Shirley Put Her Arm round Caroline
Illustrator: T. H. Robinson (1869-1954)
Charlotte Brontë's Shirley, Chapter XIX
Bronteana: The Bronte Studies Blog Archive
In this episode, Shirley Keeldar holds Caroline Helstone as a great cry goes up: the protesting operatives in the textile industry are clashing with their masters during the Luddite riots. Kathleen Renk, like so many other critics, comments on the two women's attachment to each other, especially since "Caroline suggests that Shirley would be enough for her, that she doesn’t need a man ... and Shirley 'need[s no society] but that of Caroline'” (58).
Image download and text by Jacqueline Banerjee.
