Throughout Villette there can be found many examples of Bronte's use of imagery to portray the feelings and emotions of her characters. Many episodes in the novel involve friction between individuals and even within the individuals themselves, the imagery employed helps the reader to understand many of these conflicts more clearly.
             The narrator (and protagonist) Lucy Snowe often uses imagery, especially animal imagery, to describe the varying characteristics of those around her. The frivolous and vain Ginevra Fanshawe, for instance, is initially likened to 'a hummingbird' and ' a butterfly' (Ch.14 p.174), but as Lucy grows less tolerant towards her, she is presented as a 'mealy-winged moth' (Ch.24 p.337); Polly, perching on the end of her bed, is described as 'a white bird' although she also possesses the 'supple softness' and 'velvet grace' of 'a kitten'. (Ch.25 p.349); Mme. Beck's furtive ways are compared to those of 'a cat' (Ch.12 p.140), yet she is also said to be as strict 'as a dragon'(Ch. 14 p.176).
             The bestial qualities attached to the various characters not only give the reader an insight into Lucy's views on the individuals concerned, they are also indicative of her affinity with nature; it is often with nature, not people, that Lucy feels more comfortable.
             Certainly in the first half of the novel, images of nature are frequently employed to emphasise Lucy's solitude, indeed the bonds which she makes with nature are the ones from which she often gains the most strength. After the death of Miss Marchmont, for instance, Lucy takes a 'lonely walk' accompanied by 'the moving mystery - The Aurora Borealis.' This 'solemn stranger' is said to bring Lucy 'new power' from which she says she is able to draw in energy (Ch. 5 p.53).
             In the garden of the pensionnat, we read how, on summer evenings, she would 'linger solitary, to keep tryst...