Biography of Charlotte Bronte
Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816 in Yorkshire, England. Her mother died when she was five years old, leaving Charlotte's Methodist aunt to aid her father in raising her and her siblings. In 1824 her and three of her sisters - Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily - were sent away to a school called Cowan Bridge. Once there, an outbreak of tuberculosis broke out in the school, killing Maria and Elizabeth. After the deaths of her two sisters, Charlotte and Emily were brought home. A few years later, Charlotte decided she would return to school. She went away to Row Head school and became a teacher there in 1835, deciding after several years of teaching that she would become a private governess instead. Though she obtained a position in governing, she disliked the job and soon left her position for a different family. Again, the position was a misery to her and she began to realize her dream of opening her own school. She recruited her sisters to aid her in preparation for the school she wished to establish.
The Bronte sisters' school was unsuccessful, but their literary projects thrived. They published a book of poems under male pseudonyms. Charlotte's was Currer Bell, while Emily and Anne's were Ellis and Acton Bell. They kept the pseudonyms even when they began writing their own individual novels. Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre, became one of the most successful pieces of literature of its era, critically as well as commercially. After Jane Eyre became a success, Charlotte released her real name into the public and went on to write several other novels.
There are many similarities between the life of Charlotte Bronte and the life of her character Jane Eyre. Like Jane, charlotte was raised partially by her aunt, then sent away to school. The death of Jane's dearest friend Helen is similar to the death of Charlotte's sisters. The wicked character Mr. Brocklehurst is partly based off of the Reverend Carus Wilson who was the evangelical minister who ran Cowan Bridge. It seemed as though Charlotte took revenge upon her school by using it as the basis of her fictional school, Lowood, in Jane Eyre. John Reed's decline into dissolution and alcohol is seen to be modelled off of Charlotte's brother Branwell, who fell into opium and alcohol the year before he died. Like Jane, Charlotte became a teacher and a governess, and observes the oppressive social ideas and behaviours of the Victorian society.
The Bronte sisters' school was unsuccessful, but their literary projects thrived. They published a book of poems under male pseudonyms. Charlotte's was Currer Bell, while Emily and Anne's were Ellis and Acton Bell. They kept the pseudonyms even when they began writing their own individual novels. Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre, became one of the most successful pieces of literature of its era, critically as well as commercially. After Jane Eyre became a success, Charlotte released her real name into the public and went on to write several other novels.
There are many similarities between the life of Charlotte Bronte and the life of her character Jane Eyre. Like Jane, charlotte was raised partially by her aunt, then sent away to school. The death of Jane's dearest friend Helen is similar to the death of Charlotte's sisters. The wicked character Mr. Brocklehurst is partly based off of the Reverend Carus Wilson who was the evangelical minister who ran Cowan Bridge. It seemed as though Charlotte took revenge upon her school by using it as the basis of her fictional school, Lowood, in Jane Eyre. John Reed's decline into dissolution and alcohol is seen to be modelled off of Charlotte's brother Branwell, who fell into opium and alcohol the year before he died. Like Jane, Charlotte became a teacher and a governess, and observes the oppressive social ideas and behaviours of the Victorian society.