A presentation on the life and works of Charlotte Brontë. A very useful revision resource for English Literature.

1. Callum and Matthew

2.  Charlotte Brontë was an
English novelist and poet
and the eldest of the three
Brontë sisters. Her novels
have become classics of
English literature. She
published her best known
novel, Jane Eyre, under
the pen name Currer Bell.

3.  Charlotte was born in
Thornton, west of Bradford,
in 1816. She was the third of
the six children of Maria and
Patrick Brontë. In 1820 her
family moved a few miles to
the village of Haworth. Maria
died of cancer on 15
September 1821, leaving five
daughters, Maria, Elizabeth,
Charlotte, Emily and Anne
plus a son, Branwell, to be
taken care of by her sister,
Elizabeth Branwell.

4.  In 1842 Charlotte and sister
Emily travelled to Brussels to
enrol at a boarding school
run by Constantin Heger. In
return for board and tuition
Charlotte taught English.
Their time at the school was
cut short when their aunt
Elizabeth Branwell, who had
joined the family in Haworth
to look after the children
after their mother's death,
died of internal obstruction
in October 1842.

5.  In May 1846 Charlotte,
Emily and Anne self-
financed the publication of
a joint collection of poems
under their assumed names
Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.
The pseudonyms veiled the
sisters' gender while
preserving their initials;
thus Charlotte was Currer
Bell. Only 2 copies sold.

6.  In August 1847 Jane Eyre: An
Autobiography was
published. It tells the story
of a plain governess, Jane,
who, after difficulties in her
early life, falls in love with
her employer, Mr Rochester.
The book's style was
innovative, combining
naturalism with gothic
melodrama, and broke new
ground in being written from
an intensely evoked first-
person female perspective.

7.  Jane Eyre had immediate
commercial success and
initially received
favourable reviews. G. H.
Lewes wrote that it was
"an utterance from the
depths of a struggling,
suffering, much-
enduring spirit“.
Speculation about the
identity and gender of
the mysterious Currer
Bell heightened as the
books popularity grew.

8.  Accompanying the speculation
about the author was a change in
the critical reaction to Charlotte's
work, as accusations were made
that the writing was "coarse", a
judgement more readily made
once it was suspected that the
author Currer Bell may be a
woman. However, sales of Jane
Eyre continued to be strong and
may even have increased as a
result of the novel developing a
reputation as a controversial
book.

9.  In 1848 Charlotte began work on
the manuscript of her second
novel, Shirley. It was only partially
completed when the Brontë family
suffered the deaths of three of its
members within eight months. In
September 1848 Branwell died of
chronic bronchitis brought on by
heavy drinking, and possibly
opium addiction. Emily became
seriously ill shortly after Branwell's
funeral and died of pulmonary
tuberculosis in December 1848.
Anne died of the same disease in
May 1849.

10.  After Anne's death Charlotte
resumed writing as a way of
dealing with her grief, and Shirley
was published. The novel deals
with themes of industrial unrest
and the role of women in society.
It was published in October
1849. Unlike Jane Eyre, Shirley is
written in the third person and
lacks the emotional depth of her
first novel. Reviewers found it
less shocking.

11.  Charlotte's third novel was
her last. It was named
Villette, which appeared in
1853. Its main themes
include isolation, how such a
condition can be born. Its
main character, Lucy Snowe,
travels abroad to teach in a
boarding school in the
fictional town of Villette,
where she encounters a
culture and religion different
from her own, and falls in
love with a man whom she
cannot marry.

12.  Before the publication of
Villette, Charlotte received a
proposal of marriage from
Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's
curate. He had long been in
love with her. She initially
turned down his proposal and
her father objected partly due
to Nicholls's poor financial
status. In January 1854 she had
accepted his proposal. They
gained the approval of her
father by April and married in
June.

13.  Charlotte became pregnant soon
after her wedding, but her health
declined rapidly. She died, with
her unborn child, on 31 March
1855, aged only 38. Many
suggest that she died from
dehydration and malnourishment
due to severe morning sickness.
Charlotte was interred in the
family vault in the Church of St
Michael and All Angels at
Haworth.