Charlotte Bronte: biography, interesting facts. The Brontë sisters Charlotte Brontë interesting facts from life

Childhood

The clergyman Patrick Bronte and his wife Mary had six children - five daughters and one son. Charlotte Brontë is third. She was born in the east of England, in the small village of Thornton, and this event happened on April 21, 1816.

According to many surviving testimonies, Charlotte Bronte was not a particular beauty, but at the same time she had great intelligence, liveliness, and sharpness. Following her, her brother and two younger sisters were born, and soon after the birth of their last daughter, Anne, their mother died - she was diagnosed with uterine cancer too late. Charlotte was five years old at the time. A year earlier, the family moved to Hoerth, where her father was offered a new place of service and which became a real small homeland for Charlotte.

After Mary's death, her sister came to Hohert to help Patrick raise his young children. In essence, she replaced their mother. Patrick Bronte, meanwhile, decided to take care of their education and sent his two eldest daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to a specialized boarding school for girls from clergy families. A month later, eight-year-old Charlotte arrived there, and after some time, the fourth sister, Emily. The fifth, Anne, was still too young and remained with her father and brother. The boarding school teachers said about Charlotte that the girl was quite smart for her age, but noted her lack of knowledge of grammar, history, geography and etiquette, as well as illegible handwriting and gaps in mathematics. Everything that young Charlotte Brontë owned by this moment was fragmentary and unsystematic.

In the nineteenth century, tuberculosis was rampant. Many people died because of this disease in terrible agony, and children were no exception. Due to the terrible conditions in the boarding school (damp, unheated rooms, rotten food, the eternal threat of flogging), Charlotte's older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, also contracted this terrible disease. Patrick immediately took all four daughters home, but Mary and Elizabeth could not be saved.

Initial experiments

The remaining four Brontë children all showed a penchant for creativity in one way or another from a young age. It was after returning home from the boarding house that Charlotte, Emily and their younger brother and sister took up paper and pen for the first time. Branwell, the girls' brother, had little soldiers, and his sisters played with them. They transferred their imaginary games to paper, recording the adventures of the soldiers on their behalf. Researchers of Charlotte Brontë's work note that in those children's works (the first of which was written at the age of ten) the future writer had a noticeable influence of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.

Job

In the early 1830s, Charlotte studied in the town of Row Head, where she later remained to work as a teacher. Charlotte Brontë also arranged for her sister Emily to come to her to receive an education. When, unable to bear living in someone else's house, Emily returned to her father, Anne came instead.

However, Charlotte herself did not last long there. In 1838, she left there - the reason was eternal employment and the inability to devote herself to literary creativity (by that time the girl was already actively engaged in it). Returning to Hohert, Charlotte Brontë took up the position of governess - this was her mother’s dream at one time. Having changed several families, she quickly realized that this was not hers either. And then luck arrived.

The aunt of the Brontë children, who raised them with their father, gave the sisters a certain amount of money to create their own boarding house. This is what the girls intended to do, but unexpectedly changed their plans: in 1842, Charlotte and Emily left to study in Belgium. They stayed there for a little more than one semester - until the death of their aunt in the fall of that year.

In 1844, Charlotte and her sisters decided to return to the idea of ​​a school. But if earlier they could leave Hoert for this, now there was no such chance: the aunt was gone, the father was getting weaker, there was no one to look after him. I had to create a school right in the family home, in the parsonage, near the cemetery. Naturally, the parents of the possible pupils did not like such a place, and the whole idea failed.

Beginning of literary activity

As mentioned above, at this time the girl was writing with all her might. At first, she turned her attention to poetry and back in 1836 she sent a letter with her poetic experiments to the famous poet Robert Southey (he is the author of the original version of the tale of “Masha and the Bears”). It cannot be said that the eminent master was delighted; he informed the aspiring talent about this, advising him to write not so enthusiastically and exaltedly.

His letter had a huge impact on Charlotte Brontë. Under the influence of his words, she decided to take up prose and replace romanticism with realism. In addition, it was now that Charlotte began to write her texts under a male pseudonym - so that they could be assessed objectively.

In 1840, she conceived the novel Ashworth, about an obstinate young man. The girl sent the first drafts to Hartley Coleridge, another English poet. He criticized the idea, explaining that such a thing would not be successful. Charlotte listened to Coleridge's words and left work on this book.

Three sisters

It was already mentioned above that all four surviving Brontë children had a passion for creativity since childhood. As he grew older, Branwell preferred painting to literature and often painted portraits of his sisters. The younger ones followed in Charlotte's footsteps: Emily is known to the reading public as the author of Wuthering Heights, Anne published the books Agnes Gray and The Stranger from Wildfell Hall. The younger one is much less famous than the older sisters.

However, fame came to them later, and in 1846 they published a joint book of poetry under the name of the Bell brothers. The novels of Charlotte's younger sisters, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, were also published under the same pseudonyms. Charlotte herself wanted to publish her debut work “Teacher”, but nothing came of it (it was published only after the death of the writer) - the publishers returned the manuscript to her, talking about the lack of “fascination”.

The creative activity of the three Bronte sisters did not last long. In the fall of 1848, their brother Branwell died from an illness aggravated by alcohol and drugs. Emily left him due to tuberculosis in December, followed by Anne in May of the following year. Charlotte remained the only daughter of the aging Patrick.

"Jane Eyre"

She created the novel “Jane Eyre,” which brought Charlotte worldwide fame, in 1846-1847. After the failure with “The Teacher,” Charlotte Bronte sent “Jane Eyre” to a certain British publishing house - and hit the bull’s eye. It was published in an incredibly short time, and then it caused a strong reaction from the public. Not only readers, but also critics heaped praise on “Carrer Bell” - it was only in 1848 that Charlotte Brontë revealed her real name.

The novel "Jane Eyre" has been reprinted several times. Many film adaptations have also been made based on it, one of which is starring the now famous actress Mia Wasikowska.

Information about the personal life of Charlotte Brontë

The writer's biography provides much more information about her work than about potential candidates for her hand and heart. It is known, however, that, despite Charlotte’s lack of a “model” appearance, she always had enough gentlemen, but she was in no hurry to get married - although proposals were received. The last of them, however, she accepted - the one that came from her old friend Arthur Nicholas. He was Charlotte's father's assistant and had known the young woman since 1844. It is interesting that Charlotte Bronte’s first impression of him was rather negative; she often spoke skeptically about the man’s narrow-mindedness. Subsequently, however, her attitude towards him changed.

It cannot be said that Patrick Bronte was delighted with his daughter’s choice. For a long time he persuaded her to think, not to make hasty conclusions and not to rush, but nevertheless, in the summer of 1854 they got married. Their marriage was prosperous, although, unfortunately, very short-lived.

Death

Just six months after the wedding, Charlotte Brontë felt unwell. The doctor who examined her diagnosed her with signs of pregnancy and suggested that her poor health was caused by precisely this - the onset of severe toxicosis. Charlotte felt sick all the time, she didn’t want to eat, she felt weak. However, until recently, no one could have imagined that everything would end so sadly. On March 31, Charlotte passed away.

The exact cause of her death has never been established; her biographers still cannot come to a common point of view. Some believe that she contracted typhus from her maid - she was just sick at that time. Others believe that the cause of the death of the still young woman (Charlotte Brontë was not yet thirty-nine) was exhaustion due to toxicosis (she could hardly eat), while others believe that tuberculosis, which did not stop raging, was to blame.

Charlotte Bronte: interesting facts

1. The woman’s biography is outlined in E. Gaskell’s work “The Life of Charlotte Brontë.”
2. A region on Mercury is named after her.
3. The novelist's image appears on one of the British stamps.
4. The unfinished novel Emma was completed for her by K. Savery. There is, however, a second version of this work from K. Boylan called “Emma Brown”.
5. The Bronte Museum is located in Howerth, and many places there are named after this family - a waterfall, a bridge, a chapel and others.
6. The list of Charlotte Brontë's works includes many manuscripts for children and teenagers, as well as three novels written in adulthood.

Brontë's creative journey is a powerful example of how to achieve what you want. It is important to believe in your strength and not give up - and then everything will certainly work out sooner or later!

Charlotte Brontë is one of Britain's most famous novelists. She dreamed of writing since childhood, but was able to fully engage in creativity only in the last decade of her life. During this insignificant period of time, tiny Charlotte (she was only 145 cm tall!) gave the world four brilliant novels that make readers tremble even two centuries later.

Thornton is a small village in the east of England, but its name is familiar to everyone because the outstanding novelist Charlotte Bronte was born here. On April 21, 1816, a third child was born into the family of priest Patrick Bronte and his wife Maria Branwell. The girl was named Charlotte.

Later the family changed their place of residence, moving to Haworth. Three more children were born here - the only son, Patrick Branwell, and two lovely daughters, Emily and Anne. Shortly after the birth of her last child, Maria Branwell became seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed the disease too late - late stage uterine cancer. Maria was dying in terrible agony and died at the age of 38, leaving six young children in the arms of her father.

Immediately after the grief that befell the family, the sister of the late Mary rushed to Haworth. Aunt Branwell replaced the children's mother and always tried to support the orphans financially and morally.

Native places of writers
The small homeland of the famous Bronte sisters, modern Haworth is the most popular point on the tourist map of Europe. Almost every object in Haurot bears the name of famous residents of the town. There is the Bronte Falls, the Bronte Bridge, the Bronte Stone, the Bronte Way, the Bronte Family Tomb and, of course, the Bronte Sisters' House, which now houses a museum dedicated to the lives and works of famous English novelists.

When Charlotte turned eight, her father sent her to Cowan Bridge School. The older sisters Maria and Elizabeth were already trained here. In the fall, six-year-old Emily joined the family.

Cowan Bridge was probably the worst place for children. The pupils lived in damp, poorly heated rooms, ate meager, often rotten food, and were afraid to express their indignation, because for every offense the girls were subjected to severe punishment, not excluding public flogging.

Soon, Mary and Elizabeth Brontë became seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed tuberculosis. The frightened father immediately took his daughters out of the cursed place, but it was not possible to save the eldest daughters - one after another they died in their native Haworth and were buried in the family crypt next to their mother.

Cowan Bridge is etched in the memory of young Charlotte Brontë forever. Years later, she captured the image of the hated school in the novel Jane Eyre. The Lowood boarding house where the main character is brought up is an artistic reconstruction of Cowan Bridge.

Having settled in Haworth again, the Brontë children are educated at home and begin to work on their first literary works. Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne chronicle the fictional kingdom of Angria. When Charlotte became a famous writer, her youthful works were published, and much later they were combined into the collections “Legends of Angria” (1933), “Stories about Angria” (2006) and others.

At fifteen, Charlotte leaves her father's house again and goes to Row Head School. Here she improves her knowledge and gets the opportunity to engage in teaching. For some time, Bronte taught at her alma mater, spending her salary on teaching her younger sisters.

The Brontë sisters go to a Brussels boarding school to improve their French. In order not to pay tuition, the girls combine study with work and teach English to the boarding house residents.

Upon returning home, the Brontës try to open their own school for girls. Start-up capital for the enterprise was provided by Aunt Branwell. However, the modestly furnished house overlooking Haworth Cemetery was not popular. Soon the young headmistresses ran out of money, and the dream of a school had to be abandoned. The Brontës, as before, went to work as governesses to wealthy families.

Only Charlotte was not happy with this state of affairs. First, she inspired the sisters to publish a collection of poems, and then to submit novels for publication (by that time, each of the Brontë sisters had written a work). To intrigue the reader, the girls called themselves fictitious names, and male ones. Charlotte was Carrer, Emily was Alice, Anne was Acton. And they are all the Bell brothers.

The London publishing house immediately began publishing Emily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Gray, but Charlotte's novel The Teacher was rejected. The first failure did not force the elder Brontë to give up, but only fueled her ardor. Having been refused, Charlotte takes out an inkwell and begins to voraciously compose a new novel, which will be called “Jane Eyre.”

Despite the fact that Charlotte Bronte could never boast of particular beauty, men liked this tiny, smart young lady. She was repeatedly approached with marriage proposals, but with the pride of a duchess she refused her suitors.

There is a version that the husband of the head of the Brussels boarding house, Constantin Eger, was in love with little Bronte. Charlotte also had strong feelings for Ezhe, but could not reciprocate them. This may explain Bronte's hasty departure from Brussels and return to her homeland. Charlotte dedicated the novel “Teacher” to her unhappy love. At the same time, there is no reason to unconditionally assert the biographical nature of Bronte’s debut novel.

Eight Years of Literature: Jane Eyre and Other Novels

In 1847, the novel “Jane Eyre” was published in record time, which immediately brought popularity to its author. It was not possible to hide under an assumed name for long; a rumor quickly spread in reading circles that “Jane Eyre” was not written by Currer Bell, but by a provincial teacher. This attracted even more reader attention to Brontë's debut manuscript.

Now Charlotte has gained long-awaited financial independence, and with it the opportunity to do what she loves without wasting energy on teaching.

The height of creative activity
Showing remarkable ability to work, Bronte wrote novels one after another: “Sherley” was published in 1949, “Town” was published in 1953, and work was in full swing on a new version of “Teacher” and the novel “Emma.” These works became available to the reader only after the death of their author.

Perhaps Charlotte Bronte would have given the world much more works, but a lot of spiritual strength was taken away by the series of tragic events that occurred in the Bronte family. Brother Branwell died first. Death was due to tuberculosis, which developed due to alcohol and drugs, which the brother abused in the last years of his life. Following Branwell, beloved Emily and Anne pass away, having contracted tuberculosis from their brother. The old father began to suffer greatly, he practically lost his sight. Poor Charlotte only had time to bury her loved ones and care for her sick father.

The Short Happiness of Charlotte Brontë

Miss Charlotte Brontë was 38 years old. She gave her readers unforgettable love stories, but she herself never found her chosen one. In 1854, Bronte unexpectedly married her longtime admirer Arthur Bell Nicholls, who served in the parish of Charlotte's father.

In our next article we will look at a summary of the first novel by the famous English writer, which was met by critics without much enthusiasm.

One of the best examples of classical literature is Charlotte Bronte's novel, which tells about the love and experiences of a young girl.

Patrick Bronte resisted his daughter's marriage for a long time, fearing the loss of his only child. Charlotte still went against her father's wishes. Her marriage was happy, but very short. Charlotte Brontë died just a year after her marriage, while bearing her first child. Doctors were never able to establish the exact cause of Bronte's death. She was buried in the family crypt along with her dearest people - her mother, brother and sisters.

Many books have been written about Charlotte Brontë and her talented sisters, because even during their lifetime the Brontë sisters became a real literary myth. The classic version of the biography of famous novelists is Elizabeth Gaskell's book “The Life of Charlotte Brontë.”

Bronte Charlotte (married - Nicholls - Beyll) - 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.

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, Father Patrick, a once cheerful man who loved to sing beautiful spiritual songs in the evenings and wrote poetry (he even published two small volumes with his meager funds!), withdrew into himself, became gloomy, forgetting about poems, songs and smiles: He cared , as best I could, about raising children and their education.

Love often blinds people and makes them insensitive to everything except it.

Bronte Charlotte

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 father took Emilia and Charlotte from the boarding school 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 carefully compiled it, sometimes ordering very expensive books from London. He did not forbid the children to read them, but in return he demanded complete submission to a strict daily routine and the strictest silence during his classes! He prepared so carefully 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 sometimes wanted to do so!

Some circumstances of life stubbornly escape our memory. Some turns, some feelings, joys, sorrows, strong shocks after time are remembered to us unclearly and vaguely, like the erased, flickering outlines of a quickly spinning wheel.

Bronte Charlotte

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 usually painted by the youngest and most adored brother, Branwell, whose gift as a subtle portraitist and artist manifested itself very early. 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 Bronte house for a whole month, until it got boring. True, the only spectator was the old grumpy maid Tabby. But the children were incredibly happy about her presence!

And the father, as before, remained silent, dined alone, wrote his sermons, gave orders to the cook in a sharp voice, and sometimes, 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!

Men, and women too, need deception; if they don't encounter it, they create it themselves.

Bronte Charlotte

To replace the quickly 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 write down adventures and everyday life on these magical islands in a small book - a journal or each evening to tell aloud in turns.

This is how the magical country 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 great master! Sitting in a small room on the second floor and looking out the window, she no longer noticed the dullness of the landscape, the low gray clouds, the gusts of wind. She was completely immersed in the World of her hero’s fictitious passions. Sometimes she herself didn’t know what was more real: the boring gray life of Haworth or the stormy chronicle of Angria?! “Few people will believe,” she wrote in her diary, that imaginary joy can bring so much 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 well-established 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.

I like it when flowers grow, but when picked they lose their charm for me. I see how they are doomed to destruction, and I feel sad because of their resemblance to life. I never give flowers to those I love, and I do not want to accept them from someone I care about.

Bronte Charlotte

Subsequently, she recalled with great tenderness and warmth the time spent in Rawhead, at the Wooler boarding house, where she received not only a serious education, which finally 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 experience, the pedagogical reflections of the thoughtful and loving student Miss Bronte, 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 I didn’t want to return to the “house - 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” (she was 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 elegantly capricious London public with his artistry. The exhibition of his drawings was severely criticized in one of the capital's newspapers, Branwell drank out of chagrin, squandered all the remaining money that his father and sisters collected bit by bit and returned to Haworth, inventing a colorful legend about how he was robbed.

When I am pushed away, I move away; when I am forgotten, I will not remind myself with a glance or a word.

Bronte Charlotte

Having taken the place 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 Anne lost her job along with him.

This incident completely threw Branwell out of balance; in addition to daily drunkenness, he became addicted to opium and life 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, we had to forget about the plans for a while, but the sisters did not give up!

Life is such that you can’t predict anything in it in advance.

Bronte Charlotte

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 forget about Patrick Brontë’s handsome and charming assistant, the young priest William Weightman, who greatly interested her and broke the heart of the youngest, Anne, forever. William was a well-educated man, a wonderful and sensitive friend: but the trouble was: he was engaged to someone else! Charlotte, competing with her sister for William's attention, was the first to come to her senses, trying to hide her own feelings as far as possible. But this did not change the situation in any way. William, in response to Anne's confession, only confirmed his love for another. Charlotte left. Soon after leaving, 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 bitterly lectured her hopelessly in love sister in one of her letters. She had the right to say that.

People have equally inexplicable likes and dislikes. One person, who, as reason tells us, is distinguished by decency, for some reason inspires a feeling of hostility and we avoid him, and another, known for his difficult character and other shortcomings, attracts us to himself, as if the very air around him brings us good.

Bronte Charlotte

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 first liked the ardent and enthusiastic adoration of Charlotte, a girl “very smart and serious, but with an overly sensitive heart and an imagination without boundaries!” Very soon Monsieur Heger began to repent of encouraging Charlotte’s love, and when the secret of her heart was unraveled by Madame Heger, he completely lost interest in the student and tried in every possible way to avoid 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 packed her things, carefully packing all the small gifts and notes from her beloved, said goodbye to the residents 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! It’s all good, of course, but why so much heat in ordinary flirting?!

Charlotte returned home with a broken heart. Emilia was hovering somewhere in dreams and clouds, constantly writing something: Anne, too, wandered around the house like a thoughtful shadow. Branwell continued to drink, and in short breaks between binges he grabbed brushes and paints: At times, Charlotte wanted to cry out loud from melancholy! 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 little 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 much love from those I love: But you showed a little interest in me: and I want to maintain this interest, I cling to it, as if a dying person clings to life!

What can be added 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 - a whole box was found after Charlotte's death.. She wrote them every evening, mentally talking to her loved one!*

After all, usually only what lies outside is visible, but we leave everything that is hidden inside to God. A weak mortal like you, who is not capable of being your judge, should not be allowed into this sphere; take what is inside you to the creator, reveal to him the secrets of the soul with which he has endowed you, ask him how to withstand the suffering that he has prepared for you, kneel before him and pray to him so that the darkness will be illuminated by light, so that the pitiful weakness was replaced by strength, so that patience tempered desire.

Bronte Charlotte

It seems that Charlotte decided to write the novel “Teacher” - a “biography” of her feelings for Eger only because she passionately wanted to free her soul from oppressive melancholy, to distract her from the abyss of madness, so as not to hear the hysterical cough of the always cold Anne, the drunken Branwell's songs, the dull murmur of prayers and psalms in my father's room.

One day she accidentally opened Emilia’s album and read with delight her poems, which were unlike ordinary women’s poetry - too fast-paced, bright, laconic. Charlotte was so struck 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 remembered all too well the rebuke of the famous Robert Southey, to whom she had sent her poems several years ago. Southey scolded them and advised Charlotte to do something truly feminine: get married and run a house, and not meddle in the literary world! A collection of poems by the Bell Brothers was published in May 1846.

He earned high critical praise. The poems of Alice Bell (Emilia) were especially noted.

Then I did not yet know that sadness caused by the vicissitudes of fate, for some people, is the most sublime state of mind; I also didn’t know that some plants don’t release fragrance until their petals are crushed.

Bronte Charlotte

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 own novel was rejected, Emilia’s book was not noticed by critics* (*She was in for a resounding success after the death of the twenty-year-old novelist. Robert Fox called this book “a manifesto of English geniuses” - so high did the beautiful, eternally soar on the pages of the novel about difficult but true love the rebellious spirit of Emilia, by that time already terminally ill! But this is a separate 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 new novel "Jane Eyre" - the story of a little governess, poor and ugly, who managed to win the heart of the rich, almost disappointed in life, owner of the castle with towers - E. Rochester.

We will not retell here 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 imperceptibly realize that love, sympathy for a small and thin woman, invariably dressed in black, with huge with full-face eyes, imperceptibly and forever creeps into your heart, like love for mysterious and distant England, with its constant fogs, hills, thickets of yew and wild rose, with its evergreen lawns, clear cool lakes and red brick or gray stone castle towers :. In which live - maybe still! - people like little, loving, courageous Jane and ironic, brilliantly secular and deeply unhappy Edward Rochester.

Everything someday reaches its culmination, its extreme point - both any feeling and life situation.

Bronte Charlotte

Charlotte's novel was a resounding success; several publishers competed with each other to acquire republication 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 proud spirit, he wrote striking words about Charlotte Bronte, which are very rarely quoted:

As soon as I become convinced once that someone’s nature is incompatible with mine, as soon as this person undermines himself in my eyes with something deeply contrary to my rules, I break off this connection.

Bronte Charlotte

“Poor woman with talent! Passionate, small, life-hungry creature, brave, tremulous, ugly: Reading her novel, I guess how she lives, and I understand that more than fame and all other heavenly treasures she would like to have some - Tomkins loved 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 didn't dare make an offer. They understood each other perfectly, perfectly, 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!

Respect yourself enough not to give all the strength of your soul and heart to someone who doesn’t need it.

Bronte Charlotte

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 for sure: 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 write 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 called “only the daughter and wife of a parson” passed away. More than a hundred years have passed since her death, but people still come to Haworth, to the small house - the museum of the “fairy writer” Charlotte Brontë, whose father and husband were "only humble country priests."

Respect yourself enough not to give all the strength of your soul and heart to someone who doesn’t need it, and in whom it would only cause disdain.

Charlotte Bronte's biography is briefly outlined in this article.

Charlotte Bronte biography briefly

Charlotte Bronte- English poet and novelist

Charlotte Brontë is born 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 a clergyman of the Church of England. Having lost her mother early, she experienced a lot of grief as a child, suffering from her father’s harsh and fanatical character.

In 1824, Charlotte, along with her three sisters, was sent by her father to a free orphanage for children of the clergy, but a year later he was forced to take her away: the orphanage was struck by a typhus epidemic.

Forced to work as a governess, Charlotte dreamed of opening her own boarding school for girls for many years. Having saved a small amount, she and her sister Emilia went to Brussels. Having received a good education and brilliantly mastered the French language, the girls returned to England, but they failed to create their own educational institution: the lack of funds and connections doomed the boarding school idea to death. Neither the pedagogical skill of the Bronte sisters, nor their experience, nor their knowledge of the French language, nor the education they received abroad made the boarding house they opened attractive to the English aristocracy.

Charlotte Brontë's literary talent manifested itself early, but the path to recognition was long and painful for her.

Only in 1846 did the Bronte sisters manage to publish a collection of their poems, but it was not the poems that brought Charlotte success, but the novel “Jane Eyre,” published in 1847.

Charlotte married in June 1854. In January 1855, her health deteriorated sharply due to pregnancy.

Novels by Charlotte Brontë

• Jane Eyre, 1846-47, published 1847
• Shirley, 1848-49, published 1849
• Town, 1850-52, published 1853
• Teacher, 1845-46, published 1857
• Emma(Unfinished; the novel was completed, taking care of the legacy of Charlotte Brontë, by the writer Constance Savery, who published the novel “Emma” under the following co-authorship: Charlotte Brontë and Another Lady. In addition, Charlotte’s novel was completed in another version by Claire Boylan, and called it “ Emma Brown").

) in the family of the Anglican clergyman Patrick Bronte (originally from Ireland) and his wife Mary, nee Branwell.

School project

Announcement of the establishment of Miss Brontë's boarding school, 1844.

Returning home on January 1, 1844, Charlotte again decides to take up the project of founding her own school in order to provide herself and her sisters with income. However, the circumstances that developed in 1844 were less favorable to such plans than were the case in 1841.

Charlotte's aunt, Mrs. Branwell, is deceased; Mr. Brontë's health and eyesight weakened. The Bronte sisters were no longer able to leave Haworth to rent a school building in a more attractive area. Charlotte decides to found a boarding house right in Haworth Parsonage; but their family home, located in a cemetery in a rather wild area, scared off the parents of potential students, despite the monetary discounts Charlotte made.

Beginning of a literary career

Having published her first book with family funds, Charlotte later wanted not to spend money on publication, but, on the contrary, to have the opportunity to earn money through literary work. However, her younger sisters were ready to take another risk. Therefore, Emily and Anne accepted the offer of the London publisher Thomas Newby, who asked for 50 pounds as a guarantee for the publication of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, promising to return this money if he managed to sell 250 copies out of 350 (book circulation). Newby did not return this money, despite the fact that the entire edition was sold out in the wake of the success of Charlotte's novel “Jane Eyre” at the end of 1847.

Charlotte herself refused Newby's proposal. She continued to correspond with London firms, trying to interest them in her novel "Teacher". All publishers rejected it, however, the literary consultant of Smith, Elder and Company sent a letter to Currer Bell, in which he kindly explained the reasons for the refusal: the novel lacked the fascination that would allow the book to sell well. In the same month (August 1847), Charlotte sent the manuscript of “Jane Eyre” to Smith, Elder and Company. The novel was accepted and published in record time.

Deaths of Branwell, Emily and Anne Brontë

Along with literary success, trouble came to the Brontë family. Charlotte's brother and only son, Branwell, died in September 1848 from chronic bronchitis or tuberculosis. His brother’s serious condition was aggravated by drunkenness and drug addiction (Branwell took opium). Emily and Anne died of pulmonary tuberculosis in December 1848 and May 1849, respectively.

Now Charlotte and her father are alone. Between 1848 and 1854 Charlotte led an active literary life. She became close to Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Thackeray and George Henry Lewes.

Charlotte met her future husband in the spring of 1844, when Arthur Bell Nicholls arrived in Haworth. Charlotte's first impression of her father's assistant was not at all flattering. She wrote to Ellen Nussey in October 1844:

Similar reviews are found in Charlotte's letters in later years, but over time they disappear.

Charlotte married in June 1854. In January 1855, her health condition deteriorated sharply. In February, a doctor who examined the writer came to the conclusion that the symptoms of illness indicated the beginning of pregnancy and did not pose a threat to life.

Charlotte suffered from constant nausea, lack of appetite, and extreme weakness, which led to rapid exhaustion. However, according to Nicholls, it was only in the last week of March that it became clear that Charlotte was dying. The cause of death was never established.

Children's and youth works (Juvenilia)

The following list of Charlotte Brontë's juveniles is incomplete(the full list is too extensive).

First page of Charlotte Brontë's manuscript, The Secret, 1833.

The names written in square brackets are given by the researchers.

• Two romantic stories: “The Twelve Adventurers” and “The Adventure in Ireland” (1829) The last work is, in fact, not a story, but a story.
• Young People's Magazine (1829-1830)
• The Search for Happiness (1829)
• Characters of the Eminent Men of Our Time (1829)
• Stories about the islanders. In 4 volumes (1829-1830)
• Evening Walk, poem by the Marquis of Duero (1830)
• Translation into English verses of the First Book of Voltaire's Henriad (1830)
• Albion and Marina (1830). Charlotte's first "love" story, written under the influence of Byron; Marina's character corresponds to the character of Hayde from the poem "Don Juan". Charlotte's story is somewhat mystical in nature.
• The Adventures of Ernest Alembert. Tale (1830)
• The Violet and Other Poems of the Marquis of Duero (1830)
• Wedding (1832)(poem and story)
• Arthuriana, or Scraps and Remains (1833)
• Something About Arthur (1833)
• Two stories: "Secret" And "Lily Hart" (1833)
• Visits at Verdopolis (1833)
• Green Dwarf (1833)
• Foundling (1833)
• Richard the Lionheart and Blondel (1833), poem
• Leaf from an Unopened Volume (1834)
• "Spell" And "High Life in Verdopolis" (1834)
• The Dump Book (1834)
• Snack Dishes (1834)
• My Angria and the Angrians (1834)
• "We Weaved a Net in Childhood" [Retrospective] (1835), one of Charlotte Brontë's most famous poems
• Current Events (1836)
• [Exile of Zamorna] (1836), a poem in two cantos
• [Return of Zamorna] (1836-7)
• [Julia] (1837)
• [Lord Duero] (1837)
• [Mina Laurie] (1838)
• [Stancliffe Hotel] (1838)
• [Duke of Zamorna] (1838)
• [Captain Henry Hastings] (1839)
• [Caroline Vernon] (1839)
• Farewell to England (1839)
• Ashworth (1840) first draft of a novel for publication. Ashworth is a kind of pseudonym for Alexander Percy.

Some popular editions of Charlotte Brontë's juvenilia

• "Legends of Angria" (1933, edited by F. E. Ratchford). This book includes the teenage novel "The Green Dwarf", the poem "The Expulsion of Zamorna", the story "Mina Laurie", the youth novel "Caroline Vernon" and "Farewell to Angria" - a prose fragment whose genre is difficult to determine.
• "Charlotte Bronte. Five little novels" (1977, edited by U. Zherin). This book includes the novellas A Current Event, Julia, and Mina Laurie, as well as the young adult novels Captain Henry Hastings and Caroline Vernon.
• Tales of Angria (2006, edited by Heather Glen). This book includes the stories "Mina Laurie" and "Stancliffe Hotel", a short novel in letters "The Duke of Zamorna", the novels "Henry Hastings" and "Caroline Vernon", as well as diary fragments that Charlotte Brontë wrote while she was a teacher at the Row -Hede.

Mature creativity

Novels 1846-1853

In 1846, Charlotte Brontë completely completed the novel, specially written for publication, “