Lucy Snowe, the primary character of Charlotte Brontë's Villette, unobtrusively surveys events, observes reactions, studies character all as a means of obtaining involvement without being an active participant. In this veiled existence Lucy can experience life but at a safe distance, in shadow, where 'unobserved I could observe' (V, p. 156). However, I contend that it is as a direct result of her silent surveillance, of her unassuming presence, that she is drawn into each occasion of action in her life. Lucy admits that she is incapable of provoking change on her own behalf: 'To sit still in actual circumstances was my instinct […] I must be stimulated into action. I must be goaded, driven, stung, forced to energy' (V, pp. 290, 42). Indeed, Lucy is consistently goaded into action both by circumstance and by false perception. Ultimately, the forced pretence of her shadowy existence serves as a defence mechanism against the agony of deprivation.