Scan barcode
A review by sbbarnes
The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell
3.0
Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte was a groundbreaking work at the time of publication, and I think it holds up as a good biography. Beginning with the meeting of her parents and their move to Hayworth, the book shows detailed research and a willingness to really understand her subject. Gaskell combed through hundreds of letters, excerpting the most important sections (as she saw them).
In terms of content: Bronte had five siblings; her mother died young. The children were raised somewhat eccentrically by their clergyman father, the boy, Branwell, being educated entirely at home, and the girls being sent to boarding school. This boarding school, at least in Gaskell's portrayal, is a one-to-one equivalent for Lowood in Jane Eyre; it is terrible. The section where Gaskell describes the way food is prepared will leave you feeling sick. Two of Bronte's sisters die. She and Emily return home for a few years, and then she attends another, thankfully much better boarding school. Here, she meets friends for life, and later goes on to be a teacher at the same school. She, Emily and Anne dream of opening their own school in their father's house so they don't have to leave home; all three work as teachers and governesses. This dream doesn't really seem to be one of passion, it's more because they are all terribly sickly and don't do well away from home. None of them particularly enjoys teaching, but it seems the only way for women of their status to make a living. Emily and Charlotte go to Brussels to learn French so that they can teach it.
After their aunt's death and a return to England, Charlotte returns to Europe alone, and is seemingly desperately lonely. Her insomnia starts here. She returns to England when her brother starts his descent into alcoholism and opium addiction (allegedly, according to Gaskell, as a result of an ill-fated and well-publicized affair with a married woman). All the Bronte siblings are now at home (except I think Anne who is once again a governess). At this point, Charlotte is almost thirty and laments that she has achieved nothing in her life. Emily, Anne and Charlotte set about publishing a volume of poetry under pseudonyms, which doesn't do terribly well, but they persevere. Anne and Emily's novels Agnes Grey and Wuthering Heights are accepted for publication; Charlotte's The Professor is not until she produces Jane Eyre, which is an immediate sensation.
With the release of all three books, speculation that the authors are all one and the same emerges, which Charlotte and Anne put paid to by traveling to London and proving their identities. Branwell dies, shortly thereafter followed by Emily (who legit refuses to admit she's even sick). Anne only lasts a few months longer. Charlotte is devastated, but continues to write, and somewhat at her father's urging, becomes more involved in literary circles and begins corresponding and visiting with various authors of the time, including Elizabeth Gaskell. Shirley is published, and causes a storm in and around Hayworth. Eventually, Charlotte marries the curate who proposed to her a year earlier, after her father has come around on the idea of her being married (she's now well over thirty). Allegedly this is a very happy time, although modern readers are probably a little shocked at the idea that she is so happy with her domestic duties she stops writing. Then again, she dies after only nine months of marriage, so who knows what would have happened.
One of the bigger criticisms of this book is that Gaskell hid certain facts about Charlotte's time in Brussels, namely her passionate attachment to her landlord and teacher, a married man, whom she wrote several very telling letters. Gaskell had seen these letters and elected to not include these telling passages, instead blaming Branwell's descent for Charlotte's return to England, and religious differences for Charlotte not getting along with the man's wife. Honestly, I think Gaskell made the right call given that she was writing a biography of a friend at a time when both her husband and the man in question were still alive and contributing materials. Certainly now, when academics write biographies, it wouldn't do, but Charlotte's own father asked Gaskell to write this. How could you look a nearly eighty-year-old man in the face who watched every single one of his children die and tell him, hey, your daughter wanted to bone some Belgian dude. Also, Gaskell and Bronte both championed the idea of women being judged on their writing, not their gender, and that story would not help. I agree that current biographies, and current editions of this biography, should definitely include this aspect, but for the time? Definitely the right call. Plus, Charlotte's husband was pretty leery of publishing her letters anyway.
The letters are why this is a three star rating and not four stars, btw - they make up most of the book and it can get pretty hard to read because there's so little substance and so much letter. It's nice to see how much Charlotte corresponded with her friends I guess, and primary documents are better, but they are heavily edited (especially the gossipy bits, which is a shame - you have to rely on the modern annotation to know who is being talked about or it's just endlessly confusing). Also, with these letters, Gaskell leans pretty hard into sanctifying all the Bronte children and talking about how good and lovely they were (except Branwell, but he was led astray by an evil woman), even Emily, who appears to have been pretty aloof at times.
The hardest part about reading this is how depressing it is. It's kind of an endless parade of illness and sadness; someone is always sick or dying. Also, all the Bronte sisters suffered from some things I guess brought on by isolation? Today, we'd probably call it social anxiety, or just anxiety, but it's heartbreaking and also very relatable to hear Charlotte say she'd rather suffer any pain than go into the kitchen and ask for help because she's too shy.
In terms of content: Bronte had five siblings; her mother died young. The children were raised somewhat eccentrically by their clergyman father, the boy, Branwell, being educated entirely at home, and the girls being sent to boarding school. This boarding school, at least in Gaskell's portrayal, is a one-to-one equivalent for Lowood in Jane Eyre; it is terrible. The section where Gaskell describes the way food is prepared will leave you feeling sick. Two of Bronte's sisters die. She and Emily return home for a few years, and then she attends another, thankfully much better boarding school. Here, she meets friends for life, and later goes on to be a teacher at the same school. She, Emily and Anne dream of opening their own school in their father's house so they don't have to leave home; all three work as teachers and governesses. This dream doesn't really seem to be one of passion, it's more because they are all terribly sickly and don't do well away from home. None of them particularly enjoys teaching, but it seems the only way for women of their status to make a living. Emily and Charlotte go to Brussels to learn French so that they can teach it.
After their aunt's death and a return to England, Charlotte returns to Europe alone, and is seemingly desperately lonely. Her insomnia starts here. She returns to England when her brother starts his descent into alcoholism and opium addiction (allegedly, according to Gaskell, as a result of an ill-fated and well-publicized affair with a married woman). All the Bronte siblings are now at home (except I think Anne who is once again a governess). At this point, Charlotte is almost thirty and laments that she has achieved nothing in her life. Emily, Anne and Charlotte set about publishing a volume of poetry under pseudonyms, which doesn't do terribly well, but they persevere. Anne and Emily's novels Agnes Grey and Wuthering Heights are accepted for publication; Charlotte's The Professor is not until she produces Jane Eyre, which is an immediate sensation.
With the release of all three books, speculation that the authors are all one and the same emerges, which Charlotte and Anne put paid to by traveling to London and proving their identities. Branwell dies, shortly thereafter followed by Emily (who legit refuses to admit she's even sick). Anne only lasts a few months longer. Charlotte is devastated, but continues to write, and somewhat at her father's urging, becomes more involved in literary circles and begins corresponding and visiting with various authors of the time, including Elizabeth Gaskell. Shirley is published, and causes a storm in and around Hayworth. Eventually, Charlotte marries the curate who proposed to her a year earlier, after her father has come around on the idea of her being married (she's now well over thirty). Allegedly this is a very happy time, although modern readers are probably a little shocked at the idea that she is so happy with her domestic duties she stops writing. Then again, she dies after only nine months of marriage, so who knows what would have happened.
One of the bigger criticisms of this book is that Gaskell hid certain facts about Charlotte's time in Brussels, namely her passionate attachment to her landlord and teacher, a married man, whom she wrote several very telling letters. Gaskell had seen these letters and elected to not include these telling passages, instead blaming Branwell's descent for Charlotte's return to England, and religious differences for Charlotte not getting along with the man's wife. Honestly, I think Gaskell made the right call given that she was writing a biography of a friend at a time when both her husband and the man in question were still alive and contributing materials. Certainly now, when academics write biographies, it wouldn't do, but Charlotte's own father asked Gaskell to write this. How could you look a nearly eighty-year-old man in the face who watched every single one of his children die and tell him, hey, your daughter wanted to bone some Belgian dude. Also, Gaskell and Bronte both championed the idea of women being judged on their writing, not their gender, and that story would not help. I agree that current biographies, and current editions of this biography, should definitely include this aspect, but for the time? Definitely the right call. Plus, Charlotte's husband was pretty leery of publishing her letters anyway.
The letters are why this is a three star rating and not four stars, btw - they make up most of the book and it can get pretty hard to read because there's so little substance and so much letter. It's nice to see how much Charlotte corresponded with her friends I guess, and primary documents are better, but they are heavily edited (especially the gossipy bits, which is a shame - you have to rely on the modern annotation to know who is being talked about or it's just endlessly confusing). Also, with these letters, Gaskell leans pretty hard into sanctifying all the Bronte children and talking about how good and lovely they were (except Branwell, but he was led astray by an evil woman), even Emily, who appears to have been pretty aloof at times.
The hardest part about reading this is how depressing it is. It's kind of an endless parade of illness and sadness; someone is always sick or dying. Also, all the Bronte sisters suffered from some things I guess brought on by isolation? Today, we'd probably call it social anxiety, or just anxiety, but it's heartbreaking and also very relatable to hear Charlotte say she'd rather suffer any pain than go into the kitchen and ask for help because she's too shy.