Concetti Chiave
- Charlotte Brontë's early life was marked by personal tragedy and rebellion, influencing her literary career and leading her to publish works with her sisters under pen names.
- Charlotte's novel "Jane Eyre" tells the story of an orphan's journey to maturity, exploring themes of love, independence, and societal expectations.
- "Jane Eyre" incorporates autobiographical elements and challenges traditional Puritanical values, offering a fresh perspective on women's roles.
- The novel blends Bildungsroman with Gothic fiction, featuring mysterious atmospheres and dark character elements, such as Bertha as Jane's nemesis.
- Charlotte's heroines are portrayed as strong, self-confident, and driven by values, challenging patriarchal and bourgeois social norms.
Charlotte's early life and rebellion
Charlotte Brontë was born in 1816 in the North Yorkshire, at Thornton, from a family with Irish descendants. Her father was an Anglican clergyman while her mother died in 1821 because of cancer, one year after they moved to Haworth.In 1824, Charlotte was studying in a boarding school when two of her sisters got ill and died so she had to come back home but she managed to spend about a year at Roe Head boarding school. She will also teach there from 1835 to 1838.
In 1835, Charlotte and her sisters Anne and Emily decided to publish by themselves their poems and they used pen names, respectively Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.
Their romantic novels explored the extremes of passion and violence in a new way because they rebelled against Jane Austen's world of order and restraint.
Charlotte tried to publish firstly her novel The professor but it was rejected for publication for years and, as a matter of fact, it was publicly known only in 1857, after the author’s death.
This literary work was not forget by Charlotte since Villette, her last novel which was published in 1853, resembles it but from a feminine point of view.
At the same time, Anne reached to publish Agnes Grey while Emily became famous for Wuthering Heights.
In particular, Charlotte convinced the editors with her Bildungroman 'Jane Eyre' which was published in 1847.
Jane's journey and challenges
Jane Eyre is centred around the story of the orphan Jane, from her childhood to maturity and it ends with the typical reward given to heroines of the novel of formation: marriage.In fact, after a terrible time, Jane starts a work as a governess to a young girl, the ward of Mr Ronchester, in Thornfield. Here she's finally happy.
After some time, Ronchester proposes to her, Jane agrees, but just before the wedding, she finds out that he's already married, with a mad woman, Bertha, who is locked in the artic.
Jane decides to leave Ronchester and she becomes a teacher in a small village and after a long time she discovers that Thornfield has burnt down and that Bertha is dead.
At this point, she returns in Thornfield and marries Ronchester.
Autobiographical elements and impact
The plot has many autobiographical elements, such as the use of the first person narrator, and the way of describing the events through emotions.The novel was a shock for some readers, because it went against the Puritanical tradition.
Jane Eyre mixes also elements of the Bildungsroman with several elements of Gothic fiction. Gothic is the mysterious atmosphere , the dark shades of description, and also the figure of Bertha, the woman surrounded by an aura of fear.
Bertha is like the nemesis of Jane, somehow the repressed animal inside of her, so they are complementary. They can be considered two faces of the same coin.
At the same time all Charlotte’s heroines are strong-willed, self-confident, passionate and driven by their values and convictions to show how to defeat patriarchy and bourgeoise social roles in which was implied that children were supposed to be only obedient and women subservient.
Domande da interrogazione
- What significant events marked Charlotte Brontë's early life and education?
- How did Charlotte Brontë and her sisters initially publish their literary works?
- What challenges did Charlotte Brontë face in publishing her novel "The Professor"?
- What are the key themes and elements in "Jane Eyre"?
- How does "Jane Eyre" reflect Charlotte Brontë's views on social roles and patriarchy?
Charlotte Brontë was born in 1816 in North Yorkshire and faced early family tragedies, including her mother's death in 1821 and the loss of two sisters in 1824. She attended Roe Head boarding school, where she later taught from 1835 to 1838.
In 1835, Charlotte and her sisters Anne and Emily published their poems under pen names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, respectively, to explore themes of passion and violence, diverging from Jane Austen's restrained world.
Charlotte Brontë's novel "The Professor" faced repeated rejections and was only published posthumously in 1857. However, its themes were revisited in her later novel "Villette," published in 1853.
"Jane Eyre" combines elements of Bildungsroman and Gothic fiction, focusing on Jane's journey from orphanhood to maturity, her challenges, and eventual marriage. It includes autobiographical elements and critiques Puritanical traditions.
Through strong-willed heroines like Jane, Charlotte Brontë challenges patriarchal and bourgeois social roles, advocating for women's independence and self-confidence against expectations of obedience and subservience.
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