TheStoic: How Lucy describes Madame Beck, at least at first. Even when her own children are ill, Madame Beck's reaction is at worst subdued dismay.
77	%% * TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity: Ginevra leads on her suitor "Isidore" [[spoiler: a.k.a. Dr. John Graham Bretton]] because he keeps buying her nice gowns and jewels. Lucy is not impressed.
78	%% * UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Lucy.
79	* UglyGuyHotWife: Lucy encounters such a pair while traveling and is stunned to realize that the pretty young woman is quite happy and content, as the man is not only ugly in looks, but in personality.
80	* UnreliableNarrator: Lucy knows that Dr. John is Graham Bretton ([[TheUntwist and so does the audience]]), but she conveniently forgets to tell the reader until later in the book. There's generally a lot of unreliable narration regarding Dr. John. Lucy praises him a lot, yet his actions paint a very different picture...
81	%% * VictoriousChildhoodFriend: Polly.
82	* VitriolicBestBuds: Lucy and Ginevra are a truly strange case of this, as they are [[WithFriendsLikeThese hardly friends]], but certainly vitriolic. They spend quite a lot of time together, thanks to both being Englishwomen in a foreign country and Ginevra being surprisingly clingy.
83	%% * YouCantFightFate

Context Literature / Villette