Charlotte Bronte II

On leaving the Heger School, Charlotte was painfully unhappy.  It’s not clear what was said to her, but it seems as if Mme Heger pushed her into leaving Brussels. I believe that Heger realised it too, that his pupil, a plain but intelligent young woman of whom he was fond, had developed an inappropriate love for him.  He and Mme Heger felt that they had to get her to leave, fearing embarrassment and scandal, but he was also sorry for her and believed that she would be better to go home and get over her feelings.

Charlotte however remained in love for some time.  She begged permission of M Heger to write to him but he stipulated that these letters should be limited to "one every 6 months".  Charlotte longed to write more often, and wrote some painfully loving but very proper letters.  However Heger didn’t respond.  The story of her continuing love for him is sad to think about, she was so unhappy and  desperately pleading for a little friendship and affection from him.

He threw away some of her letters but Mme Heger rescued them, perhaps because she was aware of the possibility of scandal and wanted to preserve evidence.

She gradually recovered to an extent and was occupied with family problems, such as Branwell’s drinking and bad behaviour, and her father’s blindness.

 The girls continued for a while to believe they might be able to set up a school and did some advertising, but no one was interested in sending their daughters to a remote place like Haworth… and the plan eventually languished.

Charlotte began to think of other ideas for occupying herself and making some money.  She persuaded her sisters to put their poetry together and try to get it published as a joint effort.   Emily was furious when Charlotte revealed she had accidentally seen her poems and read some and was for a time very unwilling to agree to get them published.   She gave in, reluctantly, but when the book came out, in 1846, it only sold 2 copies.

 But Charlotte was a determined young woman and didn’t give up hope.

She was always the leader of the 3 of them in trying new schemes, such as setting up their own school or going to Brussels to learn more...  or starting to write for publication.  They had all written since they could hold a pen, but apart from Branwell none of them seems to have seriously considered trying to make money or get published.  Charlotte had written to the Poet Southey as a girl, asking whether he thought that she had talent, but he responded that literature was not the business of a woman's life.
Emily would not have been put off by such negativity from an outsider, but she positively hated the idea of submitting her work to the gaze of the public.  Anne seems to have been quietly willing to agree, once the notion of publication was suggested.  She was shy but not completely or aggressively retiring like her sister.

 Charlotte was the most normal of the girls.  She was shy and also quite sharp tongued and critical of people.  She disliked most of her employers, and was socially awkward but not to the extent that Emily was.  She was willing to engage with the outside world, whether by writing and getting published or by making friends.  She didn’t have many friends but did engage in social life, later, as a writer.  She had two friends Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor, whom she had known from school and who remained close to her all their lives.

 At this stage, Patrick was virtually blind and underwent an operation for cataract, which was very painful.  It meant that he had to go to Manchester. Charlotte had to accompany him.  While he was recovering she started to write Jane Eyre, and then began to try and get it sold.   Her sisters were engaged in writing and submitting their books - Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. 

However their publisher Newby was a decidedly “dodgy” character and didn’t treat them very fairly.  Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was read by George Smith, a young man just starting out in publishing.  His reader thought it was so wonderful he urged that it should be published…

 It was an overnight success.  Emily and Anne’s books which were published as a 3 volume, set, (the first 2 volumes was Wuthering Heights and the third one was the short work -Agnes Grey), didn’t do so well, although some discerning critics could see the talent, in Emily’s work. Finally, Charlotte’s pressuring of her sisters and her hard work was beginning to pay off….