Charlotte Bronte Part I

Charlotte was the oldest surviving daughter of Patrick and Maria Bronte and in some ways the dominant figure in the family. She was, as a girl, closest to her brother Branwell; she and he created the world of "Angria" together and wrote their stories and poems.

As the eldest of the girls, she helped to educate her 2 younger sisters, and was conscious that she had to try and earn a living, but she was very much unsuited to governess work which was the only role that a young woman like her could find.

She was very shy, but also snobbish…. she hated being under an obligation to the families who employed her, and who treated her like a servant.  Although her father had come from a farming background, she felt that she was a lady, since he had become a clergyman.  She saw herself as higher in rank (and was better educated) than the mill owning or wealthy trade families who were now the "new rich" of Yorkshire and who hired governesses for their children. 

Opinions differ on how accurate are Charlotte’s portraits of the families she worked for. Some commentators feel that she was quite right in seeing them as snobbish, rude, and unpleasant and unfeeling.  Others feel that Charlotte was touchy and proud, and quick to see slights and insults where none were intended.   She was also not very fond of children, and not good with them.  She generally had little good to say of her employers or their children.  The children were seen by her as badly behaved and stupid brats, but she was not allowed to discipline them.  She wasn't a natural teacher, was not fond of children, and felt that it was very hard to get any knowledge into their heads.   

At the age of 26, she persuaded her aunt to help her and Emily to go to Brussels, so that they could improve their languages and learn more, and the plan was to prepare to open their own school.  It would have given them more autonomy than working for other people, and she believed they could support themselves and not have to kow-tow to employers.
The Brontes were beginning to realise that Branwell who was meant to be the white hope of the family, wasn’t likely to make their  fortune...

Emily didn’t  want to leave Yorkshire but she did want more education, so she was willing to go.  Charlotte longed to travel.  Her friends Mary and Martha Taylor were studying in Belgium, and she longed to see something of the world, as well as learn more. As always she was the one of the 3 girls who was more eager to mingle with people.  Anne was too shy and Emily positively refused to mix. 

In Brussels, they were pupil teachers, working for Mme Heger and her husband, who ran a school.  Heger was also a professor at a boy’s school, but he was impressed by the Bronte girls and eager to teach them.  Charlotte took to him and worked hard to improve her French. Emily did not like him or Brussels but worked hard, to educate herself (her spelling had been terrible as a girl) and she taught music.  Neither girl liked the Belgian people much.  They were critical of the school’s “young lady” pupils…
Both were fairly narrow minded, and they felt uncomfortable with the foreign and Catholic culture.  Charlotte however took the opportunity to socialise with the local English community and with her friends the Taylors.  Emily more or less refused to go out. 

After a year or so, the Brontes’ aunt, Miss Branwell died, and they had to return to England.  Charlotte was still eager to go back to her job in Brussels. Emily, having inherited a little money from her aunt, decided that she had truly hated being away from home and now she was not going to leave.  The plan for the school was still in their minds but it was not ever a very practical one.  Emily disliked teaching, they thought of having it in the Parsonage which was not very big. Yet it seems unlikely that they could have had several girls living there with the unsociable Patrick and the increasingly difficult Branwell in residence.

So Emily remained home and kept house, for her father.  Anne was working in a governessing job, with the Robinson family and Charlotte returned to the Hegers.  However her second time in Brussels was not happy.  She found that Mme Heger was increasingly distant form her, and began to worry.  After a time, she realised that this was because Madame believed that she, Charlotte, was in love with M Heger.  This was certainly true.  Yet Charlotte was so innocent that she probably didn’t realise it herself, and had only thought of him as a beloved teacher, someone she enjoyed working with.  She hadn’t thought of a married man, as someone she could fall in love with.  She was too religious and proper for that.  She didn't imagine that he might ever reciprocate her feelings.  When she was made aware of them, she felt extremely guilty and knew that she had to come away from the school. However, she disliked Mme Heger more and more, as “un-English” in her way of running the school and later portrayed her as a villain, in her novels.

More about Charlotte will follow!