Charlotte Bronte: biography, interesting facts. Biography of Charlotte Brontë: a small woman with a huge soul How did the life of Charlotte Brontë’s husband turn out?

Childhood

The clergyman Patrick Bronte and his wife Mary had six children - five daughters and one son. Charlotte Brontë is third. She was born in the east of England, in the small village of Thornton, and this event happened on April 21, 1816.

According to many surviving testimonies, Charlotte Bronte was not a particular beauty, but at the same time she had great intelligence, liveliness, and sharpness. Following her, her brother and two younger sisters were born, and soon after the birth of their last daughter, Anne, their mother died - she was diagnosed with uterine cancer too late. Charlotte was five years old at the time. A year earlier, the family moved to Hoerth, where her father was offered a new place of service and which became a real small homeland for Charlotte.

After Mary's death, her sister came to Hohert to help Patrick raise his young children. In essence, she replaced their mother. Patrick Bronte, meanwhile, decided to take care of their education and sent his two eldest daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to a specialized boarding school for girls from clergy families. A month later, eight-year-old Charlotte arrived there, and after some time, the fourth sister, Emily. The fifth, Anne, was still too young and remained with her father and brother. The boarding school teachers said about Charlotte that the girl was quite smart for her age, but they noted her lack of knowledge of grammar, history, geography and etiquette, as well as illegible handwriting and gaps in mathematics. Everything that young Charlotte Brontë owned by this moment was fragmentary and unsystematic.

In the nineteenth century, tuberculosis was rampant. Many people died because of this disease in terrible agony, and children were no exception. Due to the terrible conditions in the boarding school (damp, unheated rooms, rotten food, the eternal threat of flogging), Charlotte's older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, also contracted this terrible disease. Patrick immediately took all four daughters home, but Mary and Elizabeth could not be saved.

Initial experiments

The remaining four Brontë children all showed a penchant for creativity in one way or another from a young age. It was after returning home from the boarding house that Charlotte, Emily and their younger brother and sister took up paper and pen for the first time. Branwell, the girls' brother, had little soldiers, and his sisters played with them. They transferred their imaginary games to paper, recording the adventures of the soldiers on their behalf. Researchers of Charlotte Brontë's work note that in those children's works (the first of which was written at the age of ten) the future writer had a noticeable influence of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.

Job

In the early 1830s, Charlotte studied in the town of Row Head, where she later remained to work as a teacher. Charlotte Brontë also arranged for her sister Emily to come to her to receive an education. When, unable to bear living in someone else's house, Emily returned to her father, Anne came instead.

However, Charlotte herself did not last long there. In 1838, she left there - the reason was eternal employment and the inability to devote herself to literary creativity (by that time the girl was already actively engaged in it). Returning to Hohert, Charlotte Brontë took up the position of governess - this was her mother’s dream at one time. Having changed several families, she quickly realized that this was not hers either. And then luck arrived.

The aunt of the Brontë children, who raised them with their father, gave the sisters a certain amount of money to create their own boarding house. This is what the girls intended to do, but unexpectedly changed their plans: in 1842, Charlotte and Emily left to study in Belgium. They stayed there for a little more than one semester - until the death of their aunt in the fall of that year.

In 1844, Charlotte and her sisters decided to return to the idea of a school. But if earlier they could leave Hoert for this, now there was no such chance: the aunt was gone, the father was getting weaker, there was no one to look after him. I had to create a school right in the family home, in the parsonage, near the cemetery. Naturally, the parents of the possible pupils did not like such a place, and the whole idea failed.

Beginning of literary activity

As mentioned above, at this time the girl was writing with all her might. At first, she turned her attention to poetry and back in 1836 she sent a letter with her poetic experiments to the famous poet Robert Southey (he is the author of the original version of the tale of “Masha and the Bears”). It cannot be said that the eminent master was delighted; he informed the aspiring talent about this, advising him to write not so enthusiastically and exaltedly.

His letter had a huge impact on Charlotte Brontë. Under the influence of his words, she decided to take up prose and replace romanticism with realism. In addition, it was now that Charlotte began to write her texts under a male pseudonym - so that they could be assessed objectively.

In 1840, she conceived the novel Ashworth, about an obstinate young man. The girl sent the first drafts to Hartley Coleridge, another English poet. He criticized the idea, explaining that such a thing would not be successful. Charlotte listened to Coleridge's words and left work on this book.

Three sisters

It was already mentioned above that all four surviving Brontë children had a passion for creativity since childhood. As he grew older, Branwell preferred painting to literature and often painted portraits of his sisters. The younger ones followed in Charlotte's footsteps: Emily is known to the reading public as the author of Wuthering Heights, Anne published the books Agnes Gray and The Stranger from Wildfell Hall. The younger one is much less famous than the older sisters.

However, fame came to them later, and in 1846 they published a joint book of poetry under the name of the Bell brothers. The novels of Charlotte's younger sisters, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, were also published under the same pseudonyms. Charlotte herself wanted to publish her debut work “Teacher”, but nothing came of it (it was published only after the death of the writer) - the publishers returned the manuscript to her, talking about the lack of “fascination”.

The creative activity of the three Bronte sisters did not last long. In the fall of 1848, their brother Branwell died from an illness aggravated by alcohol and drugs. Emily left him due to tuberculosis in December, followed by Anne in May of the following year. Charlotte remained the only daughter of the aging Patrick.

"Jane Eyre"

She created the novel “Jane Eyre,” which brought Charlotte worldwide fame, in 1846-1847. After the failure with “The Teacher,” Charlotte Bronte sent “Jane Eyre” to a certain British publishing house - and hit the bull’s eye. It was published in an incredibly short time, and then it caused a strong reaction from the public. Not only readers, but also critics heaped praise on “Carrer Bell” - it was only in 1848 that Charlotte Brontë revealed her real name.

The novel "Jane Eyre" has been reprinted several times. Many film adaptations have also been made based on it, one of which is starring the now famous actress Mia Wasikowska.

Information about the personal life of Charlotte Brontë

The writer's biography provides much more information about her work than about potential candidates for her hand and heart. It is known, however, that, despite Charlotte’s lack of a “model” appearance, she always had enough gentlemen, but she was in no hurry to get married - although proposals were received. The last of them, however, she accepted - the one that came from her old friend Arthur Nicholas. He was Charlotte's father's assistant and had known the young woman since 1844. It is interesting that Charlotte Bronte’s first impression of him was rather negative; she often spoke skeptically about the man’s narrow-mindedness. Subsequently, however, her attitude towards him changed.

It cannot be said that Patrick Bronte was delighted with his daughter’s choice. For a long time he persuaded her to think, not to make hasty conclusions and not to rush, but nevertheless, in the summer of 1854 they got married. Their marriage was prosperous, although, unfortunately, very short-lived.

Death

Just six months after the wedding, Charlotte Brontë felt ill. The doctor who examined her diagnosed her with signs of pregnancy and suggested that her poor health was caused by precisely this - the onset of severe toxicosis. Charlotte felt sick all the time, she didn’t want to eat, she felt weak. However, until recently, no one could have imagined that everything would end so sadly. On March 31, Charlotte passed away.

The exact cause of her death has never been established; her biographers still cannot come to a common point of view. Some believe that she contracted typhus from her maid - she was just sick at that time. Others believe that the cause of the death of the still young woman (Charlotte Brontë was not yet thirty-nine) was exhaustion due to toxicosis (she could hardly eat), while others believe that tuberculosis, which did not stop raging, was to blame.

Charlotte Bronte: interesting facts

The woman’s biography is outlined in E. Gaskell’s work “The Life of Charlotte Brontë.”
A region on Mercury is named after her.
The novelist's image appears on one of the British stamps.
The unfinished novel Emma was completed for her by K. Savery. There is, however, a second version of this work from K. Boylan called “Emma Brown”.
The Bronte Museum is located in Howerth, and many places there are named after this family - a waterfall, a bridge, a chapel and others.
The list of Charlotte Brontë's works includes many manuscripts for children and teenagers, as well as three novels written in adulthood.

Brontë's creative journey is a powerful example of how to achieve what you want. It is important to believe in your strength and not give up - and then everything will certainly work out sooner or later!

Born in Thornton, Yorkshire (Thornton, Yorkshire) - April 21, 1816
Died at Haworth, Yorkshire - 31 March 1855

Charlotte was the third of six children. When the girl was five years old, her mother died and her aunt Elizabeth Branwell moved into their rectory to look after the orphaned children. When Charlotte was eight years old, her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, died of consumption. This event made Charlotte responsible for the family, and the oldest of the remaining four children, which strengthened her personality and spirit.

Charlotte Bronte was short, frail, wore glasses to correct myopia, and considered herself ugly. She was a political conservative, strict, intelligent and ambitious. She had high moral principles, and despite her modest behavior in society, she was always ready to defend her point of view.

The writer spent eight months in 1824 at Clergy Daughters School, in the village of Cowan Bridge, which served as the prototype for Lowood School in Jane Eyre. She then spent two years as a student at Roe Head School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a teacher there for a further three years. It was at Roe Head that she made two true friends - Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. Then, in 1842-1843, she was in the boarding house of Madame Eger (Brussels), where she fell in love with her own teacher, Constantin Eger. Between 1824-1831, she and her brother and sisters were homeschooled by their father and Aunt Branwell. Charlotte was a great artist, needlewoman, and, of course, writer.

Mrs Brontë wanted her daughters to become governesses. Charlotte changed two jobs - for three months (in 1839) she lived with the Sidwick family in Stonegape, in the area of Loserdale. Then she spent six months with the White family in the Upperwood House mansion in Rawdon. Charlotte did not like her job, and suggested that the three of her sisters, Emily and Anne, open their own school in Haworth. Aunt Branwell wanted to arrange the financial side of the matter, but these plans never came to fruition.

What Charlotte really wanted was to be a writer. From a very young age, she and her brother Branwell practiced writing poems and stories, relying on their rich imagination and the fictional world of "Angria". As Charlotte herself claimed, her mind was so fertile that before the age of thirteen she wrote much more than after.

In 1846, Charlotte convinced her sisters to publish a collection of poems under the male pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell - it was a commercial failure. However, by the end of 1847, all three sisters' debut novels had been published, and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was an incredible success.

After the publication of the book “Shirley” in 1849, rumors spread that a simple teacher was hiding under the male pseudonym Currer Bell. Charlotte became a celebrity in literary circles, and the publication of Villette in 1853 only strengthened her reputation.

In December 1852, Charlotte received a proposal of marriage from her father's vicar, Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte's father was against this union, partly because he considered his daughter too sick to bear a child and give birth to him without dire consequences, and, in order not to upset her father, Charlotte refused Arthur. Despite this, Bell Nicholls did not give up and continued his courtship, and the couple eventually married on June 29, 1854. The marriage was happy, but very short. Charlotte Brontë died in her final stage of pregnancy on March 31, 1855.

Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816 in West Yorkshire and was the third child (there were six of them - Mary, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily and Anne) in the family of the Anglican clergyman Patrick Bronte (originally from Ireland) and his wife Mary, nee Branwell.

When Charlotte was eight years old, her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, died of consumption. This event made Charlotte responsible for the family, and the oldest of the remaining four children, which strengthened her personality and spirit.

The writer spent eight months in 1824 at Clergy Daughters School, in the village of Cowan Bridge, which served as the prototype for Lowood School in Jane Eyre. She then spent two years as a student at Roe Head School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a teacher there for a further three years. It was at Roe Head that she made two true friends - Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. Then, in 1842-1843, she was in the boarding house of Madame Heger (Brussels), where she fell in love with her own teacher, Constantin Heger. Between 1824-1831, she and her brother and sisters were homeschooled by their father and Aunt Branwell. Charlotte was a great artist, needlewoman, and, of course, writer.

Charlotte Bronte (pseudonym - Currer Bell, English Currer Bell) - English poet and novelist - born April 21, 1816 in West Yorkshire and was the third child (there were six of them - Mary, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily and Anne) in the family of the Anglican clergyman Patrick Bronte (originally from Ireland) and his wife Mary, nee Branwell.

In 1820 The family moved to Howerth, where Patrick was appointed vicar. Charlotte's mother passed away September 15, 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to be raised by her husband Patrick.

In August 1824 her father sent Charlotte to Cowan Bridge School for the Daughters of the Clergy (her two older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were sent there in July 1824, and the youngest, Emily, in November).

Cowan Bridge School served as the prototype for the Lowood boarding school in the novel Jane Eyre. Poor conditions undermined the already poor health of Mary (b. 1814) and Elizabeth (b. 1815) Brontë. In February 1825, Mr. Bronte took Mary, who was ill with tuberculosis, from school; in May of the same year, the second sister, Elizabeth, was sent home, completely ill from consumption. Shortly after returning to Howhert, Charlotte's sisters died. Mr. Brontë immediately took the two younger girls home ( June 1, 1825).

At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children, Branwell, Emily and Anne, set to work chronicling the lives and struggles of the inhabitants of their imaginary kingdoms. Charlotte and Branwell wrote Byronic stories about the fictional English colonies in Africa, the center of which was the magnificent capital - the Glass Town (later Verdopolis), and Emily and Anne wrote books and poems about Gondal. Their complex and intricate sagas, rooted in the writers' childhood and early youth, determined their literary vocation.

In 1831-1832 Charlotte continued her education at Row Head School (Mirfield), headed by Miss Wooler. Charlotte maintained a good relationship with Margaret Wooler until the end of her life, although there were tensions between them. In Row Head, Charlotte met her peers Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor, with whom she became friends and subsequently corresponded.

After finishing her education, Charlotte in 1835-1838 worked as a teacher in Row Head. By family decision, Charlotte brought Emily with her to school: she paid for her younger sister’s education from her salary. However, Emily's inability to live in a new place among strangers changed the original plans: Emily had to be sent home, and Anne took her place.

In 1838 Charlotte and Anne left Miss Wooler on the pretext that the school's move to Dewsbury Moor was bad for their health. Dewsbury Moor was indeed a rather unhealthy area, but the main reason for Charlotte’s departure was, obviously, fatigue from a job she didn’t like and the inability to write (works 1835-1838 years were created in fits and starts during short weeks of school holidays).

Having started writing early, Charlotte also realized her calling and talent early. The first attempt of a future writer known to us to enter the literary world dates back to by 1836. December 29th Charlotte sent a letter and poem to the famous poet Robert Southey, asking him to give his opinion. This letter has not reached us, and therefore it is not known which poems Southey read. Southey's letter had a beneficial effect on Charlotte.

In 1840 she sends the first chapters of her planned novel “Ashworth” to Hartley Coleridge (the son of the famous poet). Coleridge apparently made a number of comments, the essence of which was that the novel would not be accepted by publishers. Charlotte's conversion was apparently prompted by the advice of her brother, Branwell, who was seeing Coleridge about his translations of Horace's Odes.

In June 1839 Charlotte received her first position as governess in the Sidgwick family (from which she quickly left due to poor treatment), and in 1841- the second, in the family of Mr. and Mrs. White.

That same year, Charlotte's aunt, Miss Elizabeth Branwell, agreed to provide her nieces with money so they could start their own school. However, Charlotte suddenly changed plans, deciding to first improve her French. To this end, she intended to go to one of the Belgian boarding schools. Since the money her aunt lent was only enough for one semester, Charlotte planned to find work abroad.

In 1842 Charlotte and Emily traveled to Brussels to attend a boarding school run by Constantin Heger (1809-1896) and his wife Claire-Zoe Heger (1814-1891). After studying for one semester, the girls received an offer to stay and work there, paying for the opportunity to continue their studies with their labor. The sisters' stay at the boarding house ended in October 1842, when their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, who had been caring for the girls after their mother's death, died.

In January 1843 Charlotte returned to Brussels to teach English. However, now her time at school was not happy: the girl was lonely, homesick and, obviously, felt that studying literature with Monsieur Eger would not help her start a literary career. The feeling of time passing and the fear of wasting one’s abilities in the near future will become a constant leitmotif of Charlotte’s letters. She was probably frightened by the example of her brother, whose once bright prospects were steadily fading.

Finally, in December 1843 Charlotte decides to return to Howerth, despite the fact that she does not see any literary opportunities for herself at home.

Charlotte's Brussels experience is reflected in the novels "The Teacher" and "Villette" ("Town").

returning home January 1, 1844, Charlotte again decides to take up the project of founding her own school in order to provide herself and her sisters with income. However, the circumstances prevailing in 1844, were less favorable to such plans than was the case in 1841.

Charlotte's aunt, Mrs. Branwell, is deceased; Mr. Brontë's health and eyesight weakened. The Brontë sisters were no longer able to leave Hoerth to rent a school building in a more attractive area. Charlotte decides to found a boarding house right in the Hoerth parsonage; but their family home, located in a cemetery in a rather wild area, scared off the parents of potential students, despite the monetary discounts Charlotte made.

In May 1846 Charlotte, Emily and Anne published a joint collection of poetry at their own expense under the pseudonyms Carrer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Despite the fact that only two copies of the collection were sold, the sisters continued to write, with subsequent publication in mind. Summer 1846 In the same year, Charlotte began searching for publishers for the novels of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell: The Teacher, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Gray, respectively.

Having published her first book with family funds, Charlotte later wanted not to spend money on publication, but, on the contrary, to have the opportunity to earn money through literary work. However, her younger sisters were ready to take another risk. Therefore, Emily and Anne accepted the offer of the London publisher Thomas Newby, who asked for 50 pounds as a guarantee for the publication of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray, promising to return this money if he managed to sell 250 copies out of 350 (book circulation). Newby did not return this money, despite the fact that the entire print run was sold out in the wake of the success of Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre. at the end of 1847.

Charlotte herself refused Newby's proposal. She continued to correspond with London firms, trying to interest them in her novel The Teacher. All publishers rejected it, however, the literary consultant of Smith, Elder and Company sent a letter to Currer Bell, in which he kindly explained the reasons for the refusal: the novel lacked the fascination that would allow the book to sell well. In the same month ( August 1847) Charlotte sent the manuscript of Jane Eyre to Smith, Elder and Company. The novel was accepted and published in record time.

Along with literary success, trouble came to the Brontë family. Charlotte's brother and only son in the Branwell family has passed away. in September 1848 from chronic bronchitis or tuberculosis. His brother’s serious condition was aggravated by drunkenness and drug addiction (Branwell took opium). Emily and Anne died of pulmonary tuberculosis in December 1848 and May 1849 respectively.

Now Charlotte and her father are alone. During between 1848 and 1854. Charlotte led an active literary life. She became close to Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Thackeray and George Henry Lewes.

Bronte's book gave birth to the feminist movement in literature. The main character of the novel, Jane Eyre, is as strong a girl as the author. However, Charlotte tried not to leave Howerth for more than a few weeks, as she did not want to leave her aging father.

During her life, Charlotte repeatedly refused marriage, sometimes taking marriage proposals seriously, sometimes treating them with humor. However, she chose to accept the offer of her father's assistant, the priest Arthur Bell Nicholls.

Charlotte met her future husband spring 1844, when Arthur Bell Nicholls arrived at Howerth. Charlotte got married in June 1854. In January 1855 Her health condition deteriorated sharply. In February the doctor who examined the writer came to the conclusion that the symptoms of illness indicated the onset of pregnancy and did not pose a threat to life.

Charlotte suffered from constant nausea, lack of appetite, and extreme weakness, which led to rapid exhaustion. However, according to Nicholls, it was only in the last week of March that it became clear that Charlotte was dying. The cause of death was never established.

Charlotte Brontë died March 31, 1855 at the age of 38 years. Her death certificate listed the cause of tuberculosis, however, as many of Charlotte's biographers suggest, she could have died from dehydration and exhaustion caused by severe toxicosis. It can also be assumed that Charlotte died of typhus, which could have been infected by her old servant Tabitha Aykroyd, who died shortly before Charlotte’s death.

The writer was buried in the family crypt in St. Michael's Church, located in Howerth, West Yorkshire, England.

Juvenilia Charlotte Brontë(incomplete list; full list is too extensive).

The names written in square brackets are given by the researchers.

Magazine "Young People" ( 1829-1830 )
The search for happiness ( 1829 )
Characters of outstanding people of our time ( 1829 )
Stories about the islanders. In 4 volumes ( 1829-1830 )
Evening walk, poem by the Marquis Duero ( 1830 )
Translation into English verses of the First Book of Voltaire's Henriad ( 1830 )
Albion and Marina ( 1830 ).
The Adventures of Ernest Alembert. Fairy tale ( 1830 )
Violet and other poems of the Marquis Duero ( 1830 )
Wedding ( 1832 ) (poem and story)
Arthuriana, or Trimmings and Remnants ( 1833 )
Something about Arthur ( 1833 )
Two stories: "The Secret" and "Lily Hart" ( 1833 )
Visits in Verdopolis ( 1833 )
Green dwarf ( 1833 )
Foundling ( 1833 )
Richard the Lionheart and Blondel ( 1833 ), poem
Leaf from an unopened volume ( 1834 )
"Spell" and "High Life in Verdopolis" ( 1834 )
Book-dump ( 1834 )
Snack dishes ( 1834 )
My Angria and the Angrians ( 1834 )
“We wove a network in childhood” [Retrospective] ( 1835 ), one of Charlotte Brontë's most famous poems
Current events ( 1836 )
[Exile of Zamorna] ( 1836 ), a poem in two songs
[Return of Zamorna] ( 1836-1837 )
[Julia] ( 1837 )
[Lord Duero] ( 1837 )
[Mina Lori] ( 1838 )
[Stancliffe Hotel] ( 1838 )
[Duke of Zamorna] ( 1838 )
[Captain Henry Hastings] ( 1839 )
[Caroline Vernon] ( 1839 )
Farewell to Angria ( 1839 )
Ashworth ( 1840 ) first draft of a novel for publication. Ashworth is a kind of pseudonym for Alexander Percy.

Bronte Charlotte (04/21/1816-03/31/1855) - English writer and poet. An outstanding novelist, a prominent representative of English realism and romanticism.

Early years

Charlotte was born in West Yorkshire. In addition to her, the family had six children, among them one boy; Charlotte was the third eldest. Her father Patrick was a clergyman of Irish descent. Mother Maria died of cancer in 1821. The family moved to the village of Howerth in West Yorkshire.

In 1824, Charlotte went to a special school for clergymen's daughters in Cowan Bridge, where her three other sisters were studying. This establishment became the prototype for Lowood in Jane Eyre. The school practiced punishing female students by beating them in front of everyone and wearing shameful signs.

So Charlotte became the oldest child and immediately felt the burden of responsibility for raising others. She was fragile in appearance, had short stature, wore glasses, but was distinguished by great strength of spirit, integrity, and was ready to defend her own opinion. She loved to draw and do crafts.

All four remaining children were fond of writing various stories about fictional worlds and poems. They were raised and trained by their father and aunt.

From 1831, Charlotte was educated at Row Head (a school in Dewsbury), where after leaving school she worked as an art and French teacher. She moved her younger sisters there and paid for their education. But she didn’t like the work, she didn’t have enough time to do what she loved, and in 1838 the sisters left Dewsbury.

First attempts to be noticed and teaching career

Brontë discovered her literary gift as a child and has always strived for her calling. In 1836, she sent her poetic works to the eminent poet R. Southey, who appreciated them and exchanged a couple of letters with Charlotte. After this, the girl decides to start writing prose and take a pseudonym. Brontë begins to write the novel “Ashworth” and in 1840 sends several chapters to the poet H. Coleridge, who makes it clear to her that publishers will not accept this work.

During this time, she worked as a governess for English families, following her mother's wishes. This activity bothered her, and she decided to open her own school together with her sisters. Aunt Branwell was ready to provide financial support for the planned business, but Charlotte suddenly abandoned the idea. She was fascinated by the thought of moving abroad.

In 1842, she went with Emily to Brussels to study at the school of C. Heger. After the first half of the year, they were offered to work there in order to pay for their studies with labor. But after the death of their aunt, the girls went home.

In 1843, Charlotte returned to Belgium and became an English teacher. But at that time she was haunted by a sense of a waste of time, reinforced by homesickness and unrequited feelings for Constantin Eger, and by the end of the year she returned to Hoerth. His stay in Brussels was reflected in the works “Town” and “Teacher”.

At home, in order to provide for her family, she again attempts to organize a boarding school for girls, but the opportunity was missed. The aunt died, the father fell ill, and the sisters could not leave him. There weren't enough funds. In addition, the remote area in which their house was located was not popular due to deplorable sanitary conditions and close proximity to a cemetery, and there were no people willing to send their daughters to this school.

Literary success

The date and place of S. Bronte's first publication have not been established; it is only known that these were anonymous poems in one of the magazines. In 1846, she and her sisters published poems under the male names of the Bell Brothers. They made no impression on the public, and only two collections were sold.

The sisters did not despair and continued to work. Under the same pseudonyms, they are looking for publishers for three novels. T. Newby invites the sisters to invest money in the publication of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Gray and promises to return them from the sale of books. Despite the fact that the entire edition was sold, the funds were not returned to the sisters.

S. Bronte no longer wanted to invest in the publication of her own works and continued to search for publishers for the novel “Teacher”. But she was rejected because the plot was not exciting enough. Then, in 1847, she sent a new novel, Jane Eyre, to Smith, Edler and Company (under the pseudonym Currer Bell). The work was immediately published and was a huge success. This work gave rise to the feminist literary movement thanks to the persistent character of the main character, similar in nature to Charlotte. The writer had a romantic relationship with the publisher Smith, which, however, led nowhere.

In 1848, when the novels of Charlotte's sisters began to be attributed to C. Bell, the writer revealed her pseudonym and became a well-known figure in literary circles. In 1849, the novel Shirley was published. The last book, “Villet” (sometimes called “Town”), dates back to 1853. The action of the novel takes place in a tragic atmosphere, reflecting the mood of the author. Brontë possessed the so-called secret of genius (according to Goethe): she was easily imbued with the characters of strangers and could surprisingly vividly convey her own vision and emotions. Her works are characterized by the spirit of romanticism and realism.

Events in the family and recent years

In 1848-1849, one after another, Bronte's brother and sisters died from lung diseases. Charlotte continues to lead an active literary life, but tries to leave her native village less often and not leave her old father alone for long.

The writer was offered marriage more than once, but she always found reasons to refuse. In 1844 she met a priest, a colleague of her father, Arthur Nichollson, whom she married ten years later. Six months after the wedding, Charlotte's health deteriorated greatly during pregnancy. By the end of the term, she was severely exhausted and died, according to documents from tuberculosis, the true cause of death is unknown. Among biographers, the most likely versions are considered to be complex toxicosis and typhus, from which Charlotte’s maid recently died. The last representative of the Brontë family was buried next to her family in the family crypt in Howerth.

Bronte Family House Museum, Howerth

The writer left behind a huge number of works, the earliest of which required serious efforts to decipher. She wrote her first stories at the age of ten. The most popular of youth works are legends and stories about Angria.
After the death of S. Bronte, a number of unfinished works remained, including “Emma,” later completed in two versions by K. Savery and K. Boylan.
Jane Eyre is ranked in the top ten of the BBC's top two hundred books. The novel has been filmed many times over the years.
A crater on Mercury is named after the writer.
Charlotte is featured on English stamps (1980, 1997).
The town of Hoert is currently a popular visiting place for tourists and fans of the Bronte sisters' work; here is their home and museum, Charlotte's favorite places that have become landmarks (Bronte Falls, Bronte Path, Bronte Bridge, etc.). In 1964, a chapel was built in the village at the church in honor of the Bronte family.