Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte's "Villette" is the story of one woman's struggle to survive in eighteenth century England and Brussels. Women of the day who were not fortunate enough to have parents or husbands to provide for them were left with very few options, no matter how intelligent or capable they were.
Lucy Snowe, the protagonist, is for the most part a representation of the author. Many of the situations Lucy experiences in the book were lived through by Charlotte Bronte, thus giving the book even more appeal as a glimpse into the situation of women at the time. Lucy is not wealthy enough to be independent and free to spend her time as she chooses, but is not poor enough to submit to a lifetime of toil and drudgery. A woman who has been educated, yet does not have money, Lucy has only the option of becoming a governess, or a servant. She finds her way to a school in Belgium, where she is hired as a governess, but eventually becomes the English teacher. As a shy, retiring person by nature, Lucy must overcome the obstacles of her solitary habits and self-consciousness to lead a class of wild girls. Her job throws her into the path of both old acquaintances (which another reviewer on this site found to be too coincidental), and new acquaintances, who challenge her to be as intelligent, studious, powerful and emotional as she can be.
Part of my reason for contributing to this site is my disappointment over the review posted by Nathaniel. I think parts of his criticisms of Villette stem from a misunderstanding of the situation of women in the 1800's, and of the type of audience Charlotte Bronte was writing for. One of his criticisms is that many of the paragraphs in Villette are written in French, with no translation, which he assumes to be an attempt by Charlotte to "show off". However, it was common in Charlotte's time for all men and women of the middle and upper classes to be educated in languages, and it would not be wrong of her to assume that the vast majority of her audience would have at least a passing knowledge of the French language. At times, she also resorts to French to better express the personality and quirks of her characters, especially that of M. Paul Emmanuel. In some cases, English would not express the same feeling as French.
Another of Nathaniel's criticisms is that Lucy Snowe, who is often hailed as a heroine and example of a courageous Victorian woman, is a horrible and weak character. To this I can only reply that both Lucy and Charlotte were greatly restrained by the era, and part of the aim of the book was to express the injustice of the situation of women, who were educated so that they grew to have great knowledge, yet were kept from using this knowledge or participating in many intellectual fields. The boredom and frustration of Lucy Snowe at not being able to use her faculties as a man would is a perfect reflection of the situation Charlotte Bronte was in herself. Nathaniel would do well to remember that when criticizing a book written by a woman in the mid 1800's, you cannot use the criteria of a man in the year 2000.
To end, I believe Villette is a beautiful and truthful book, that should be read to appreciate both Charlotte's skill with words, and to gain an appreciation of the era in which she wrote. Find a good French translator and dig in!