Charlotte Bronte is a famous English writer, a supporter of the feminist movement in literature. The author of the cult novel “Jane Eyre”, beloved by readers all over the world, based on the plot of which the well-known film was made. The writer also created the novels “Town”, “Shirley”, “Teacher” and “Emma”.
Childhood and youth
The future novelist was born on April 21, 1816 in West Yorkshire, a historic county in the north of England, which is replete with high mountains, endless fields and exceptional fertility. Charlotte was the third child in the family. The writer's father, Patrick Bronte, an Englishman of Irish descent, served in the church, and his mother, Maria Branwell, was a housewife.
During the Enlightenment, medicine was not developed. The incidence of scarlet fever, diphtheria and cholera increased throughout the world, and infant mortality also progressed. But the children of Patrick and Mary miraculously survived. Charlotte was brought up in a large family, in which, in addition to her, five girls and one boy grew up.
The youngest, Anne Brontë, became a writer who authored Agnes Gray and The Stranger of Wildfell Hall and composed a number of poems, but did not receive the same fame and fame as her older sisters. The fifth daughter - - also chose a creative path and became the author of the only, but significant novel, Wuthering Heights.
The only son in the family, Patrick Branwell, also became addicted to writing, but later preferred brushes, oil paints and canvas to an inkwell and pen. Thanks to this artist, modern readers have an idea of what novelists really looked like, because Patrick painted numerous portraits of his famous female relatives.
In 1820, the Brontës moved to the village of Hohert, located in West Yorkshire. Patrick was appointed to the position of vicar at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. On September 15, 1821, an irreparable grief happened in the house: Maria died of uterine cancer, so the hardships and troubles of looking after children fell on the men’s shoulders.
In 1824, Patrick sent his daughters to study literacy at Cowan Bridge School. The future writer was not a child prodigy, but teachers said that the eight-year-old girl was much smarter than her age. However, her knowledge was fragmentary: Charlotte could not count and knew nothing about grammar and ethics.
Charlotte later recalled that the boarding house had poor conditions that undermined the already fragile health of her older sisters. In the winter of 1825, Mary contracted tuberculosis, and three months later Elizabeth was taken to bed from consumption. At that time and until the 20th century, tuberculosis was considered a deadly and practically incurable disease. The girls were unable to recover and soon died. Patrick, concerned that the epidemic would affect his other daughters, took Emily and Charlotte to Howherth.
Around the same time, while at home in Hohert Parsonage, Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell began writing in order to dilute the gray everyday life with bright colors. In their free time, the sisters sat down at the table and came up with Byronic adventure stories that took place in imaginary magical worlds and kingdoms. Charlotte and her brother wrote a work about a fictional English colony in Africa and came up with a utopian capital - the Glass City. And Emily and Anne became the authors of a series of stories called “The Chronicles of Gondal”, but this cycle has not survived. There is an opinion that the Brontës destroyed the manuscripts shortly before their death.
In 1831–1832, the future novelist continued her studies and entered Roe Head School, where she showed her best side. The post of director of this educational institution was occupied by Miss Margaret Wooler, with whom Brontë maintained friendly relations until the end of her life, although conflicts also occurred between the ladies. Charlotte also became friends with two friends, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor, with whom she carried on numerous correspondence.
After receiving her diploma, Charlotte began to earn her living through hard work as a teacher. But the girl did not like the path of a teacher, which contrasted with the imaginary worlds created by her brother and sisters. The writer did not consider the mundane profession of a teacher as something unusually bright that could provide background for flights of imagination and creativity. Brontë tried to sharpen her pen, but there was absolutely not enough time for literary activity. Therefore, only a small part of the poems and excerpts of works were written then, which were created in the short weeks of school holidays.
It is worth saying that Charlotte cared about the education of her sisters. After consulting with her father, she brought Emily to school with her and paid for her education out of her own pocket. But the girl was unable to get along in a place far from home with different laws and morals. Ultimately, Emily decided to head back to Howerth. Then Anne took her place. Later, Row Head School moved to the seedy town of Dewsbury Moor, where a gloomy and unhealthy atmosphere reigned. Under the pretext that the new area was affecting their health and state of mind, Charlotte and Anne left the educational institution.
Literature
Once said:
“A truly serious attitude towards writing is one of two indispensable conditions. The second, unfortunately, is talent.”
Charlotte possessed these qualities in full from early childhood: Brontë wrote her first poem as a 13-year-old girl (her first prose was written at 10). Feeling a natural gift, the future novelist began to act. The girl sent several debut poems to the eminent English poet, prose writer and representative of the “lake school” Robert Southey. This master of the pen is famous for the fairy tale about the girl Goldilocks, who visited the three bears (thanks to the translation, the Russian reader knows this work as “Masha and the Three Bears”).
Unfortunately, Charlotte's manuscript, sent to the master, has sunk into oblivion. Therefore, biographers do not know which of the poems the girl submitted to the writer for trial. But thanks to Robert’s answer, which has survived to this day, it can be assumed that Charlotte’s lines were full of exaltation and pretentiously sublime phrases. Saunty advised the aspiring poetess to cool down. In his opinion, Charlotte was overwhelmed with enthusiasm, and this feeling is harmful to mental health. Robert also believed that for young ladies, typical female duties should come before creativity.
The master's answer had a positive effect on Bronte: the girl stopped writing poetry and turned to prose, and also preferred realism to romanticism. In 1833, Charlotte Brontë wrote her early novel, The Green Dwarf. On Robert's advice, the girl hid her true name from the public eye and used a non-trivial pseudonym - Lord Charles Albert Florian Wellesley. This work, which is designed in the Gothic style, shows the influence of the founder of the historical novel -. Charlotte's manuscript is a kind of allusion to the master's work, which is called “Black Dwarf”.
Despite her young age (Charlotte was 17 at the time), Brontë uses a complex literary device and writes a “story within a story.” The plot of "The Green Dwarf" is built around a certain Lord Charles, immersed in the exciting story of his friend - Mr. John Bud, who at one time served as an officer. The events taking place take place in the world of the Glass City, invented by the Bronte sisters. Some critics agreed that the novel cannot be correlated with Charlotte's youth cycle "Legends of Angria", although "The Green Dwarf" is included in the collection.
In 1840, the writer conceived the plot of the novel “Ashworth” (which remained unfinished). The work was to be based on the biography of Alexander Ashworth, who is a reflection of the saying “there are still devils in still waters.” Alexander is neat and smart, but he has an obstinate disposition. The young man does not get along with his father, so, like a prodigal son, he leaves home away to roam the expanses of London.
Charlotte Brontë's novels "The Teacher" and "Shirley" It would seem that Charlotte's story could grow into a popular book, but the writer Hartley Coleridge, to whom Brontë wrote a letter, criticized the beginnings of the work to smithereens. Charlotte agreed with the opinion of the writer and completed work on the book. The Teacher is Brontë's debut serious novel, published posthumously in 1857. The writer tried to sell this work to editors, but her attempts were in vain, because the publishers stated that the work lacked fascination.
Charlotte Bronte's book "Jane Eyre" Charlotte's life was full of scribbled drafts and literary ups and downs. But this writer went down in history thanks to the world famous novel “Jane Eyre,” which was published in 1847. This book tells the story of a little orphaned girl, Jane, who is thrown to the margins of life. The heroine’s only relative, Mrs. Reed, does not like her niece and tries to find an opportunity to punish the “offending” girl.
Soon Eyre goes to school, her relationship with the students is developing well, but a typhus epidemic is progressing in the educational institution. Thus, Jane's best friend dies. The plot of this novel is trivial and tells about the life of a little man. But Bronte was not used to using the classic clichés that the novelists of the Enlightenment were guilty of. For example, Jane never reconciled with her dying aunt.
Personal life
As you know, the white streak of life is replaced by a black streak in the blink of an eye. It would seem that Charlotte achieved success and became a recognizable writer, but irreparable grief happened - she lost her brother and two sisters. Emily and Anne died of tuberculosis. Branwell was a heavy drinker in the last years of his life. This habit only worsened his physical condition. The young man died of bronchitis. In the end, Charlotte and Patrick were left alone.
In the writer’s life there were many gentlemen who sought to offer her their hand and heart. There were enough such proposals in Charlotte's life, but she was in no hurry to get married. One day Brontë met the assistant priest Arthur Bell Nicholls, who became Charlotte's chosen one. Initially, the writer's future husband made a far from pleasant impression on her. Brontë wrote in her diary that Arthur had a narrow mind and a limited outlook. The wedding took place in the summer of 1854. The couple had no children.
Death
In the winter of 1855, the novelist took to bed, her condition deteriorated sharply. The doctor assured that the malaise was due to signs of pregnancy. Charlotte experienced nausea every day and was unable to eat, causing her to develop signs of anorexia.
In the spring of that year, Charlotte Bronte died. The true cause of death of the great writer has not been established. There is an opinion that Charlotte died from tuberculosis, toxicosis or typhus, which her elderly maid suffered from.
Bibliography
- 1833 - “The Green Dwarf”
- 1840 - "Ashworth"
- 1846 - “Poems of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell”
- 1846 - “Teacher”
- 1847 - "Jane Eyre"
- 1849 - "Shirley"
- 1852 - “Town”
- 1860 - "Emma"
😉 Greetings to my regular and new readers! The article “Charlotte Brontë: biography, interesting facts” contains a brief history of the life of the famous English writer, which is no less interesting in her books.
Brontë is one of my favorite writers. I remember I was thirteen or fourteen years old when I first read her novel Jane Eyre, which captivated me.
I read this book avidly, plunging headlong into the history of the characters. It felt like I was there, in the thick of events and adventures. Having grown up, I re-read it again.
The author deeply and sensitively described the character and feelings of her characters, putting pieces of her soul into them, sharing with them her character and views. Let's take a closer look at the fate of the English writer who won millions of hearts.
Biography of Charlotte Brontë
She was born on April 21st (zodiac sign - 1816 in Thornton, Yorkshire and was the third child of six children in a clergyman's family. In 1820, the family moved to Howerth. Unfortunately, the girl lost her mother at the age of five.
Charlotte Brontë 1816-1855
Aunt Elizabeth Branwell began to look after the orphaned children. The little girl soon suffered another blow: when she was eight years old, her older sisters Maria and Elizabeth fell ill with consumption and passed away.
This grief gave her responsibility for her three younger children, which strengthened her personality and character. She will describe the death of her sisters in the book “Jane Eyre”. She was strict, intelligent, ambitious and had high moral principles.
Author of "Jane Eyre"
Which of the heroines of her books do these character traits resemble? Jane Eyre, of course! The author completed her studies at the Clergie Daughters school. She described her years of study during this period in the novel “Jane Eyre.” Charlotte worked as a school teacher for three years.
In the period from 1842 to 1843. she lived in Madame Eger's boarding house in Brussels, where, as fate would have it, she met her first love, her teacher, Constantine. This experience of feelings will greatly help in writing novels in the future. The girl also knew handicrafts and painted beautifully.
The late mother wanted to see her girls as governesses, and Charlotte began working as a governess at the age of 23, but she did not like this job: in three months she changed two jobs - in the Sidwick and White families. Since childhood, she dreamed of being a writer.
In 1846 she persuaded her sisters to publish a collection of poems under the male pseudonyms Carrer, Ellis and Acton Bell, but it was a commercial failure. However, by the end of 1847, all three sisters' debut novels had been published, and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was an incredible success.
After the publication of the book “Shirley” in 1849, rumors spread that a simple teacher was hiding under the male pseudonym Currer Bell. She became a celebrity in literary circles, and the publication of Villette in 1853 only strengthened her popularity.
Three Brontë sisters: Emily, Anne and Charlotte
Marriage and death
In December 1854, the writer married the priest (father's assistant) Arthur Bell Nicholls. Their union was happy, but did not last long and ended tragically. Charlotte died while carrying a child in the third trimester, at the age of 38, without ever experiencing the wonderful feelings of motherhood.
Her husband was devastated by the loss of his beloved wife and child. This was precisely the end that her father feared, knowing about his daughter’s poor health. He understood that she would not be able to bear and give birth to a child. And he turned out to be right.
Poor Charlotte's father! Imagine a prosperous family of a priest: a beloved wife and six children... but trouble comes - the wife dies. Then, one by one, the children pass away. The only daughter left was Charlotte, who also died... There are no words for what Patrick Bronte had to endure!
She was buried in the family crypt in St Michael's Church, Howerth.
The English poetess and novelist will live forever in the characters of her novels. Her books are read and reread generation after generation. The writer's literary heritage is great: apart from five novels, the full list of works is too extensive!
Charlotte Brontë: biography (video)
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Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816 in West Yorkshire and was the third child (there were six of them - Mary, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily and Anne) in the family of the Anglican clergyman Patrick Bronte (originally from Ireland) and his wife Mary, nee Branwell.
When Charlotte was eight years old, her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, died of consumption. This event made Charlotte responsible for the family, and the oldest of the remaining four children, which strengthened her personality and spirit.
The writer spent eight months in 1824 at Clergy Daughters School, in the village of Cowan Bridge, which served as the prototype for Lowood School in Jane Eyre. She then spent two years as a student at Roe Head School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a teacher there for a further three years. It was at Roe Head that she made two true friends - Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. Then, in 1842-1843, she was in the boarding house of Madame Heger (Brussels), where she fell in love with her own teacher, Constantin Heger. Between 1824-1831, she and her brother and sisters were homeschooled by their father and Aunt Branwell. Charlotte was a great artist, needlewoman, and, of course, writer.
Mrs Brontë wanted her daughters to become governesses. Charlotte changed two jobs - for three months (in 1839) she lived with the Sidwick family in Stonegape, in the area of Loserdale. Then she spent six months with the White family in the Upperwood House mansion in Rawdon. Charlotte did not like her job, and suggested that the three of her sisters, Emily and Anne, open their own school in Haworth. Aunt Branwell wanted to arrange the financial side of the matter, but these plans never came to fruition.
What Charlotte really wanted was to be a writer. From a very young age, she and her brother Branwell practiced writing poems and stories, relying on their rich imagination and the fictional world of "Angria". As Charlotte herself claimed, her mind was so fertile that before the age of thirteen she wrote much more than after.
In 1846, Charlotte convinced her sisters to publish a collection of poems under the male pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell - it was a commercial failure. However, by the end of 1847, all three sisters' debut novels had been published, and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was an incredible success.
After the publication of the book “Shirley” in 1849, rumors spread that a simple teacher was hiding under the male pseudonym Currer Bell. Charlotte became a celebrity in literary circles, and the publication of Villette in 1853 only strengthened her reputation.
In December 1852, Charlotte received a proposal of marriage from her father's vicar, Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte's father was against this union, partly because he considered his daughter too sick to bear a child and give birth to him without dire consequences, and, in order not to upset her father, Charlotte refused Arthur. Despite this, Bell Nicholls did not give up and continued his courtship, and the couple eventually married on June 29, 1854. The marriage was happy, but very short. Charlotte Brontë died in her final stage of pregnancy on March 31, 1855.
Career: Writer
Place of Birth: —
Charlotte Bronte (married - Nicholls - Beyll) is an outstanding English writer (1816 - 1855), author of the famous novels: "Jane Eyre", "The Town". "Teacher". She had an amazing power of imagination, what Goethe called the secret of Genius - the ability to instantly penetrate into the individuality and peculiarities of perception of completely strangers and fictional images. She died at the age of 39 from transient consumption.
Every day, when she woke up and pulled back the curtain, she saw the same picture, striking in its gloomy calm and gloom: the crosses and graves of the village cemetery in Haworth, and a little in the distance - the outlines of the moorland: Emilia described it so accurately and subtly in her novel "Wuthering Heights" once upon a time! When? It seemed that it was finally recently: But Emilia died. Agnes* (Agnes Gray is the heroine of the only novel by the youngest of the Bronte sisters, Anne, her beloved image is the author.) also died. No, Agnes is alive, over there on the shelf is her book of poems: Here hangs her shawl on the back of an old shabby chair: My God, because Agnes is Anne! And Anne? And Anne died. Charlotte, heavy with weakness and pregnancy, touched her damp forehead with her hand. He was burning: His thoughts began to get confused again.
You should lie down in a bed. But Arthur will be unhappy again. She has already almost abandoned the monastery, does not take care of the housework: Lunches and dinners alone did not particularly appeal to the already constantly irritated Arthur.. She must try to go down, but she almost doesn’t have the strength! She took a few steps from the window and sank into a chair that stood nearby. For a moment it seemed to her that she was floating somewhere in a boat, and Annie was standing on the river bank and stretching out her hands to her, shouting: “Courage, Charlotte, courage!”: These were the last words that Charlotte heard clearly. Or so she thought. On March 31, 1855, Charlotte Bronte, the last descendant of the extinct Bronte family, the little “English Joan of Arc” (W. Thackeray) passed away.
Outside the windows the wind still howled despondently, blowing in from the moors of Haworth.
...Some time later, Arthur Nicholls Bayle, the parish priest of Haworth, received a message from Elizabeth Gaskell from London, asking permission to come to him to look at the archive of his late wife, the famous writer Charlotte Brontë. Mr. Nicholls-Bayle answered irritably “that there is no archive, since Madame Nicholls was in the past just a pastor’s daughter and a pastor’s mistress, and not a literary celebrity!” Confused Gaskell had to be content with meager material: the memoirs of a few friends of Charlotte Brontë, the “little fairy from Haworth,” an analysis of her four novels and scraps of correspondence with Thackeray and several publishers: You and I will have to reproduce the path of Charlotte’s first biographer. Despite the legendary fame of the writer, many facts from her short life remain unknown to the Russian reader, and what we know is so sad and at the same time commonplace that we are forced to talk more about the power of the gift and imagination with which the writer created her works than about an eventful life that gave an abundance of impressions...
Charlotte Brontë was born on June 21, 1816, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, to the clergyman Patrick Brontë and his wife Mary. In addition to Charlotte, the family had five more children. In 1820, the Brontë family moved to Haworth, a remote place in Middle England, where Patrick Brontë received a small parish. There, in 1821, Mary Bronte died, leaving orphans in the hands of her unmarried sister-in-law and husband. After the death of his wife, Papa Patrick, a once joyful uncle who loved to sing beautiful spiritual songs in the evenings and composed verses (moreover, he published two small volumes with his meager funds!) withdrew into himself, became gloomy, forgetting about poems, songs and smiles: He took care as best he could about raising children and their education. He gave his daughters, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emilia, to the Cone Bridge Orphanage, but the conditions there were so harsh that soon the two older girls, fragile and sickly from birth, died of transient consumption! Two more mounds with the surname "Bronte" appeared in Haworth Cemetery. The frightened dad took Emilia and Charlotte from the boarding house and from now on their strict aunt was in charge of their upbringing and education, or rather, books from their father’s library. Patrick Bronte treasured his library and meticulously compiled it, sometimes ordering extremely expensive books from London. He did not forbid the children to absorb their text, but in return he demanded complete submission to a strict daily routine and the strictest silence during his classes! He prepared so meticulously and nervously for his stern sermons that he was distracted by the slightest noise!
In addition, he received parishioners with complaints and requests, so that the children could not talk too loudly or run around the house with a ball and dolls, although they occasionally wanted to do this!
Instead of the forbidden running around, the small Bronte family found other, no less exciting activities for themselves: inventing a play for a home puppet theater, publishing their own literary magazine...
The scenery for the plays was simply painted by the smaller and adored brother Branwell, whose gift as a subtle portrait painter and artist manifested itself extremely prematurely. The first of the plays was called “Young People” and told about fabulous soldiers performing feats in the name of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington. This play was performed in the Brontë house for a single month, but I did not get tired of it. True, the only spectator was the old grumpy maid Tabby. But the children were incredibly happy about her presence!
But dad remained silent as before, ate alone, wrote his sermons, gave orders to the cook in a sharp voice, and another time, in a fit of unaccountable melancholy, more like madness, he jumped out into the yard and fired into the air from an ancient gun. Before you run out of ammo!
Instead of playfully boring plays and dramas, the restless Charlotte, who became the eldest after the death of her two sisters, soon came up with a new fun: she gave everyone an imaginary island, asked them to populate it with characters, and record their adventures and daily existence on these magical islands in a small book - a journal or random end of the day to hum aloud in turns. This is how the magical power of Angria arose, the prototype, the source of the poetic world of all three Bronte sisters. In Angria there were knights and wizards, dukes and pirates, beautiful ladies and cruel queens: The Duke of Zamorna, the ruler of Angria, not only fought successfully, but also weaved skillful love intrigues, in the description and invention of which Charlotte was a considerable master! Sitting in a small room on the second floor and looking out the window, she did not notice the dullness of the landscape, the low gray clouds, the gusts of wind. She was one hundred percent immersed in the World of her hero’s imagined passions. Sometimes she herself didn’t know what was more real: the boring gray existence of Haworth or the stormy chronicle of Angria?! “Few people will believe,” she wrote in her diary, that imaginary fun can bring such happiness!
However, Patrick Bronte did not really like the fact that children, having never received a serious education, grew up too quiet and withdrawn. He decided to send one of his daughters to the excellent Margaret Wooler boarding school, famous for its advanced and humane (they did not use corporal punishment!) methods of education. Emilia refused to go to the boarding house. Charlotte left. Subsequently, she recalled with great tenderness and warmth the time spent in Rowhead, at the Wooler boarding house, where she received not only a serious education, which completely developed her natural gift for writing, but also loyal friends who supported her throughout her life. She graduated from it in 1832, and from 1835 to 1838. She worked there as a teacher of French and drawing. All the teaching skills, pedagogical reflections of the thoughtful and loving student Miss Brontë were later reflected on the pages of her novels.
The youngest of the sisters, Anne, also brilliantly graduated from the same boarding school in 1838, by that time she had also begun to engage in writing.
By nature, all Brontës had a cheerful, lively and hardworking character; they liked music, singing, witty and lively conversations, and solving charades and puzzles. The sisters, oh, how they didn’t want to return to their “housing - a prison open to all winds” (R. Fox)! They found a way out: Charlotte began implementing the project for the future “private school of the three Bronte sisters in Haworth” (counting on an inheritance from her aunt and her small savings), and Anne managed to secure a position as a governess in the wealthy Robinson family. Branwell was also placed there, after his unsuccessful attempt to conquer the elegant, capricious London public with his artistry. The exhibition of his drawings was severely criticized in one of the capital's newspapers, Branwell started drinking out of chagrin, squandered all the remaining coins that his dad and sisters collected bit by bit and returned to Haworth, inventing a colorful legend about how he was robbed.
Having accepted the position of a home art teacher in the Robinson family, Branwell soon came up with nothing better than to fall in love with the mistress of the house and fervently confess everything to her. Mrs. Robinson was outraged by the insolence of the “teacher”; Branwell was thrown out of the house in disgrace, and along with him, Anne also lost her position.
This incident irrevocably threw Branwell out of balance; in addition to daily drunkenness, he became addicted to opium and existence in the house became like absolute hell!
Everyone was in constant tension every day, waiting for their brother’s next wild trick! There was still not enough money to create a school, the plans had to be forgotten for a while, but the sisters did not give up!
In 1842, Charlotte and Emilia Bronte went to improve their knowledge at the pedagogical boarding school of Eger, in Brussels. Charlotte's godmother provided money for the trip.
It must be said that Charlotte Brontë went to Belgium not only for the knowledge that confirmed her title as a teacher, but also in an attempt to let go of the memory of Patrick Brontë’s handsome and charming assistant, the young priest William Weightman, who greatly interested her and completely broke the heart of the youngest, Anne. William was a well-educated man, a wonderful and sensitive friend: but here’s the problem: he was engaged to someone else! Charlotte, competing with her sister for William's sympathy, was the first to come to her senses, trying to hide her own feelings, as is not forbidden further. But this did not change the situation in any way. William, in reaction to Anne's confession, only confirmed his love for others. Charlotte left. Soon after this departure, she learned that Weightman had gotten married, and a year later she heard about his untimely death.
“Passionate love is madness, and, as a rule, remains unanswered!” — Charlotte solemnly lectured her hopelessly in love sister in one of her letters. She had the right to scribble like that.
She herself was whirled by a whirlwind of insanely unrequited passion for a married man, Monsieur Paul Heger, the owner of the boarding house, the father of five children. The smart, hot-tempered, charming and at the same time egocentrically tough Frenchman Eger initially liked the ardent and enthusiastic adoration of Charlotte, a girl “very smart and serious, but with an overly sensitive heart and an imagination without limits!” Very quickly, Monsieur Heger began to repent of encouraging Charlotte’s love, and when the secret of her heart was revealed to Madame Heger, he completely lost interest in the student and tried in every possible way to shun her. Life in a boarding house, side by side with a loved one, who did not notice her at a distance of two steps, became unbearable for the impressionable, vulnerable Charlotte! But, possessing a strong character, she calmly collected her things, carefully packing all the small gifts and notes from her beloved, said goodbye to the inhabitants of the boarding house, and only after that notified Eger himself about her departure and departure from Belgium. He seemed confused, but did not restrain the “strange little governess.” Let him leave with his silent sister, always writing something in a notebook! He is calmer. Madame Eger's jealousy will end, not so unreasonably! This, of course, is all that is needed, but why so much ardor in ordinary flirting?!
Charlotte returned home with a broken heart. Emilia was hovering somewhere in dreams and clouds, constantly writing something; Anne also wandered around the house like a thoughtful shadow. Branwell continued to drink, and in the short breaks between binges he grabbed brushes and paints: At times, Charlotte wanted to sob loudly from anguish! She could hardly contain herself. And in the evenings she sat down at the table and poured out all her feelings in letters to her beloved. Letters that she did not send to him, because she knew that she would not receive an answer: One of them contains the following lines: “Monsieur, the poor need the cat to cry for food, they only ask for the crumbs that fall from the table of the rich. But if they are deprived of these crumbs, they will die of hunger. I also don’t need full love from those I love: But you showed petty interest in me: and I want to preserve that same interest, I cling to it, as if a dying person clings to being!”
What can we add to this piercing cry of a soul mortally wounded by love?: Nothing. Confused to remain silent: Letters - bright, impetuous, filled with emotions, feelings, desires and passion - after Charlotte's death a single box was found... She wrote them every evening, internally talking with her loved one!*
(*Not published in Russian, known only fragmentarily. - Author.)
It seems that Charlotte decided to write the novel “Teacher” - a “biography” of her feelings for Eger only because she passionately wanted to rid her soul of oppressive melancholy, to distract her from the abyss of madness, so as not to feel the hysterical cough of Ann, who always had a cold, and drunken people. Branwell's songs, the dull murmur of prayers and psalms in my father's room.
Somehow she accidentally opened Emilia’s album and read with delight her verses, which were unlike ordinary women’s poetry - too fast-paced, bright, laconic. Charlotte was so amazed by all this that she decided to publish a collection of the sisters’ poetry at her own expense, hiding the women’s true names under the pseudonym: “The Bell Brothers.” In those days, women who squeaked were looked at askance, and Charlotte too well remembered the rebuke of the famous Robert Southey, to whom she sent back her verses a few years ago. Southey scolded them and advised Charlotte to do a truly womanly thing: get married and build news, and not meddle in the writing world! A collection of poems by the Bell Brothers was published in May 1846.
He earned high critical praise. The verses of Alice Bell (Emilia) were especially noted.
Inspired by the success, Charlotte decided to publish a book of prose by the Bell Brothers. She proposed three things for publication: her novel “The Teacher,” “Wuthering Heights” for Emilia, and “Agnes Gray” for Anne. Her personal novel was rejected, Emilia’s book was not noticed by critics * (*A deafening fortune awaited her after the death of the twenty-year-old novelist. Robert Fox called this book “a manifesto of English geniuses” - so elatedly soared on the pages of the novel about difficult but true love, handsome, all Emilia’s rebellious spirit, by that time already mortally ill! But that’s a different story - the author), but Anne’s novel was received very favorably by critics and readers.
Charlotte, more rejoicing at her sister’s success than lamenting her failure, showed tremendous strength of spirit, already on October 16, 1847, finishing the newly-written novel “Jane Eyre” - the story of a little governess, poor and ugly, who managed to win the heart of a rich owner, almost disappointed in life. castle with towers - E. Rochester.
We will not retell in this place the contents of a book that the whole world knows by heart and has been reading for the second century! It is romantic and fabulous, this book, and at the same time so real and tragic that it is impossible to tear yourself away from it until the last page: You read it and secretly realize that falling in love, sympathy for a small and thin woman, invariably dressed in black, with huge, half-faced eyes, imperceptibly and forever creeps into your heart, just like falling in love with mysterious and distant England, with its constant fogs, hills, thickets of yew and rose hips, with its always green lawns, clear cool lakes and red brick or gray stone castle towers: In which live - maybe still! - people like little, loving, courageous Jane and the ironic, brilliantly secular and very unhappy Edward Rochester.
Charlotte's novel was a resounding success; few publishers competed with each other in acquiring reprint rights. W. Thackeray invited Charlotte to London, sincerely admiring her talent and wanting to get to know her.
Charlotte, thanks to his invitations, visited the capital several times, met writers and publishers, and attended Thackeray’s lectures on English literature (in 1851).
After reading her second novel, “The Town,” about the fate of the extraordinary girl Lucy Snow, who survived an unhappy love, but retained an unbroken and arrogant spirit, he wrote striking words about Charlotte Brontë, which are very rarely quoted:
“Poor lady with talent! A passionate, small, life-hungry creature, brave, reverent, ugly: Reading her novel, I guess how she lives, and I understand that more than fame and all other heavenly treasures she would like some Tomkins to love her and she loved him!:"
Charlotte still hoped to find love, to heal old wounds. She became seriously interested in the publisher Smith, who reciprocated. By that time, Charlotte had buried her brother Branwell (October 1848), her beloved Emilia (December 18 of the same year, 1848!), and was seriously concerned about the health of the fading, fragile Annie. Together with Smith, they took Annie to sea swimming in Scarborough, (Scotland), but this did not help. She outlived Emilia by only six months: Charlotte was left completely alone, not counting her old father, who had lost his last strength from grief!
But something kept stopping Smith. He was hesitant to propose. They understood each other perfectly, from half a word, and talked for hours about anything! But Smith could not become “Tomkins” for Charlotte. It was another drama for the shy and proud Chalotti, as he called her!
Finally exhausted from loneliness, Charlotte agreed to marry her father's successor in parish, Arthur Nicholls-Bayle. Did she love him? It is impossible to say correctly: She was always brought up in a strict tradition of sacrifice to family duty and honor. Throughout the five months of her short marriage, she diligently fulfilled the duties of a pastor’s wife and mistress of the house. I could no longer engage in creativity freely.
She secretly tried to compose something and hid it in the table. Shortly before her death, the novel “Shirley” was published, which was met with interest by both the public and critics.
We waited with hope for new heights of Bronte's talent. But the hopes did not come true. On March 31, 1855, the one whom Arthur Nicholls - Beyle called "only the daughter and wife of a pastor" passed away. More than a hundred years have passed since her death, but people still come to Haworth, to the mini house - the museum of the "fairy writer" Charlotte Bronte, whose father and husband were “only modest rural priests:” (Brockhaus and Efron. Biographies. vol. 2)
* The writer’s creative heritage consists of four major novels, poems and two large volumes of correspondence. Her letters to P. Eger were published in the early 1990s in England and the USA and became a notable event in the literary world. In Russia, to the modern reader, most of the poems and correspondence of S. Bronte are unknown. The novel "Teacher" after this 1857, was re-translated only recently. The novel "Shirley" was not reprinted at all.
Born in Thornton, Yorkshire (Thornton, Yorkshire) - April 21, 1816
Died at Haworth, Yorkshire - 31 March 1855
Charlotte was the third of six children. When the girl was five years old, her mother died and her aunt Elizabeth Branwell moved into their rectory to look after the orphaned children. When Charlotte was eight years old, her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, died of consumption. This event made Charlotte responsible for the family, and the oldest of the remaining four children, which strengthened her personality and spirit.
Charlotte Bronte was short, frail, wore glasses to correct myopia, and considered herself ugly. She was a political conservative, strict, intelligent and ambitious. She had high moral principles, and despite her modest behavior in society, she was always ready to defend her point of view.
The writer spent eight months in 1824 at Clergy Daughters School, in the village of Cowan Bridge, which served as the prototype for Lowood School in Jane Eyre. She then spent two years as a student at Roe Head School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a teacher there for a further three years. It was at Roe Head that she made two true friends - Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. Then, in 1842-1843, she was in the boarding house of Madame Heger (Brussels), where she fell in love with her own teacher, Constantin Heger. Between 1824-1831, she and her brother and sisters were homeschooled by their father and Aunt Branwell. Charlotte was a great artist, needlewoman, and, of course, writer.
Mrs Brontë wanted her daughters to become governesses. Charlotte changed two jobs - for three months (in 1839) she lived with the Sidwick family in Stonegape, in the area of Loserdale. Then she spent six months with the White family in the Upperwood House mansion in Rawdon. Charlotte did not like her job, and suggested that the three of her sisters, Emily and Anne, open their own school in Haworth. Aunt Branwell wanted to arrange the financial side of the matter, but these plans never came to fruition.
What Charlotte really wanted was to be a writer. From a very young age, she and her brother Branwell practiced writing poems and stories, relying on their rich imagination and the fictional world of "Angria". As Charlotte herself claimed, her mind was so fertile that before the age of thirteen she wrote much more than after.
In 1846, Charlotte convinced her sisters to publish a collection of poems under the male pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell - it was a commercial failure. However, by the end of 1847, all three sisters' debut novels had been published, and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was an incredible success.
After the publication of the book “Shirley” in 1849, rumors spread that a simple teacher was hiding under the male pseudonym Currer Bell. Charlotte became a celebrity in literary circles, and the publication of Villette in 1853 only strengthened her reputation.
In December 1852, Charlotte received a proposal of marriage from her father's vicar, Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte's father was against this union, partly because he considered his daughter too sick to bear a child and give birth to him without dire consequences, and, in order not to upset her father, Charlotte refused Arthur. Despite this, Bell Nicholls did not give up and continued his courtship, and the couple eventually married on June 29, 1854. The marriage was happy, but very short. Charlotte Brontë died in her final stage of pregnancy on March 31, 1855.