The Impact of Clinical Depression on Charlotte Bronte's Villette

Charlotte Bronte's clinical depression influenced her process of writing Villette, her subject matter and the construction of the novel's narrator, Lucy Snowe. When Charlotte wrote Villette, she described her own mental disability through the character of Lucy Snowe. Using the perspective of disability studies, this article interprets Lucy as a narrator who shows clear signs of mental illness, suffers a breakdown and then navigates a world in which her depression must remain a secret. Charlotte Bronte saw Lucy Snowe as the culmination of her worst fears: a woman who could not escape her own damaged self.