DOCSLIB.ORG

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James READING GROUP GUIDE 1. Discuss the Brontë family dynamics. Describe Charlotte’s relationship with her sisters, Emily and Anne. Why was Charlotte so devoted to her father? How did her relationship with her brother Branwell evolve and change over the years, and what influence did he have on her life? 2. What secrets did Charlotte and her siblings each keep, and why? Whose secret had the most devastating impact on the family? How did Charlotte’s secret affect her life and her work? 3. Who are your favorite characters in the novel, and why? Who is your least favorite character? 4. What are your favorite scenes in the novel? What was the saddest scene? The happiest? The most uplifting? Did any scene make you laugh or cry? 5. Discuss Charlotte’s relationship with Mr. Nicholls. When does he begin to care for Charlotte? How does he quietly go about pursuing her? How does the author maintain romantic tension between the two? Do you think Mr. Nicholls changes and grows over the course of the story? 6. In Chapter Five, Charlotte tells Ellen Nussey, “I am convinced I could never be a clergyman’s wife.” She lists the qualities she requires in a husband. How does Mr. Nicholls measure up to these expectations? What are his best and worst qualities? Why is Charlotte reluctant to accept Mr. Nicholls’s proposal? What does Charlotte learn about herself—and her husband—after she marries? Do you think he turns out to be the ideal match for her? 7. What impact did Charlotte’s experience at the Clergy Daughter’s School have on her life and her work? How different was her experience at Roe Head School? In what ways did it change her life? 8. What was it about Monsieur Hegér that endeared him to Charlotte, and made such a life-long impression on her? Why do you think he cut off all communication with her? Discuss the ways in which Charlotte’s experience in Brussels changed her, and influenced every one of her novels. 9. Did hearing the story of Charlotte’s life in the first person enhance the reading experience for you? What are the benefits of telling this story from the main character’s perspective, rather than the third person? What are the limitations? 2 10. How does Charlotte’s dream imagery serve the story? 11. Discuss the ways in which the Brontë’s financial circumstances, unique childhood, education (or lack of it), and environment—living as the only educated family in a remote village, surrounded by the moors—affected their lives, their personalities, and their writing. 12. Why were Emily and Charlotte both so insistent on keeping their writing ambitions a secret? Why did they choose an androgynous pseudonym? Once published, how did the reality compare to the dream for each of them? How did Charlotte’s life change when she was no longer able to “walk invisible”? 13. How did Charlotte feel about a woman’s role in Victorian England, when domesticity and motherhood were considered to be a sufficient emotional fulfillment for females? Would you consider Charlotte a feminist in today’s terms? Do you think Charlotte’s views affected her feelings about marriage? 14. Strict laws at the time gave a husband ownership of his wife’s body, her property and wages, and custody of their children. Discuss other conditions in Victorian England, with regard to women—i.e., health, sanitation, food, travel, career opportunities, courtship, sex, and conventions of feminine beauty. How did they differ from our lives today? In what ways are things still the same? Given the choice, would you wish to live in Charlotte’s era? 15. Branwell was initially considered the brightest artistic hope in the Brontë family. What personal, educational and societal factors contributed to his demise? How did Charlotte’s feelings for Monsieur Hegér affect her opinion of the way Branwell handled his affair with Mrs. Robinson? 16. What examples of irony can you find in the story? For example, why is it ironic that Emily’s novel, Wuthering Heights, was so poorly received during her lifetime? Discuss the fates of Mr. Nicholls, Patrick Brontë, Charlotte, and her siblings; in what ways are they all ultimately both tragic and ironic? 17. Has The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë changed your perception of Charlotte or the other people in her life? Did you learn anything that surprised you? 18. Examine the many ways in which Charlotte dramatized her own life experiences in her novels. How many people, places and events from her real life can you identify in Jane Eyre? In Shirley? Villette? 19. Compare and contrast Charlotte Brontë and her fictional creation, Jane Eyre, in terms of physical appearance, personality, romantic sensibilities and psychological desires. How successful is each woman in rising above the societal limitations placed upon her? Do they each ultimately remain true to themselves? 20. How successfully does the author capture Charlotte Brontë’s voice? Did the novel inspire you to read or reread Charlotte’s works, or the works of her sisters? 2 James, Syrie (2009-06-23). The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte (Kindle Locations 7873-7874). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. It includes a set of extra materials ( letters of Charlotte, selection of poems). "The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte" has convinced me to read all the novels of the Bronte sisters that I have not read yet. In terms of reading this novel, I think it’s best if you read, at least, two of their most famous novels: "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre". Otherwise you will know some of the plot without having read their novels. Everyone keeps secrets. Charlotte Brontë—a passionate woman who wrote some of the most romantic and enduring fiction in the English language—was no exception. We can learn much about Charlotte through her biographies and surviving correspondence; but like all the members of the Brontë family, Charlotte had a deeply personal side that she did not share with even her closest friends and relations. What intimate secrets did Charlotte Brontë harbor within her breast? What were her innermost thoughts and feelings, and her most private memories? Here, then—with the greatest respect and admiration for the woman who inspired them—are The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë. Syrie James. VOLUME I. One. I have received a proposal of marriage. Charlotte Bronte did not leave behind a secret diary, so students and scholars shouldn't get excited by the title or concept of this work of fiction. It's obvious that James has done an enormous amount of research--and has dropped all the appropriate names in the acknowledgments--and it is for that research and its application throughout the novel that I don't drop my rating of the book to a mere 1 star. Blurred lines between fact & fiction are so masterfully written I had to remind myself that The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte is just the fruit of Syrie James' genius. James not only made me sigh in all the right places, and weep at the tragic losses - James taught me, like Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, to gradually allow my former prejudices to be removed. (Charlotte died from complications of pregnancy in 1855 at the age of 38.) Syrie James has studied Charlotte’s life and has drawn on many of the sources she studied, such as Charlotte’s letters to her good friend Ellen Nussey and the biography written by Charlotte’s friend, the author Mrs. Gaskell, to tell Charlotte’s story in Charlotte’s own voice. The book includes a Q&A with the author, excerpts from selected correspondence of Charlotte Brontë, selected poetry by the Brontës, and a bibliography of Charlotte’s writings. I especially appreciated the information at the end about what the author imagined and what was fact. Find & buy on..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reminiscences of Charlotte Brontë
    Brontë Society Transactions ISSN: 0309-7765 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ybst19 Reminiscences of Charlotte Brontë Miss Ellen Nussey To cite this article: Miss Ellen Nussey (1899) Reminiscences of Charlotte Brontë, Brontë Society Transactions, 2:10, 58-83, DOI: 10.1179/030977699798899712 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/030977699798899712 Published online: 18 Jul 2013. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 14 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ybst19 Download by: [UNSW Library] Date: 23 April 2016, At: 14:10 58 REMINISCENCES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE, By MISS ELLEN NUSSEY. Reprinted by permission from "Scrzoner's Monthly," May, I87I, nclw the" Century Magazine." To THE EDITOR: You with much urgency beg me to give you some reminiscences of the Bronte family. The life of Charlotte Bronte, viewed apart from her high gifts and genius as an authoress, was a very unsen- sational life; for the most part it was a life of domestic duty, self-sacrifice. fidelity to whatever she believed to be right, fortitude in ~uffering, and patient resignation under all inevitable trials; and these are not elements of attrac- tion to readers who care for excitement. What is said of Charlotte may, with almost equal truth, be said of Emily and Anne; though they differed greatly in many points of character and disposition, they were each and all on common ground if a prindple had to be maintained or a sham to be detected.
    [Show full text]
  • “Life” Charlotte Bronte
    CHARLOTTE BRONTE “LIFE” Belen Francia Blanca Reyes Per. 1 Biography • Charlotte Brontë (21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855). He was a British novelist, the oldest of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. In August 1824 Charlotte was sent with three of her sisters to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge. • Charlotte maintained, permanently affected her health and physical development and hastened the deaths of her two elder sisters. Angria and Emily and Anne wrote articles and poems about their country. The sagas were elaborate and convoluted (and still exist in part manuscripts) and provided them with an obsessive interest in childhood and early adolescence, which prepared them for their literary vocations in adulthood. Charlotte continued her education at Roe Head, Mirfield where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period, she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. • In May 1846, Charlotte, Emily and Anne published a joint collection of poetry under the assumed names of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Although the book failed to attract interest the sisters decided to continue writing for publication and began work on their first novels. • Charlotte is also the central figure in the play The Gales Of March which tells the story of the Brontë family. In 1853 Charlotte’s Villette was published with similar themes to Jane Eyre and Shirley; the struggles of a strong independent woman and her need for love. • After some months of correspondence, on 29 June 1854 Charlotte married Arthur.
    [Show full text]
  • Ii Introduction: Picturing Charlotte Brontë
    1 Ii Introduction: picturing Charlotte Brontë Amber K. Regis and Deborah Wynne In response to the centenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth in 1916, the Brontë Society commissioned a volume of essays entitled Charlotte Brontë, 1816– 1916: A Centenary Memorial (1917), with contributions by some well- known literary fi gures, including G. K. Chesterton and Edmund Gosse. It opened with a foreword by the then president of the Brontë Society, Mrs Humphry Ward, in which she explained that the book set out to off er ‘fresh impressions and the fi rst- hand research of competent writers who have spoken their minds with love and courage’ (Ward, 1917 : 5). One hundred years later, the current volume of essays, Charlotte Brontë: Legacies and Afterlives , also strives to off er ‘fresh impressions’ based on the ‘fi rst- hand research’ of ‘competent writers’; equally, most of the contributors can claim that a love of Brontë’s work motivated this project. However, while the contributors to the 1917 volume considered courage to be required to assert Charlotte Brontë’s importance, the writers in this book show no inclination to defend her reputation or argue for the signifi cance of her work. Her ‘genius’, a term emphasised repeatedly, often anxiously, in the 1917 collection, can now be taken for granted, and for that comfortable assumption we have generations of feminist scholars to thank. Th e current volume instead charts the vast cultural impact of Charlotte Brontë since the appearance of her fi rst published work, Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846), highlighting the richness and diversity of the author’s legacy, her afterlife and the continuation of her plots and characters in new forms.
    [Show full text]
  • Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey
    Brontë Society Transactions ISSN: 0309-7765 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ybst19 Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey. William Scruton To cite this article: William Scruton (1898) Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey., Brontë Society Transactions, 1:8, 23-42, DOI: 10.1179/bronsoc.1898.1.8.23 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/bronsoc.1898.1.8.23 Published online: 18 Jul 2013. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 9 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ybst19 Download by: [University of Sydney Library] Date: 06 June 2016, At: 23:08 one ever moved men so deeply, so permanently, so marvellously, and the secret of his magic is buried in his grave. Noone since his death has risen to repeat the achievement. Dr. Fawcett had as his pupil a Yorkshire man of whom Yorkshire people ought to make more. He was a great. essaYist, and critic, and moralist, John Foster, and he left some interesting information as to the state of religion and morals in this country at that time. I think a good service would b~ rendered by some member of the Bronte Society who would· trace the revival of religion in. Yorkshire and. its effects in Haworth. The religious history of Haworth ·in the time. of the Brontes has been very. iInperfectly .sketch,~d, yet it is evidently a story worth telling, and the lives of. Grimshaw, Fawcett, Henry Venn, of Huddersfield, and others, would furnish materials.
    [Show full text]
  • To Walk Invisible: the Brontë Sisters
    Our Brother’s Keepers: On Writing and Caretaking in the Brontë Household: Review of To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters Shannon Scott (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA) To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters Writer & Director, Sally Wainwright BBC Wales, 2016 (TV film) Universal Pictures 2017 (DVD) ***** In Sally Wainwright’s To Walk Invisible, a two-part series aired on BBC and PBS in 2016, there are no rasping coughs concealed under handkerchiefs, no flashbacks to Cowen Bridge School, no grief over the loss of a sister; instead, there is baking bread, invigorating walks on the moor, and, most importantly, writing. Wainwright dramatises three prolific years in the lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë when they composed their first joint volume of poetry and their first sole-authored novels: The Professor, rejected and abandoned for Jane Eyre (1847), Wuthering Heights (1847), and Agnes Grey (1847), respectively. The young women are shown writing in the parlour surrounded by tidy yet threadbare furniture, at the kitchen table covered in turnips and teacups, composing out loud on the way to town for more paper, or while resting in the flowering heather. For Charlotte, played with a combination of reserve and deep emotion by Finn Atkins, to “walk invisible” refers to their choice to publish under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, but in Wainwright’s production, it also refers to invisibility in the home, as the sisters quietly take care of their aging and nearly-blind father, Reverend Patrick Brontë (Jonathan Price), and deal with the alcoholism and deteriorating mental illness of their brother, Branwell (Adam Nogaitis).
    [Show full text]
  • The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë
    The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James READING GROUP GUIDE 1. Discuss the Brontë family dynamics. Describe Charlotte’s relationship with her sisters, Emily and Anne. Why was Charlotte so devoted to her father? How did her relationship with her brother Branwell evolve and change over the years, and what influence did he have on her life? 2. What secrets did Charlotte and her siblings each keep, and why? Whose secret had the most devastating impact on the family? How did Charlotte’s secret affect her life and her work? 3. Who are your favorite characters in the novel, and why? Who is your least favorite character? 4. What are your favorite scenes in the novel? What was the saddest scene? The happiest? The most uplifting? Did any scene make you laugh or cry? 5. Discuss Charlotte’s relationship with Mr. Nicholls. When does he begin to care for Charlotte? How does he quietly go about pursuing her? How does the author maintain romantic tension between the two? Do you think Mr. Nicholls changes and grows over the course of the story? 6. In Chapter Five, Charlotte tells Ellen Nussey, “I am convinced I could never be a clergyman’s wife.” She lists the qualities she requires in a husband. How does Mr. Nicholls measure up to these expectations? What are his best and worst qualities? Why is Charlotte reluctant to accept Mr. Nicholls’s proposal? What does Charlotte learn about herself—and her husband—after she marries? Do you think he turns out to be the ideal match for her? 7.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bronte Sisters: a Ministerial Home Without Much Blessed Assurance
    GRACE IN THE ARTS: THE BRONTE SISTERS: A MINISTERIAL HOME WITHOUT MUCH BLESSED ASSURANCE JAMES A. TOWNSEND Elgin, Illinois I. INTRODUCTION Charlotte Bronte [BRAHN-tay] wrote of her sister Emily in her obituary, “I have never seen her parallel in anything.”1 As a matter of fact the very same eulogium could be applied to all three Bronte sisters– Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Never in the history of literature have three sisters so distinguished themselves as such world-class authors. Some literature professors would probably class Emily’s Wuthering Heights among the top ten novels in English literature. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre is not to be rated far behind that novel. Another unparalleled fact is that none of the trio of world-renowned sisters lived to be forty years old. Charlotte (1816-1855) lived to be 39, Emily (1818-1848) 30, and Anne (1820-1849) only 29, yet among the three of them seven of their novels were published—with two of them proving to be blockbusters. The great literary critic Matthew Arnold penned a poem entitled “Haworth Churchyard,” referring to where this remarkable family of authors was buried. Charlotte Bronte met other celebrated contemporary English writers such as William Thackeray, Thomas Carlyle, and Matthew Arnold, as well as being friends with two well-known female authors—atheist Harriet Martineau and Unitarian writer Elizabeth Gaskell (who would become Charlotte’s first biographer). She was also a contemporary of female authors George Eliot, George Sand, and Jane Austen. (Austen’s novels Charlotte did not particularly admire.) Intriguingly, if we include the three Bronte sisters along with the last three named novelists, five of the six female authors felt compelled—in that male-dominated society—to assume masculine pen names in order to get their excellent 1Rebecca Fraser, The Brontes (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1988), 317.
    [Show full text]
  • Charlotte Bronte's Other Belgian Novel: Sex, the Foreign Body, and the Legacy of Brussels in "Jane Eyre"
    W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 4-2014 Charlotte Bronte's Other Belgian Novel: Sex, the Foreign Body, and the Legacy of Brussels in "Jane Eyre" Rachel M. Watson College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Watson, Rachel M., "Charlotte Bronte's Other Belgian Novel: Sex, the Foreign Body, and the Legacy of Brussels in "Jane Eyre"" (2014). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 8. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/8 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Chapter I: Victorian Sexuality and the Female Body in Jane Eyre and Brussels 7 Chapter II: The Female Body’s Relationship to Society at Thornfield Hall and the Pensionnat Héger 25 Chapter III: The Regional vs. Cosmopolitan Visions in Jane Eyre 34 Chapter IV: Imperialism, Colonialism, and Bertha/Antoinette Mason in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre 55 Conclusion 69 Works Cited 71 Bibliography 73 Watson 2 Introduction “This weakness of sight is a terrible privation for me—without it, do you know what I would do, Monsieur?—I would write a book and I would dedicate it to my literature master—to the only master that I have ever had—to you Monsieur.” Letter to Constantin Héger, 24 July 1844 On New Year’s Day in 1844, Charlotte Brontë returned to Haworth, Yorkshire from her two-year sojourn on the Continent in Brussels, Belgium.
    [Show full text]
  • Traces of the Life of Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre
    1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics May 5-7 2011 Sarajevo Traces of the Life of Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre Mine Özge Çeri School of Foreign Languages Sùleyman Demirel University, Turkey [email protected] Abstract: ‗‗Details, situations which I do not understand and cannot personally inspect, I would not for the world meddle with. Besides not one feeling on any subject, public or private, will I ever affect that I do not really experience.‘‘ (Smith, 2000) This confession settles the question whether the books written by Charlotte Brontë are drawn from what came within her own world of experience. This paper wants to show the influence of the life and experiences of Charlotte Brontë on her famous novel Jane Eyre. The first part of the article provides a brief summary of the life of Charlotte Brontë. The second part provides information about the schools she attended to which are Cowan Bridge and Roe Head and their similarities to the novel. The third part of this paper provides Charlotte Brontë‘s working experience as a governess in Stonegappe. The fourth part provides information about Henry Nussey, Mr. Heger and Hathersage, which have important influences on the novel. The paper concludes that a close acquaintance with Charlotte Brontë‘s life shows that the story of Jane Eyre is largely her own experience. Key Words: Literature, novel, biography. Introduction In An Hour with Charlotte Brontë, C. Holloway argues about Charlotte Brontë‘s works that ‗‗Her works are mainly delineations of actual experiences; she was not an inventor of fiction.
    [Show full text]
  • Kiezgroup 9Th January 2018 the Bronte Story
    KIEZgroup 9th January 2018 Welcome to all, especially Stephan. Wishes for the class for the coming year – subjects or techniques or….. We’re talking about biographies and autobiographies: Will you ever write your autobiography? Have you started? Cf Professor Hausmann (Cf the involuntary effect on me of reading autobiography of Claire Tomalin’s.) The Bronte Story – a fictionalized autobiography Oxford Bookworms level 3 A. Talking about biographies: Books, books, books – but also films, plays etc. (1) - Talk to each other about what you have been reading and watching and what you have been given (in that line or important to you). - Are all novels a kind of autobiography? Mrs Pilcher can only write about what she has experienced. NB the interview. Get it out to read what she says about her experience (end) (Reading together: ) By the way: Diana Athill wrote a memoir called ‘Somewhere towards the end’ which she published when she was 91. She is now 100! Among other things she says that she is glad she is still given novels to review but that really she only enjoys reading biographies nowadays. It rather seems to her that everything else has been said. (Pilcher or Brecht???) (2) Talk to each other about which biographies or autobiographies you have read recently or long ago. Were there some which impressed you greatly? (3) Autobiography or biography? Which do you prefer? Where are the (subtler) differences? (4) How do you like this poem by Emily Bronte? I’ll read it out then you can, too. Past, Present, Future - Poem by Emily Jane Brontë Tell
    [Show full text]
  • The Bronte Cycle
    The Brontë Cycle By John O'Keefe CAST Rev. Patrick Brontë. Father of the Brontë family. Minister to Haworth Church. He was a published author of poetry and essays. Uncommon in his nurturing of his daughter’s education. Born in Northern Ireland. Maria Brontë (Mother). Wife of Patrick, delicate, plain, very intelligent and witty. Of a merchant’s family, accustomed to good society. Died at 37 due to uterine cancer. Maria Brontë. Eldest daughter. Considered to have been one of the most brilliant of the Brontë’s. Died at 11 of consumption. She was Helen Burns in Jane Eyre. Elizabeth Brontë. Second eldest daughter. Died at 1o of consumption. Charlotte Brontë. Third child. She was tiny (four foot nine inches) and plain. Incredibly shy and self-conscious about her looks. Author of the Professor, Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette. She died at 38, possibly from complications due to pregnancy. Branwell Brontë. Fourth child and only son. An outgoing and lovable personality in his best times, a nightmare in his worst. An alcoholic and opium addict. Died at 31 of consumption. Emily Brontë. Fifth child. Was tall for the period, with handsome masculine features, soft brown hair and piercing slate blue eyes. Intensely private and aloof to everyone but her immediate family, with a strange combination of power and vulnerability. A deeply spiritual pantheist. The most original and powerful genius of the Brontë clan. One of the great Victorian poets and author of Wuthering Heights. Anne Brontë. Last born of the Brontë children and perhaps the prettiest. Gentle and withdrawn with an uncanny way of getting her point across or ameliorating a situation.
    [Show full text]
  • Elizabeth Gaskell and the Coarse Authorship of Charlotte Brontë: Religious Perspectives on Women’S Writing
    1 Elizabeth Gaskell and the Coarse Authorship of Charlotte Brontë: religious perspectives on women’s writing Angharad Eyre Abstract: This article explores how the work of the Brontës could be situated in a context of religious writing about coarse subject matter, especially missionary memoir. It argues that Ellen Nussey, a friend of the Brontës, played an influential role in the editing of Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte Brontë, and that Nussey and Gaskell presented the family in a way that encouraged readers to associate the work of the Brontës with religious and moral genres of literature. It also argues that when Gaskell was writing her biography, even religious writing about coarse subjects was becoming less acceptable, and that the respectable woman writer Gaskell portrayed was, therefore, limited to a role of moral martyr. Keywords: Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, temperance fiction, missionary memoir, biography, religion, Ellen Nussey In October 1836, Charlotte Brontë wrote a letter to her friend Ellen Nussey, in which she castigated herself for her apparent coarseness: ‘What am I compared to you I feel my own utter worthlessness when I make the comparison. I’m a very coarse common-place wretch!’.1 What did Charlotte mean by this outburst, and which qualities did Charlotte think were ‘coarse’? At this point in the nineteenth century, ‘coarse’ had a religious, evangelical meaning, as did the term ‘wretch’. Evangelical interpretations of the Bible defined ‘wretched’ as being unable to escape corrupt human nature and embrace God’s spirit, with texts such as Daniel Defoe’s The Family Instructor (1717-18) suggesting that a ‘wretch’ was one who did not live religiously: ‘Wretch that I am! how have I liv'd as without God in the World’.2 Charlotte condemned herself as ‘coarse’ because she could not bring herself to value the spiritual and thus reject human pleasures, 2 including her imagination.
    [Show full text]