Uzbekistan state world languages university philology faculty

2. Jane Eyre's success and Charlotte Brontë's personal failure
When Charlotte Brontë was busy writing Jane Eyre, she told her sisters that she would show them "a simple little character like me." (Bronte) That's exactly what he did. Brontë created a character that was strikingly far removed from the stereotypical convention of the beautiful but vulnerable heroine. She was able to create such a character because Brontë herself did not fit into the standard definition of what a woman should be in the mid-1800s; she was neither pretty, nor docile, nor resigned.
Although Jane Eyre is a work of fiction, there are many autobiographical aspects to the story. Jane Eyre's upbringing is similar in many ways to Charlotte Brontë's. Both of them had a very difficult childhood. Jane's parents died when she was very young, and Bronte lost her mother to cancer when she was five.
After losing their respective family members, both were sent to live and be raised by their aunts. Although not much is revealed about how Charlotte Brontë was treated while in her aunt's care, Jane Reed details the abuse (both physical and verbal) she experienced in her aunt's home. . Jane, speaking of her cousin John, said: "He abused and chastised me; not twice or thrice a week, not once or twice a day, but constantly: I feared him with every nerve and every morsel in my body." 'sht. Mrs. Reed was blind and deaf on the subject: she never saw him strike me, or hear him abuse me, though she is now and then in his presence, but often behind his back.
Both Jane and Brontë were sent to boarding school before the age of ten: Brontë attended Clergy Girls' School in Cowan's Bridge, Lancashire, and Jane attended Lowood Girls' School. Brontë claimed that the poor conditions at the Clergy School had a lasting effect on her "health and physical development". (Brontë)
The school was a place of disease and vermin: Charlotte Brontë's two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, contracted typhus while at school and both died at school.
Brontë used her observations and experiences at the Clergy School to create the austerity found at Lowood School; "Our clothes were not sufficient to protect us from the bitter cold; we had no boots, and the snow got into our shoes and melted there; our gloveless hands were calloused, and covered with slush, as were our feet." (77) Jane Lowood talks about the imperfection of the clothes worn by her students.
Jane and Brontë also find love in unusual places: Jane in Mr. Rochester, a rude, rude man twice her age, and Brontë in Constantine Heger, a married man who is master of the school where she teaches. . Brontë eventually left the school, but sent Hager pitiful letters, some of which in prose reflect Jane's treatment of Mr. Rochester. An excerpt from Brontë's letter to Heger reads: "Nor do I need the affection of my loved ones. I should not know what to do with complete and utter friendship - I am not used to it. But you have shown it. I have a little interest. was, and I hold on to that little interest—I hold on to it as I hold on to life." (Bronte) Charlotte Bronte is willing to sacrifice the love she deserves if she is with Heger, and Jane acts in the same way, even though Mr. Rochester has become increasingly harsh and aggressive with her.
When I first started reading Jane Eyre, I was aware of the obvious parallels between the two women: both had lost their parents, and both had attended squalid boarding schools as children. The more I delved into Charlotte Brontë's life and the more I read Jane Eyre, the more striking parallels I found between the author and her fictional character.

As I read, existing knowledge of these parallels allowed me to relate to Jane Eyre more deeply. As I realized that Charlotte Brontë brought her own personality and so much genuine sadness to the character, Jane instantly became deeper and more appealing to me. One of the biggest criteria for me to really enjoy a book is some kind of personal connection. I had a hard time making any kind of connection to Jane Eyre, partly because her character wasn't someone I could relate to, but also because she lived in a very different cultural time than the one I live in now. However, my awareness of Charlotte Brontë's life and struggles as she turned it into a critically acclaimed novel allowed me to ally myself more with Jane, thereby enriching my reading experience.

At the time, literary society in England was a very small world. For a complete unknown to publish a successful novel was relatively unusual. For three unknowns to manage it in a single year was unheard of. Naturally, everyone was curious about them, though normally the curiosity would have died down as soon as a new subject for gossip came along. But an aura of mystery surrounding the identity of the Brontes kept them a subject of interest for much longer than that. In all innocence, the three sisters had chosen to publish their books under male pen names--as Currer (Charlotte), Acton (Anne), and Ellis (Emily) Bell. They did this partly to escape the prejudice against women novelists and partly to avoid embarrassing friends and acquaintances who might find themselves portrayed in the novels.

As it turned out, the pen names only helped to make the Brontes more famous. Everyone was wildly eager to figure out the true identities of Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell. Were they really men? Or if they were women, why were they pretending to be men? There was even a rumor, encouraged by Emily and Anne's publisher, that the three authors were one and the same person.

By the time the truth became widely known, Emily and Anne were dead. Charlotte was the only Bronte who became a literary celebrity during her own lifetime, but all three sisters were well on their way to becoming cult heroines.

Unlike many writers who achieve instant fame, the Brontes' books have stood the test of time. Two of the three books published during that ten-month period in 1847-48--Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights--are still widely read and enjoyed today. Anne's novel, Agnes Grey, has never been as popular, but its admirers are often the most enthusiastic of all. One highly respected critic even called it "the most perfect narrative in English prose." Precisely because the Brontes led such limited lives, many readers have been quick to jump to the conclusion that their novels are highly autobiographical. Where would three young women--who had done little traveling and knew only a few people--get their material, if not out of their own lives? Trying to reconstruct Charlotte Bronte's private life from scenes in her books has become almost a game. It's true that Charlotte Bronte, like all writers' borrowed from her own experiences. But it's a mistake to think that Charlotte Bronte was Jane Eyre. There are almost as many 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.