BIOGRAPHY.
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived
into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. Charlotte was born on April 21,
1816, in Thornton, England. One of six children, she grew up in the nearby village of Haworth, where her
father, Patrick Brontë, became the curate of the local church in 1820.Withing a year her mother Maria
developed cancer and after a harrowinng
seven-and-half month illness,died on September 15,1821. Maria Bronte's last words before death were
"Oh God,my poor children"
Shortly thereafter, Maria’s sister Elizabeth would move into the Bronte family home to help raise and
educate the children. She would stay at Haworth until her death in 1842.
In August 1824, Patrick sent Charlotte, Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth to the Clergy Daughters'
School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire.
Charlotte maintained that the school's poor conditions permanently affected her health and physical
development, and hastened the deaths of Maria and Elizabeth.
Conditions at Cowan Bridge were dismal: cold, damp, and unhygienic. Within a year, a typhoid epidemic
ripped through the school. Maria and Elizabeth came down with consumption (tuberculosis) soon after
and were sent home. They never recovered, dying within weeks of each other.
Charlotte used the school as the basis for Lowood School in Jane Eyre, which is similarly affected by
tuberculosis that is exacerbated by the poor conditions.
After the deaths of his older daughters, Patrick removed Charlotte and Emily from the school.
Soon after, Charlotte and her sister Emily returned to Haworth.
Back at Haworth, Patrick Brontë took over the tutelage of his four surviving children, giving them access
to his well-stocked library. During this time, Charlotte, Emily, their sister Anne, and their brother
Branwell produced a family magazine featuring their poems and stories. This period of Charlotte’s
childhood, from 1829 to 1831, was her most prolific as a poet, and her work demonstrates her growing
interest in literary history and her aspirations to be included in the canon.
In 1831, Charlotte enrolled as a student at Roe Head School, and she went on to serve as a governess
there and elsewhere. She also briefly studied and taught in Brussels German,French and music with her
sister Emily, before returning to Haworth in 1844.
An attempt to start a school was unsuccessful.
After returning to Haworth, Charlotte and her sisters made headway with opening their own boarding
school in the family home. It was advertised as "The Misses Brontë's Establishment for the Board and
Education of a limited number of Young Ladies" and inquiries were made to prospective pupils and
sources of funding. But none were attracted and in October 1844, the project was abandoned.
In 1846, the Brontë sisters self-published a collection of their poetry under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis,
and Acton Bell. However, Charlotte did not achieve literary recognition until the next year, when Jane
Eyre (1847) was published, also under the pseudonym Currer Bell. Noted for its first-person female
perspective, Jane Eyre was an immediate success. Charlotte went on to publish three more novels,
including Villette (1853) and the posthumous The Professor (1857).
After her own literary success and that of Emily, with Wuthering Heights (1847), and Anne, with Agnes
Grey (1847), speculation about the Bells’ identities increased. Charlotte revealed herself as Currer Bell in
1848 and began to move in London’s literary circles. However, Branwell died in September, 1848, and
Emily and Anne both died of tuberculosis within the next year. After this, Charlotte spent most of her
time in Haworth with her aging father, and in 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls, who had taken over
the parsonage in 1845. Charlotte died while pregnant, after an extended illness, on March 31, 1855.
INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY FACTS:
1.Charlotte could see well in the dark, but not in the light.
Charlotte was very short sighted, taking after her father who in later life had to have his cataracts cut
away without an anaesthetic. She was so short sighted that she had to give up playing the piano, as she
couldn’t read the sheet music in front of her. Nevertheless when she was a teacher, her pupils were
amazed to find that she could seemingly read perfectly well in darkness, an ability that they thought was
some kind of magic.
2.Charlotte was advised to give up writing – because she was a woman.
From an early age, Charlotte and her sisters loved writing, and she went to the very top to get an
opinion on her work. Aged 16 she sent some of her work to the then poet laureate Robert Southey. He
replied that whilst she had ‘the faculty of verse’, she should give up her dreams, because ‘literature
cannot be the business of a woman’s life: and it ought not to be.’ Strangely enough, the young Charlotte
seemed elated at this reply, writing ‘I must thank you for the kind, and wise advice you have
condescended to give me… I trust I shall never more feel ambitious to see my name in print.’
3.Charlotte kept her writing from her own father
Charlotte, like Anne and Emily, was a shy and secretive woman, and she kept the fact that she had
written her novel even from her own father. At last, she decided to reveal the truth to him. She took the
book into his study along with some reviews. When she said that she had written a book, he said that it
would strain his eyes to read it. Charlotte then explained that it was published, not in manuscript form.
Patrick then said she would lose money, because it couldn’t be a success. At this point she read some of
the reviews to him, and he agreed to read it. He later called Anne and Emily to him and gave his verdict:
‘Girls, do you know Charlotte has been writing a book, and it is much better than likely?’
4.Charlotte really did know a family called Eyre
Charlotte often visited Ellen at Hathersage, where she frequently stayed with her brother. In the middle
of the Peak District it was later depicted as Morton in Jane Eyre. Inside the Hathersage church that
Henry Nussey presided over is the large tomb of Robert Eyre, and a stained glass window to William
Eyre, who was a leading light of Hathersage society at the time
of Charlotte’s visits.
5.Charlotte’s dedication in Jane Eyre almost caused a scandal
One of Charlotte’s literary heroes was William Makepeace Thackeray, so she dedicated the first edition
of Jane Eyre to him. Unfortunately, Charlotte didn’t know that Thackeray actually did have a mad wife
that he kept confined within his home. Whilst a public secret it was well known to London society, who
assumed that this new author ‘Currer Bell’ must know Thackeray, and have modelled Rochester on him.
When they later met Thackeray characteristically laughed it off, although Charlotte was mortified when
she found out the truth.
6.Charlotte fell in love with her married teacher
At age 21 Charlotte, with Emily, left Yorkshire and travelled to Brussels, with the intention of learning
languages that would help them set up their own school. She made good progress at the Pensionnat
Héger school, but rapidly fell in love with the stern master Constantin Héger. He would be an inspiration
for Rochester, but he had the same problem in that he was married. After returning to England,
Charlotte wrote him a series of passionate letters. One such reads: ‘I know that you will lose patience
with me when you read this letter. You will say that I am over-excited, that I have black thoughts etc. So
be it Monsieur – I do not seek to justify myself, I submit to all kinds of reproaches – all I know is that I
cannot – that I will not resign myself to the total loss of my master’s friendship. I would rather undergo
the greatest bodily pains than have my heart constantly lacerated by searing regrets.’ He never replied,
and in fact cut up the letters, but his wife for some reason pieced them together again, which is how
they are now at the British Library.
7.Charlotte owned a piece of Napoleon’s coffin.
Before Charlotte’s infatuation became too evident, she was well regarded by Constantin Héger and his
wife. So much so that, knowing her love of all things relating to the Duke of Wellington, he gave
Charlotte a fragment from the coffin of Napoleon Bonaparte that he had earlier bought. It’s now among
the many treasures at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
New words and idioms.
1.Dignify(verb)-величать,возвеличивать,
возводить,удостаивать.
Definition-
Make something or someone seem worthy and impressive.
Give and impressive name to someone or something.
Synonyms-aggrandize,adorn,
exalt,make lofty.
Quote from movie-
I would rather be happy than dignified.
2. Animosity(noun)-враждебность.
Definition-strong hostility.
Synonyms-friction,malevolence,
rancour,aversion,acrimony.
Quote-Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity.
3. Assail(verb)-наносить(удар),одолевать,
мучить,нападать,атаковать.
Definition-make a concerted or violent attack on.
Synonyms-belabour,pounce on,assault,attack.
Quote-To attack the first is not to assail the last.
4.Lamentable(adj)-прискорбный,печальный.
Definition-that is to be regretted.
Synonyms-deplorable,distressing
Quote: Afar, it offered a pale blank of mist and cloud; near a scene of wet lawn and storm-beat
shrub, with ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly before a long and lamentable blast.
5.Pallid(adj)-бледный,слабый.
Definition-deficient in colour.
Synonyms-pasty,wan
Quote-English hangings crusted with thick work, portraying effigies of strange flowers, and stranger
birds, and strangest human beings, — all which would have looked strange, indeed, by the pallid gleam
of moonlight.
6.Presentiments(noun) предчувствие,опасение.
Defenition-intuitive feelings about future(usually used about something bad)
Synonyms- premonition,foreboding,
apprehension,hunch,inkling,
misgiving
Quote: I never laughed at presentiments in my life, because I have had strange ones of my own.
7. Harangue(noun)-публичная речь,обращение,
разглагольствование
Definition-a ranting speech or writing.
Synonyms-rant,fulmination
Quote:And here she closed her harangue: a long one for her, and uttered with the demureness of a
Quakeress.
8. Eschew(verb)-тщательно избегать,сторониться
Definition-to avoid habitually, especially on moral or practical grounds.
Synonyms-abjure,disavow,repudiate,shun,
renounce,refrain from,abstain from
Quote-Any enjoyment that bordered on riot seemed to approach me to her and her vices, and
I eschewed it.
9.Acumen(noun)-проницательность, сообразительность,острота ума.
Definition-the ability to make good judgements and take quick decisions.
Synonyms-acuteness,shrewdness,
ingenuity,canniness
10. Impetus(noun)-импульс,толчок,стимул
Definition-a driving force;impulse
Synonyms-momentum,propulsion
Quote-You will see what impetus would be given to your efforts and mine by our physical and mental
union in marriage
11. Conjecture(verb and noun)-догадка,предположение;
предполагать,строить догадки.
Definition-to arrive at or deduce by conjecture;guess.
Synonyms-surmise,inference,extrapolation
Quote:No one saw her: they only knew by rumour that such a person was at the Hall; and who or what
she was it was difficult to conjecture.
12. Ensnare(verb)- поймать в ловушку,заманить в сети,запутывать.
Definition-catch in or as in a trap.
Synonyms-enmesh,springe,ensnarl,seize,
entangle.
Quote:I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.
13. Lugubrious(adj)-печальный,траурный,
мрачный
Definition-looking or sounding sad or dismal(usually about appearance)
Synonyms-despondent,forlorn
Quote-
I hardly know whether I had slept or not after this musing; at any rate, I started wide awake on hearing a
vague murmur, peculiar and lugubrious, which sounded, I thought, just above me.
14. Salubrious(adj)-полезный,целительный,
благоприятный для здоровья.
Definition-favorable to or promoting health or well being
Synonyms-salutary,wholesome
Quote-All right then; limpid, salubrious: no gush of bilge water had turned it to fetid puddle.
15. Gregarious(adj)-общительный
Definition-fond of company,sociable,friendly
Synonyms-genial,affable,
Quote-Young lady, I am disposed to be gregarious and communicative to-night.
16.Revile(verb)-оскорблять,бранить,позорить
Definition-criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner.
Synonyms-flay,traduce, lambast,denounce.
Quote-You cannot yet accustom yourself to accuse and revile me.
17. Assuage(verb)-умиротворять,смягчать.
Definition-make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense.
Synonyms-alleviate,mitigate.
Quote-I cannot deny that I grieved for his grief, whatever that was, and would have given much
to assuage it.
18. Diffidence(noun)-неуверенность в себн,робость.
Definition-modesty or shyness resulting from a lack of self-confidence.
Synonyms-bashfulness,reticence
Quote-I asked, with awkward diffidence
19. To turn the tables(idiom)-перевернуть ситуацию,изменить ход.
Definition-reverse one's position relative to someone else, especially by turning a position
of disadvantage into one of advantage.
Quote-Not that I ever suffered much from them; I took care to turn the tables.
20.Hit the nail straight on the head-попасть в самую точку
Definition-find exactly the right answer.
Quote-
Jane: then are you going to be married,sir?
Mr.Rochester:Ex-act-ly--pre-cise-ly: with your usual acuteness, you have hit the nail straight on the
head."
