The appearance of Charlotte Bronte's novel Villette In 1853 provoked a vigorous critical reaction, for the work marked a departure from the prevailing course of the novel in the mid-nineteenth century. The rise of industrialism and the moral convictions of a growing middleclass readership were helping to shape the novel into a panoramic social commentary. Dickens and Thackeray exemplify the novelists of the period whose works reflect a deep concern for the problems of a society in flux. Charlotte Bronte's concern is rather with the inner life of the individual. In Villette, the frank exploration of the emotional life of the heroine Lucy Snowe elicited attacks on the author's own moral philosophy. The fictional treatment of passion was a violation of conventional Victorian attitudes
