Illusion, Disillusion: Theater Space and Public Performances of Bourgeois Femininity in Charlotte Brontë's Villette

abstract:This analysis situates Charlotte Brontë's narrative representation of performance venues and stagecraft in Villette (1853) within the architectural and social histories of nineteenth-century British theater. Emphasis on the spatial elements of theatrical venues and the spectacular lighting and stage effects afforded by these structures contributes to critical examinations of the novel's many instances of performance. The role played by theaters in the production of national identity, consumer culture, and conventional femininity highlights their social dynamics as experienced by Lucy Snowe, providing semiotically rich sites of cultural critique. Lucy's alienation from her fellow audience members disrupts the projections of cultural unity and collectivity fostered by nineteenth-century theaters, just as recasting stage effects as gothic tropes disrupts the potential marriage plot. Ultimately, Villette's narrative representations of theatrical realism critique both the limitations of mid-century literary realism and the inhospitality of public spaces to single, middle-class women who resist the conventional role prescribed by their gender and class.