The Appeal to Fairy Tale in Villette Sam Shipp College

Charlotte Brontë’s Villette references a menagerie of folklore and inhabits many stand-out qualities often seen in fairy-tales throughout the novel. This is aided by the fantastical narration provided by Lucy Snowe, the protagonist who seems to showcase her perception of the world rather imaginatively ranging from her constant folklore-naming of her acquaintances, to the style in which she tells the story. Folklore and the supernatural fascinated the imaginations of the Victorians: ‘They delighted in ghost stories and fairy tales, and in legends of strange gods, demons and spirits; in pantomimes and extravaganzas full of supernatural machinery; in gothic yarns of reanimated corpses and vampires. Even avowedly realist novels were full of dreams, premonitions and second sight’ (Burdett, Thurschwell, & Bown, 2004). The Victorians’ obsession with finding answers plagued the era, looking for explanations for phenomena – could it simply be answered by science and rationale or could there be the possibility of a higher power? Brontë’s Villette presents this common fantastical thought from the era by giving the reader constant references to fairy-tale and folklore – and even elements of gothic!

Almost instantly, with the...