Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) Arina Solnyshko 10”B” form Charlotte

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) Arina Solnyshko 10”B” form

Charlotte was born in Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, the third of six children of Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell Bronte. The major event of her young life was the death of her mother in 1821,which created a lot of chaos. Her mother died of cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily, Anne and a son Branwell to be taken care of by her sister, Elizabeth Branwell.

A little Charlotte

The place, where Charlotte was born

Education In 1824, Charlotte and her two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were sent to the newly-opened Cowan Bridge Clergy Daughters’ School in Lancashire. Conditions there were bad even by the standards of the time, and it was not long before both Maria and Elizabeth became ill enough to be sent home, where they both died of consumption in the spring of 1825.

Cowan Bridge Clergy Daughters’ School

Brussels In 1842 Charlotte and Emily travelled to Brusells to enrol at the boarding school run by Constantin Heger and his wife Claire Zoé Parent Heger. In return for board and tuition, Charlotte taught English and Emily taught music. Their time at the school was cut short when Elizabeth Branwell, their aunt who joined the family to look after the children after the death of their mother, died of internal obstruction in October 1842. Charlotte returned alone to Brussels in January 1843 to take up a teaching post at the school. She returned to Haworth in January 1844 and used the time spent in Brussels as the inspiration for some experiences in The Professor and Villette.

Plaque in Brussels

Jane Eyre Charlotte's first manuscript, The Professor, did not secure a publisher, although she was heartened by an encouraging response from Smith, Elder & Co of Cornhill. Charlotte responded by finishing and sending a second manuscript in August 1847, and six weeks later Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, was published. It tells the story of a plain governess (Jane) who, after early life difficulties, falls in love with her employer, Mr Rochester. They marry, but only after Rochester's insane first wife (of whom Jane initially had no knowledge) dies in a dramatic house fire.

Title page of the firs edition of Jane Eyre

Marriage Before the publication of Villette, Charlotte received a proposal of marriage from Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate who had long been in love with her. She initially turned down his proposal, and her father objected to the union at least partly because of Nicholls' poor financial status. Charlotte meanwhile was increasingly attracted to the intense attachment displayed by Nicholls, and by January 1854 had accepted his proposal. They gained the approval of her father by April, and married in June. They took their honeymoon in Ireland.

Death Charlotte became pregnant soon after the marriage but her health declined rapidly and according to Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." Charlotte died with her unborn child on 31 March 1855, aged 38. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as phithisis, but many biographers suggest she may have died from dehydration and malnourishment, caused by excessive vomiting from severe morning sickness.

Resources http://www.bronte.org.uk/haworth-and-the-brontes/family-and-friends/charlotte-bronte http://www.bronte.org.uk/default.aspx http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1708 http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=81167&mode=quick

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