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The Life of Charlotte Brontë

Elizabeth Gaskell

Start date: January 1, 2022

Finish date: January 31, 2022

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Apr 14, 2015 Sara rated it it was amazing

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What a remarkable discourse this is on the life of Charlotte Bronte, as assembled by her friend, Elizabeth Gaskell. Having been written so soon after her death, this biograph might perhaps lack in the objectivity which a later biography could present, but whatever might be lacking in that quarter is well made up for in spirit and understanding.

Much of Gaskell's approach is to quote from the considerable correspondence of Charlotte herself, which gives this a pointedly personal flavor. We are see What a remarkable discourse this is on the life of Charlotte Bronte, as assembled by her friend, Elizabeth Gaskell. Having been written so soon after her death, this biograph might perhaps lack in the objectivity which a later biography could present, but whatever might be lacking in that quarter is well made up for in spirit and understanding.

Much of Gaskell's approach is to quote from the considerable correspondence of Charlotte herself, which gives this a pointedly personal flavor. We are seeing Charlotte's life as she herself saw it, and while that cannot be all of the truth of a life, it can surely be most of what is significant.

I was struck by how much of what makes Jane Eyre so gripping is torn from actual experience. That Charlotte was subjected to many of the events at school that parallel those at Eyre's beginning is horrible to think and the death of her own sister, Maria, is the event that precipitates her character of Helen. With such a somber beginning to life, she had every right to expect more happiness and comfort in later years, but little of that was forthcoming.

Her determination in completing her novels in the face of some real criticism, is a testament to the strong character she possessed and her belief in God's presence in her life. She accepted herself as a faulted human being and she was welcoming of constructive criticisms that she felt might increase her understanding of her own foibles.

Speaking about stories she read when quite young, she says "...for I read them in childhood, and childhood has a very strong faculty of admiration, but a very weak one of criticism." I found that a poignant observation, for I too have a great love for some literature that came to me young and still impresses my soul although I would be forced to confess that they are inferior to other works which touch me less.

Of course, among the more touching parts of the biography are the deaths of her sisters, Emily and Anne. Our familiarity with them as authors no doubt increases our distress at their deaths, but I was struck at how perfectly her view of death aligns with what we ourselves feel upon the loss of those we love. Speaking of another young acquaintance, Charlotte says, "Wherever I seek for her now in this world, she cannot be found, no more than a flower or a lead which withered twenty years ago. A bereavement of this kind gives one a glimpse of the feeling those must have who have seen all drop around them, friend after friend, and are left to end their pilgrimage alone. But tears are fruitless, and I try not to repine." How hauntingly predictive of her own situation to come, but even in the face of her serious personal losses, she held to the last part of this statement and refrained from sinking into her sorrows.

I could quote at length from the letters she wrote regarding this loss. Having lost a close sister myself, I could feel the impact of all her words and feelings. Of Emily, "not a branch of fern, not a young bilberry leaf, not a fluttering lark or linnet, but reminds me of her." She was as expressive in her letters, as ever she was in her novels. I was delighted to read her own expressed opinion of Jane Austen, a curiosity that I never thought to have satisfied.

There is not a moment of boredom in this book and Mrs. Gaskell exhibits her own great talent of writing and exposition. I am ashamed at not having read all of Charlotte Bronte's writings and am quite anxious in the light of this better understanding of her character to now rectify the omission. I will happily undertake both Shirley and Villette before the year's end. I am also stirred to re-read Jane Eyre and the works of both Emily and Anne. ...more

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