The story involves the lives of various people in Briarfield parish. Caroline Helstone is the 18-year-old niece of the Rev. Mr. Helstone. She is unhappy because she is in love with her cousin Robert Moore, a manufacturer, and he doesn't declare any feelings for her. She is also lonely because she feels ill at ease with most people in the neighbourhood. Her father is dead and her mother left her years ago. She tries to become happier by doing good works but it doesn't work. Her visits to her cousins Hortense and Robert are eventually forbidden by her Tory uncle, who disagrees with Robert Moore's Whig politics.
In the meantime, Robert Moore's trade is affected by The Napoleonic Wars. He can't afford to marry as he pleases, and he is near bankruptcy. Some former workers demand the removal of machines, but he can't afford it. He is counselled by Mr. Yorke, a fellow manufacturer, to marry a rich woman. Fortunately, he is helped by loans from his landlord, Shirley Keeldar. From that point, the novel proceeds to follow how the situation plays out before the victory of Duke Wellington, with further characters, such as Shirley's former tutor, Louis Moore, entering the scene.
This work contains the following tropes:
- The Aloner: Caroline for the early part of the novel. She doesn't feel comfortable with the other girls in the neighbourhood. She only relaxes when she meets Shirley, who is confident and charismatic.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Caroline makes one of these unconsciously while on the verge of death.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Averted with Shirley, who loans her tenant money to keep running his mill. Strictly speaking, Shirley isn't an aristocrat; she's a member of the gentry.
- Author Tract: Charlotte Brontë states there is no moral in the book. However, she intended to put in feminist themes, which are echoed by Caroline, who says that single women should be allowed to work.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Averted with Miss Ainley, an ugly spinster who is kind to the cottagers. Though poor, she helps them out and runs charity projects.
- Inverted in the ideas of Mrs. Pryor: her husband was handsome, and initially charming, and abused her, so for a long time afterwards, she felt that beautiful people must be evil, and only plain, simple people could be trusted.
- Better as Friends: It's explicitly stated that no one considered Mr Hall and Caroline to be a couple, even though he prefers her to other women of his acquaintance. Mr. Hall isn't interested in her, being much older and having known her as a child, and Caroline is in love with Robert Moore.
- Contrived Coincidence: When Shirley returns to Briarfield, her ex-governess happens to be Caroline's long-lost mother. When the Sympsons come as well, their son's tutor happens to be Caroline's cousin.
- Church Militant: Mr Helstone defends Briarfield from the violent rioters. Additionally, Charlotte directly says of him:"He should have been a soldier, and circumstances had made him a priest." (Chapter 3)
- Democracy Is Bad: Mr Helstone embodies this trope. He genuinely thinks that the working classes are too violent. In this historical context, possibly justified.
- The Duke of Wellington: Arguably the real hero of the novel. While he doesn't appear as a character in the plot, his victory in battle enables Robert Moore to continue his business and marry Caroline. Caroline and Shirley also idolise the Duke of Wellington, Charlotte Bronte's childhood hero.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Charlotte Brontë lapses into numerous French conversations, not to say descriptions, because it doesn't sound so right in English.
- Averted, when Caroline finds French authors boring and says there aren't two lines of poetry in Corneille and Racine, respected French dramatists. She prefers the works of William Cowper, the Romantic poet.
- Evil Luddite: The factory workers murder a manufacturer and try to attack Robert Moore's factory. They nearly attack Helstone's house but are stopped when the dog barks.
- Food Porn: This trope is typically present anytime food is involved. Especially present in Hollow's Cottage, where Belgian food is served and described; in the Yorkshire tea served by Caroline, in the food stolen by Martin from the kitchen while he plays sick. Also the scene where Malone eats Robert's mutton-chop.
- Gender-Blender Name / Tomboyish Name: "Shirley" was exclusively a masculine name at the time of the novel's publication. Accordingly, the fact of and reason for Shirley Keeldar's name is directly explained in-text (chapter eleven, to be precise): her parents had wanted a boy but gave up. note
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Sir Philip Nunnely. He writes (very bad) poetry and is an intelligent, good-natured gentleman.
- Gold Digger: A male version in Malone. He tries to impress Caroline because he thinks she'll inherit £ 5,000 from her uncle. He stops paying attention to her when Shirley enters the neighbourhood as Shirley is richer.
- Gothic Horror: The Italian by Ann Radcliffe is read by one of the characters, Rose Yorke. A tribute to the literature of the Romantic era presumably.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Martin Yorke hates women at first, saying Caroline is ugly. Later on, he develops a schoolboy crush on her.
- To a lesser extent, Mr. Helstone despises women's intelligence though he enjoys talking to lively women. He's against marriage, though.
- Henpecked Husband: Mrs. Yorke keeps her husband aloof from his other friends, and shuns most of society except for Hortense Moore.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Louis Moore and Mr. Hall. Mr. Hall says Louis is the best man he's met since Cambridge.
- Louis Moore and Henry Sympson, who adores him.
- Shirley and Caroline
- Hot for Teacher: Shirley is in love with her ex-tutor, Louis Moore.
- Inter Generational Friendship: Caroline and William Farren, a married father. They talk about plants and flowers and joke together.
- To some extent with Hortense Moore and Caroline. Hortense is 35, Caroline 18.
- Mrs. Pryor and Shirley. The women Shirley likes are only Caroline and Mrs. Pryor.
- Caroline and Mr Hall, who is 45 and a father figure to her. She seems to love him more than her own uncle.
- Henry Sympson(15) and Louis Moore(30). Henry follows his tutor on visits to the poor in the neighbourhood.
- Mr. Yorke, a married man of 55, and Robert Moore, a young 30-year-old bachelor. Mr. Yorke likes Robert's foreignness having travelled on the Continent in his youth.
- Kissing Cousins: Caroline and Robert are cousins and in love with each other. They marry in the end.
- Henry Sympson appears to have a schoolboy crush on his cousin Shirley, who is 6 years older than him.
- Licked by the Dog: Richard might seem like an uncaring businessman who has no time for softer emotions and plots to marry only for money, but children and animals (Caroline's cat in particular) adore him.
- Little Professor Dialog: Rose Yorke, who goes into feminist polemic at the age of 12. She even tells Caroline, who is 18, that she ought to wander the world! Matthew Yorke, a teenager, defines sentimental as being of refined notions, in order to argue that it would be praising Robert Moore to be called sentimental.
- Long-Lost Relative: Mrs. Pryor is Caroline's long-lost mother whom she left as a young child.
- Love Triangle: Caroline is in love with Robert, who can't afford to marry her and who plans to marry Shirley, who unknown to them, is in love with Louis.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Arguably Shirley and Louis. Shirley is aloof to him, tries to speak reasonably, and seems to be all right living without him. Louis on the other hand waxes lyrical in his diary about her and his imaginations regarding orphan girls (yes, she symbolises Shirley).
- Men Are Uncultured: the complaint of the early 19th century critics who read the book. They thought the men were too coarse.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Robert Moore at first. He doesn't like his workmen and has little sympathy for them as he is in debt.
- Miss Mann embodies this trope. She has malicious gossip over everyone, although it's all true. She dislikes pretty young women.
- Mrs. Yorke dislikes lively pretty young women and opposes marriage.
- Mr. Helstone disapproves of marriage.
- Nature Lover: Caroline and Shirley, who walk in the woods. Louis Moore, who sits in the rain to sketch the scenery.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Shirley and Caroline think this. This is why Caroline refuses to show her feelings too much to Robert, and why Shirley is cold and distant to Louis.
- Old Maid: Miss Ainley and Miss Mann.
- Oop North: Takes place in Yorkshire. Mr. Yorke speaks in the Yorkshire dialect.
- Playing Sick: Martin Yorke pretends to be sick so he doesn't have to go to school and can help Caroline meet Robert in secret. One of the funnier scenes in the novel.
- Properly Paranoid: Mr. Sympson. He thinks the reason Shirley won't marry any of her rich suitors is she wants to marry an unsuitable poor man. Even though the unsuitable man he suspects isn't the right man. She actually wants to marry Louis, who is a poor tutor.
- Mrs. Pryor to some extent. She is against marriage due to her abusive husband and doesn't approve of Robert Moore. She has a point because at one point Robert Moore was planning on discarding his hopes to marry Caroline to marry Shirley for money.
- Proud Merchant Race: The Moores, who were a respectable mercantile family in Belgium and well-educated.
- Mr. Yorke, who is proud of being one of the oldest families in the district. Dislikes the aristocrats and is proud of his Yorkshire roots. He owns a successful mill.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Caroline and Shirley. Caroline is shy, quiet, introverted, and middle-class; she doesn't stand out and isn't popular. Shirley is confident, more vocal, and wealthy; her beauty stands out and she is well-liked by the neighbourhood.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: After the deaths of her sisters, Charlotte Brontë's writing became more emotional, less realistic, and distraught. This can be seen in the chapter "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" and afterwards.
- The incident of Shirley being bitten by a dog she's afraid is rabid, and secretly cauterizing the wound and not telling anyone is something that actually happened to Emily Brontë
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Or rather rich suitors and poor suitor. Sir Philip Nunnely, Sam Wynne, and other rich gentlemen wish to marry Shirley, as do the poor tutor Louis Moore.
- Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: Caroline and Shirley have one conversation on this. Caroline prefers poetry written with feelings and sincerity and not to show learning and attainment. The Enlightenment poetry tended to show learning, rhetoric, and wit. The Romantics preferred strong emotion.
- Shown Their Work: Charlotte Bronte. She ordered old copies of the newspaper from the archives to get a feel of the historical events.
- Sibling Rivalry: The Yorke boys. Matthew Yorke likes to torment his younger brother Martin, who lashes out at Matthew. Martin plans to get a larger slice of apple pie than his older brother.
- Robert and Louis plan to marry the same woman, unknown to each other. However, Robert is not in love with Shirley whereas Louis is.
- Sinister Minister: Moses Barraclough. He's a lay-preacher, but he acts like a clergyman and threatens Mr. Helstone.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Caroline loves only Robert Moore and wants to marry only him and no one else. She fades into a decline because she thinks he wants to marry Shirley.
- Averted with Robert. He loves Caroline but proposes to Shirley because he is poor and needs her money.
- Shirley loves only Louis Moore.
- Averted with Mr. Helstone and Mr. Yorke. Mr. Helstone, years after his wife's death, contemplates marrying Hannah Sykes. Mr. Yorke, though upset he lost Mary Cave to Mr. Helstone, eventually marries another woman.
- Spirited Young Lady: Shirley. She expresses her opinions on Mr. Yorke's bigotry to him, and openly praises Robert Moore to the skies. Speaks to men on equal terms.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Robert and Caroline. He's in debt, she's suffering from the pangs of love, her uncle doesn't like him, he gets wounded by a gunshot ... and there's the possibility he has to marry Shirley.
- Uptown Girl: The wealthy heiress Shirley is this for the poor tutor Louis.
- The Vicar: Mr. Helstone, Mr. Hall, and Dr. Boultby. Mr. Hall especially is the epitome of this trope. He's good-natured and liked by everybody, and helps to organise charities.
- Mr. Helstone is one of those honourable but inflexible Rectors. He dislikes Jacobins and Radicals and is a High Tory.
- Victorian Novel Disease: Caroline fades into a decline and nearly dies.
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Write Who You Know: Definitely appears in this book. Many Yorkshire people recognised the characters' originals. Mr. Hall was based on the Rev. W.M. Heald. The Yorke family is based on the Taylors, her friends. Mr. Helstone is based on Rev. Roberson.
