Of all the characters in all the Brontë sisters’ novels, Martin Yorke, who appears in Charlotte Brontë’s socio-historical novel Shirley, is my favourite.
Shirley (1849) is set in rural Yorkshire in 1811/12 against a background of industrial unrest, of violent opposition to the introduction of machinery in the local textile industry.
Charlotte Brontë intended Shirley to be a counterpoint to her first novel, Jane Eyre, which was considered to be melodramatic and unrealistic. Shirley was to be political, significant, true to life and, in her own words, “real, cool and solid, as unromantic as a Monday morning.”
Similarly, Martin Yorke is far from being a dominant, dangerous, glamorous, smouldering, rugged romantic hero like the demonic duo of Heathcliff and Mr Rochester. Martin is nobody’s fantasy ideal man: he is a funny, greedy, clever, mischievous schoolboy who in my opinion is worth more than both those bad Byronic boyos put together.
Martin Yorke is only a minor character in Shirley, but the scenes I most enjoy in the book are the ones that he appears in. His antics and sayings remind me not only of Rudyard Kipling’s Stalky, but also of people I have known in real life. Charlotte Brontë modelled him on the brother of a close friend of hers.
Shirley (1849) is set in rural Yorkshire in 1811/12 against a background of industrial unrest, of violent opposition to the introduction of machinery in the local textile industry.
Charlotte Brontë intended Shirley to be a counterpoint to her first novel, Jane Eyre, which was considered to be melodramatic and unrealistic. Shirley was to be political, significant, true to life and, in her own words, “real, cool and solid, as unromantic as a Monday morning.”
Similarly, Martin Yorke is far from being a dominant, dangerous, glamorous, smouldering, rugged romantic hero like the demonic duo of Heathcliff and Mr Rochester. Martin is nobody’s fantasy ideal man: he is a funny, greedy, clever, mischievous schoolboy who in my opinion is worth more than both those bad Byronic boyos put together.
Martin Yorke is only a minor character in Shirley, but the scenes I most enjoy in the book are the ones that he appears in. His antics and sayings remind me not only of Rudyard Kipling’s Stalky, but also of people I have known in real life. Charlotte Brontë modelled him on the brother of a close friend of hers.
Introducing Martin
Martin Yorke is 15 years old at the time of his big scene; he has two brothers who are older than he is; he sometimes proposes starting for Australia to obtain some freedom and escape the tyranny of Matthew, the favoured eldest son.
Martin attends the local grammar school; he likes to read books of fairy tales, but only in secret. Food and adventures are his main interests.
Martin has a low opinion of ‘womenites’:
"I mean always to hate women. They're such dolls; they do nothing but dress themselves finely, and go swimming about to be admired. I'll never marry. I'll be a bachelor."
His views change after a chance encounter with neighbour Caroline Helstone, a damsel in distress.
Martin and Caroline’s momentous meeting
Martin’s big moment comes when mill owner and neighbour Robert Moore is badly injured when he is shot by a vengeful rioter after an unsuccessful attack on his mill. Robert is brought to the Yorkes’ house so that Mrs Yorke, Martin’s gloomy and oppressive mother, can nurse him. Moore’s sister Hortense spends a lot of time at the Yorkes’ house, and the two women, together with a huge, rough old dragon of a nurse installed at the orders of the doctor, hold him captive, not permitting any visitors apart from Louis Moore, Robert’s brother.
Martin is jealous of all the attention – and good food – that Robert is getting; he intercepts a basin of arrowroot one night on its way upstairs, and eats half of it.
Caroline Helstone, a sensitive and delicate young girl, is secretly in love with Robert Moore. Martin’s mother turns her away when she tries to visit him. She is desperate to know how he is doing. She meets Martin by chance in his father’s wood, and gets off to a good start by calling him ‘Martin’ not Mr Martin or Master Martin. The latter would be unforgivably familiar, and the former too formal. However, he can’t resist teasing her when she timidly asks after Robert Moore’s progress: he tells her, just as a joke, that Robert is going to die.
When he realises that he has frightened and upset her very badly, he offers to escort her home and to speak to Robert Moore on her behalf. He knows that his lateness will result in a lecture, enforced early bedtime and nothing but dry bread for his tea, but an adventure is better than muffins and toast.
Once home, he reviews the encounter and decides that he approves of Caroline and will do what he can to help her:
“If she behaves well, and continues to suit me as she has suited me to-day, I may do her a good turn. I rather relish the notion of circumventing my mother and that ogress …”
Martin’s masterplan
Martin’s actions on the following day are described in Chapter XXXIII Martin’s Tactics, in my opinion the best part of the book. He identifies four key objectives that he must achieve in order to arrive at his goal of clearing the coast so that he can bring Caroline and Robert together, unobserved and unopposed.
He starts his plan of action by being apparently unable to eat any breakfast, announcing that he has a severe pain in his heart so cannot go to school. He installs himself in an armchair with a newspaper. Once his family has dispersed, his first exploit is to raid the larder. He needs to find himself something to eat, something to build his energy for the tasks ahead and to compensate for the breakfast he missed – which was only bread & milk anyway. He does himself proud:
“There was store of rosy apples laid in straw upon a shelf; he picked out three. There was pastry upon a dish; he selected an apricot puff and a damson tart. On the plain household bread his eye did not dwell; but he surveyed with favour some currant tea-cakes, and condescended to make choice of one. Thanks to his clasp-knife, he was able to appropriate a wing of fowl and a slice of ham …”
He almost makes it to a safe place with his booty, but is caught in the hall by his brother Matthew, who has returned because he did not believe the story about the pain in the heart. Martin snatches victory from the jaws of defeat: in an instant he sees how he can use this unexpected encounter to further his objectives. He attacks his brother, knowing well that fights such as this cause his mother to go into a fit of hysterics all morning, after which she retires to her bedchamber for the afternoon. This duly happens: the score now is one down, two to go.
Hortense Moore is the next person to be got out of the way. Still pretending to be ill, Martin languishes on the parlour sofa reading a book while Hortense darns some stockings. He knows exactly which of her buttons to press: he casually mentions the Moore’s maid Sarah, and subtly suggests that she is entertaining her three suitors during Hortense’s long absences, feeding them on the best the Moore’s house has to offer. This hits Hortense where it hurts most – the misbehaviour of servants is her main interest and topic of conversation – so she rushes off home to see the iniquity for herself.
The nurse is the final person to be disposed of, and Martin knows exactly how to do it. He takes some keys from his mother’s workbasket and uses them to open a cupboard where the strong drink is kept. He sets out a black bottle and a glass. He induces the nurse to leave her station by telling her that she is invited to take some refreshment in the parlour. He watches her down, he watches her in and closes the door himself. He knows that she will stay there, drinking gin and smoking her pipe, for a long time.
Martin has arranged to meet Caroline in the wood in the afternoon, so he goes off to wait for her. She is expecting him to have seen Robert on her behalf, but he exceeds expectations and delivers more than he promised: after teasing her a little he tells her that she is going to see Robert for herself.
Martin brings Caroline and Robert Moore together
Martin escorts Caroline to his home and announces her arrival to Robert Moore:
"I give you a quarter of an hour," said Martin, as he withdrew, "no more. Say what you have to say in that time. Till it is past I will wait in the gallery; nothing shall approach; I'll see you safe away. Should you persist in staying longer, I leave you to your fate.
He shut the door. In the gallery he was as elate as a king. He had never been engaged in an adventure he liked so well, for no adventure had ever invested him with so much importance or inspired him with so much interest.”
The two people catch up on their news and clear up some misunderstandings. Once 20 minutes have passed, Martin sternly insists on Caroline’s departure despite protests from both of his beneficiaries and forces Caroline out of the house.
Martin’s new schemes come to nothing
The following chapter starts promisingly; it raises our hopes, leading us to expect more of such entertainment. Unfortunately, the previous chapter was the high point of the book where Martin is concerned.
Martin has enjoyed his adventure and the feelings of power and amusement it gave him so much that he decides to stage a repeat performance. He also wants a pretext to see Caroline again as she has made a big impression on him.
In the hope of meeting Caroline, he insists on going to church on Sunday against his parents’ orders; the winter weather is very bad, with deep snowdrifts everywhere, and the family is best off staying at home reading religious works. He suffers from disappointment and gets angry first when he thinks that Caroline is not coming, and again when she arrives in church but does not look his way nor approach him.
She redeems herself when he finds her waiting as he toils through the snow on his way home after the service, telling him that she came out against her mother’s wishes just to see him. Of course, she wants news of Robert Moore. They have a short conversation in which Caroline asks Martin to help her once again, and says that if he won’t she will manage things for herself.
They part, and Martin decides to make life hard for Caroline: he does not think that she will get very far without his assistance, and he plans to arrange several more such meetings before he does anything more for her. He intends to make her work for his help; he wants to discover how far she will go to get her will; he would like to see her cry.
He then returns home to his dinner of roast goose and apple pie, of which he intends to eat hugely.
Unfortunately for Martin, his scientific curiosity and his plan to play cruel little games with Caroline, taking advantage of his power over her, are thwarted by Robert Moore, whose state has improved greatly - perhaps as a result of seeing Caroline, in which case Martin has scored an own goal.
Moore insists on returning to his home, where Caroline is free to visit him.
We hear no more of Martin, apart from being told that he is a bridesman at their wedding. I feel cheated: I wish that Charlotte Brontë had expanded his role as go-between. I think he could have got a lot out of Robert Moore – food for example - in return for taking messages to Caroline.
Shirley is available to read online at Project Gutenberg.
