How well do you know the Brontë sisters?
Here are 42 novel facts about the Brontë sisters. 1. All in the Family The three Brontë Sisters—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—make up one of the most famous families in English literature. Charlotte, the oldest, was born in 1816; she was followed by Emily in 1818, and then Anne in 1820.
Did Charlotte Brontë have any siblings?
Charlotte Brontë survived all of her siblings, with Emily dying in 1848 and Anne following her to the grave a year later. Charlotte penned this touching poem about Anne’s death from consumption, declaring how she ‘would have died to save’ her sister and that she longs to see an end to her sister’s suffering.
What were the Brontë sisters’ pseudonyms?
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë did not originally publish their works under their own names. Instead, they went by the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Like many Victorian women publishing at the time, the sisters chose male pseudonyms.
What happened to Emily Brontë's sister Anne?
Emily died in December 1848; Anne died a few months later, in May 1849, from tuberculosis, the same disease that felled her sister. She was just 29. When a 20-year-old Charlotte Brontë sent her work to England's Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, his recommendations failed to her inspire her.
Which Brontë sister is considered the best writer?
Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre, is considered one of the best ever written because of its insight into the life of a young woman, specifically a governess, and the ways in which it demonstrates her growth through age and experience.
Who was the prettiest Brontë sister?
It certainly wouldn't be unusual for a young curate to seek a wife from the daughters of another clergyman, and Anne was described by contemporaries as the prettiest of the Brontë sisters, as well as being the most pious.
Who was the smartest Brontë sister?
Maria Brontë - Tragic And Genius Sister | Anne Brontë
What are the Brontë sisters famous for?
The sisters, Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848), and Anne (1820–1849), are well-known poets and novelists. Like many contemporary female writers, they published their poems and novels under male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, originally.
Was Charlotte Brontë jealous of Anne Brontë?
It may sound outrageous today, given the supremacy of Charlotte's reputation over Anne's, but Charlotte was also jealous of Anne's writing. The first publication from the Brontë sisters was Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, a joint collection of verse that they paid to have published.
Why Wuthering Heights wrote Emily?
Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights because she needed to give way to her passions. She was eager to unveil the wild side of an English person's personality. She also strove for freedom and self-expression through her characters.
Did Emily Brontë have Aspergers?
A Brontë biographer has taken a freewheeling approach to characterizing what it means to be on the autism spectrum and diagnose Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights, with Asperger's.
Was Anne Brontë a feminist?
The feminist community, however, has surely not forgotten her, for in the words of Lucy Mangan, Anne is “the forgotten genius - a feminist and social firebrand whose ideas were way over Charlotte's head and years before their time.”
Are there any descendants of the Brontes?
Are there any Brontë descendants? There are certainly no legitimate descendants. Branwell, Emily and Anne never married, and, although Charlotte is believed to have been pregnant at the time of her death, her baby died with her.
In what order should I read the Brontë books?
We propose the following publication order when reading Charlotte Bronte's Short Stories/Novellas books:The Green Dwarf (1830)The Spell (1830)Tales of the Islanders (1830)My Angria And The Angrians (1830)The Secret & Lily Hart (1830)The Foundling (1830)Mina Laury (1838)Tales of Angria (1839)More items...
How were Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights similar?
Both books contain elements of the Gothic novel, especially in their creepy, isolated locations. And both have 'bad boy' Byronic heroes, Heathcliff and Rochester. However, Jane Eyre ends happily with its bad boy changed by Jane's love, while Wuthering Heights ends with tragedy and bitterness.
In what ways were Emily and Charlotte's lives tragic?
Family misfortunes The tragedies started early for the Brontës. In 1821, when Charlotte was five, Emily was three and Anne was not yet two, they lost their mother to illness. Four years after that, their two eldest sisters both died of tuberculosis in as many months.
What did Anne Bronte look like?
"Her hair was a very pretty light brown, and fell on her neck in graceful curls. She had lovely violet-blue eyes, fine pencilled eyebrows and a clear almost transparent complexion." "[Emily] and gentle Anne were to be seen twined together as united statues of power and humility.
What did Charlotte Bronte look like?
She was very small, and had a quaint old-fashioned look. Her head seemed too large for her body. She had fine eyes, but her face was marred by the shape of the mouth and by the complexion.
Is there a photo of Bronte sisters?
Photography as a common means of portraying people was still in its infancy in the late 1840s when Emily and Anne died, though. Sadly, it is unlikely a group photograph of the three exists.
Are there any photos of the Brontes?
There are no known photographs of the Bronte sisters but a photo with "The Bronte Sisters" written on the reverse in French was discovered in France in 2011. The photo is a collodion so if these are the sisters then it could only be a copy of a daguerreotype.
Bronte Sisters and Victorian Society
The Brontės occupied an unusual position in society, one which was to influence the themes of their novels. The Parsonage was amongst the largest houses in Haworth, though in comparison with the homes of clergymen in more affluent areas of Britain, it would have been considered small.
Family History of the Bronte Sisters
In 1820 Patrick Brontė was appointed as incumbent of Haworth, and arrived in the township with his Cornish-born wife, Maria, and their six children.
How many Jane Eyre movies are there?
Today, there are many adaptations of their works. Namely, there have been many feature films and mini series of each of their works—including Jane Eyre (1943, 1996, and 2011 films as well as multiple TV movies), Wuthering Heights (1939, 1992, and 2011 films), and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996 TV mini series).
Who is Madeleine Muzdakis?
Madeleine Muzdakis is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and a historian of early modern Britain & the Atlantic world. She holds a BA in History and Mathematics from Brown University and an MA in European & Russian Studies from Yale University. Madeleine has worked in archives and museums for years with a particular focus on photography and arts education. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys hiking, film photography, and reading while cuddling with her cat Georgia.
How did Anne die?
Anne passed away young, much like Emily. At 29 she contracted tuberculosis and died after a prolonged illness in 1849.
Did Emily and Charlotte live in the parsonage?
However, she reportedly detested the profession and was reputed to be a rather odd, reclusive character. The sisters lived much of their life in the parsonage. According to a later letter by Charlotte addressing why they did not hire new household help: “Emily does the baking and attends to the kitchen.
Who are Patrick's sisters in Charlotte?
After some time, Patrick calls in Charlotte’s younger sisters, Emily and Anne: “Charlotte has been writing a book – and I think it is better than I expected.”.
What phase did Charlotte and Emily write?
Ignoring mixed reviews and poor sales figures, all three sisters continued with phase two : novels. Charlotte had been writing The Professor, Emily, Wuthering Heights and Anne, Agnes Grey. But finding a publisher to take on all three books proved impossible. Finally, an offer was received for Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey in the midsummer of 1847. However, Emily and Anne had to contribute to the cost of printing again, and no one wanted The Professor.
What land did Charlotte and Branwell create?
Charlotte and Branwell created a land called Angria together, while Emily and Anne built Gondal. These paracosms were incredibly sophisticated, and exceptionally important to the Brontës – not only as subjects to hone their writing skills with, but also as places to escape to, which they did well into their adulthoods.
How old was Charlotte when she went to school?
In 1831, a 15-year-old Charlotte went to Roe Head school, where she would ultimately become a teacher. Her sisters both became her pupils – Emily only managed three months before homesickness (and Gondal-sickness) pulled her home, but Anne completed two years at the school.
What was Emily and Anne like?
Emily and Anne were almost like twins ,” says Juliet Barker, author of The Brontës. “Charlotte, the eldest, tended to try to organise them”. Their daily routine involved prayer, lessons, walks and imaginative play, in which they would escape into fantastical lands.
How did the novels of three shy, middle-class sisters change the face of literature?
How did the novels of three shy, middle-class sisters change the face of literature? One key part of the answer is that they imbued their writings with a powerful element that would stop all contemporary readers in their tracks: the truth. Their harsh, satirical retellings of provincial life had little in common with the sentimentality of Romantic literature that was then popular, and their tales shocked Victorian audiences, who found some of the lesser-known facts of their society too much to bear. It was only Charlotte who discovered a way to package the realism of their life up in a way that her immediate audience found palatable. Another crucial change that their works wrought was to help quash the prevalent belief that women were inferior writers to men. Charlotte herself was told that “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life and it ought not to be,” by the then-Poet Laureate, Robert Southey. Yet what poured out of their imaginations remains among the most powerful prose in English. They were not alone – they were among a number of pivotal female writers, including Jane Austen before them and George Eliot after, whose persistence in the face of prejudice contributed to what the 19th-century writer Margaret Oliphant considered “the age of female novelists”. The Brontës’ writings can be seen as early feminist works, with heroines struggling for independence in a patriarchal society.
What was Branwell's career?
Meanwhile, Branwell’s adult years had got off to an inauspicious start. After short stints as a portrait painter (the career for which he had received much training), a private tutor, and a career in the railways, he took up a position as a tutor alongside Anne with the Robinson family in 1843. This was, arguably, the true start of Branwell’s demise.
Why did Bronte change his name?
Their father Patrick Brontë was born Patrick Brunty. Hoping to hide his “embarrassing” Irish heritage, he changed his name slightly to something more recognizably British, “the Duke of Bronte” being one of the many titles of famed British admiral Horatio Nelson.
What did Elizabeth Branwell do for the girls?
Elizabeth Branwell’s wealth also afforded the girls the opportunity to study abroad. Emily and Charlotte were enrolled in Monsieur and Madame Heger’s Boarding School in Brussels in 1842. The girls thrived at the school, although Emily did not much enjoy it: at the end of their six- month term, both Brontës were invited to stay at the school as teachers.
Why did Charlotte suppress the second book of Wuthering Heights?
She suppressed a rumored second novel by Emily, supposedly out of concern that it might not live up to the standard set by Wuthering Heights. She also wrote a letter to Anne’s publisher, suggesting that The Tenant of Wildfell Hall didn’t bear a second edition.
How did Emily die?
The illness was exacer bated by the drinking water in her family home, which ran from the local graveyard. Emily went to her grave believing that Wuthering Heights was a failure.
How did Charlotte die?
Not long after the marriage, her health began to fail. She died on March 31, 1855 of hyperemesis gravidarium —extreme morning sickness.
Did Charlotte have teeth?
Charlotte had terrible teeth. A fellow novelist remarked, after meeting her, that Charlotte had “a large mouth, and many teeth gone; altogether plain.” Charlotte spent her first earnings from Jane Eyre on some sorely needed dental refurbishment.
Was Jane Eyre a success?
Although Charlotte had great difficulty finding a publisher for her novel, Jane Eyre proved to be a massive success. It outsold both Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, and earned enthusiastic praise from critics.
What did Charlotte and Emily do in their childhood?
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, along with their brother Branwell, were educated at home for much of their childhoods. And so they grew up playing together and creating imaginary worlds that they would all write about. First came Angria, a fantasy world created and run by Charlotte and Branwell. The children would put on plays, make up stories, write poems, and create journals and magazines set in this make-believe world.
What happened to Charlotte and Emily?
In September 1824, Charlotte and Emily, along with their sisters Maria and Elizabeth, were sent away to a school for daughters of the clergy in Cowan’s Bridge. But then in 1825, Typhoid Fever hit Cowan’s Bridge. The illness was thought to be exacerbated by the poor nutrition and rough living conditions at the school. Both Maria and Elizabeth fell ill and died of tuberculosis. After that, Charlotte and Emily returned home.
Why did Charlotte and Anne travel to London?
Charlotte said that they laughed at the speculation at first, but once the assumption became popular belief, Charlotte and Anne felt obligated to travel to London to prove to Charlotte’s publisher that they were in fact not the same person. Emily, who was famously reclusive, refused to join them.
What is the setting of Jane Eyre?
The Lowood school setting in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is clearly inspired by the Brontës’ experiences at the Cowan Bridge School. Charlotte was not shy about blaming her sisters’ deaths on the conditions at the school.
Where is the Branwell family portrait now?
To this day, Branwell’s painting of his sisters remains one of the best-known images of the Brontës. It now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Was Wuthering Heights a commercial success?
Following its publication, Wuthering Heights was not a commercial or critical success. At the times, critics acknowledge the passion and imagination in the writing itself, but they believed the story was too dramatic and too dark. Graham’s Lady Magazine called the novel “a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors.” The Examiner wrote that the book was “wild, confused, disjointed, and improbable; and the people who make up the drama, which is tragic enough in its consequences, are savages ruder than those who lived before the days of Homer.”
Bronte Sisters and Victorian Society
- The Brontės occupied an unusual position in society, one which was to influence the themes of their novels. The Parsonage was amongst the largest houses in Haworth, though in comparison with the homes of clergymen in more affluent areas of Britain, it would have been considered small. Similarly, Patrick’s annual income of around £200 was twenty tim...
Family History of The Bronte Sisters
- In 1820 Patrick Brontė was appointed as incumbent of Haworth, and arrived in the township with his Cornish-born wife, Maria, and their six children. Although Haworth remained the family’s home for the rest of their lives, and the moorland setting had a profound influence on the writing of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontė, the family history began not in Yorkshire, but in Ireland, where …
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The Brontës, A Family of Writers
- The Brontë family was a well-educated and talented family, although not particularly high class. The father, Patrick Brontë, was a clergyman in the Church of England. He was stationed at the village of Haworth on the Yorshire moors which would come to feature heavily in Wuthering Heights. Of the six children in the family, only four lived to adulthood. Widowed when his childre…
Charlotte Brontë
- Born in 1816, Charlotte Brontë was the eldest of the family's surviving children. She started writing poetry early on in life. With her siblings (whom she helped educate), she was left to indulge in imagination and craft while their father was occupied elsewhere. Charlotte showed her early works to England's Poet Laureate in 1836, Robert Southey. Southey wroteher that, despite her tal…
Emily Brontë
- Emily Brontë—the middle sister of the surviving Brontë children—grew up to teach, much as Charlotte had. However, she reportedly detested the profession and was reputed to be a rather odd, reclusive character. The sisters lived much of their life in the parsonage. According to a later letter by Charlotte addressing why they did not hire new househo...
Anne Brontë
- Anne Brontë—the youngest of the siblings—was as imaginative a child as the rest. She and Emily were particularly close. Like her sisters, she served as a governess for a wealthy family. She had a miserable time with spoiled children and overly indulgent parents. But, like Charlotte with Jane Eyre, Anne found literary inspiration in the worst chapters of her employment. Agnes Gray was p…
Lasting Legacy
- The only surviving sibling, Charlotte, was left alone at only 33 years old. Charlotte was a guiding hand in shaping the family legacy. It is now thought that she began sanitizing the sisters' image by editing Agnes Gray, preventing the republication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and providing details of the family's life to the biographer and writer Elizabeth Gaskell. Several years later, Char…
Overview
The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848), and Anne (1820–1849), are well-known poets and novelists. Like many contemporary female writers, they published their poems and novels under male pseudonym…
Origin of the name
The Brontë family can be traced to the Irish clan Ó Pronntaigh, which literally means "descendant of Pronntach". They were a family of hereditary scribes and literary men in Fermanagh. The version Ó Proinntigh, which was first given by Patrick Woulfe in his Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall (Surnames of the Gael and the Foreigner) and reproduced without question by Edward MacLysaght inter alia, cannot be accepted as correct, as there were a number of well-known scribes with this name wri…
Members of the Brontë family
Patrick Brontë (17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861), the Brontë sisters' father, was born in Loughbrickland, County Down, Ireland, of a family of farm workers of moderate means. His birth name was Patrick Prunty or Brunty. His mother, Alice McClory, was of the Roman Catholic faith, whilst his father Hugh was a Protestant, and Patrick was brought up in his father's faith.
Education
In 1824, the four eldest girls (excluding Anne) entered the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, which educated the children of less prosperous members of the clergy, which had been recommended to Mr Brontë. The following year, Maria and Elizabeth fell gravely ill and were removed from the school, but died on 6 May and 15 June 1825, respectively. Charlotte and Emily …
Literary evolution
The children became interested in writing from an early age, initially as a game. They all displayed a talent for narrative, but for the younger ones it became a pastime to develop them . At the centre of the children's creativity were twelve wooden soldiers which Patrick Brontë gave to Branwell at the beginning of June 1826. These toy soldiers instantly fired their imaginations and they spoke of th…
Brontë sisters' literary career
The writing that had begun so early never left the family. Charlotte had ambition like her brother (though Branwell was kept at a distance from her project) and wrote to the poet laureate Robert Southey to submit several poems of his style; she received a hardly encouraging reply after several months. Southey, still illustrious although his star has somewhat waned, was one of the great figure…
Charlotte Brontë
Conditions at the school at Cowan Bridge, where Maria and Elizabeth may have contracted the tuberculosis from which they died, were probably no worse than those at many other schools of the time. (For example, several decades before the Brontë sisters' experience at Cowan Bridge, Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra contracted typhus at a similar boarding school, and Jane nearly die…
Branwell Brontë
Patrick Branwell Brontë (1817–1848) was considered by his father and sisters to be a genius. On the other hand, the book by Daphne du Maurier (1986), The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, contains numerous references to his addiction to alcohol and laudanum. He was an intelligent boy with many talents and interested in many subjects, especially literature. He was often the driving force in the Brontë siblings' construction of the imaginary worlds. He was artistic and encourage…