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Shirley


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Following the tremendous popular success of Jane Eyre, which earned her lifelong notoriety as a moral revolutionary, Charlotte Brontė vowed to write a sweeping social chronicle that focused on "something real and unromantic as Monday morning." Set in the industrializing England of the Napoleonic wars and Luddite revolts of 1811-12, Shirley (1849) is the story of two contrasting heroines. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, who is trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory and whose bare life symbolizes the plight of single women in the nineteenth century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.

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Recent Forum Posts on Shirley

shirley

May I have a few questions? What is the moral abou what Charlotte Bronte speaks at the end of her novel "Shirley"? Did Shirley really loved Louis? I have my own answers but I want to know others opinions.

Posted By simona at Thu 24 Nov 2005, 6:35 AM in Shirley || 2 Replies

Shirley Review

I admit at the beginning that I can't be objective when I speak about SHIRLEY, since that's the book I'm obsessed with.I am tired of listening how it's worse than Jane Eyre and Vilette, because I know that the main reason for it lies in the fact that an average girl indetifies herself with the plain, poor girl like Jane is(and Lucy, too).Seams that the only Shirley's and Carlone's fault is their beauty!That's why the whole novel doesn't have the attention which deserves!You say it is naive, that it is a soapsund because of the happy-end?And what about Jane Eyre who marries a blind man, who, of course, starts to see again on the last page?Isn't that a soapsund?
Shirley is a wonderful, intelligent, funny, and above all, romantic book.Robert Moore is the most handsome male charachter in writing history.Caroline's and his relation is so touching and complexive, and not pathetic at all, which is very rare in love relations.Shirley is strong, original, modern girl for her time, and yet, besides her strength-she is a real woman(we see that from her relation with Louis)...I could say so many things about this novel, but I'm afraid this is already too much.I'll just say at the end-read it.

Posted By Dunja at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in Shirley || 0 Replies

Shirley

Shirley is an interesting book. Not as emotionally satisfying as the sublime Villette or Jane Eyre, it does have interesting portraits of characters. Caroline seems to be in some ways a mirror of Charlotte herself, like many of Charlotte's heroines. Yet Caroline's heart is so beautifully painted for us that we find it hard to leave her story and wade through the plot of the attack on the mill. Still, the book is informative about the times. Shirley seems to be agreed upon as a portrait of Emily. I feel that Charlotte, writing much of Shirley as Emily was rapidly dying and then finishing it after her death, took the story in a direction that it would not otherwise have taken. The story initially seems to be Caroline's story and Charlotte loses sight of that about mid way through the novel. Yet Shirley is a good novel and worth having on your book shelf.

Posted By Claire at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in Shirley || 0 Replies

Charlotte Bronte's Shriley

Shirley is a good novel though it is not as entertaining in my view as Jane Eyre or Villette. Shirley's best parts are the parts that explore the character's hearts. Caroline's character appears to me very much like Charlotte Bronte's own. Caroline seem the heroine of the novel, not Shirley. I believe that Charlotte based much of her portrait of Shirley on her own sister, Emily. As Shirley was written during the time of Emily's death, it seems that Charlotte's emotions of grief for Emily took over the book as allows Shirley to dominate it. I think Shirley would have taken a different direction had Emily not died in the middle of Charlotte's writing of it. Overall, Shirley is enjoyable though the explorations of the characters feelings are more interesting to me than the story of the mill riots.

Posted By Claire Copeland at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in Shirley || 1 Reply

No Subject

I think the book is good, although not as good as Jane Eyre, or Villete. But I love the characters. I admire Caroline as well as Shirley and it is interesting to see how they relate and differ from eachother mentally and physically. I wish that it would have centered more on Caroline and Robert, but it is still a great book, and I love Charlotte Bronte.

Posted By Unregistered at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:03 PM in Shirley || 0 Replies

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