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thatscarletflycatcher · 8 months

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Why do you think the epilogue of "Jane Eyre" gives so little attention to Jane's becoming a mother? Just once sentence that doesn't even touch on Jane's feelings about it, only that Rochester regained enough of his sight to be able to see his firstborn son. Why should such an enormous, life-changing aspect of her married years be so deemphasized?

Hi!

If you ask me, I think the very simple answer is that Charlotte Brontë didn't like children. Even Adele herself in the novel is very little more than a plot device to have Jane at Thornfield (this is one of the reasons why the 1996 heavy focus on childhood and the consequences of unhappy childhoods, ending with Jane and Rochester adopting Adele and raising her as their own is both a strong departure from the text but also an interesting commentary on it).

I feel like Elizabeth Gaskell explains it in a way that makes sense in her The Life of Charlotte Brontë:

"...teaching seemed to her at this time, as it does to most women at all times, the only way of earning an independent livelihood. But neither she nor her sisters were naturally fond of children. The hieroglyphics of childhood were an unknown language to them, for they had never been much with those younger than themselves. I am inclined to think, too, that they had not the happy knack of imparting information, which seems to be a separate gift from the faculty of acquiring it; a kind of sympathetic tact, which instinctively perceives the difficulties that impede comprehension in a child’s mind, and that yet are too vague and unformed for it, with its half-developed powers of expression, to explain by words. Consequently, teaching very young children was anything but a “delightful task” to the three Brontë sisters. With older girls, verging on womanhood, they might have done better, especially if these had any desire for improvement. But the education which the village clergyman’s daughters had received, did not as yet qualify them to undertake the charge of advanced pupils."

"No doubt, all who enter upon the career of a governess have to relinquish much; no doubt, it must ever be a life of sacrifice; but to Charlotte Brontë it was a perpetual attempt to force all her faculties into a direction for which the whole of her previous life had unfitted them. Moreover, the little Brontës had been brought up motherless; and from knowing nothing of the gaiety and the sportiveness of childhood—from never having experienced caresses or fond attentions themselves—they were ignorant of the very nature of infancy, or how to call out its engaging qualities. Children were to them the troublesome necessities of humanity; they had never been drawn into contact with them in any other way. Years afterwards, when Miss Brontë came to stay with us, she watched our little girls perpetually; and I could not persuade her that they were only average specimens of well brought up children. She was surprised and touched by any sign of thoughtfulness for others, of kindness to animals, or of unselfishness on their part: and constantly maintained that she was in the right, and I in the wrong, when we differed on the point of their unusual excellence."

From a letter from Charlotte to Gaskell:

"Whenever I see Florence and Julia [two of Gaskell's daughters] again, I shall feel like a fond but bashful suitor, who views at a distance the fair personage to whom, in his clownish awe, he dare not risk a near approach. Such is the clearest idea I can give you of my feeling towards children I like, but to whom I am a stranger;—and to what children am I not a stranger? They seem to me little wonders; their talk, their ways are all matter of half-admiring, half-puzzled speculation."

I wonder how her feelings would or wouldn't have changed, had she survived her pregnancy and gotten a child of her own with the husband she loved.

#ask #princesssarisa #Charlotte Brontë #Jane Eyre #Elizabeth Gaskell #The Life of Charlotte Brontë

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talesfromthebookhag · 9 months

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I finished this gem of a biography today. This won’t be for everyone, as it is rather heavy on the descriptions in typical Victorian fashion.

But if you can appreciate that kind of writing and want to learn more about Charlotte Brontë, I can definitely recommend this!

One of the most interesting aspects of the biography is the fact that Elizabeth Gaskell knew Charlotte Brontë, had visited with her several times and corresponded with her in the latter portion of Charlotte’s life. I feel like it’s quite rare for biographers to actually know the person they’re writing about.

I also liked that Gaskell used a lot of Charlotte’s letters in the biography. That really gave quite a good impression of the kind of person Charlotte was.

#charlotte brontë #elizabeth gaskell #the life of charlotte brontë #biography #bookblr #books and reading #bookworm #kindle #bibliophile #book aesthetic #booklr #literature #book review #talesfromthebookhag

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literatureismyentirepersonality · 11 months

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Was anyone going to tell me that I'm from an area historically super impressed with Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan regime or was I just supposed to find that out in Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë?

#so weird having 'the character' of your own county explained to you #but in Victorian stereotyping language #charlotte brontë #elizabeth gaskell #the life of charlotte brontë

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thoughtkick · 6 months

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Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

Charlotte Brontë

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burningvelvet · 6 months

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"Jane, I want a wife. I want a wife, not a nursemaid to look after me. I want a wife to share my bed every night. All day if we wish. If I can't have that, I'd rather die. We're not the platonic sort, Jane."

"Then hear this, Edward. Your life is not yours to give up. It is mine. All mine. And I forbid it."

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stay-close · 4 months

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I loved him very much - more than I could trust myself to say - more than words had power to express.

Charlotte Brontë

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dabiconcordia · 16 days

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Life

Life, believe, is not a dream So dark as sages say; Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day. Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, But these are transient all; If the shower will make the roses bloom, Oh why lament its fall? Rapidly, merrily Life's sunny hours flit by, Gratefully, cheerily, Enjoy them as they fly! by Charlotte Brontë

#charlotte brontë #life lessons #dulcisdomus.tumblr #ignacio garcía leñero #via pinterest.com

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thehopefulquotes · 4 months

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Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

Charlotte Brontë

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resqectable · 5 months

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I loved him very much - more than I could trust myself to say - more than words had power to express.

Charlotte Brontë

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philosophors · 6 months

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“Love is real—the most real, the most lasting, the sweetest and yet the bitterest thing we know.”

— Charlotte Brontë, “Shirley”

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surqrised · 5 months

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I loved him very much - more than I could trust myself to say - more than words had power to express.

Charlotte Brontë

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perfectquote · 5 months

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Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

Charlotte Brontë

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talesfromthebookhag · 9 months

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I’m already well over 80 pages into this one and it’s honestly great. There’s definitely some differences with how modern biographies are written, such as the amount of detail Gaskell provides us with regarding where Charlotte grew up, what the area was like and what kinds of people lived there. But I feel like that only adds to the charm of the book.

It’s also interesting to read a biography of someone, written by one of their friends. That doesn’t happen too often I think, and it makes for a very different reading experience, because you already know that the author knew this person.

#elizabeth gaskell #the life of charlotte brontë #charlotte brontë #biography #classic literature #literature #kindle #books and reading #books and cats #bookworm #bookblr #book aesthetic #talesfromthebookhag

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must4rds33d · 4 months

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villette by charlotte brontë:

#villette #lucy snowe: FUCK MY STUPID BAKA LIFE #charlotte brontë #hefty read and the french was FRENCHING (thank goodness my copy has translations)#it was SILLAYYYY:3 at times but mostly dreary . and i hate that lucy’s emotions were mirroring mine as of the moment #m. paul is of mixed race!!! and yet what did u do charlotte…#“you were born under my star” brb jumping off a ledge #villetteposting #classic lit memes #english lit memes

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thoughtkick · 8 months

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I loved him very much - more than I could trust myself to say - more than words had power to express.

Charlotte Brontë

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burningvelvet · 7 months

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when will i finally get a job where i can fall in love with my weird employer who’s twice my age and hang out with his ex-mistress's hyperactive french child all day while his wife sneaks into my room at night and threatens all of our lives???

#dream life #jane eyre #again #charlotte brontë #literature #english literature

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