The Endings of Charlotte Brontë's Novels

Abstract 'Open-endedness' has frequently been considered to be a characteristic which differentiates the twentieth-century novel from that of the nineteenth-century. The ending of Villette, however, is one of the most famously ambiguous conclusions in the English novel. It has been less generally recognised that all four of Charlotte Brontë's novels end with questions to which the reader is invited to provide answers. This article examines the endings of The Professor, Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette in relation to some of the moral, social and religious issues raised in these novels and argues that, in every case, Charlotte Brontë leaves significatnt gaps in the narrative and challenges conventional expectations regarding the 'happy ending'.