Charlotte Nicholls (21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855), often called Charlotte Brontë, was an English writer and poet. She was the oldest sister of Emily, Anne, and Branwell Brontë. She is most famous for her novel Jane Eyre, which she first published using the name Currer Bell. Jane Eyre was very successful when it was released and is now considered a classic in English literature.

Charlotte was the third of six children born to Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë. Maria died when Charlotte was five years old. Three years later, Charlotte and her sisters Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily were sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. Conditions at the school were very poor, and diseases spread often. Two of Charlotte’s older sisters became sick and died there. Charlotte believed her poor health later in life was caused by her time at Cowan Bridge. She later used this experience as the basis for the school in Jane Eyre called Lowood.

In 1831, Charlotte studied at Roe Head School in Mirfield. She left the next year to teach her sisters, Emily and Anne, at home. In 1835, she returned to Roe Head as a teacher. In 1839, she worked as a governess for a local family but left after a few months. In 1842, Charlotte went to the Heger Pensionnat, a girls’ school in Brussels, as a student and later as a teacher. She hoped to learn skills to start her own school. However, she had to leave because she fell in love with the school’s director, Constantin Heger, a married man. He inspired the character of Rochester in Jane Eyre and Charlotte’s first novel, The Professor.

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne tried to open a school in Haworth but could not attract students. In 1846, the sisters published a book of poems using the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Charlotte’s first novel, The Professor, was not accepted by publishers. However, her second novel, Jane Eyre, was published in 1847 and received both praise and controversy. The sisters’ real names were discovered in 1848, and by 1849, Charlotte was known in London’s literary circles. In 1854, Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, who was her father’s assistant. She became pregnant soon after their wedding in June 1854 but died on 31 March 1855. Her death may have been caused by tuberculosis, though some evidence suggests it could have been hyperemesis gravidarum, a serious pregnancy complication.

Early years and education

Charlotte Brontë was born on April 21, 1816, as the third of six children. Her mother, Maria Branwell, came from a wealthy family in Cornwall, and her father, Patrick Brontë (born Brunty), was an Anglican curate. Patrick was born into a poor Irish family and showed a strong interest in learning. He studied Latin and Greek with a local clergyman and later attended St. John's College, Cambridge. Maria Branwell had a more prosperous background, and her letters to Patrick are the main source of information about her life. The couple married at St. Oswald's Church in Guiseley in December 1812. In 1815, Patrick moved to Thornton, a village near Bradford in Yorkshire, where Charlotte and her siblings were born.

In 1820, Patrick and Maria moved with their six children—Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne—to Haworth, a village near the Yorkshire moors. Patrick was offered a job as the perpetual curate of St. Michael and All Angels Church. His salary was small, but the position included a parsonage with a view of the churchyard and moors. As an Irish immigrant, Patrick faced challenges in being accepted in Haworth, and his children, who initially spoke with an Irish accent, also felt like outsiders. Living conditions in Haworth were poor, with limited access to clean water and high rates of illness. A 1850 report by Benjamin Babbage described these conditions as harmful to health. Historians believe these factors may have contributed to the deaths of Charlotte and her siblings.

In 1821, Maria Branwell became seriously ill, possibly with cancer. She died on September 15, 1821, after a long illness, leaving her children in the care of her sister, Elizabeth Branwell. Charlotte was five years old at the time, and her mother’s death deeply affected her. In 1850, Charlotte wrote to a friend about the lasting impact of this loss.

In August 1824, Patrick sent Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Emily to the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. The girls were ten, nine, eight, and five years old, and had not received formal education before. Charlotte’s school report noted that she wrote "indifferently" and knew little about grammar, geography, or history. Conditions at the school were harsh, with poor food, unsanitary conditions, and frequent disease outbreaks. In 1825, after a typhus outbreak, Charlotte’s two older sisters became seriously ill and died at home. Charlotte later said the school affected her health and growth, as she was small and had poor eyesight. After the deaths, Patrick removed Charlotte and Emily from the school and arranged for them to be taught at home. Charlotte was deeply affected by her sisters’ deaths and later used Cowan Bridge as the model for Lowood School in her novel Jane Eyre. The school’s headmaster, Reverend William Carus Wilson, was portrayed by Charlotte as Mr. Brocklehurst, which led Wilson to threaten legal action.

At home in Haworth Parsonage, nine-year-old Charlotte cared for her younger siblings under the supervision of her aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. Patrick encouraged his children to read widely, learn about politics, and enjoy music and art. He introduced them to works by Lord Byron and allowed them to read newspapers and magazines. Although girls could not access the village library, Branwell shared his books with his sisters. Favorite books included Paradise Lost by John Milton, Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, and Doctrine of the Passions by Isaac Watts. Charlotte also read her mother’s copies of The Lady’s Magazine, which she later described as deeply meaningful, though Patrick later burned them because they contained romantic stories.

The siblings often played imaginative games together. In 1827, Branwell received a gift of twelve wooden soldiers, which inspired a fantasy role-playing game called the "Young Men" or "The Twelves." This game became central to the children’s lives.

In 1826, ten-year-old Charlotte wrote:

The world of their games began as islands near a fictional West Africa, each with a capital called Glass Town. Over time, this became the Glass Town Confederacy. Charlotte and Branwell created stories, books, and magazines to accompany the Young Men’s adventures. While Charlotte and Branwell were the main creators, their younger siblings also contributed. Charlotte began writing poetry at thirteen, and many of these poems appeared in a homemade magazine called Branwell’s Blackwood’s Magazine, linked to the Glass Town Confederacy. Charlotte privately called Glass Town her "world below," a place where she could explore different lives and identities. Her stories often focused on romantic settings and high society, while Branwell’s work reflected interests in battles and politics. From 1831, Emily and Anne left the Glass Town project to create a fictional land called Gondal, while Charlotte and Branwell expanded Glass Town into a larger world called Angria. Christine Alexander, a historian of Brontë’s early writings, noted:

The stories created by the siblings exist as partial manuscripts, some of which have been published. The siblings continued to write about their imaginary lands throughout their childhood and adolescence, and this interest lasted into adulthood. In 1833, Charlotte wrote several novellas, including The Green Dwarf, under the name Wellesley, one of her Angrian heroes. From about 1833, her stories shifted from supernatural themes to more realistic subjects.

In 1831, at fifteen, Charlotte was sent to Roe Head, a boarding school in Mirfield (now part of Hollybank Special School). There, she became friends with Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor, two girls of her own age. Both women remembered Charlotte’s old-fashioned clothing and Irish accent, as well as her poor eyesight, which made it hard for her to join in activities like ball games or learn to play music. However, her friends also noted her love for drawing and poetry.

Farewell to Angria

In 1832, Charlotte left Roe Head to teach her sisters at home in Haworth. In 1835, she returned to Roe Head as a teacher and stayed there until 1838. While teaching, Charlotte felt lonely and unhappy. She found comfort in writing poetry. Many of her poems were set in an imaginary world called Angria, which often included characters inspired by the famous poet Lord Byron. Later, one of her former students described seeing Miss Brontë writing at her desk with small letters and her eyes closed. Her writing from this time showed her dislike for her students, who she called "clumsy," and her longing to escape into her fantasy world. In December 1836, just before her twenty-first birthday, Charlotte wrote to Robert Southey, the Poet Laureate, asking for support in her dream of becoming a poet and expressing her hope to be remembered for her work. Southey responded to her letter.

Charlotte briefly wrote to Southey, thanking him for his advice but clearly stating her plan to continue writing.

In 1839, Charlotte received a marriage proposal from Henry Nussey, the brother of her school friend Ellen Nussey. Charlotte refused, writing to Ellen:

To Henry, she wrote:

By the end of 1839, Charlotte wrote a manuscript called Farewell to Angria, in which she explored her growing reliance on her imaginary world. Feeling worried about her mental health and fearing she was losing touch with reality, she decided to stop using Angria. In this document, she described the sadness of leaving her "friends" in the fantasy world and facing the unknown.

Between 1839 and 1841, Charlotte searched for work as a governess for several families. In 1839, she joined the Sidgwick family at Stone Gappe to teach their son, John Benson Sidgwick. Charlotte was unhappy in this job, believing her employers treated her like a servant and often embarrassed her. She described John as a difficult child who once threw a stone at her. This event may have inspired the part in Jane Eyre where John Reed throws a book at Jane. The Sidgwick family confirmed this story but also said Charlotte was hard to work with, as she often took offense easily and stayed in bed for long periods, leaving the pregnant Mrs. Sidgwick to care for the children. Charlotte left Stone Gappe and later worked for the White family. While the Whites were satisfied with her teaching, Charlotte struggled with her low-status role in the household. She wrote to Ellen Nussey about her employers' "unrefined behavior."

Brussels

In 1842, Charlotte and Emily traveled to Brussels to attend Pensionnat Heger, a boarding school managed by Constantin Heger (1809–1896) and his wife, Claire. Both sisters were student teachers, with Charlotte teaching English and Emily later teaching music in exchange for room and board. They hoped to gain the language skills needed to start their own school. Charlotte respected Madame Heger and, though she felt lonely among other students, formed a close bond with Constantin Heger, who greatly influenced her writing.

In October 1842, the sisters returned to Haworth after the sudden death of their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. Charlotte was deeply saddened by this loss, which was made worse by the deaths of two friends from cholera: William Weightman, who had been Patrick Brontë’s assistant pastor, and Martha, the sister of Charlotte’s friend, Mary Taylor.

In January 1843, Charlotte returned to Brussels alone to begin a teaching job at the school. This was her first time traveling alone, and she found the experience frightening, which she later wrote about in her novel Villette. Despite wanting to return, Charlotte grew homesick and lonely. Her feelings toward Madame Heger changed from respect to dislike, and her admiration for Constantin Heger turned into a one-sided love and a strong desire for his approval. These emotions made it impossible for her to stay, so she returned to Haworth in January 1844. She later used her time in Brussels as inspiration for events in The Professor and Villette. Later, Constantin Heger tried to destroy letters Charlotte had sent him, expressing her feelings and hoping to hear from him. His wife saved the letters, but his own letters to Charlotte are missing.

After returning to Haworth, Charlotte and her sisters tried to open a boarding school at the Parsonage. They advertised it as "The Misses Brontë's Establishment for the Board and Education of a Limited Number of Young Ladies" and sought interest from potential students and funding sources. However, Charlotte was not excited about the project, and the school’s remote location made it hard to attract pupils. In October 1844, the plan was abandoned.

First publication

In May 1846, Charlotte persuaded her two sisters to pay for the publication of their poems. They used the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, which matched their initials: Charlotte became Currer Bell, Emily became Ellis, and Anne became Acton Bell. Charlotte later explained their choice to hide their true identities.

Only two copies of the book were sold. Charlotte, feeling sad about this, sent copies to several well-known writers, such as William Wordsworth, Alfred Tennyson, and Thomas De Quincey. While Emily and Anne kept writing poems, Charlotte stopped writing poems and instead worked on submitting a novel using her pen name.

Jane Eyre

In 1846, Charlotte Brontë sent her first novel, The Professor, to a London publisher named Henry Colburn. She also sent two other novels: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë. In a letter that came with the manuscripts, Charlotte described the three books as "three stories, each in a separate volume, and able to be published together or separately, as seems most suitable." She also told Colburn that the authors had already published their works elsewhere.

The Professor was not published, but the other two novels were accepted, though the terms of the agreement were not very favorable. In August 1847, Charlotte sent a second manuscript, Jane Eyre, to a different publisher, Smith, Elder & Co. The book was published soon after.

Jane Eyre tells the story of Jane, a young woman with plain looks. It describes her difficult childhood, her unhappy time at school, and her new job as a governess for a girl in a quiet mansion in Yorkshire. Jane falls in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester, who hides the fact that his first wife, a dangerous woman, is locked in the attic. The book mixes elements of Romanticism, naturalism, and gothic drama. It also introduced a new style by telling the story from the perspective of a woman. Charlotte believed that art was most powerful when based on real-life experiences, and in Jane Eyre, she turned her own life into a novel.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful and received good reviews at first. G. H. Lewes wrote that the book was "a voice from the depths of a struggling, suffering, and enduring spirit" and called it "suspiria de profundis!" (sighs from the depths). Later, when Wuthering Heights by Ellis Bell and Agnes Grey by Acton Bell were finally published, people began to guess who "Currer Bell" was. Some critics changed their opinions about Charlotte’s work, and some said the writing was "coarse." These criticisms were linked to growing suspicion that Currer Bell was a woman. However, sales of Jane Eyre kept increasing. Charlotte made the illustrations for the second edition of Jane Eyre herself. In the summer of 1834, two of her paintings were displayed at an art exhibition by the Royal Northern Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Leeds.

Shirley

In 1848, Charlotte started writing her third novel, Shirley. However, that year was difficult for her family, as all three of her remaining siblings died within eight months of each other. In September, Branwell died from several health problems made worse by his heavy drinking. Three months later, Emily died from tuberculosis. In May 1849, Anne also died from the same illness. After Emily and Anne’s deaths, a family servant named Martha Brown remembered how the sisters used to walk around the dining-room table in the Parsonage, discussing their writing. She expressed sadness at seeing Miss Brontë walking alone.

After Anne’s death, Charlotte continued writing to help cope with her grief. Shirley, which explores themes of industrial unrest and the roles of women in society, was published in October 1849. The novel was not as well received as Jane Eyre. A reviewer in The Times described it as "at once the most high-flown and the stalest of fictions." As her late sisters’ executor, Charlotte edited and wrote an introduction for Wuthering Heights to make it less shocking to readers. She also decided not to allow The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne’s second novel, to be republished, even though it had been successful the year before. This choice hurt Anne’s popularity as a writer and has been a topic of debate among the sisters’ biographers ever since.

In society

Although Emily and Anne did not want people to know their real names, Charlotte carefully told her publisher and friends that she was the author of Jane Eyre. This allowed Charlotte to visit London sometimes, where she began to meet people from more important social groups. She became friends with Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Martineau, whose sister Rachel had taught Gaskell’s daughters. Charlotte sent an early copy of Shirley to Martineau and visited her home in Ambleside. The two friends were interested in topics such as racial relations and the movement to end slavery, which often appeared in their writings. Charlotte also knew William Makepeace Thackeray and G. H. Lewes. Despite these connections, she rarely left Haworth for more than a few weeks at a time. She surprised people in London by not showing much social confidence. Thackeray’s daughter, Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, who was also a writer, remembered Charlotte visiting her father.

Villette

The last novel by Charlotte Brontë to be published during her lifetime was Villette, released in 1853. The story explores themes such as loneliness, how people cope with being alone, and the struggles caused by society's restrictions on personal wishes. The main character, Lucy Snowe, moves to a fictional town called Villette to work at a boarding school. There, she experiences a different culture and religion than her own and develops feelings for a man named Paul Emanuel, whom she cannot marry. Her challenges lead to a mental breakdown, but she eventually finds independence and happiness by opening her own school. Much of the book’s dialogue is written in French. Villette was Charlotte’s return to writing from the first-person perspective, a style she used earlier in Jane Eyre. Like Jane Eyre, the novel draws on Charlotte’s own life, especially her time at a school in Brussels. At the time of its release, critics praised Villette as a strong and complex work, though some criticized it for being too direct and for portraying Lucy’s desires in a way they considered not traditionally "feminine."

Marriage

Before the release of Villette, Charlotte Brontë received a marriage proposal from Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls, an Irishman from County Antrim, which was in Ulster, her father's home region. Nicholls had been educated in County Offaly and had previously worked as her father's assistant pastor. He had loved Charlotte for a long time. Charlotte first refused his proposal, and her father was against the marriage partly because Nicholls had limited money. Elizabeth Gaskell, who believed marriage offered clear responsibilities that could benefit women, encouraged Charlotte to think about the advantages of the union and tried to help improve Nicholls's financial situation.

By January 1854, Charlotte became more interested in Nicholls and accepted his proposal. Her father approved of the marriage by April, and they wed on June 29. Patrick Brontë had planned to give Charlotte away at the wedding, but he changed his mind at the last moment. Without her father's support, Charlotte traveled to the church alone. Instead, Miss Wooler, Charlotte's former teacher at Roe Head School and lifelong friend, gave her away during the ceremony. The newlyweds spent their honeymoon in Banagher, County Offaly, Ireland. Reports suggest their marriage was successful, and Charlotte experienced happiness in a way she had not before.

Death

Charlotte became pregnant shortly after her wedding, but her health got worse quickly. According to Gaskell, she often felt very sick and had repeated feelings of weakness. She died, along with her unborn child, on March 31, 1855, three weeks before her 39th birthday. Her death certificate lists the cause of death as phthisis, but some experts, like Claire Harman, believe she may have died from problems caused by severe morning sickness or hyperemesis gravidarum. She was buried in the family vault at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Haworth.

Charlotte's first novel, The Professor, was published after her death in 1857. A fragment of another novel she was writing near the end of her life has been completed twice by modern authors. The more well-known version is Emma Brown: A Novel from the Unfinished Manuscript by Charlotte Brontë by Clare Boylan, published in 2003. Most of her writings about the imaginary country of Angria have also been published since her death.

Personality and character

Charlotte Brontë's character is mainly known through private letters she wrote to her family, friends, and publisher, as well as through a biography written by Elizabeth Gaskell called The Life of Charlotte Brontë. Gaskell began writing this biography while Charlotte was still alive. In a letter, Gaskell described her first meeting with Charlotte.

Later, Gaskell portrayed Charlotte in a less harsh way but focused on her physical weakness. In a letter to her publisher, Charlotte complained that Gaskell often made her seem weak and helpless, writing: "She seems determined that I shall be a sort of invalid. Why may I not be well like other people?" Some people argue that Gaskell's writing shifted attention away from the Brontë sisters' challenging novels and instead focused on their personal lives, making them seem more holy.

Gaskell's biography was published in 1857. Even though it leaves out some details, it remains a key source of information about Charlotte and her family. It was important for a female novelist to write a biography about another person, and Gaskell focused more on private details of Charlotte's life rather than her achievements. She avoided mentioning parts of Charlotte's life that might have shown her writing was criticized as "coarse." The biography is honest in some places but skips details about Charlotte's love for Constantin Heger, which was considered too controversial for the time and might have upset Charlotte's father and others. Gaskell also included many stories about Charlotte's family, including her father, Patrick Brontë, though Patrick strongly disagreed with some of these stories.

Charlotte was the daughter of an Irish Anglican clergyman and was also an Anglican. In a letter to her publisher, she said she "love the Church of England." She did not think church leaders were perfect, but she respected the church itself. Despite this, she attended a Catholic church service in her final year in Brussels and took confession from a priest. She wrote about this in a letter to her sister Emily, asking her not to tell their father. This event later appeared in Charlotte's novel Villette.

Charlotte wrote more letters than any of her Brontë siblings, and these letters are the main source for her biographies. Most of her surviving letters were written to her old school friend Ellen Nussey, though letters to another friend, Mary Taylor, were destroyed. Charlotte often used letters to explore different identities, such as the name "Currer Bell." While her letters are personal and open, she also used them to hide parts of her true personality. A biographer named Lucasta Miller called her a "self-mythologiser," meaning she created stories about herself, including the image of a strong woman who writes about her own life and the image of a quiet, dutiful woman who lived according to Victorian rules. Neither image fully represents who she was.

About 350 of Charlotte's 500 letters to Ellen Nussey survive, but all of Ellen's letters to Charlotte were burned at the request of Charlotte's husband, Nicholls. After their marriage, Nicholls asked Charlotte to destroy Ellen's letters after reading them and censored some of Charlotte's letters to Ellen before they were sent. The letters that survived, kept by Ellen against Nicholls' wishes, provide much of what is known about Charlotte's daily life, feelings, and relationships. These letters are personal and have been interpreted by some as having romantic tones. In one letter, Charlotte wrote:

On July 29, 1913, The Times of London published four letters Charlotte wrote to Constantin Heger in French, with one postscript in English. These letters, written after Charlotte left Brussels in 1844, challenged the image of Charlotte as a holy, dutiful woman created by many biographers, including Gaskell. These letters, part of a one-sided exchange since Heger did not reply, suggest Charlotte had feelings for a married man. However, others believe the letters show her using drama in her writing or expressing gratitude as a former student. In January 1845, she wrote:

Charlotte later wrote many letters to her editor, George Smith. Historians note that these letters often had a flirtatious tone, leading some to believe Charlotte was in love with him. A letter she wrote to him after learning of his upcoming marriage to someone else has been seen as a sign of her sadness.

— Juliet Barker, The Brontës: A Life in Letters

Legacy

Many writers have said that Charlotte Brontë influenced their work. Kazuo Ishiguro, when asked who his favorite novelist is, said that Charlotte Brontë has recently become his favorite. He also said that his career and many other things in his life are because of her books Jane Eyre and Villette.

Daphne du Maurier's book Rebecca was strongly influenced by Jane Eyre. Jean Rhys wrote a story about the first wife of Mr. Rochester in her book Wide Sargasso Sea. Other books inspired by Charlotte Brontë's work include: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye; The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects by Deborah Lutz; The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell; and Reader, I Married Him, a collection of short stories edited by Tracy Chevalier.

The town of Bronte, Texas, is named after Charlotte Brontë. However, the town's name is pronounced "brahnt."

In 1980, a special plaque was placed at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, at the location of Madame Heger's school, to honor Charlotte and Emily Brontë.

Media portrayals

In the 1946 film Devotion, which is a made-up story about the Brontë sisters, Olivia de Havilland plays Charlotte. In the 1973 TV series The Brontës of Haworth, created by Christopher Fry, Vickery Turner plays Charlotte. In the 2016 BBC One TV film To Walk Invisible, Finn Atkins plays Charlotte. In the 2022 film Emily, which is about Emily Brontë, Alexandra Dowling plays Charlotte.

Works

• The Young Men's Magazine, Volumes 1 through 3 (August 1830)
• A Book of Rhymes (1829)
• The Spell
• The Secret
• Lily Hart
• The Foundling
• Albion and Marina
• Tales of the Islanders
• The Green Dwarf
• Tales of Angria (written 1838–1839 – a collection of childhood and young adult writings including five short novels): Mina Laury Stancliffe's Hotel, The Duke of Zamorna, Henry Hastings, Caroline Vernon, The Roe Head Journal, Fragments, Farewell to Angria

• Jane Eyre, published in 1847
• Shirley, published in 1849
• Villette, published in 1853
• The Professor, published posthumously in 1857
• Emma, unfinished; Brontë wrote only 20 pages of the manuscript, published posthumously in 1860. In recent decades, at least two continuations of this fragment have appeared: Emma, by "Charlotte Brontë and Another Lady," published 1980; although this has been attributed to Elizabeth Goudge, the actual author was Constance Savery. Emma Brown, by Clare Boylan, published 2003

• Bell, Currer; Bell, Ellis; Bell, Acton (1846). Poems.