The Brontë Sisters
Their novels caused a sensation when they were first published and have subsequently been accepted into the canon of great English literature. All three died prematurely.
Early Years
The young sisters and their brother, Branwell, wrote compulsively from an early age. Their father encouraged them to read widely and their creativity was nurtured at home where they created their own fantasy lands; Angria and Gondal. Here the siblings served a collaborative literary apprenticeship for two decades prior to becoming published authors.
Influences
Their mature writing style was developed in Haworth, drawing upon their powerful imaginations and their personal experiences amid the dramatic landscape of the surrounding moors.
The Brontës occupied an unusual position in Victorian society, one which influenced their writing. The Parsonage was one of the largest houses in Haworth and their father’s annual income was twenty times more than the average domestic servant, but the Brontës were poor compared to the wealthy manufacturers of Yorkshire.
In the early nineteenth century, the class system was very rigid. The Brontës' education placed them socially above most people in Haworth. However, the yound women needed to support themselves financially and their experiences as governesses informed much of their writing.
Publishing
The sisters first had their poetry published, at their own expense, in 1846 under the male pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Unfortunately, the book only sold two copies. The following year the sisters each produced a novel also published under their assumed names.
These novels attracted great critical attention and steadily became best-sellers.
| Brontë | Lived | Wrote | Published | ||||
| Charlotte | 1816-1855 | Jane Eyre | 1847 | ||||
| Shirley | 1849 | ||||||
| Villette | 1853 | ||||||
| Emily | 1818-1848 | Wuthering Heights | 1847 | ||||
| Anne | 1820-1849 | Agnes Grey | 1847 | ||||
| The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | 1848 |
Critical Acclaim
Although the Brontës’ novels were written over 150 years ago their power still moves readers today. The books were acknowledged at the time for their directness and powerful emotional energy, qualities which were sometimes interpreted by the critics as 'coarse' and 'brutal'.
Haworth 1820-61
Haworth, 800 feet high in the Pennines, was a crowded industrial township during the Brontë period. The population increased by 118% between 1801 and 1851 to 3,365. There were no sewers and the water supply was both polluted and inadequate; contributing to a high mortality rate.
- There were 1,344 burials in the church yard between 1840 and 1850
- The average age at death was 25 years
- 41 percent of babies died before the age of six.
Against the mortality figures the Brontë deaths, though tragic, were unremarkable.
Myths
The enduring myth of the Brontës living in unrelieved isolation and tragedy was, to a degree, unintentionally started by the sisters. By writing under pseudonyms, they drew a veil of mystery around themselves.
After Emily and Anne's deaths, Charlotte’s ‘Biographical Notice’ of her sisters only fuelled the legend. To protect her sisters from the accusations of brutality, Charlotte portrayed them as unlearned, unworldly young women who wrote by instinct rather than design.
Two years after Charlotte’s death, the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell wrote her first biography. This book was responsible for perpetuating a wider knowledge of the Brontës' lives and became a monument to what she perceived as Charlotte's tragedy of noble self-sacrifice to duty. Thus the Brontës were elevated to the mythic, heroic status as is so often the case with those who die young.
