The Life of Charlotte Brontë

How could our understanding of the author change our reading of Jane Eyre?

When Jane Eyre was published, its title was Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. Clearly, the book is not really an autobiography. We know Jane is a fictional character. Charlotte Brontë regularly denied that there were any similarities between her and Jane. But as we study the life of Charlotte Brontë, a nature emerges that helps us understand not only where Jane Eyre came from, but why she was necessary. 

Charlotte Brontë was the third oldest Brontë child, but the first one to make it to adulthood. At twelve, her father sent her and her older sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the Clergy Daughters’ School in Lancashire. Six months later, both Mary and Elizabeth were dead from tuberculosis. Charlotte blamed the poor conditions at the school for the early deaths of both of her sisters and her own poor health. This experience likely inspired Charlotte to write about Jane’s experience at the Lowood school in Jane Eyre.

By Branwell Brontë -From left to right, Anne, Emily, and Charlotte. The central fourth figure was Bramwell himself, but he later painted over his image. Credit: wikimedia commons

Charlotte’s younger siblings, Branwell, Emily, and Anne, were all very close. Their father was a domineering and strict pastor, who struggled to connect with his imaginative children. The Brontë siblings would regularly write stories together. Charlotte and Branwell wrote tales of adventure in the lands of Glass Town and Angria all throughout their childhood, while Emily and Anne created Gondal. Charlotte was a writer of stories and poetry all her life.

In 1839 Charlotte took her first position as a governess. Charlotte hated life as a governess. She felt ill-treated by both the parents and the children she governed, and felt that they frequently went out of their way to humiliate her.

Three years later, at the age of 26, Charlotte would leave for Brussels with her sister, Emily, to attend a boarding school run by husband and wife duo Constantine and Claire Heger. Charlotte fell in love with Constatine, a much older, married man, but he never (publicly) returned her affections. Claire Heger refused to accept Charlotte back for a third year at the school, in part because of the loving letters that Charlotte had been writing to Constantine. Charlotte left the boarding school homesick, rebuffed, and ready to write.

Charlotte’s first book, The Professor, was inspired by some of her experiences in Brussels. The book was not, however, picked up by publishers. A year later, under the male alias Currer Bell, Charlotte sent Jane Eyre for publication. It was quickly picked up and received immediate commercial success, although the actual identity of the writer would remain a mystery until 1850, when Charlotte became introduced to the British literary society. 

The first edition copy of Jane Eyre, currently being sold for a whopping $1250. Credit: Whitmore Rare Books

Five years later, Charlotte would be courted by her father’s curate, a man named Arthur Bell Nichols. Arthur loved Charlotte, but her father disapproved of the match, and initially Charlotte rejected his advances. As time passed, however, Charlotte began to feel more attracted to Arthur. They married in June of 1854, and shortly after Charlotte became pregnant. By all accounts their marriage seemed to be a happy one, and Charlotte was very content with married life.

Only nine months after their marriage, on March 31, 1855, Charlotte passed away, either from tuberculosis or, as later biographers have surmised, from complications with the pregnancy. She had outlived all her siblings, dying just three weeks before her 39th birthday.

Charlotte Bronte’s body of work, though scant compared to many other writers of her day, is immense in its value. A better understanding of her life can give greater depth to our experience as readers. Jane Eyre is not the biography of Charlotte Bronte, but the similarities between Charlotte and Jane’s lives helps the emotion in the book feel more real to me. 

What do you think: do the similarities between author and character improve our understanding of the book, or do they distract from it? How much should we concern ourselves with the author’s life and behavior when we are reading a work of fiction?