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Shirley (2 volumes) #2
Shirley, Volume 2
"Shirley" is an engaging novel which wonderfully depicts women's feelings and thoughts. It is outstanding for its intricate plot and excellent character development. It is a domestic love story and considered as Bronte's most feminist novel.
Paperback
Published November 1, 2006
About the author
Charlotte Brontë
2,342 books19.5k followersCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. See also Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë.
Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family.
In August 1824 Charlotte, along with her sisters Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, a new school for the daughters of poor clergyman (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre). The school was a horrific experience for the girls and conditions were appalling. They were regularly deprived of food, beaten by teachers and humiliated for the slightest error. The school was unheated and the pupils slept two to a bed for warmth. Seven pupils died in a typhus epidemic that swept the school and all four of the Brontë girls became very ill - Maria and Elizabeth dying of tuberculosis in 1825. Her experiences at the school deeply affected Brontë - her health never recovered and she immortalised the cruel and brutal treatment in her novel, Jane Eyre. Following the tragedy, their father withdrew his daughters from the school.
At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — continued their ad-hoc education. In 1826 her father returned home with a box of toy soldiers for Branwell. They would prove the catalyst for the sisters' extraordinary creative development as they immediately set to creating lives and characters for the soldiers, inventing a world for them which the siblings called 'Angria'. The siblings became addicted to writing, creating stories, poetry and plays. Brontë later said that the reason for this burst of creativity was that:
'We were wholly dependent on ourselves and each other, on books and study, for the enjoyments and occupations of life. The highest stimulus, as well as the liveliest pleasure we had known from childhood upwards, lay in attempts at literary composition.'
After her father began to suffer from a lung disorder, Charlotte was again sent to school to complete her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. The school was extremely small with only ten pupils meaning the top floor was completely unused and believed to be supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young lady dressed in silk. This story fascinated Brontë and inspired the figure of Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.
Brontë left the school after a few years, however she swiftly returned in 1835 to take up a position as a teacher, and used her wages to pay for Emily and Anne to be taught at the school. Teaching did not appeal to Brontë and in 1838 she left Roe Head to become a governess to the Sidgewick family -- partly from a sense of adventure and a desire to see the world, and partly from financial necessity.
Charlotte became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855.
Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family.
In August 1824 Charlotte, along with her sisters Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, a new school for the daughters of poor clergyman (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre). The school was a horrific experience for the girls and conditions were appalling. They were regularly deprived of food, beaten by teachers and humiliated for the slightest error. The school was unheated and the pupils slept two to a bed for warmth. Seven pupils died in a typhus epidemic that swept the school and all four of the Brontë girls became very ill - Maria and Elizabeth dying of tuberculosis in 1825. Her experiences at the school deeply affected Brontë - her health never recovered and she immortalised the cruel and brutal treatment in her novel, Jane Eyre. Following the tragedy, their father withdrew his daughters from the school.
At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — continued their ad-hoc education. In 1826 her father returned home with a box of toy soldiers for Branwell. They would prove the catalyst for the sisters' extraordinary creative development as they immediately set to creating lives and characters for the soldiers, inventing a world for them which the siblings called 'Angria'. The siblings became addicted to writing, creating stories, poetry and plays. Brontë later said that the reason for this burst of creativity was that:
'We were wholly dependent on ourselves and each other, on books and study, for the enjoyments and occupations of life. The highest stimulus, as well as the liveliest pleasure we had known from childhood upwards, lay in attempts at literary composition.'
After her father began to suffer from a lung disorder, Charlotte was again sent to school to complete her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. The school was extremely small with only ten pupils meaning the top floor was completely unused and believed to be supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young lady dressed in silk. This story fascinated Brontë and inspired the figure of Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.
Brontë left the school after a few years, however she swiftly returned in 1835 to take up a position as a teacher, and used her wages to pay for Emily and Anne to be taught at the school. Teaching did not appeal to Brontë and in 1838 she left Roe Head to become a governess to the Sidgewick family -- partly from a sense of adventure and a desire to see the world, and partly from financial necessity.
Charlotte became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 23, 2021
4 Estrellitas. Llegué al final de "Shirley" y sí que me ha gustado. La primera parte de la novela me dejó buena impresión, y aquí tenemos la conclusión.
Volvemos a los páramos de Yorkshire en 1811-1812. Los problemas económicos siguen sepultando a Robert Moore y su fábrica de paños a la bancarrota, hasta el punto de que Robert se ve abocado a buscar salidas desesperadas para cambiar la situación.
Mientras, tendremos a las dos protagonistas femeninas, Caroline y Shirley, una, languideciendo en vida por lo que no puede tener, y la otra, aferrándose con voluntad a la vida de libertad e independecia que desea tener.
En la primera parte conocimos a la dulce Caroline, la huérfana que vive con su tío el clérigo, perdidamente enamorada de Robert, pero éste nunca pensó en ella más que como en una hermana, y apuntó sus miras mas altas en la figura de Shirley, la también huérfana y hermosa Shirley, la heredera que puede sacarlo de sus apuros.
A diferencia de su otra novela, "Jane Eyre", "Shirley" no guardará grandes misterios o giros, solo esperar que las cosas vayan sucediendo lentamente, y que sus protagonistas aprendan de las maneras más duras o crueles posibles, lo que realmente quieren.
En el fondo estamos ante una novela más sentimental o romántica que costumbrista, pues lo importante son la vida y sentimientos de sus personajes, de los que Charlotte Brontë guarda un as en la manga para hacer las delicias del lector.
Podría decir que Caroline tiene más protagonismo o peso en la novela que Shirley, pero para ser sincera, Shirley es quien se lleva la admiración. Es una mujer como pocas en la literatura. Si por algo destacaba Charlotte Brontë fue por dar a sus personajes femeninos una voluntad e independencia que pocas veces podría verse en ésa época. Es cierto que Shirley, siendo rica, podría permanecer soltera y sin necesitar un hombre, de hecho, hay algo de marimacho en ella y sabe que no tiene igual, además, ella misma dice que no podría estar con nadie que no pueda domarla y ser superior a ella. Siendo sincera, me ha gustado lo que la autora ha hecho con ella.
Hasta aquí, puedo decir que he leído todas las novelas que Charlotte Brontë escribió en vida, y es una pena que la vida de las tres hermanas se viera truncada siendo tan jóvenes, pues ¡qué maravillosas novelas nos hemos perdido! Pero de nada sirve lamentarse. Lo poco que nos llegó de ellas ha sido fuente de inspiración para la literatura contemporánea, y sin ellas no tendríamos la novela romántica como la conocemos.
Aunque "Jane Eyre" pueda considerarse la mejor novela de Charlotte, "Shirley" se merece también una ojeada. Es algo largo y denso, pero bonito de leer y distinto a lo esperado. No me ha dejado indiferente, y lo he disfrutado bastante.
Volvemos a los páramos de Yorkshire en 1811-1812. Los problemas económicos siguen sepultando a Robert Moore y su fábrica de paños a la bancarrota, hasta el punto de que Robert se ve abocado a buscar salidas desesperadas para cambiar la situación.
Mientras, tendremos a las dos protagonistas femeninas, Caroline y Shirley, una, languideciendo en vida por lo que no puede tener, y la otra, aferrándose con voluntad a la vida de libertad e independecia que desea tener.
En la primera parte conocimos a la dulce Caroline, la huérfana que vive con su tío el clérigo, perdidamente enamorada de Robert, pero éste nunca pensó en ella más que como en una hermana, y apuntó sus miras mas altas en la figura de Shirley, la también huérfana y hermosa Shirley, la heredera que puede sacarlo de sus apuros.
A diferencia de su otra novela, "Jane Eyre", "Shirley" no guardará grandes misterios o giros, solo esperar que las cosas vayan sucediendo lentamente, y que sus protagonistas aprendan de las maneras más duras o crueles posibles, lo que realmente quieren.
En el fondo estamos ante una novela más sentimental o romántica que costumbrista, pues lo importante son la vida y sentimientos de sus personajes, de los que Charlotte Brontë guarda un as en la manga para hacer las delicias del lector.
Podría decir que Caroline tiene más protagonismo o peso en la novela que Shirley, pero para ser sincera, Shirley es quien se lleva la admiración. Es una mujer como pocas en la literatura. Si por algo destacaba Charlotte Brontë fue por dar a sus personajes femeninos una voluntad e independencia que pocas veces podría verse en ésa época. Es cierto que Shirley, siendo rica, podría permanecer soltera y sin necesitar un hombre, de hecho, hay algo de marimacho en ella y sabe que no tiene igual, además, ella misma dice que no podría estar con nadie que no pueda domarla y ser superior a ella. Siendo sincera, me ha gustado lo que la autora ha hecho con ella.
Hasta aquí, puedo decir que he leído todas las novelas que Charlotte Brontë escribió en vida, y es una pena que la vida de las tres hermanas se viera truncada siendo tan jóvenes, pues ¡qué maravillosas novelas nos hemos perdido! Pero de nada sirve lamentarse. Lo poco que nos llegó de ellas ha sido fuente de inspiración para la literatura contemporánea, y sin ellas no tendríamos la novela romántica como la conocemos.
Aunque "Jane Eyre" pueda considerarse la mejor novela de Charlotte, "Shirley" se merece también una ojeada. Es algo largo y denso, pero bonito de leer y distinto a lo esperado. No me ha dejado indiferente, y lo he disfrutado bastante.
April 25, 2023
-> Não recomendo esta edição, apesar de não ter indicação disso, está cortada e adulterada.
4*
Vídeo de Opinião em: https://youtu.be/6A2rR8v54PY
4*
Vídeo de Opinião em: https://youtu.be/6A2rR8v54PY
October 7, 2025
Sebbene di solito preferisca classici più brevi, le profonde riflessioni sulla condizione femminile in questo romanzo sono state a dir poco straordinarie.
La metafora dello scorpione in particolare mi ha davvero colpita, facendomi venire i brividi per la sua potenza evocativa.
Charlotte Brontë ci trasporta in un mondo dominato dagli uomini, dove la donna è spesso ridotta a un semplice "soprammobile senza testa". L'autrice, però, ci offre un punto di vista alternativo e illuminante: gli uomini in scena sono talvolta presentati come noiosi, presuntuosi, superbi o persino cattivi, mentre le donne emergono come persone a tutto tondo: pensanti, riflessive, profonde, anche se talvolta (per alcune) superficiali.
Ho trovato notevole, e per me una novità in letteratura, il fatto di leggere di un attacco isterico attribuito a un uomo e non, come di consueto, a una donna.
Il romanzo non si concentra unicamente sulla questione femminile; un altro tema di eguale importanza è quello degli effetti della Rivoluzione Industriale sulla classe operaia, un aspetto che arricchisce notevolmente la narrazione.
L'unico punto di rammarico riguarda il finale: personalmente, avrei desiderato un epilogo differente per i personaggi.
La metafora dello scorpione in particolare mi ha davvero colpita, facendomi venire i brividi per la sua potenza evocativa.
Charlotte Brontë ci trasporta in un mondo dominato dagli uomini, dove la donna è spesso ridotta a un semplice "soprammobile senza testa". L'autrice, però, ci offre un punto di vista alternativo e illuminante: gli uomini in scena sono talvolta presentati come noiosi, presuntuosi, superbi o persino cattivi, mentre le donne emergono come persone a tutto tondo: pensanti, riflessive, profonde, anche se talvolta (per alcune) superficiali.
Ho trovato notevole, e per me una novità in letteratura, il fatto di leggere di un attacco isterico attribuito a un uomo e non, come di consueto, a una donna.
Il romanzo non si concentra unicamente sulla questione femminile; un altro tema di eguale importanza è quello degli effetti della Rivoluzione Industriale sulla classe operaia, un aspetto che arricchisce notevolmente la narrazione.
L'unico punto di rammarico riguarda il finale: personalmente, avrei desiderato un epilogo differente per i personaggi.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews