Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre

Published in 1847: the radical first-person narrative of a woman demanding equality of souls.

💡 Did you know? „Jane Eyre“ was revolutionary: a poor, „plain“ heroine tells in the first person, with self-assurance, of her right to love and dignity.

Currer Bell

Her sisters chose 'Ellis' and 'Acton Bell': the initials matched their real names.

💡 Did you know? Like her sisters, Charlotte published under a male pseudonym (Currer Bell): fearing she would not be taken seriously as a woman.

Rochester

At the altar the secret bursts: he is already married.

💡 Did you know? The dark, mysterious Mr Rochester became an archetype of the „Byronic hero“ in romantic fiction.

the woman in the attic

Bertha Mason became the most famous supporting character of Victorian fiction: Jean Rhys told her backstory in 'Wide Sargasso Sea'.

💡 Did you know? The „madwoman in the attic“ from „Jane Eyre“ became a scholarly symbol of the repressed woman.

Haworth

The parsonage right by the graveyard is now the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

💡 Did you know? The three Brontë sisters grew up in the remote moorland village of Haworth: rugged Yorkshire shapes their dark, passionate novels.

Emily and Anne

Emily's 'Wuthering Heights' and Anne's 'Agnes Grey' appeared the same year as 'Jane Eyre': three debuts from one parsonage.

💡 Did you know? Her sisters Emily („Wuthering Heights“) and Anne were also important authors: three geniuses in one parsonage.

invented fantasy worlds

Some of the mini-books were smaller than a matchbox: priceless collectors' items today.

💡 Did you know? As children the Brontës invented whole fantasy realms and wrote them into tiny, home-made books: barely legible in their smallness.

the deaths of her three siblings

Tuberculosis carried off the siblings: Charlotte remained alone with her father.

💡 Did you know? Within just nine months Charlotte lost her brother and both sisters Emily and Anne: she survived as the last.

governess

Her time at a Brussels boarding school also flowed into the novels 'The Professor' and 'Villette'.

💡 Did you know? Like her heroine Jane, Charlotte worked as a governess: one of the few careers open to an educated woman.

Villette

Published in 1853, inspired by her Brussels years, for many her most mature work.

💡 Did you know? „Villette“, her last novel, draws on Charlotte's unhappy love for a married teacher in Brussels.

at 38

Shortly after her late marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls: probably from complications of pregnancy.

💡 Did you know? Charlotte died at just 38, pregnant, shortly after her late marriage: the last of the gifted siblings.

Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë was an English writer whose novel „Jane Eyre“, with its self-assured heroine, changed literature.

💡 Did you know? Like her writing sisters Emily and Anne, she first published under a male pseudonym.