The only portrait of the sisters painted by their brother
So, in short, in 1820, the Bronte family arrives in the remote village of Hayworth (in the north of the country in Yorkshire). The head of the family, Patrick Brontë, was offered a seat
parish priest (he received a decent education at Cambridge College), the family settled in a large house for the parish priest.
The backyard of the Bronte house
The parish church where Patrick Brontë worked
This is what Patrick Bronte looked like in his youth, an Irishman, he was educated, well-read, wrote poems and articles in magazines, it was he who instilled in children a passion for knowledge, a love of books, gave access to the library, subscribed to magazines and encouraged them to read.
This is what the church looked like at the time.
A year after the move, his wife Marie, an Englishwoman, the daughter of a prosperous shop owner in Cornwall, died of cancer, leaving him with six children. Her older sister Elizabeth took care of them and their upbringing. Father was busy coming.
The two older daughters died three years later, after the death of their mother.
- Marie (1814 - May 1825) dies of consumption
- Elizabeth (1815 - June 1825), dies next, also of consumption
The father took Charlotte after their death, and all the other children were home-educated.
- Charlotte (1816 - 1855) died at the age of 38 while pregnant
- Branwell (1817 - 1848) died at the age of 31 from alcoholism and drug addiction to opium
- Emily (1818 - 1848) died at the age of 30 from tuberculosis
- Ann (1820 - 1849) died at the age of 29 from tuberculosis
This family is unique, the children were very gifted, early deaths (one after another) of people close to them, isolation and provinciality, local natural landscapes influenced their sensitive perception. The father instilled a love of books, he also bought 12 wooden soldiers that inspired them to write fairy tales and stories.
The four of them made up and wrote little stories, with drawings, with pictures, with maps, with detailed plans, in a tiny book the size of a bank card.
which was sold at auction for £360,000
The sisters were looking for ways to make money. In that Victorian era, middle-class women had two options: to marry and raise children, or to become governesses and teachers.
Tragedies in their childhood, remoteness from the center and isolation, boring life contributed to rapid maturation and early development.
In 1831, Charlotte went to work at the school, she was only 15 years old, followed by Emily. And Ann went to be a governess in rich family, in the same place and the brother got a job as a tutor.
But soon the brother was fired in disgrace for having an affair with a family member. The brother was a gifted artist, but circumstances, remoteness and living conditions did not allow him to "make a career", he began to drink and became addicted to opium. He drew a lot of sketches, but he only finished one painting, where the three sisters... Initially, he was between them, but then he "mystically" removed himself... leaving a stain in that place.
Emily's portrait
Anne's portrait
He drew this sketch, being already with a sick imagination
The sisters wrote many poems, but it was impossible to publish them at that time, because. It was thought that this was not a woman's occupation. They decide to open a private school at the house (it was huge), for which Charlotte and Emily went to Brussels to learn French and at the same time German languages. There they showed themselves to be very advanced and successful in their studies, they were even invited to stay and work there. Emily excelled in music, and Charlotte in French. But her studies convinced her to be a writer. There is a suspicion that Charlotte was platonically in love with her talented teacher, much older than her and married, she wrote four letters to him, he tore them up, but his wife glued them together and saved them for posterity ... (later, his children sold these letters to the museum) .
Soon their aunt died, she left them a small inheritance, the sisters decided to publish their poems under male pseudonyms with part of the money received. These poems were not successful, only two magazines were sold.
They finished their novels almost at the same time. Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre in 1848, Emily wrote Wuthering Heights in 1848 and Anne finished in 1849 The tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey. All books were also published under the same male pseudonyms.
Three sisters write their novels
Their room where they wrote their novels is now a museum.
Surviving drawing of Charlotte
The sisters were close, talented - they knew several languages, played the piano, drew, wrote poems, novels ... But they were different in character, Emily was modest and sensitive, Charlotte, on the contrary, was ambitious and wanted fame (she had the right!). But that time was not feminist .... Later, Emily will write that we are like a tree, we have one root, but different branches ...
The Brontë sisters were English novelists of the 1940s and 1950s. 19th century Literary historians still cannot find an answer to how girls from poor family who lived in the outback, who did not receive a special education, were able to create the most significant works of their time? Their books were read by contemporaries, and today the novels of Charlotte, Emily and Ann Bronte have been translated into dozens of languages, filmed many times and are known to every intelligent person.
The family of a poor country priest, Patrick Brontë, had five daughters and a son. The wife of the holy father passed away early. A few years later, the older girls died - Mary and Elizabeth. An atmosphere of melancholy and despondency reigned in the shepherd's house. Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848), Anne (1820-1849) and Branwell (1817-1848) Brontë grew up in Haworth, West Yorkshire, where their father had a small parish. The house was not comfortable, the family was so poor that they even saved on candles. Children were brought up in strictness, no concessions were made to them. Patrick Bronte spent almost no time with his family, entrusting the care of his offspring to their aunt.
The sisters and brothers did not receive a classical education. But since childhood, addicted to books. Over time, they began to compose exciting stories, record them in a home-made "Young People's Magazine" at home, and sometimes even stage them. Emily showed a talent for poetry quite early, and she created a cycle of romantic poems about the imaginary country of Gondal. Charlotte was more attracted to fairy tales. And all together, the young Brontes invented islands and kingdoms where wars were fought, intrigues were woven, and feats were accomplished. noble heroes. Writing opened to closed teenagers another, so unlike the surrounding reality, bright and Magic world, full of extraordinary events, a world where there is a place for a miracle and a holiday.
But the time of children's games ended very quickly. We had to think about the future. The sisters dreamed of leaving their father's disgusted home as soon as possible. And the eldest, Charlotte, was the first to decide on this. The position of governess was to her heart. However, life away from her family seemed unbearable to the girl, and she returned to Haworth. Fortunately, not for long. And only in order to offer the sisters a new venture: Charlotte decided to open a school. And in order to implement this plan, it was necessary to thoroughly study. Enlisting the material support of an old aunt, Charlotte, together with Emily, goes to Brussels, where she studies French language and literature. But soon the aunt dies and the girls have to return to England to look after their father. They give up the idea of opening their own school, but they do not leave literature classes.
Back in 1837, Charlotte sent her literary experiments to one of the masters of English poetry, Robert Southey. And she received rather prim advice "to observe your feminine duties and not dream of fame." Such a "good" recommendation could unsettle anyone but Charlotte. She was not going to give up and, upon returning from school, together with her sisters, published a collection of poems. In order to avoid moralizing about the "female destiny", the girls took male pseudonyms - this is how the poets Carrer, Ellis and Acton Bell were born. The book received a favorable response from critics, but did not cause much resonance among the readership. However, this did not bother the sisters: poetry was replaced by prose.
Soon, three manuscripts landed on the table of the London publishers Smith and Elder: "The Teacher" by Carrera Bell, "Hills of Stormy Winds" (in the subsequent Russian edition - "Wuthering Heights") by Ellis Bell and "Agyness Gray" by Acton Bell. The first story did not interest the publishers, but they promised to give the writer a second chance. The novels by Ellis and Acton Bell were accepted. And soon the new work of Carrera Bell arrived in time - the novel "Jane Eyre".
The books were a resounding success and sold well. Publishers gladly calculated a considerable profit and were in no hurry to share it with the authors. When Charlotte and Ann, thirsting for justice, appeared on their doorstep, Smith and Elder were surprised: they expected to see a man, because they suspected that the same gentleman was hiding behind three pseudonyms. And before them appeared two charming young ladies. Having recovered from their astonishment, the publishers paid the girls a small fee and offered to stay in the capital.
Having received material independence and fame, the sisters were finally able to do what they love. However, moving to London, acquaintance with the literary community, in particular, with Dickens and Thackeray, vivid images big city became the last bright impressions in their lives. Ann fell ill and returned home to Haworth. Charlotte stayed in the capital for some time, but soon she was also forced to go to her native places: she was informed of the death of her brother.
Branwell Bronte, a talented original artist and poet, could not find the strength to cope with his craving for wine. And tuberculosis completed the harmful effects of alcohol. The subsequent chain of events turned, in Charlotte's phrase, the Haworth house into a "valley of shadows." During her brother's funeral, Emily caught a cold and developed consumption. A little later, a terrible diagnosis was made for Ann. A year later they both died out. Charlotte was left almost alone in the world. The already gloomy, withdrawn father became completely aloof after he went blind. There was no one to talk to, there was nowhere to wait for support. With a tremendous effort of will, Charlotte forced herself back to her desk, to her work.
No matter how hard it was, life went on. And when the enamored priest Arthur Nichols proposed to the already middle-aged writer, Charlotte, exhausted by loneliness, agreed. It seemed that if she did not leave her sad father's house, then soon she would suffer the same fate as her sisters and brother. The sad presentiment did not deceive: soon the woman fell seriously ill and died three months later.
Three Lives, Three Destinies, Three Non-English and World Literature The names of Charlotte, Emily and Ann Brontë are inscribed in golden letters.
Their poems and novels do not lose their relevance today. And the phenomenon of the Bronte sisters, most likely, will remain an unsolvable mystery for literary critics.
“He who creates poverty does not know.
Far from worldly bounties,
Not busy with the extraction of wealth, -
He takes them out of his soul."
L. Boleslavsky
Wealth of soul and indomitable spirit - these expressions come to my mind when I think of the Brontë sisters. Charlotte and Emily are recognized classics English Literature, and Ann, whose talent was not so bright, is an established Victorian writer. Hundreds of articles were written about their life and work, many scientific conferences were held, at which literary scholars invariably tried to unravel the phenomenon of such a "collective" giftedness, to understand the reasons tragic fates these sisters and their early departure from life.
April 21 this year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë. We have already written about the exhibition dedicated to this outstanding English writer in our blog.
A few years ago I had the pleasure of reading a book Maya Tugusheva "Charlotte Bronte. Essay on life and work»(1982 edition). This work is largely based on the book The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell, who was a writer herself and knew Charlotte personally. So the aforementioned book can be considered a lifetime testimonial. Unfortunately, these books, for the most part, are dedicated to only one Charlotte. But what about the other two talented sisters? To my great joy, I managed to find a rather voluminous work Ekaterina Mitrofanova "The Fatal Secret of the Bronte Sisters"". As it was written in the review of the magazine "Terra - Book Club", "this is a historical-biographical novel and a mystical thriller in one book." The book is dedicated to the entire Bronte family and contains many real facts from the lives of these wonderful people, although written in the form artwork. The prologue is somewhat delayed, but then the story begins, amazing in its strength and beauty, which captures and does not let go for a minute.
As many people know, the Bronte family lived in the town of Haworth (or Gaworth in another translation), Yorkshire. In those days, in the 19th century, there were no sewage works in the city, there was a catastrophic lack of pure water, plus everything - a damp and windy climate. Average age deaths in the city - 25 years. Therefore, it is not surprising that the life of all members of the family, with the exception of the father of the family, the Reverend Patrick Bronte, turned out to be so short. Charlotte's two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, died in childhood, exhausted by the harsh conditions of study and living at the school for the daughters of priests in Cowan Bridge, a sentimental description of which can be found in the image of Lowood's school in the novel Jane Eyre.
Writers' parents - Patrick and Maria Bronte
However, despite the fact that all three sister writers passed away in young age, they managed to achieve great success in their work. The longest star shone in the literary sky Charlotte Brontë: her novels "Jane Eyre", "Shirley", "Town", unpublished during her lifetime "Teacher" and a considerable number of poems gained fame far beyond England and entered the fund of world literature.
Charlotte Bronte. Portrait by J. Richmond
Emily's middle sister managed to write many poems and only one novel, but what a! - the famous "Wuthering Heights".
Emily Bronte. Restored fragment of a large portrait by the brother of the writers Patrick Branwell
Younger Ann known for her novels Agnes Gray and The Stranger of Wildfell Hall.
Ann Bronte. Portrait by Charlotte Brontë
In addition to daughters, Pastor Patrick Brontë had a son Patrick Branwell, also not devoid of certain talents. He wrote poetry, painted beautifully, but because of his addiction to alcohol and drugs, his talents were not fully revealed. To subsequent generations, he left only a beautiful portrait of his sister Emily, painted in a fit of inspiration, and several other portraits of his loved ones.
Patrick Branwell Bronte. self-portrait
As fans of the Bronte sisters know, the family lived rather secluded and not rich. Dull and monotonous, weekdays dragged on in "a large gloomy grave with windows," as Charlotte called her house. Among the entertainment for children was reading books and magazines, drawing, walking through their beloved moorlands and inventing various fairy tales. Charlotte and her brother came up with the kingdom of Angria, where the charming but treacherous Duke of Zamorna ruled. Anne and Emily's imagination drew a Gondal, which they populated with various inhabitants as they saw fit. Serious passions flared up in these fictional worlds. “Few people would believe,” Charlotte wrote in her diary, “that imaginary joy can bring so much happiness.”
The sisters later managed to get some education at the boarding houses of Cowan Bridge and Row Head. In addition, Charlotte and Emily studied for six months in Belgium, at the boarding house of the Eger spouses. All the impressions received during their studies were reflected in their poetic and prose experiments. But the work as governesses had an even greater influence on the work of the sisters. Such work was low-paid, little respected in society, took all the time and did not bring any joy. As Charlotte wrote in a letter to her sister Emily: “... you see the beauty around - wonderful forests, and white paths, and green lawns, and clear skies, but you do not have a minute, not a single free thought to enjoy them. The children are with me all the time. There can be no question of correcting them - I quickly realized this ... ”She further writes about the unenviable share of the governess:“ A governess in a private house is a creature without rights, no one sees in her a living person endowed with reason and notice her only insofar as because she is fulfilling her heavy duty.”
Fortunately, the sisters did not have to work as governesses all their lives. Inspired by the success of the release of the collection of poetry by Carrer, Alice and Acton Bell (the sisters took pseudonyms so that the publishers would not guess about their female nature), they decided to try their hand at prose. Everyone knows how outstanding the result of their labors turned out to be.
book author "The Fatal Secret of the Bronte Sisters" by E. Mitrofanova describes in detail all the joys and sorrows that the sisters had to experience on their thorny creative way. From the book one can learn, for example, that famous novel Jane Eyre turns out to be based on true events. Not far from Haworth's neighboring Leeds, an employee of a respectable firm owner married a young girl, his master's governess. And a year after the wedding, it was revealed that the man whom she considered her legal spouse and from whom by that time had already given birth to a child had another wife. This story long excited the minds of the surrounding residents and Charlotte did not fail to use it as the basis for her novel.
Another famous novel from the legacy of the Brontë sisters, Gothic "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë- one of the greatest and most mysterious works in world literature. The classic of English literature Somerset Maugham included this book in the top ten best novels in the world. As some literary scholars note, the relationship between a man and a woman in a novel is not just passion or tender friendship, it is a mystical union that means such a close unity of the two, as if they had a common soul.
Bronte House Museum
Despite the fact that the sisters wrote so much about love, only Charlotte married towards the end of her life. When the writer was 23 years old, the brother of her close friend Ellen Nassey offered her hand and heart. Charlotte flatly refused. There were also other contenders. The pastor's daughter usually responded with something like "I don't think I can make you happy", but in fact she was afraid that marriage would interfere with her literary activity. In 1854, at the age of 38, Charlotte nevertheless accepted the offer of her father's assistant, vicar Arthur Bell Nicholls. But already in the next 1855, her health deteriorated sharply. And on March 31, 1855, on Easter, the famous English writer died while pregnant. Tuberculosis was listed as the cause of her death, however, as many of Charlotte's biographers suggest, she could have died from dehydration and exhaustion caused by severe toxicosis. Many researchers of the writer's work note that she was not happy in marriage. Nicholls was quite a worthy man, but he was very jealous of everything that took away his wife's attention from him - to her work. Shortly before her death, Charlotte Nicholls was warming herself by the fireplace and suddenly said to her husband: “If we were not sitting here together, I would probably be writing right now.” And, rushing upstairs, she returned with the manuscript and began to read it aloud. When she finished, her husband sternly remarked: "The critics will say that you are repeating yourself." "I'll redo it," she answered readily, "I take on a novel two, three times before I'm satisfied." But these plans were not destined to come true.
The book by E. B. Mitrofanova "The Fatal Secret of the Bronte Sisters" is the result of a large-scale study conducted by the writer. This biographical novel is like meeting old friends: the good-natured, proud Charlotte; the free-spirited, stoic and enigmatic Emily; meek and humble Anne. In the process of reading, you are so imbued with the characters' characters that it becomes obvious that in the images of Shirley and Caroline from the novel "Shirley" Charlotte portrayed her beloved sisters - Emily and Ann, who had already left this world by that time.
Ekaterina Borisovna Mitrofanova
The novel "The Fatal Secret of the Bronte Sisters" is written in a style that imitates the style of the sisters themselves, very lively and emotionally. Like Charlotte herself, the researcher of her work sometimes falls into pathos and repeats the same overly grandiloquent expressions. For example, the too frequent use of the rather rare word “eternal” in the expressions “eternal forces”, “eternal fear”, “eternal confession” and others is striking. The author takes the liberty of stating the reasons for such an early departure of the sisters from life. The book talks about a family curse that was imposed on the entire Bronte family by a certain Charles Longsbourne, father of Richard Longsbourne, who once sought the hand of the sisters' aunt Elizabeth Branwell. His aunt refused him, because she loved another person, allegedly the father of the Bronte family, and Richard, out of desperation, refused family privileges and a seat in parliament, choosing the fate of a simple pastor in order to resemble his rival, Reverend Patrick Bronte, as much as possible. For this, his father cursed his son and the entire Bronte family.
There is no doubt that such a hypothesis is just a figment of the writer's imagination. All researchers have long known about Haworth's unhealthy climate and the level of medicine of that time, when even the diagnosis of diseases was at a very low level, not to mention their treatment. Reading about the life of this family, one gets the feeling that the Bronte sisters cared little about the material side of life. Despite health problems, poverty and a failed personal life, they found solace in communication with each other, in endless self-development and literary creativity. But as A. Koni wrote, "only in creativity there is joy - everything else is dust and vanity."
Tochilina Ekaterina Valerievna,
Librarian of the Literature Processing Department
and organization of electronic catalogs
For readers all over the world, Charlotte Bronte remains the author of almost one book, repeatedly filmed and especially loved by women - Jane Eyre ... To this day, the fate of a poor and ugly, but proud girl, the story of her love and struggle for her feminine dignity, attracts the attention of lovers of serious reading.
Charlotte Bronte
For the children of the parish priest Patrick Bronte, fate was either merciful or ruthless. She didn’t deprive anyone, but she endowed Emily with a special talent - of the three sisters, she seems to researchers to be the most gifted person and, perhaps, therefore, the most tragic. After all, recognition, honors and glory bypassed her during her lifetime. The poetry collection, published by the sisters under the pseudonym "Bell brothers", did not disperse (only two copies of it were sold in 1846!). The novel Wuthering Heights, published a year before Emily's death, went almost unnoticed. Moreover, his authorship, either through a misunderstanding or through the prudent intent of the publisher, was attributed to Charlotte, whose book Jane Eyre, published a little earlier, won the hearts of readers.
Emily Bronte
by her brother Branwell Brontë .
“All three sisters,” reported in biographical sketch“Charlotte Brontë”, an English novelist, their contemporary Elizabeth Gaskell, tried to write in a children’s home magazine, all three constantly composed something - “invented fables”, all three tried their hand at poetry ... And Charlotte took it upon herself to apply for advice to Southey (a well-known English romantic poet at that time. - Auth.) ”. She sent the master the poems prepared for the collection. The answer came a few months later. Its essence boiled down to the fact that women “are not created for literature and should not devote themselves to it. The more they are occupied with their urgent duties, the less time they find for literature, even as a pleasant occupation and a means of self-education. You do not yet have a calling for these duties, but, having acquired it, you will dream of glory less and less.
Ann Bronte - third sister
by Charlotte Brontë
Time, the best critic, put everything in its place. A century has passed, and "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre" entered the top ten best novels in the world. Famous literary scholars noted the uniqueness and uniqueness of the talents of Emily and Charlotte Bronte. A stream of research devoted to talented sisters has multiplied, but the mystery of their work continues to excite everyone who is interested in literature.
House of the Brontë family
... Both writers were born in a small town on the outskirts of West Yorkshire; Charlotte - in 1816, Emily - in 1818. The priest's house stood at the city limits, then gentle mountain spurs stretched further. In summer, when the heather bloomed, it was a favorite place for long walks of Patrick Brontë and his growing daughters.
Patrick Brontë - father of female writers
Mr. Brontë was by no means humble. But, thank God, he poured out his anger on inanimate objects. One day, getting agitated because of the protracted birth of his wife, he grabbed a saw and turned all the chairs in the bedroom of the woman in labor into a pile of boards. Being not in the mood, he liked to tie a knot in the grate from the fireplace. Neighbors called him "weird Mr Bronte" or "half-crazy Irishman". It was rumored that it was precisely because of his endless antics, as well as because of the climate, that at the end of the ninth year of marriage, Mrs. Bronte, who had given birth to six children by that time, died. All of them, according to a number of researchers, were characterized by certain signs of mental illness.
Maria Bronte - mother of writers
After the death of his wife, the pastor tried to remarry and proposed to two or three women, but to no avail.
Patrick Bronte
The pastor's house stood in a cemetery, surrounded by close rows of tombstones. Emily, oddly enough, loved this windswept little gloomy dwelling with windows on the graveyard and painfully experienced every parting with it. However, she rarely left her native nest. For the first time - at the age of six, when, three years after the death of her mother, she, along with her older sisters, was assigned to a private school for the daughters of clergymen. Dirt and cold in the rooms, malnutrition, ill-treatment of teachers ... On Sunday, the students were led several kilometers to the church, where they stood idle for a long service, during which many fainted from exhaustion. The girls slept in fours in one bed, and the bed linen was changed once a month. And when an epidemic of typhus broke out, forty-five pupils fell ill at once. Half of them didn't survive...
Emily Bronte
by her sister Charlotte Bronte
One of these institutions is vividly narrated on the pages of the novel Jane Eyre... Mary and Elizabeth (unusually capable, gifted girls) died, unable to withstand the harsh school regime; Charlotte and Emily, barely alive, were brought home by their father. He himself had to take care of the upbringing of children, directing their reading, encouraging a tendency to draw (according to other sources, the pastor did little to children who learned to write and read from ... a maid). The concerns about the bodily health of the girls and their only brother were taken over by the strict, like all Puritans, Aunt Elizabeth, the sister of their late mother, invited by her father.
Elizabeth Branwell - Aunt of Writers
Another unsuccessful attempt to give Emily a systematic education was made ten years later. The slender, pale boarder with expressive eyes and beautiful black hair gathered in a heavy knot at the back of her head was seriously ill with homesickness. Charlotte, who worked as a teacher at the same school (referring to "Jane Eyre" again!), was forced to send her home.
Charlotte Bronte
by George Richmond.
Yes, and Charlotte herself felt “in her place” only at home, where in the thirty years that have passed since the death of her mother, nothing has been painted, not repaired, at least some little new little thing has not appeared in the interior ... In one of Ellen’s letters Nassy, a friend at the boarding house, she confessed: “A strange thing is human feelings: it’s more pleasant for me to scrub stove doors, make beds and sweep floors in my father’s house than to live, like a duchess, in a strange place.”
Ellen Nussey
In the Brussels boarding house of Monsieur Eger, where the sisters improved in German and French (having tried themselves in the field of governesses by this time, they felt the need to more thoroughly study languages), Emily did not communicate with anyone. She was annoyed by the immoderate enthusiasm of the young boarders. She seemed arrogant to those around her, but behind this arrogance was hidden not only a contemptuous attitude towards mediocrity, but also incredible shyness, even self-doubt ...
Emily Bronte
The sisters lived rather poorly and dressed more than modestly, intending to earn a living by teaching, but this was not their misfortune.
Ann Bronte
by Charlotte Brontë
“The tragedy of Emily Bronte is not in poverty or even in isolation from big world, the researchers say. - The meaning of her tragedy is in an insoluble conflict strong spirit, a gifted personality with this "dullest and most prosaic of all ages," as Oscar Wilde called his century.
Emily Bronte
Interestingly, the less attractive Charlotte has had some heartfelt experience. And she even refused her hand to two clerics.
Charlotte Bronte
J. H. Thompson
“I am not the serious, solid, sensible person that you imagine me to be,” she answered one of them. “I would seem romantic and eccentric to you, you would find me sarcastic and blunt.”
Charlotte Bronte
Painted by Evert A. Duyckinck, based on a drawing by George Richmond
At that time, Charlotte was supposed to be twenty-three - a critical age, according to the then ideas, and she refused an independent and secure position!
Charlotte Bronte
“I was destined to be an old maid. But it doesn't matter, Charlotte said in a letter to a friend. “I accepted this fate at the age of twelve.”
Charlotte Bronte with her father
But another of the young priests - her father's charming assistant, William Waitman, aroused a serious feeling in her heart. But Charlotte forbade herself to think about him, having learned that her younger sister Annie had fallen passionately in love with him. As for the hero of their dreams, he loved a completely different woman and soon died untimely. Charlotte comforted her heartbroken sister in a letter: "Passionate love is madness and usually goes unanswered!"
Ann Bronte
by Charlotte Brontë
In 1842, during her stay with Emily at the boarding house of Monsieur and Madame Eger, twenty-six-year-old Charlotte wrote home: “My life now ... is delightful ...” Her heart was given to an intelligent, quick-tempered and very demanding teacher, a charming person.
Charlotte Bronte
The mentor of the two students also singled out Charlotte and even once, in a letter to the father of the Bronte family, mentioned his intention to offer work to the sisters “or at least one of them.” Indeed: six months later, Madame Eger, the hostess of the institution, offered Charlotte a place as a teacher in English and Emily is a music teacher. Instead of a fee - the opportunity to eat and continue their own training. The sisters agreed, but soon received sad news from England: Elizabeth's beloved aunt had contracted cholera. From the second letter it became known about her death ... Charlotte and Emily went home. Here they learned about the last will of the aunt: the three sisters inherited sufficient funds to open their own school.
Ann Bronte
"They couldn't leave their father alone," writes Muriel Spark in the biographical essay Emily Brontë. “Then the Haworth Rectory will become a boarding house. They ran an ad promoting the Brontë Sisters' Place. Month after month, they wrote to the mothers of potential students, sent their announcements everywhere ... Not a single mother among their acquaintances wanted to send her daughter to a secluded priest's house among the heaths ... "
House of the Bronte family in the 20th century
And Charlotte returned to Brussels to continue her education. Probably, the desire to see Monsieur Eger again, to live and breathe next to him turned out to be unbearable ... She could not hide her feeling from the eyes of the owners, and troubles immediately began. We do not know if Konstantin Eger reciprocated Charlotte (maybe yes), but, exhausted by the tantrums of his uneducated and rude wife, the teacher began to avoid the girl. Madame herself was cold and aloof with her, and in January 1844 Charlotte was forced to return home. Upon arrival, almost on the very first day, she sent the following written confession to the teacher: “I do not know peace and rest, day or night. As soon as I fall asleep, painful dreams begin to torment me, in which you appear to me - always severe, always strict, always angry with me.
I can talk endlessly about the Bronte sisters. And no wonder, their biography will be more abrupt than any of the most exciting novels. I dedicated my first review here to the biography of Charlotte Bronte, the translation of which I have been waiting for many years.
And so, this is probably the most complete source of the biography of the sisters. Written by Elizabeth Gaskell, who watched the series "North and South" and "Cranford" may have an idea about her. And now back to the famous sisters, according to whom in England critical literature and there are almost as many different works as according to Shakespeare and Dickens.
And they wrote nothing at all because of their short and difficult life. The most famous, especially here in Russia, are the novels by Charlotte Bronte "Jane Eyre" and Emily Bronte "Wuthering Heights", which have a huge number of adaptations. And there were three sisters. The third, the youngest, was called Ann and she wrote two novels, "Agnes Gray" and "The Stranger from Wildefield Hall", the latter was also filmed by the BBC, but due to the fact that I really like the book itself, I do not like it at all in the film adaptation main character. I'm still mad at them that they haven't found someone prettier. And it's not even about beauty, just a nicer actress. Vaughn, in the famous film adaptation of "Jane Eyre" with Timothy Dalton, the actress playing Jane is not at all beautiful (as it was in the novel), but she is very pleasant and fully corresponds to her role.
So, I digress again. In the literature, there is even such a thing as the phenomenon of the Bronte sisters, that is, it is completely incomprehensible how in one family there was not one gold nugget, as is usually the case, but as many as three. In general, the priest Patrick Brontë had five daughters and one son. The two eldest daughters - Maria and Elizabeth, judging by the descriptions of contemporaries, were also extraordinary girls, but when their father sent them and Charlotte and Emily following them in seniority to study at a boarding school, which was described in detail in the novel "Jane Eyre", the elders the girls could not stand it, and weakened after illnesses died. Jane's friend Ellen Burns was the prototype for Charlotte's older sister Mary.
After this terrible event, Patrick Bronte takes Charlotte and Emily to Haworth, that is, where they live. And the children temporarily continue to receive home schooling. Here is their house:
At one fine moment, Patrick buys soldiers for his son Branwell, which he shares with his sisters and the children are born whole worlds in which various exciting events take place, for example, the kingdom of Angria. That is, the main entertainment of these children was writing. What a pity that the only brother Branwell turned out to be weak-willed and drank himself, otherwise we would be talking about the sisters and brother Bronte. By the way, this is his portrait of the sisters, which, according to Elisabetta Gaskell, is the most accurate: