How Charlotte Brontë's life shaped Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, best known for Jane Eyre, published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell after her first novel was rejected. What can we understand about how her life experiences were transformed into Jane Eyre? The lessons connect her experiences, education and imagination with the making of the novel.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 1 hr 10 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   Charlotte Brontë's life and the writing of Jane Eyre · Wikipedia · 40 min read

   Charlotte Brontë's life and the writing of Jane Eyre were shaped by Cowan Bridge: after an outbreak of typhus in 1825, her two elder sisters fell ill and subsequently died at home. Charlotte later used Cowan Bridge as the model for Lowood School in Jane Eyre, where poor conditions similarly exacerbated outbreaks of tuberculosis and typhus. Charlotte Brontë's imaginative plays often began with toys, including the twelve wooden soldiers Branwell received in 1827. Charlotte called Glass Town her "world below," a fantasy in which she could explore different lives and identities. Charlotte Brontë travelled with Emily to the Pensionnat Heger in 1842, where they taught in return for board and lodging. Charlotte later used her time in Brussels as inspiration for some events in The Professor and Villette, linking the experience to her writing.

2. Read
   

   Sorry, but Jane Eyre Isn't the Romance You Want It to Be - JSTOR Daily · JSTOR Daily · 17 min read

   By the time Jane Eyre was published, Charlotte Brontë was 31 years old and an expert in the strangling, diminishing kind of romance she bequeathed her heroine. Charlotte's life was not that of her heroine, and Jane Eyre is no autobiography.

3. Watch
   

   Reader, it's Jane Eyre - Crash Course Literature 207 · YouTube · 13 min watch

   John Green teaches about Charlotte Brontë's coming of age novel Jane Eyre, including its story, Jane as a feminist heroine, and critical analysis of how Bertha might just be a dark mirror that acts out Jane's emotional reactions.

4. Book
   

   Jane Eyre · Bookshop.org

   Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë tells of Jane's lonely, cruel childhood, the independence and spirit it strengthens, and her search for equality and freedom.

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