The Brontës IX

I've reached the end of the book and will sum up the final events. Charlotte spent some time working on her last novel, Villette, in Haworth, and it was published in early 1853. It generally met with critical and public approval. Some readers think it is her best novel. Like the others, it contains many autobiographical elements. Mrs. Gaskell made her first visit to Haworth in September, 1853 and stayed at the parsonage.

Arthur Bell Nicholls had become Patrick's assistant curate at Haworth in 1845. In 1852 he proposed to Charlotte, and she rejected him. She had previously rejected a proposal from Henry Nussey, Ellen's brother. She had also rejected Reverend David Pryce, and, as mentioned earlier, James Taylor. Initially, Patrick also rejected Nicholls. Nicholls was a poor Irishman and was unpopular in Haworth. Following this, Nicholls left his position in Haworth. But he and Charlotte began to communicate again in 1853, he proposed to her a second time, and she accepted after convincing Patrick to change his mind. They were married in Haworth on June 29, 1854. Patrick did not participate in the wedding. At the wedding, Miss Wooler, Charlotte's long-time friend from Roe Head School, gave Charlotte away, and Ellen Nussey was a bridesmaid. The couple honeymooned in North Wales and Ireland.

Barker reports some information which may or may not be relevant to Charlotte's decision to marry Nicholls. Charlotte's main contact at her publisher, Smith, Elder & Co., was George Smith. He was extremely knowledgeable of the publishing industry. They seem to have been very close for a time, but then things cooled off suddenly. In late 1853, Smith announced his engagement to another woman, and they were married in February, 1854, a few months before Charlotte's wedding. Looking at this from the present, George Smith would have been a completely superior husband for Charlotte, and this causes me to speculate on her thinking processes. One aspect is that Charlotte seemed resigned to remain in Haworth even though it seems to have been a rather depressing atmosphere with all of her siblings gone. Even their dogs had died off. It seems that Charlotte wanted to assist Patrick in his old age, and he had experienced declining health for several years. But her career as a novelist would have been vastly enhanced if she had married someone like George Smith. Obviously, a comparison to G.H. Lewes pops up in my mind. Lewes had many of the same talents as Smith, and played a crucial role in advancing George Eliot's career. But while Smith seems to have had a good family background, Lewes was literally a bastard, was already married and supporting a family, and he had scant financial means. In any case, considering that Charlotte was an intelligent person, she may have realized that she was an aging, unattractive hick from Yorkshire and might be too much of a step down for Smith. His sudden marriage may have influenced her to stay the course in Haworth. Unfortunately, I don't think that Arthur Bell Nicholls was much of a catch.

Subsequently, things didn't go well for Charlotte. Her marriage seems to have interfered with her relationship with Ellen Nussey, who had been a mainstay in her life. Ellen came to hate Nicholls. After about six months of marriage Charlotte became pregnant, in December, 1854. She and the unborn baby died on March 31, 1855. At the time, the cause was listed as tuberculosis, but, more recently, it has come to be seen as hyperemesis gravidarum, while there are still other theories.

In the aftermath, Nicholls remained in Haworth until Patrick died in 1861. He had expected to take Patrick's position upon his death, but the trustees voted against him, and he returned to Ireland. Mrs. Gaskell's biography of Charlotte became popular after it was published in 1857. Haworth became a major tourist attraction and still is. This reminded me of Amherst, Massachusetts and Emily Dickinson.

Much of this book was written as a corrective to Mrs. Gaskell's biography. Generally, that book was well-researched and tended to be honest. However, there were a few major objections. Obviously, the then Lady Scott, formerly Mrs. Robinson, disliked the publicity of her relationship with Branwell Brontë. The family of the founder of Cowan Bridge School, which was the basis for Lowood School in Jane Eyre, objected to its depiction. Harriet Martineau disliked the depiction of her relationship with Charlotte. Juliet Barker's main objection is that Mrs. Gaskell conjured up a fictional victim narrative regarding Patrick's treatment of his children. In reading this book, I agree with Barker. It seems to me that occasionally Patrick may have been a slightly incompetent parent and may have been too self-absorbed. But this never approached any level of abusiveness, and it seems that in general the children felt quite at home at the parsonage and usually preferred it to the outside world.

Regarding this biography itself, I do find it to be quite well-executed. Unfortunately, a truly good biography like this one has a tendency to demythologize the people discussed, which may be a little disappointing to readers who are inclined to hero-worship. 

The Brontës VIII

I'm up to 1851 and am gradually cruising toward the end of the book. With the publication of Shirley, Charlotte began a new role as a major English literary figure. She had sent advance copies of Shirley to friends and to Mrs. Gaskell and Harriet Martineau, whom she eventually met. She visited London several times and did the literary rounds. There she met one of her heroes, William Makepeace Thackeray. She had her little clash with G.H. Lewes, but apparently they made up. She also heard from Lewes's friend, Thornton Hunt, who invited her to write for their new publication, The Leader. She declined. Charlotte's friend, Mary Taylor, comes up periodically in the book, even after she has moved to New Zealand. She apparently was more intellectual than Ellen Nussey and disliked Shirley. Compared to Charlotte and Ellen, Mary was independent and a feminist. In 1849, Charlotte met James Taylor, an employee of her publisher, Smith, Elder & Co. He proposed to her in 1851, and she turned him down.

Oddly, this period reminds me of Carson McCullers. Once McCullers became a celebrity, she seemed to have the time of her life – but that was in the 1940's. Also, she was a lesbian and often hit on women. Technically, there were similarities between literary rises in the U.S. in the 1940's and in the U.K. in the 1850's. But, comparatively speaking, the Victorians were stick-in-the-muds. And the literary culture then wasn't really exciting. I have never bothered to read any Charles Dickens or William Makepeace Thackeray. I only know Thackeray through Stanley Kubrick, whose film, Barry Lyndon, I think, was his most boring. But even though Charlotte had significant literary aspirations, she still preferred Haworth to London.

Unfortunately, I'm losing enthusiasm for this book as I wade through it. This isn't really the fault of Juliet Barker; rather, it's because I found Emily to be the most interesting of the Brontës, and she's already dead. Anne may have been interesting too if she had lived longer. I don't actually miss Branwell, because he seemed to be disorganized and self-destructive, and I don't share his interest in the Romantic poets. So, now I'm stuck with Patrick and Charlotte, whether I like it or not. They are probably both too conservative for me, and I have none of their religious convictions. Charlotte also lived in a different universe from Harriet Martineau, who was an atheist – they later had a falling-out. Other than escaping a life of poverty in Ireland and reestablishing himself in a more stable life in Yorkshire, Patrick doesn't seem especially interesting to me. His main contribution to his family and society seems to have been good literary genes, though it is also possible that good genes came from Maria Branwell, his wife. 

As far as Branwell is concerned, he may have made an oblique contribution to American film by serving as a model for Benjamin Braddock, possibly a new name for Branwell Brontë, in The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman. That film is based on a novel by Charles Webb. The story is about the young Benjamin having an affair with Mrs. Robinson shortly after graduating from college. However, in light of American moral standards, Benjamin ends up falling in love with Mrs. Robinson's daughter and runs off with her at the end. I don't think that Paul Simon was aware of a possible Brontë connection when he wrote Mrs. Robinson for the soundtrack. That album, Bookends, also became highly popular.

I must also say that, while I do find Charlotte to be a good writer, she still falls within a fairly standard careerist literary model. She clearly wrote novels specifically to improve her financial situation, and, given her other social aspirations, her behavior probably fits into the category of social climbing. If you take Barker's text at face value, Charlotte spent much of her time cultivating her friendships with her two rich female friends, whereas there is little evidence of Emily or Anne showing much interest in people beyond their immediate circle in Haworth. Charlotte produced the idea of writing and publishing novels and supervised the process for Emily and Anne. This is particularly noticeable to me, because Emily seemed to embody the idea of placing value on art itself and didn't generally concern herself with monetizing it.

The Brontës VII

After all of this incredibly slow buildup, nearly every important event in the Brontë family history falls into a highly compressed period, from 1847 to 1849. Patrick's vision was restored through the cataract surgery, and he resumed writing about public issues, which had been his main area of interest. At this time in particular there were economic troubles and poverty in Haworth. Branwell established himself as a full-time drunkard and ran up debts. In 1847, Charlotte submitted the novel The Professor for publication. Emily submitted Wuthering Heights, and Anne submitted Agnes Grey. The Professor was rejected at the time but was published posthumously. Charlotte had been working on Jane Eyre and submitted it shortly thereafter. It was published in 1847. Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey were published in one volume in 1847. Anne's second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was published in 1848, and Charlotte's third novel, Shirley, was published in 1849. Of all the Brontë novels, Jane Eyre was the most popular. Throughout this period, Charlotte held a managerial view and attempted to protect Emily and Anne as she saw fit. While Emily and Anne were working on their second novels, Charlotte may have rejected Emily's choice of a Heathcliff-like character, and that manuscript seems to have been destroyed. Charlotte also disapproved of some of the subject matter in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

It is surprising to me that Patrick knew nothing about his daughters' novels and seemed to be uninterested when Charlotte told him about them. However, he became proud as the novels made them famous.

Branwell's condition worsened during 1848:

Branwell's 'fainting fits' were almost certainly brought on by his excessive drinking and may have been a symptom of delirium tremens. Writing to Ellen at about the same time, Charlotte complained, 'he is always sick, has two or three times fallen down in fits.' On one notorious occasion, Branwell even managed to set his bedclothes on fire while lying in a drunken stupor. Fortunately, Anne happened to be passing his open door and, realizing the danger, tried to rouse him. When she could not do so she ran to get Emily, who unceremoniously dragged her brother out of his bed, flung him into the corner and the blazing bedclothes into the middle of the room, dashed to the kitchen for a large can of water and doused the flames.

Branwell died on September 24, 1848, at the age of 31. Emily died from tuberculosis on December 19, 1848, at the age of 30. Anne died from tuberculosis on May 28, 1849 while visiting Scarborough with  Ellen Nussey and Charlotte. She was 29.

I've still got about three-hundred pages to go, though the main story is already finished. I don't currently intend to read any more of the Brontë works myself and will just make some comments now. While there are many criticisms that one can make of Wuthering Heights as a novel, particularly because of its general lack of realism, I consider Emily to be in a sense a poet who never reached her full potential. I wish that she had spent more time on poetry. I was less impressed with Jane Eyre, though it does have some good aspects. The section on Lowood School is extremely realistic, and the best realistic novels in England didn't appear until 1871, twenty-four years later. However, the plot revolving around Rochester seemed harebrained to me. The impression I have is that much of the Brontë oeuvre is infected with juvenilia, and the Brontës' limited exposure to cities reduced their awareness of both sophisticated readers and urban life. Here is what George Eliot wrote to Charles Bray on June 11, 1848:

I have read Jane Eyre, mon ami, and shall be glad to know what you admire in it. All self-sacrifice is good -- but one would like it to be in a somewhat nobler cause than that of a diabolical law which chains a man body and soul to a putrefying carcase. However the book is interesting -- only I wish that the characters would talk a little less like the heroes and heroines of police reports.

Without even knowing the backstory, George Eliot may have intuited Charlotte's extreme frustration with the fact that Constantin Heger was married and not available to her. Little did George Eliot know that a few years later she would be unable to marry G.H. Lewes.

Theme Song of the Day

For a change of pace, I thought I'd post this song by Rick James. Headphones recommended. Things didn't end well for Rick James, but I'll take funk over Taylor Swift.

The Brontës VI

As of 1844, Charlotte made inquiries regarding the setting up of a small school at the parsonage. No one in the family was enthusiastic about having pupils there, and the idea was subsequently dropped. That year, Patrick's eyesight began to fail. In 1845, Mary Taylor moved to New Zealand. Charlotte sums up her own mental state at the time:

I can hardly tell you how time gets on here at Haworth – There is no event whatever to mark its progress – one day resembles another – and all have heavy lifeless physiognomies – Sunday – baking day & Saturday are the only ones that bear the slightest distinctive mark – meantime life wears away – I shall soon be 30 – and I have done nothing yet – Sometimes I get melancholy – at the prospect before and behind me – yet it is wrong and foolish to repine – and undoubtedly my Duty directs me to stay at home for the present – There was a time when Haworth  was a very pleasant place to me, it is not so now – I feel as if we were all buried here – I long to travel – to work to live a life of action –

Emily was usually fulfilled by her private activities and apparently showed little sympathy for Charlotte and Anne when they were depressed.

In June, 1845, Anne suddenly left her position at Thorp Green of her own volition. Branwell also left suddenly in July; in his case, he was fired. This was the beginning of a massive change in the Brontë family and has absorbed literary scholars ever since. The short version is that Branwell had been having an affair with Mrs. Robinson, his employer's wife, who was about seventeen years older than he was. This was generally known in the Robinson household. Subsequently, Branwell increased his alcohol intake, and possibly consumed opium. Branwell could not find a new position and lost the respect of Charlotte. Furthermore, he didn't want to break with Mrs. Robinson and hoped to win her back. Branwell did publish some wildly romantic poems that seem to refer to his relationship with Mrs. Robinson. There is speculation that the money that Mrs. Robinson sent him over the next few years was to silence him. Later in 1845, Branwell began to write a novel.

At about this time, Charlotte came across some poems that Emily had written. Emily was initially outraged by the intrusion on her privacy, but warmed up when Charlotte suggested that the three sisters could publish a volume of their poems. Prior to this, there was a strict demarcation between Angria and Gondal, because the younger sisters disliked Angria. Emily almost lived in the imaginary world of Gondal, and Barker even thinks that Wuthering Heights is a Gondal story. Emily didn't write many poems, but I find her to be extremely talented. It is thought that her poem, No coward soul is mine had a major influence on Emily Dickinson's poetic style. She requested that it be read at her funeral. I might note that, while Renée Bergland attempts to link Dickinson to Charles Darwin in Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science, Dickinson was more profoundly the spiritual heir of Emily Brontë. While it is true that both Brontë and Dickinson had a deep interest in the natural world, Brontë had no exposure to Darwin, whose main publications were issued after her death.

Since I've brought up Emily Dickinson, I'll add that that there are some similarities and differences between the two families. Dickinson's brother, Austin, was treated differently from his sisters in a manner similar to Branwell Brontë. However, Austin was groomed by his father for a successful career, while Branwell was not. Another rough similarity is that Dickinson's mother did not seem to play much of a role in Emily's life, while Brontë's mother died very young. Aunt Branwell came to live with them, but does not seem to have been engaged in their upbringing. In a rather oblique way, Charlotte may have had a somewhat maternal role in the Brontë family and in the end provided guidance to both Emily and Anne. The obvious difference between the two families was that the Dickinsons were wealthy and the Brontës were not.

Aunt Branwell had left Charlotte, Emily and Anne small sums in her will, and they decided to publish a small volume of their poems at their expense under the pseudonyms, Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. In the first year, only two copies were sold, but there was a positive review. Quickly giving up on poetry as a source of remuneration, the sisters began to work on novels. As far as I've read, Patrick travels to Manchester for cataract surgery in 1846.