Paste your essIn the 19th century, marriage was seen as a religious sacrament first and as a union of love second, if at all. Given that Charlotte Brontë’s Villette was published in 1853 and Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure was published in 1895, it is interesting to consider the progression of public opinions towards marriage and religion, and how these attitudes were reflected in contemporary literature. From the middle of the 19th century, towards the turn of the century, we can discern a shift in attitudes towards religion and marriage. Both Lucy Snowe and Sue Bridehead are strong female characters that have no problem holding opinions on religion that are different from their surrounding society. Admittedly though, Lucy and Sue are not rewarded with the best endings in their novels. However, given that Sue Bridehead is a character that was written towards the turn of the century, her beliefs were of a much more radical nature than Lucy’s. While both women were ahead of their time in their fierce independence amongst the religious societies that surrounded them, ultimately Sue is faced with much harsher consequences in Jude the Obscure. This speaks to society’s inability to adapt to shifting ideologies in the face of the emergence of progressive views.
Written in the middle of the 19th century, Villette emerged during a time where religious antagonisms in England were intense. In 1850, the Catholic hierarchy was re-established under Cardinal Wiseman, subsequently triggering a contemporary outpour of anti-Catholic fiction. Bronte’s Villette set itself apart from these novels because the Catholic Church is depicted as exerting its power mainly in the foreign land of La Bassecoure. Due to this reason, in Villette religion mainly plays a role within the confines of Lucy Snowe’s personal life, and not as a directive on the role of religion within the English landscape. She is faced with the personal dilemma of whether she converts to Catholicism in order to please those around her, or if she sticks to her own convictions and adheres to her Protestant faith. Earlier on in the novel, as she battles with depression and loneliness, Lucy takes it upon herself to visit Pere Silas and go to confession simply because she needs someone to talk to. After meeting with Pere Silas she comments, “I might just now, instead of writing this heretic narrative, be counting my beads in the cell of a certain Carmelite Convent on the Boulevard of Crecy, in Villette" (163). Lucy’s choice of the word heretic for her narrative is an interesting one. Patricia Johnson points out that the word heretic is derived from the Greek hairetikos meaning "able to choose." It is this very ability that Lucy seeks to maintain in her story. She seeks for the right to maintain the freedom of choosing her Protestant faith over the Catholic faith continually imposed upon her.
The area of Lucy’s life where this conflict plays the biggest role is in her love life. One of the major conflicts that arise between her and M. Paul is whether or not Lucy would be willing to convert to Catholicism for him. This is simply not a choice Lucy is willing to make. Her “heretic narrative” is so important because especially because Lucy has very little choice in all of the other aspects of her life. She has been pushed out of her homeland due to dire her circumstances (storm quote here) and the options available to her for work are of a limited nature. Lucy begins her climb up the ladder of career success as Mrs. Marchmont’s companion and ends the novel as the director of her own school. This is an impressive feat. However, it is important to remember that Lucy had to take on a series of gender-based jobs to get there, such as starting off as a governess for Madame Beck. Furthermore, it is not like Lucy was able to work in any profession she wanted to. Given the time period, there was no way she could have become a Doctor like Graham who continually patronizes her throughout the novel and diagnoses her with hysterical tendencies. Also, the only reason Lucy is even able to become a director at her own school is because M. Paul helps her do so. This was not something she would have been able to do alone, especially if M. Paul never grew to accept her Protestant faith.
Hardy’s Sue Bridehead is a heretic in her own right. Similar to Lucy, Sue diametrically opposes not only the views of her community but also some of her lover Jude’s opinions. Norman Holland points out that the fact that readers are can associate two contrasting images with Sue. She can be looked at as a heretic pagan, and as Christian virgin saint. Throughout the novel, Hardy characterizes Sue as having pagan inclinations by having her buy statuettes of Venus and Apollo (89). She prefers Corinthian classical architecture characteristic of the Roman empire to the Gothic architecture used for Christian Cathedrals. Sue is also often referred to as “Voltairean” in her beliefs because much like the philosopher, she is very vocal about her criticisms of Christianity. When Jude finally reveals to Sue that he is married, she even chastises him using pagan vocabulary.
“How will the demi-gods in your Pantheon–I mean those legendary persons you call saints–intercede for you after this? Now if I had done such a thing it would have been different, and not remarkable, for I at least don’t regard marriage as a Sacrament. Your theories are not so advanced as your practice” (159).
Here Sue goes as far as to bluntly admit that she does not view marriage as a sacrament, and yet as the least Christian character throughout most of the novel, Holland points out the images the that depict her as the Christian virgin. When Jude first sees Sue’s photograph, there seems to be a sort of halo around her, and when he first sees her in person, she is engaged in ecclesiastical lettering, which he deems “a sweet, saintly, Christian business” (82). Sue also expresses an aversion physical intimacy. Like the Virgin Mary, her first son, Little Father Time is also given to her without having had sex, and while being unmarried.
Lucy can also be looked upon as a virtuous, Christian character. She never marries, and therefore never enters into a physically intimate relationship with a man. However, neither Sue nor Lucy fall into the category of the archetypal, Christian woman their society expects them to be, which is why they go through various hardships. It is easy to say that perhaps things would have gone differently for Lucy and Sue if they had just stuck to the status quo, but it is important to consider that their beliefs were borne from thoughtful considerations and not from stubborn resolutions. This is evident towards the end of the novel when Lucy defends her Protestant faith to M. Paul: “At ease with him, I could defend my creed and faith in my own fashion; in some degree I could lull his prejudices. (418). She goes on to explain the reasons why it is important for her to remain loyal to Protestantism. For example, Lucy cannot subscribe to Catholicism because of the precepts that seem insignificant when trying to sustain a personal relationship with God.
Now, it happened that I had often secretly wondered at the minute and unimportant character of the differences between these three sects-at the unity and identity of their vital doctrines: I saw nothing to hinder them from being one day fused into one grand Holy Alliance, and I respected them all, though I thought that in each there were faults of form; incumbrances, and trivialities. (419)
Since Lucy is someone who only thinks of certain doctrines as essential for following the Christian faith, the primary issue she has with Catholicism is its subscription to beliefs not considered "vital doctrines." She believes that if the teaching is not essential to Christianity than it should be left to an individual’s conscience to decide if they should adhere to those principles.
One of the scenes in Villette that highlight the differences in opinion on religion between Lucy and M. Paul is during the scene in the picture gallery. The Cleopatra painting’s sensuality is appealing to the Catholic men that are allowed to look at her, however M. Paul’s conviction that only married women be allowed to look at the picture makes it obvious that he assumes women are inherently sensual creatures, and that therefore virgins must not be exposed to such temptations that could taint their innocence. Bronte contrasts the Cleopatra painting with the
"La vie d'une femme" paintings that Lucy is made to look at by M. Paul. These paintings depict the life a good Christian girl is meant to live. First as a daughter, then as a wife, and next as a mother. Author Rosemary Clark-Beattie describes the relationship between these paintings as
“that of surveillance to corruption.” "La vie d'une femme," is indicative of the constraints placed on women to “control women whose Cleopatra-like vice has never been cured.” Lucy’s attitudes towards the pictures as a Protestant are nowhere near what M. Paul expects of her as a woman. Armed with her Protestant proclivity for self-discipline, she does not identify with the Cleopatra at all. She only looks at the painting M. Paul views as too tempting for a Catholic woman’s eyes with distaste. It is also because she is not tempted by the Cleopatra that she is annoyed by the controlling nature of "La vie d'une femme." This difference in views based on religion is further evidenced by Dr. John’s indifference in allowing Lucy to view the Cleopatra. As a fellow English Protestant, Dr. John shares Lucy’s beliefs that everyone must independently work on rectifying their unbridled passions. This is why throughout Villette we see Dr. John let go of Ginevra, who cannot seem to let go of her coquettish predispositions. Dr. John expects his future wife to be self-disciplined, whereas M. Paul and the Catholic spectators within the gallery believe that a woman’s innate sexuality is something that must be controlled by society and by religion.
As a conversion plot, Villette does not only deal with the potential for Lucy’s spiritual subversion. Catholicism also stands in the way of the fulfillment of an English Protestant marriage. Pere Silas’ aims to convert Lucy to Catholicism, however, she remains steadfast in her convictions. She also does not attempt to convert M. Paul to her Protestant faith. M. Paul comes to accept Lucy for who she is, in fact, he even comes to love her for it, “Remain a Protestant. My little English Puritan, I love Protestantism in you” (494). After a few happy years exchanging letters with her lover, he is ultimately taken from her, making it so that she is not able to have both the marriage and the career. Although both of the lovers decided their difference in ideology was something they were willing to work through, it was though fate decided a Protestant and a Catholic were not meant to marry. The junta of Pere Silas, Madame Beck, and Madame Walravens keep them apart.
In Jude the Obscure, it also seems like the reason Sue and Jude are not fated to be together is because of their differences in ideology. Hardy employs both Christian and pagan religious imagery in order to illustrate how their irreconcilable differences lead to the tragic downfall of his two star-crossed lovers. For starters, Jude is the name of one of the twelve apostles in the New Testament who advises Jesus’s followers to remember the teachings of the Old Testament. Florence, one of Sue’s middle names, is indicative of her pagan nature because it represents her flower-like feebleness, while her last name, Bridehead, symbolizes her virginity and chastity. While both characters are continually described as having similar souls by Hardy, they are fundamentally different in terms of religion, aspirations, and sexuality. While they fit together intellectually, Jude's aspirations to become a preacher of the Christian faith contrasts Sue’s unconventional beliefs on religion. Also, Jude is prone to give in to his sexuality and has a propensity for drinking. They are lured into loving one another when they focus on each other’s better halves. In fact, Jude comes to view Sue’s philosophy behind marriage and religion as an enlightened mode of thinking, and he gives up his own aspirations to become a clergyman.
After Little Father Time commits murder-suicide Sue’s views on religion are completely changed. She is effectively converted from her classical ethics to Victorian conventions by the gruesome nature of Little Jude’s action. Hardy writes: “The blow of her bereavement seemed to have destroyed her reasoning faculty. The once keen vision was dimmed” (349). The narrator’s statement here makes it clear that the destruction of Sue’s children was not a condemnation of her radical ideals towards marriage or religion in the grand scheme of the plot, given that her “keen vision” is praised. Later on, in the same chapter, we see Sue quote the New Testament, “Every successful man is more or less a selfish man. The devoted fail. “Charity seeketh not her own.” (350). Oddly enough, we see her try and use her newfound Christianity to try and comfort Jude when he has been converted to her Voltairean mode of thinking. Essentially, she and Jude have swapped places completely. Sue’s self-sacrifice to Phillotson after her children’s death does not occur because Hardy believes in marriage as a religious sacrament in the same way that Sue begins to. He is choosing to comment against the Christian ideal of self-sacrifice to the confines of marriage. The moral to be had in Jude the Obscure is of the importance of empathy. Jude and Sue’s lives were essentially ruined by a society that rejected their union under the guise of moralism, however, given that such an adamant rejection resulted in the destruction of innocent children’s lives, it seems as though Hardy is choosing to say that society’s lack of empathy is way more problematic than an unmarried couple.
Due to society’s lack of empathy Sue goes from being characterized as 'New Woman,' a woman who is educated, a free-thinker, and is “resistant to the conventional notion that marriage and maternity should be the goal of any normal female's progress” to being the ‘Fallen Woman.’ The Fallen Woman was a woman who violated Victorian sexual and religious norms. ‘Fallenness’ came to be associated with “a downward spiral that began with sex and led to a loss of social position, ruin, and death.” Given the fact that legally married women were not allowed to own their own property in the United Kingdom until the passage of the Married Women’s Property Act in 1882, a ‘Fallen Woman’ would have very little options available to her.
While Bronte’s Lucy can also be looked at as the ‘New Woman,’ she never finds herself in circumstances that lead her to become the ‘Fallen Woman’ like Sue. Lucy is also able to successfully create a teaching career for herself, whereas Sue was never able to finish becoming a teacher. One could almost say that Lucy’s strict adherence to her Protestant ideals left her in a position where she could remain a virtuous, respectful teacher since she did not allow others to convert her or her ideals in any way. Of course, Sue’s beliefs on marriage and religion were of a much more radical nature than Lucy’s, but this can be attributed to the fact that Jude the Obscure was written much later in the 19th century. Towards the turn of the century, new ideas begin to emerge on marriage, and the place religion should hold in society. However, given that these ideas were not fully accepted yet, women like Sue were forced to convert to ideals at the detriment of their own happiness. ay in here…