Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

Title: Shirley

Author: Charlotte Bronte (English, 1816-1855)
Originally published: 1848
Page count: 480

Dates read: 3/21/21-4/4/21
2021 book goal progress: 10 out of 38

Back to the Classics category: 

Classic by a woman author
Reading category: Bronte, Chunkster Reading Challenge, The Book Hoarders' Book Club

Read my other Bronte Sister book reviews.

Read my other book reviews for my 2021 goal HERE.

Description on back of book:
The Shirley of the title is a woman of independent means; her friend Caroline is not. Both struggle with what a woman's role is and can be. Their male counterparts - Louis, the powerless tutor, and Robert, his cloth-manufacturing brother - also stand at odds with society's expectations. The novel is set in a period of social and political ferment, featuring class disenfranchisement, the drama of Luddite machine-breaking, and the divisive effects of the Napoleonic Wars.

First sentences:
"Of late years an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the north of England; they lie very thick on the hills; every parish has one or more of them; they are young enough to be very active, and ought to be doing a great deal of good. But not of late years are we about to speak; we are going back to the beginning of this century: late years - present years are dusty, sunburnt, hot, arid; we will evade the noon, forget it in siesta, pass the midday in slumber, and dream of dawn."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 6.9/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 8
Atmosphere   - 7
Writing Style - 7
Plot                - 7
Intrigue          - 6
Logic             - 6
Enjoyment     - 7
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

(Contains Spoilers)

Charlotte starts the book off by warning the reader that the book isn't a romance... except that it definitely is, even if it doesn't necessarily start that way. From the book description above, I expected to meet all 4 characters (Shirley, Caroline, Louis, and Robert) right away - but you don't. You meet Robert right away and learn that his main focus is on improving his clothing mill and how the war is affecting that. About 50 pages in you meet Caroline, who is interested in Robert - but who isn't interested in her. She goes through (several) depressed periods and decides she's not (ever) going to marry. She decides to become a governess, so she can support herself (hurrah feminism), but her uncle, who she lives with and is her guardian, refuses to let her.

Then Shirley moves into the area around page 150 and the book finally really starts to pick up. It talks a lot about their developing friendship into a type of sisterhood, Shirley's business with the mill, and then delves into Shirley's various romances. It isn't until after 300 pages we finally meet Louis, various loose ends are tied up, and the story ends after 480 pages. The ending was somewhat abrupt and overall disappointing to me.

I think Charlotte tried to do too much with this novel. If she stuck just to the romance (leaving the mill business as secondary), it would have been a great novel. If she has stuck just to the mill business (leaving romance as secondary), it would have been a great novel. Since she tried to accomplish both, whilst sharing feminist ideas, it was too convoluted and nothing felt particularly substantial. The book was also just too long - she should have picked romance or business to focus on and summed the book up in half the length.

There are some sickening examples of sexism in the story, which just makes the feminism shine brighter... which, unfortunately, is ruined in the end. Caroline wishes she was male so she could get her own job and support herself. After getting over a period of depression, she decides to make a life for herself as a governess but is refused. She instead works hard in charity and helping others. This is great, but then she goes back on her 'not getting married' mantra and, you guessed it, gets married. Not much is told after that, but my assumption is that she simply fills the role of a wife.

Now, Shirley - she is a wonderful example of forward-thinking feminism for her time. Shirley, being the only heir in her family, inherited a lot of land and money - including the mill that Robert runs. She occasionally refers to herself (and others do too) as 'Captain' instead of 'Miss' and sometimes uses male pronouns for hers. She actually talks about herself in the third person rather often, which was strange to me. She is a strong personality that runs her land, maintains her money/budget, and does various business transactions including with Robert and the mill. She turns down multiple marriage proposals because she wants to marry for love - and only to a man who can rule her. This is where is takes a turn - she does end up marrying in the very end... but she becomes this weak person who's ruled/tamed/mastered by her husband. (all terms actually used in the book)

I could've dealt with the unsuccessful mix of the topics of romance and business/war if the idea of feminism stayed strong, but it completely petered out in the end. I had hoped that Caroline would stay single and, eventually, make a way for herself on her own. I had hoped that Shirley would marry, but they would be this great power couple on equal footing with each other. (Actually, what I really wanted was Shirley and Caroline to end up together, but, knowing when the novel was written, I knew that wasn't going to happen.) Instead, a story that built itself up on feminism came crashing down for the sake of romance and fitting into proper gender roles.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Charlette Bronte have the last words:

"Our power of being happy lies a good deal in ourselves, I believe."