In Defence of Madame Beck

Abstract

The aim of this article is to suggest a new reading of Charlotte Brontë's Villette and, above all, to reappraise the character of Madame Beck. It argues that the conventional view of Madame Beck as a cold-hearted, cruel and selfish woman — Lucy Snowe's greatest enemy — is a misreading of the text. This misreading occurs partly because of the unreliability of Lucy, the narrator, and partly because of the habit of reading Charlotte Brontë's texts in general, and Villette in particular, as merely thinly veiled autobiography. Because we know of Charlotte Brontë's feelings for her Brussels teacher M. Heger, readers expect Lucy's story to be Charlotte's story and Lucy's views and opinions to be those of her creator. However, Lucy Snowe is actually constructed as a neurotic person and an unreliable narrator, who is jealous of her employer's personal charm and professional success. Lucy's judgement of Madame Beck cannot therefore be taken at face value. If Madame Beck is regarded from the point of view of what she actually does rather than what Lucy thinks of her actions, a different picture emerges: that of an intelligent, generous, and warm-hearted woman who could, and would, have become Lucy's friend, had Lucy allowed her to be so. In her portrait of these two women Charlotte Brontë created a much more complex portrait of womanhood than has generally been recognized. It is time we admitted this complexity.