The differences between Shirley’s and Villette’s approach to women’s roles in the church are slight but evident. Shirley proposes that women bond together and make their own decisions, defying the societal norm. This ideology is evident when Shirley and Caroline skip a Sunday church service to lie outside in nature, directly beside the church, as previously mentioned. This vivid picture could be seen as Bronte juxtaposing traditional religion with a new, freer religion, one dictated by seeing God in one’s own life and in nature, the very concepts that Caroline and Shirley contemplate while lying outside the church. Villette’s solution is different. It portrays a much more isolated heroine dealing with the same issues. While Shirley and Caroline
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(Clarke 969)
People belonging to these opposing groups would obviously have many conflicting lifestyle choices, which would result in conflict between the people.
It is easy to see how people belonging to these two very different groups would have major issues getting along. Nevertheless, the pair eventually become unlikely, slightly reluctant friends. At this pivotal moment in their relationship, M. Paul takes it upon himself to convert Lucy to Catholicism. At this point it would not be unsurprising to see their relationship deteriorate, evaporate under the stress of this tension. But that would not adhere with Bronte’s purpose for the novel. Instead, the reader sees their relationship continue to grow and strengthen to the point where it is something more than a friendship. M. Paul grows to accept that just because Lucy believes something different than he does, does not mean she is a bad person, or that she is somehow weaker than he is. Upon viewing the novel through this lens, it is easy to ascertain Bronte’s eloquent yet assertive message to her era: peaceful coexistence for opposing religions is a feasible possibility for the people of England. Bronte is “envisioning a reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant” (Clarke 973), something which she has not seen in her lifetime. This idea would have been revolutionary for her very divided world, yet Bronte bravely broke away from what other contemporaries were writing about to pen a story that told of resolution between the two denominations (Clarke
(Clarke 969)
People belonging to these opposing groups would obviously have many conflicting lifestyle choices, which would result in conflict between the people.
It is easy to see how people belonging to these two very different groups would have major issues getting along. Nevertheless, the pair eventually become unlikely, slightly reluctant friends. At this pivotal moment in their relationship, M. Paul takes it upon himself to convert Lucy to Catholicism. At this point it would not be unsurprising to see their relationship deteriorate, evaporate under the stress of this tension. But that would not adhere with Bronte’s purpose for the novel. Instead, the reader sees their relationship continue to grow and strengthen to the point where it is something more than a friendship. M. Paul grows to accept that just because Lucy believes something different than he does, does not mean she is a bad person, or that she is somehow weaker than he is. Upon viewing the novel through this lens, it is easy to ascertain Bronte’s eloquent yet assertive message to her era: peaceful coexistence for opposing religions is a feasible possibility for the people of England. Bronte is “envisioning a reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant” (Clarke 973), something which she has not seen in her lifetime. This idea would have been revolutionary for her very divided world, yet Bronte bravely broke away from what other contemporaries were writing about to pen a story that told of resolution between the two denominations (Clarke