Charlotte Bronte

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Charlotte Brontë, one of six Brontë siblings, lived and wrote during the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was a time when England was going through a slow but significant change, mainly surrounding the Industrial Revolution. However, Brontë was more interested in addressing issues concerning women, education, and marriage. Combining these topics, she produced one of the most popular novels in the English language. While writing Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë was influenced by the death of her older sisters, the time she spent as a teacher and a governess, and her relationship with Constantin Héger.
Charlotte was born on April 21, 1816, the third of six children in the family. When her mother died in 1821 of cancer Charlotte was very young, her two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, became like surrogate mothers to her. In 1824, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Emily, one of Charlotte’s younger sisters, were sent to the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge. Living conditions at the newly opened school left little to be desired. As if the experience of being at this new school and feeling totally out of place was not traumatic enough, Charlotte then had to watch Maria and Elizabeth slowly waste away until they died in May and June after an outbreak of tuberculosis at Cowan Bridge. Now the oldest sibling, Charlotte had to take on all of the responsibilities that come with that position in the family (Blom 17). The tragedy of losing both of her older sisters within a few weeks of each other forced Charlotte into adulthood prematurely, as she now was the one her remaining siblings would look up to. Charlotte later returned to school so she would be able to teach her sisters at home. She took a job so she could support herself...

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...nfluenced her writing. The characters and plot of Jane Eyre were developed from Charlotte’s real-life experiences. Losing family members, spending time in several different jobs, and being tutored under Constantin Héger are only a few of the similarities between the two. This could perhaps be the reason why her writing became so well-known and is still both popular and relevant in our world today.

Works Cited
Blom, Margaret Howard. Charlotte Brontë. Boston: Twayne, 1977. Print.
“Charlotte Brontë.” Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 219-23. Student Resources in Context. Web. 20 Dec. 2013.
“Charlotte Brontë.” UXL Biographies. Detroit: U*X*L, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
“Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë.” Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 150-187. Print.

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