Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816 at Thornton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Charlotte was the oldest daughter of six kids in the Bronte household. She helped raise her brother, Branwell, and her two sisters, Emily and Anne. As Charlotte and her sisters grew up they started to grow a very vivid and creative imagination. They would play in made up kingdoms and would write stories and poems based on their childhood adventures. These writings that she developed with her sisters were the start of her love and passion for writing. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte describes her life at home as she was working and raising her two sisters. Charlotte disliked her job and decided to leave in order to study French in Belgium. In Belgium, she met Constantin Heger who helped her by giving a strong literary background and develop her writing. She grew to a strong liking to him, but he was married so their relationship was ill-fated (Charlotte 1). After studying at Belgium and returning home, Charlotte discovered that her Emily and Anne also loved to write. Together they wrote their first book of poetry Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. The three girls used male author names so that they would be treated fairly and not be criticized for being women. Even then, their book only sold two copies and didn’t get great reviews. Charlotte kept writing and wrote The Professor and Jane Eyre. “Jane Eyre depicts the development, in Charlotte Bronte’s words, of a ‘heroine as plain and simple as myself’” (Felder 149). Jane Eyre was an autobiographical story that became Charlotte’s most popular novel. It received a great amount of attention and caused much controversy as well.
After writing Jane Eyre, Charlotte wrote two more books Shirley: A Tale and Villette with a male author name. Critics have reviewed her books and have had some different opinions. Some critics enjoyed and admired her books, while others hated and criticized them. However, most critics praise Charlotte Bronte