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Shirley | ||||||||
Summary | ||||||||
Shirley was written throughout one of the darkest periods of Charlotte Brontė's life. She was completing it during the time when her brother Branwell died in September of 1848. She lost her sisters Emily and Anne too, before the end of the next summer. The novel is set in the north of England, specifically Yorkshire, in the later years of the Napoleonic Wars and the time of the Luddite riots which were caused by the introduction of new machines that replaced human labour. Robert Gerard Moore, a mill owner, decides despite the mood of the time to buy the latest labour-saving devices. His workers threaten to destroy the mill and eventually to take his life. To improve his lot, Robert attempts to marry the heiress Shirley Keeldar who believes she loves him. Bronte introduces a true love interest in Robert's cousin Caroline Helstone and out of the murky social conflicts and poverty we reach something of a resolution. Shirley is characteristic of the 1840s and 1850s trend of the social class conflict novel (with Dickens and Disraeli) and also tackles the issue of the need for useful employment for women | ||||||||
Table of contents | ||||||||
Chapter 1 | ||||||||
Chapter 2 | ||||||||
Chapter 3 | ||||||||
Chapter 4 | ||||||||
Chapter 5 | ||||||||
Chapter 6 | ||||||||
Chapter 7 | ||||||||
Chapter 8 | ||||||||
Chapter 9 | ||||||||
Chapter 10 | ||||||||
Chapter 11 | ||||||||
Chapter 12 | ||||||||
Chapter 13 | ||||||||
Chapter 14 | ||||||||
Chapter 15 | ||||||||
Chapter 16 | ||||||||
Chapter 17 | ||||||||
Chapter 18 | ||||||||
Chapter 19 | ||||||||
Chapter 20 | ||||||||
Chapter 21 | ||||||||
Chapter 22 | ||||||||
Chapter 23 | ||||||||
Chapter 24 | ||||||||
Chapter 25 | ||||||||
Chapter 26 | ||||||||
Chapter 27 | ||||||||
Chapter 28 | ||||||||
Chapter 29 | ||||||||
Chapter 30 | ||||||||
Chapter 31 | ||||||||
Chapter 32 | ||||||||
Chapter 33 | ||||||||
Chapter 34 | ||||||||
Chapter 35 | ||||||||
Chapter 36 | ||||||||
Chapter 37 | ||||||||
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