~~Is Charlotte Bronte ~ Lucy Snowe or Jane Eyre~~

 Why I admire Charlotte Bronte

and her Characters

Lucy Snowe and Jane Eyre

Why are Charlotte Bronte’s books “Jane Eyre” and “Villette” my favorite books and why Charlotte my favorite Author.

Like most people – “I saw the movie before I read the book.”  I know a lot of things can be lost, changed drastically and or completely omitted when you screen a movie that is a book.  Sometimes you can hardly recognize the movie as coming from the same book!

Reading the books
For me as a legally bind person, it was very difficult to read the print version because of the size of the print.  Most books are published in a print size is too small for me.  For those of you who know print sizing, and font sizing – most standard books are usually in size 11 font or smaller.

I need the print size to begin at least a 18 to 20.  That leaves out 99% of the printed books.  [It is difficult to write pages as well, but I use equipment to help enlarge the screen.]

Audio Books
I started to listen to audio books more than 20 years ago  [Yikes – almost 30!].  In the last 3 years I have read or listened to more books than I have ever read in my entire life.  That is because I got the new Digital Talking book player from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped [NLS.] 

The Digital talking book player, the downloads and cartridges are all FREE. Your Doctor or caregiver can vouch for you as person who is print disabled or some other disability [like not able to hold books]  that keeps you from reading standard print.  The website has the form and the prerequisites.

Pre-digital audio books
Before the digital book player was invented and released in 2008, the NLS had 4 track audio cassette player.  Before cassettes were invented they had plastic floppy ’33 1/3 records’ and before that they had real records.  I came in at the beginning of the cassettes stage and the floppy records in 1985.

The digital age
I am so glad for the new digital talking book player.   I just download books from the NLS website and add them to a USB special flash drive or thumb drive.  You can see what the Digital Talking Book looks like in the link above.

Having the player I can now go back and read all my favorite books and the classics that I have missed!

Additionally I can copy and paste the free print books* from online and have them read to me with an audio program I got for free called NVDA – Non Visual Desktop Access reader.  You can download it for FREE from this website: NVDA                                                       *see below for Bronte’s free books

Jane Eyre, Lucy Snowe and Charlotte Bronte
I read “Jane Eyre” and “Villette” three years ago and I immediately fell in love with the books!

I had screened most of the Jane Eyre movies at one time or another over the years.  I researched information about Charlotte Bronte and her life and family from online.  She became my new hero author.

New research
I have found quite a lot about this subject and so this page has all the unique things that you may not know about Charlotte Bronte and or her books besides Jane Eyre.  I have included every link I could find that I felt was appropriate for this subject.

After each section I will write why I admire Charlotte greatly.  This is part one of three.  Part two will be about Jane Eyre and part three will be about Lucy Snowe from the Book “Villette.”

books photo credit

The Bronte home where Charlotte was born

The Bronte home in Thornton

“The above photograph appears by courtesy of http://www.bronte-country.com and may not be used elsewhere without the express permission of the copyright owner.”

The Bronte home where all the Bronte Children were born is on Market Street, in the village of Thornton on the outskirts of Bradford. The town is in West Yorkshire, England.  They all lived here until in 1820 they moved to Haworth in the Parsonage.

Photo credit of map of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England

The closest Thornton and Bradford is near Haworth at the very bottom of the map.  The largest city in the area near Thornton is Keighley.
I admire Charlotte Bronte who used the area she lived in as a background for some of her books and poems.  This first hand experience brings a true perspective to her books.

The East Lancashire Pennines and Pennie moors near her home were the background for her sister Emily’s book “Wuthering Heights” and Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre.”

Elizabeth and Charlotte started their friendship as adults in 1850. Two years after Charlotte’s death Patrick Bronte, Charlotte’s father, asked Elizabeth to write a biography of Charlotte and their friendship. The book includes many letters that Charlotte has written.

 
I admire Charlotte and her friendship with Elizabeth who was a contemporary author.  Elizabeth valued Charlotte’s literary opinion and sent her several of her draft transcripts.

You may be familiar with Elizabeth Gaskell’s book “Cranford” and “Return to Cranford” with Judi Dench. This was a mini-series on Television.  Get your FREE e-text  here.

I admire Charlotte who was able to endure her life with out her Mother and the deaths of her four sisters and brother.  Charlotte was age 5 and 1/2 when her Mother passed away from cancer on 15 September 1821.  A lot of people have never heard of her other two sisters, Maria and Elizabeth Bronte.

Her four sisters and a brother were then raised at the Parsonage by their Aunt Elizabeth Branwell, their Mother Maria’s sister.   Sadness followed with deaths of her sister Maria born 1814 and Elizabeth born 1815.   They both died of tuberculosis in their youth.

They both contracted tuberculosis at the boarding school.

The sadness continued with the deaths of three family members within eight months.  First in September 1848, Branwell passed away.  Second, Emily died of tuberculosis in December 1848.  Third, Anne died of the same disease as Emily in May 1849.

Photo credit for The Parsonage
The Parsonage was built in 1779 in Haworth.   The town of Haworth is on the edge of the Pennine Moors, West Yorkshire and East Lancashire Pennines Hills in the North of England.

The Bronte family moved into the home/Parsonage in 1820 and remained until Charlotte’s Father – Patrick Bronte – died in 1861.  Charlotte’s husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls, moved into the Parsonage when Charlotte died to be a caregiver for Patrick who was blind by then.

 

Sampler of cross stitching by Charlotte

As you can see Charlotte was six years old when she completed this cross stitching. It was a common thing of the day to cross stitch the Alphabet in upper and lower case letters as well as a quote.

I admire Charlotte with her work on this sampler – I could not do this stitching at age 6.  Her sisters Anne and Emily each made a similar sampler.  I made my first sampler just 5 years ago.
This cross stitching and her sisters are at the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

Currer,  Acton and Ellis Bell

The Bronte sisters each had a “noms de plume.” Charlotte was Currer Bell,  Anne was Acton Bell and Emily was Ellis Bell.  They were told by their publisher that it wasn’t proper to publish books written by women at that time.

Charlotte included a note with her manuscripts that they needed to contact her, Charlotte Bronte as the author – Currer Bell.  Early reviewers listed Currer Bell as a woman.

Why they choose the names Currer, Acton and Ellis rather than something like Arthur and Edward?

“Bell” was the middle name of Haworth’s curate after Charlotte’s Father, named Arthur Bell Nicholls.   Charlotte met Nicholls about the time she was writing Jane Eyre so that is why she used his middle name of Bell which was Arthur’s mother’s maiden name before his mother married William Nicholls.

I could not find why Charlotte choose Currer, Emily choose Ellis or why Anne choose Acton other than they were masculine names at the time.  If I find it or someone knows, let me know and I will credit you with the answer.

The Complete works of The Bronte Sisters

Here is The Complete works of The Bronte Sisters which can be purchased here.

This book is a digital copy with illustrations and photos. It is 10317 KB and the print length is 4618 pages.

This edition includes the works of the three Bronte sisters, Anne, Emily and Charlotte. Additionally it has some of their father Patrick Bronte’s sermons and their brother Bramwell’s poems.

All for the low price of about USD $3.00!!!   Photo credit is here.

Tiny poem photo and article credit

A tiny poem written by Charlotte Bronte when she was a 13 years old was sold for more than $140,000, as reported by The Guardian newspaper from England. The name of the poem is “I’ve Been Wandering in the Greenwood’s.”

The tiny poem is handwritten on a piece of paper just three inches square. One needs a magnifying glass to read it.

I really admire Charlotte because she could write so tiny. There are other tiny books they have found that she has written [see below]. I am not quite sure why she wrote so tiny but when I find out I will add it to this page.

Tiny Book and article credit 

November 23, 2011 Sotheby’s sold a manuscript produced by Charlotte written when she was 14 years old. The value is about $475,000. The tiny book has 4,000 words penned in tiny script on 19 pages. Each page is about half the size of an average credit card.

Again, I admire Charlotte for making these pages of such tiny pieces of paper and then writing on them with probably a feather quill dipped in ink. I am wondering if paper was very expensive and or their father was stern about some things as a teacher and a Reverend, may have felt it was an indulgence.

I will explore this and add it when I find the answer! Inquiring minds want to know!

Charlotte’s   FREE   EBooks to download

 Photo credit Jane Eyre

Click on the name of the book for link to download books for free.

1. Jane Eyre  All books, including the three listed below here, are $0.00 includes FREE wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet  and are Text-to-Speech enabled.

2. Shirley                       3. Villette                               4. The Professor

Charlotte’s Marriage

Charlotte finally consented to marry Arthur Bell Nichols on 29 June 1854 after he proposed in 1853 and again in January 1854. They had a honeymoon in Ireland.  Charlotte became pregnant soon after marriage says Elizabeth Gaskell.

Wedding Re-enactment

On 29 June 2004 Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth had a 150th anniversary.  Not too much on this link, but there are a lot of photos fine actors portraying Charlotte and Arthur Bell Nicholls and others in the original wedding party of 29 June 1854.

Charlotte’s death

Charlotte’s health rapidly deteriorated with nausea and feeling faint. She had frequent migraine headaches in her life and other illnesses.  Charlotte and her unborn child died 31 March 1855.   Charlotte was only 38 years old.  Her death certificate lists cause of death as Phthisis pulmonalis.**

**Phthisis pulmonalis = Pulmonary tuberculosis or a similar progressive systemic disease. Synonyms are consumption or tuberculosis.

Many biographers [whom I have not found their names] suggest she may have died from excessive vomiting from severe morning sickness or “Hyperemesis Gravidarum.”   Dutchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, who has given birth to Duke of Cambridge William’s baby George, suffered this in her early pregnancy.

Some suggest that Charlotte died from Typhus which she may have caught from Tabitha Ackroyd, her household’s servant, who died shortly before Charlotte died.

Charlotte was laid to rest in the family vault in the Church of St Michael and All Angels in the town of Haworth.

DVD’s of The Bronte Sisters books

and Movies about the Brontes

The Bronte Collection consisting of the DVD “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights” – DVD can be purchased here.   Photo credit  here.

Photo credit: here

The Brontes of Haworth

This 2 disk DVD of some 260 minutes follows the lives of the Bronte Family. An intimate portrait in which we get to know each of the family members.   This DVD can be purchased here.

 

 photo credit here.

“Wuthering Heights” 1939 DVD can be purchased here.

 

How well do you know Jane Eyre?

 This is a Fun quiz link.

Here is a teaser about Jane Eyre before you read my page about Jane!

I only missed two questions!

This online magazine, Stylist had a story recently about Jane Eyre. It included this quiz. Great photos as well!

 

Coming soon – a page about Jane Eyre with links to all of the movies, photos, posters and books. Page by Laceroseayla

Photo credit for featured photo top of page