differences between Charlotte and her famous heroine as there
are likenessess. For one thing, Jane Eyre finds her happiness
only through love and marriage. The real Charlotte Bronte found
her fulfillment in her dedication to writing.
There are other differences, too. Jane Eyre is an unloved
orphan. But Charlotte Bronte, although her mother died when she
was only five, had a father, a loving aunt, and older sisters to
care for her. We don't know very much about Charlotte's
relationship with her father. Some biographers think that he
was cold and eccentric. Others say that he was a domineering
man who did his best to make sure his daughters wouldn't become
independent enough to marry and leave home. But no one can be
sure if either of these theories is true.
In 1824, eight-year-old Charlotte and her sister Emily joined
their two older sisters at Cowan Bridge, a school for the
daughters of clergymen. Many readers of Jane Eyre have wondered
whether Cowan Bridge was really as terrible as Lowood, the
school described in the novel. Charlotte Bronte apparently
thought it was, although some former pupils of Cowan Bridge
later came forward in its defense. One thing we know for sure
is that the teachers at Cowan Bridge were in no hurry to contact
parents when their pupils fell ill. Both of Charlotte's older
sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, came down with tuberculosis in
1825, and by the time the school notified Mr. Bronte, the girls
were gravely ill. Maria died a few days after her return home,
Elizabeth a few months later.
After this double tragedy, the surviving Bronte children were
kept at home, where they were taught by their Aunt Branwell. In
their free time, the three sisters and their brother, also
called Branwell (it was his middle name) invented complicated
fantasies and produced tiny, handwritten books. Many children
still indulge in this form of make-believe, but writing down
one's own fantasies was far more common in the days when
children had fewer books and no television to entertain them.
What made the Brontes unusual was that for them the world of
make-believe became more important than anything else. Emily
and Anne were mainly involved in writing stories about an
imaginary island in the Pacific, called Gondal. Charlotte and
her brother concentrated on spinning tales about Angria, a
fantasy kingdom in West Africa populated by immigrants from
England and France. Charlotte was in her mid-twenties before
she finally gave up creating new episodes in the lives of these
imaginary characters.
In 1830, Mr. Bronte fell ill. Ironically, since he
recovered to live to an advanced age, the lives of his three
daughters were made miserable from that time on by the fear that
