Published shortly after the subject’s death, this biography traces Charlotte Brontë’s life from her secluded childhood at Haworth Parsonage to her literary success as the author of Jane Eyre. Elizabeth Gaskell uses personal correspondence and interviews to document the harsh conditions of the Clergy Daughters’ School, the deaths of the Brontë siblings, and Charlotte's experiences in Brussels. The narrative focuses on the tension between Brontë’s domestic duties as a clergyman’s daughter and her professional ambitions, while specifically addressing the social scandals surrounding her brother Branwell and her own reputation as a female writer.
Literary historians and fans of Victorian fiction read this work to understand the environmental influences that shaped the Brontë sisters’ gothic realism. The book provides a primary account of nineteenth-century authorship and the restrictions placed on creative women. Readers walk away with a detailed map of the geographical and familial origins behind famous literary landscapes, alongside an understanding of how Gaskell sought to defend her friend’s character against contemporary public scrutiny.
Balanced in tone; a moderate read.
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- Published
- 1857
- Language
- EN
