On Lucy’s Mental Journey In Villette From The Perspective Of Space Theory

As one of the most famous British women writers in the nineteenth century, Charlotte Bront?(1816-1855) and her works have always attracted hot concern in literary circle. Villette is a semi-autobiographical novel of Charlotte Bront?. Charlotte has constructed some concrete spaces during the course of Lucy Snowe’s mental journey from isolation and helplessness to maturity and fulfillment. Literary critics have made researches on Villette from different perspectives, such as realism, formalism, psychoanalysis, narrative strategy, feminism and so on. Nevertheless, few scholars have paid attention to its spatial construction.As an important dimension of life, space used to be regarded as a dead, stiff and immobile object. However, the “spatial turn” in the late 20 th century attracted people’s attention to space. Henri Lefebvre, the French philosopher and Marxist published his masterpiece The Production of Space, which became the landmark of spatial turn in the late 20 th century. According to the study of the background of the author and related theses of this novel, the present author of this thesis has analyzed Lucy Snowe’s mental journey from the perspective of space theory. In brief, there are six parts in the thesis, namely, the introduction part, the theoretical foundation, the main contents and the conclusion of the thesis.The introduction part provides the thesis with a brief knowledge of Charlotte Bront? and her works, Villette in particular. Previous studies of Villette at home and aboard are also shown in this part. Simultaneously, significance of the thesis cannot be ignored.Chapter One traces the traditional notion of space, and the spatial turn in the late 20 th century, and summarizes the social space theory of Henri Lefebvre in detail. In Lefebvre’s opinion, space has a close relationship with the subject. In this premise, this thesis applies Lefebvre’s classification of “perceived space”, “conceived space” and “lived space” into the research of the characters in Villette.Chapter Two gives a clear explanation of the “perceived space” in Villette. At the beginning of the whole story, “Bretton” appears just like a hometown dreamed in a foreign country; yet, it also hints a lack of domestic space for Lucy as a single lady. Working as a maid in “Miss Marchmont’s rooms”, Lucy is deeply affected by her hostess’ negative attitude toward life. The two private spaces, including “the forbidden walk” and “the first class”, reflect Lucy’s solitude and self-control.Chapter Three illuminates the subtle psychological changes of Lucy in the face of various conceived spaces. Constrained by the connotations of her family name “Snowe” and the tradition of “Angel in the house”, Lucy is disciplined not only by herself, but also by the traditional notions in the Victorian era. Nonetheless, her performance in “the play” shows her “revisionary prowess”. Following this, “the appearances of the nun” confuse Lucy on the one hand, but on the other hand, they awaken Lucy from self-restraint. Eventually, inspired by “Vashti”, she takes courage to revolt against the oppression of the patriarchal society.Based on Lefebvre’s depiction of “lived space”, Chapter Four gives an analysis of Lucy’s success in career and love. The pensionnat of Madame Beck acts as an important “lived space” in Villette. Partly influenced by Madame Beck and her administrative abilities, Lucy becomes a successful and independent woman in the end; meanwhile, she succeeds in finding an equal love.The last part is the conclusion of the thesis. “Perceived space” shows Lucy’s life experience as an orphan; “Conceived space” reflects Lucy’s delicate changes of psychology from restraint to revolt; “Lived space” embodies Lucy’s pursuit of independent career and equal love. Through an analysis of Villette and its characters in view of Lefebvre’s space theory, this thesis proves that space is not a stiff object, but a social space closely related to human psychology. Furthermore, the study of this thesis also helps the modern people to examine their opinions on life, love and marriage.