As one of the most recognized British authors in history, Charlotte Bronte is widely known for her romantic novels displaying the struggle between a person’s morality and their desire to achieve possession of love without the consequences of losing themselves in the process. In her novels, The Professor, Jane Eyre, and Villette, Charlotte Bronte connects love and struggle through theme, characterization, and point of view.
Born on April 21, 1816, Charlotte Bronte was the third born child of Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell’s six children Thorton in Yorkshire, England. After being moved to Haworth by her father, who was an Anglican preacher, in 1820, Charlotte became a student at a school of religion with her elder sisters for a short and unpleasant time (Charlotte Bronte Biography). Afterwards she moved back home and began to live in solitude with her three remaining siblings, father, and aunt that had come to live with them after the early passing of her mother and older sisters(Cody, Charlotte Bronte: A Brief Biography).
As a child, Charlotte and her siblings remained closed off from the rest of the world and their education was distributed mainly by their father even though she went to two other schools after the first, however, little communication took place between them and the children resorted to the creation of their own fantasy worlds where they were the controllers (Cody). Charlotte partnered up with her brother, Branwell to create a world called Angria that was run by the Duke of Zamorna, under whom women suffered due to their attraction toward him and the resentment his evil(Cody).
Though she loved her fantasy, she at the same time lived in reality and she began to work as a teacher at fifteen but soon after ...
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...York. Henderson Publishing. 1995. Print. 22 Mar. 2011.
Bronte, Charlotte. The Professor. Avenel, New Jersey. Gramercy Books. 1975. Print. 22 Mar. 2011.
Bronte, Charlotte. Villette. Avenel, New Jersey. Gramercy Books. 1975. Print. 22 Mar. 2011
Cody, David. “Charlotte Bronte: A Brief Biography.” Victorianweb.org. 1987. Hartwick College. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.
N.p. "The Professor, Charlotte Brontë - Introduction." Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Edna M. Hedblad. Vol. 105. Gale Cengage, 2002. eNotes.com. 2006. 23 Mar. 2011.
N.p. "Charlotte Brontë Biography." 123HelpMe.com. n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.
Smith, Elizabeth Hayes. Kissel, Adam ed. Villette Background. GradeSaver.com. 27 October 2007. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.
Wayne, Teddy. Vincent, Caitlin ed. Jane Eyre Themes. GradeSaver. 31 Jan. 2009 Web. 24 Mar. 2011.
In Stephen Dunn’s 2003 poem, “Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Point”, the famous author of Jane Eyre is placed into a modern setting of New Jersey. Although Charlotte Bronte lived in the early middle 1800’s, we find her alive and well in the present day in this poem. The poem connects itself to Bronte’s most popular novel, Jane Eyre in characters analysis and setting while speaking of common themes in the novel. Dunn also uses his poem to give Bronte’s writing purpose in modern day.
Maria Brandwell Bronte gave birth to Charlotte, her third child out of six within the span of seven years, on April 12, 1816 in Bradford, Yorkshire. Charlotte began her schooling at the Clergy Daughter’s School on August 10, 1824, but due to harsh conditions at the school she returned after only one year. Upon returning home she was schooled by her aunt, and then attended Roe Head in 1831. Charlotte struggled finding an occupation that she enjoyed. She became a teacher at Roe Head, but she hated the way it was run and left shortly thereafter. She also tried to be a governess twice, but due to her shy nature and the fact that she missed her sisters so dearly, she returned home. Charlotte’s thirst for knowledge took her to Brussels with her sister Emily, where she learned French, German, and management skills.
Gardner, Judy. "Literature." Library Journal 15 May 1982: 997. EBSCOhost. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, was published in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Company, in London. This year is exactly ten years into Queen Victoria’s sixty-four year reign of the British Empire. The Victorian Era was renowned for its patriarchal Society and definition by class. These two things provide vital background to the novel, as Jane suffers from both. Jane Eyre relates in some ways to Brontë’s own life, as its original title suggest, “Jane Eyre: An Autobiography”. Charlotte Brontë would have suffered from too, as a relatively poor woman. She would have been treated lowly within the community. In fact, the book itself was published under a pseudonym of Currer Bell, the initials taken from Brontë’s own name, due to the fact that a book published by a woman was seen as inferior, as they were deemed intellectually substandard to men. Emily Brontë, Charlotte’s sister, was also forced to publish her most famous novel, Wuthering Heights, under the nom de plume of Ellis Bell, again taking the initials of her name to form her own alias. The novel is a political touchstone to illustrate the period in which it was written, and also acts as a critique of the Victorian patriarchal society.
Bronte, Charlotte. The Letters of Charlotte Bronte: 1829-1847. Ed. Margaret Smith. 2 vols. New York: Oxford UP, 1995-2000.
Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990. Howell, Coral Ann. Jean Rhys. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J Dunn 3rd ed. 1847. New York: W. W.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
20 May 2014. McLeod, Jennifer. " Emily Brontë. " Magill’S Survey Of World Literature, Revised Edition (2009): 1-4.
"Charlotte Bronte as a 'Freak Genius'", David Cecil in Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyreand Villette (A Casebook Series) ed. Miriam Allot.
A. “Reading Little Women.” Temple University Press (1984): 151-65. Rpt in Novels for Students. Ed. Elizabeth Thomason.
Griesinger, Emily. "Charlotte Brontë's Religion: Faith, Feminism, And "Jane Eyre.." Christianity & Literature 58.1 (2008): 29-59.Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
O’Dea, Gregory. “Narrator and Reader in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette.” South Atlantic Review 53.1 (1988): 41-57.
Charlotte Bronte assumed the role of intermediary between her late sister and the perplexed and hostile readers of Wuthering Heights (Sale and Dunn, WH p. 267). Charlotte attempted to provide Emily’s readers with a more complete perspective of her sister and her works. She selectively included biographical information and critical commentary into the revised 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights, which gave the reader a fuller appreciation of the works of Emily Bronte. Charlotte championed the efforts of her younger sister and believed that Emily’s inexperience and unpracticed hand were her only shortcomings. Charlotte explains much of Emily’s character to the readers through the disclosure of biographical information.
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. N.p.: Project Gutenberg, 2007. Print. Transcribed from the 1910 John Murray edition by David Price