Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816. She grew up in Victorian England. Her two older sisters died young, thereby making Charlotte the oldest daughter. She and her sisters were inspired by the Romantic authors of her time such as Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, and Lord George Gordon Byron. She shared her creative ideas and young writers with her sisters who were also aspiring authors. She viewed her writing career as a means to attaining financial independence and to help support her siblings. After leaving Miss Woolder’s School in Roe Head, Mirfield, she returned home to help tutor her sisters. She later taught at the same school after finishing one of her first novels The Green Dwarf. She remained a teacher for three years and then resigned. She spent a brief amount of time as an governess but disliked it.
Her adult life was riddled with tragedy as she watched her siblings pass away. In June of 1854 she married a priest by the name of Arthur Nicholls. Their marriage was very short but was still one of the happiest times in her life. In 1855 on March 31, Charlotte Bronte passed away after an extended illness. She never had the chance to give birth to her first child.
Known for her gift to riddle a love story with tragedy and pain that was not commercial or predictable, Charlotte Bronte keeps her readers on edge with every tantalizing word and phrase. The readers find themselves captivated not only by the story but by the complex characters that come to life with every passing chapter.
The first novel by this author which I read and which caused me to fall in love with her other writings is Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte brought a new kind of heroine to the lovers of Romantic Literature. Jane Eyre is forever defiant and yet virtuous, morally courageous and still fiercely independent. Charlotte Bronte caused a sudden and lasting change in the style of fiction. She presented her readers with an unconventional woman to admire and relate to for her ability to overcome adversity.
Sources:
http://www.online-literature.com/brontec/