Essay Questions

Villanelle is an expression of second chances in love. Support this statement using illustrations from Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion.

Villanelle, as a woman, grows up with quite peculiar characteristics that are quite different from a lady's. She becomes a pickpocket and a gambler. After she takes up a job at a casino, she has to dress like a man on an occasional basis. On one of these occasions, she meets a woman whom she falls in love with immediately. However, when she discovers that the woman who stole her heart is married to a man, she is heartbroken and devastated. When later, Henri tries to escape from Bonaparte's military Patrick and a lady who is later brought out to be Villanelle. Henri and Villanelle then get together, eventually falling in love. In this sense, it can be argued that Villanelle is an epitome of second chances in love as she is able to find love eventually even after being heartbroken initially.

Villanelle in Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion is a symbol of androgyny and gender fluidity. Support using illustrations from the novel.

Winterson explores the concept of androgyny and gender fluidity in The Passion. Having been born into the boatmen clan, Villanelle inherits the webbed feet that run in her family, being the first girl to do so. Additionally, the novel-write gives her qualities that are quite unusual for women. She is a gambler and a pickpocket. When Villanelle gets a job at a casino, she has to dress up as a man occasionally, a situation that causes her to fall in love with another woman. This can be argued as the author’s way of exploring the theme of androgyny in the novel.