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The Bronte family, consisting of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell, were all avid writers from a young age. Their childhood experiences and attachment to each other influenced their published works, including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Despite their tragic end from illness, the Brontes are an extraordinary literary family.
Sometimes a family is classified as “artistic” or “literary,” and that title certainly belongs to the Brontes, especially the Bronte sisters. The Brontes included Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, born in 1816, 1818, and 1820, respectively. Two older sisters were born in 1815 and 1816, and the only brother, Branwell, was a year younger than Charlotte. Of the family, Charlotte was the eldest when she died, aged 39. Emily was 30, Anne 29 and Branwell 31, when they met their deaths, mainly from consumptive or tubercular disease. The two eldest daughters died at the ages of 10 and 11.
What makes the Brontes unique is that the three daughters were avid writers, right from the time they were little girls. Branwell’s toy soldiers inspired children to create an imaginary world called Angria, which they talked about, played and of course wrote about. The sons of a clergyman who also published works, the Brontes were quite literate and their imaginary world grew into a strong aptitude for writing, which later materialized in their published works.
History and legend have often depicted the Brontes as solitary geniuses, deprived of their mother at an early age and subject to the cruelty of a mad father. It is clear in contemporary times that such legends are exaggerated. The Reverend Patrick Bronte was hardly a contender for Father of the Year, but many of the strange acts attributed to him in the past, such as destroying his wife’s dress as she was dying, are certainly myths. Literary critics and historians sometimes feel today that the children were purposely alone, preferring each other’s company and finding maximum solace in imaginary worlds and writing together or separately.
Inspiration from their childhoods wasn’t hard to come by. Charlotte and Emily attended Roe Head Charity School, with their two older sisters, both of whom died of an illness which affected the school. Later, Roe Head was found to have been mismanaged, depriving students of food or decent living conditions. Changes were made and Charlotte returned there again as a student and then briefly as a teacher. Roe Head is thought to have most certainly inspired the school, Lowood, in the novel by Charlotte Jane Eyre.
Furthermore, the sisters were deeply attached to Brother Branwell, who became a raging alcoholic in his 20s. Many of the male characters in each of Bronte’s novels display essential weaknesses and self-destructive tendencies. These characters may have been influenced by Branwell’s terrible fate.
However, it is rare to find three sisters who have all become published authors. Their first published work was a book of poems, written under the synonyms, Curer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The book received little attention, although some of the work of Ellis, or Emily, has since been anthologized. More success was achieved when in 1847 the Brontes each published a major work: Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Emily’s Wuthering Heights, and Anne’s Agnes Gray. Of these novels, only Jane Eyre has received much critical praise. Emily and Anne’s books were considered morbid and “gross” and Charlotte furthered this myth after their deaths by portraying them as ignorant girls who simply made mistakes in their writing.
Today, of course, Jane Eyre is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Victorian period, and Wuthering Heights has become one of the most popular gothic novels ever written. Anne’s work has attracted more and more attention and interest. In particular her novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, has shown promise as a possible inclusion in the literary canon.
The Brontes, therefore, can be said to be an extraordinary literary family, with a certainly tragic end. Emily and Branwell died the same year and Anne a year later. Charlotte survived her younger siblings for nearly a decade, continuing to write and publish arguably some of her most interesting work of her time, including the novels Shirley and Villette. There will always be questions about what inspired virtually an entire family to become so incredibly artistic, questions that may never be fully answered.
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