The renowned British author Charlotte Brontë’s second published novel (published in 1849) is her only novel to deal with social and political themes. The story is set in Yorkshire in 1811-1812, during a time of notable upheaval in Europe. Sally Minogue, in her introduction to the WORDSWORTH CLASSICS edition of the novel, explains the situation thus: ”With the Napoleonic wars raging, French embargoes were strangling British trade; the British government answered with Orders in Council invoking counter-embargoes on neutral countries, which led to America’s cutting off trade with Britain. This slashing of its economic arteries badly affected manufacturing industries, and especially the cloth manufacturers of Yorkshire, where ”Shirley” is set. Meanwhile engineering advances had produced machinery to replace individual skilled labour in the cloth mills; while hard-pressed mill-owners saw these machines as saviours of their dwindling trade, even more hard-pressed cloth workers saw them as their bemesis. Machine-breaking (Luddism) now became the desperate tool of those flung out of work at a time of acute privation.” ”Shirley” depicts the struggles of the cloth mill-owners, particularly of half-Belgian, half-British Robert Moore, who suffers multiple attacks for introducing new machinery his mill. One also makes the acquaintance of the desperate Luddites who are responsible for the attacks, as well as the more peacable, yet suffering members of the working class.
Now, to introduce the main characters:Shirley of the title is a young lady and the other of the novel’s two heroines. She is the only child of deceased parents and has inherited notable wealth and estate, including the cloth mill run by Robert Moore. Expected to be a boy,and for that reason possessing a predominantly male name as her christened name (Shirley was a masculine surname until the publishing of this book, which caused it to become popular for females), Shirley has many priviledges that most women of her time do not possess; being of independent means and her own mistress. On top of this she is pretty, friendly and impetious, making her a favourite among her contemporaries.
The other heroine Caroline Helstone is the 18-year old niece of a rector, who also is her guardian. Her mother ran away to escape from a violent marriage when she was an infant, and her father died not many years after, so Caroline has grown up with her uncle. She is of a shy,sensitive nature and has a beautiful face. Unlike Shirley, Caroline is not rich, but is rather a middle-class woman; her needs are sufficiently provided for, but she lacks independence.
Caroline’s and Shirley’s meeting and the friendship which develops between them is a crucial part of the story. Despite their different circumstances and personalities, they have many things in common and a deep regard for each other. These two women’s lives are also intertwined with those of the cloth-manufacturer Robert Moore and his tutor-brother Louis. They are Caroline’s cousins, and to Shirley one is her tenant, and the other her former tutor. There are also appearances by a trio of comical curates, a variety of rectors, businessmen, labourers, old maids and servants, to name a few, all in all making for quite an impressive display of characters. My favourite things about the book have to be the lively description of the characters, the portrayal of their various interactions with each other, and the way the omniscient narrator analyzes and evaluates them.
On the whole this was a great novel to read and I greatly enjoyed it. I found it an eye-opener to the past; to how society actually worked and what the circumstances of women were like then. Also, ”Shirley” was written during a difficult period of Charlotte Brontë’s life, during which her brother and her two sisters Anne and Emily (who were also writers) all died from consumption within eight months.