The Brotës

Case by Ellen Turpin, uploaded by C. Golden

Edmund Dulac, "Bertha Attacking Rochester," Jane Eyre, Dent edition of Novels of the Brontës, 1905.

This is a depiction of a scene in Jane Eyre (1847) in which Jane and Rochester's wedding is interrupted by news that Rochester already has a wife, Bertha, that he has locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall. In this particular scene, Rochester has led Jane and Mr. Mason up to the attic to justify holding his wife hostage due to her "madness", saying, "I invite you all to come up to the house and…

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Edmund Dulac, "Bertha Attacking Rochester," Jane Eyre, Dent edition of Novels of the Brontës, 1905

This is a depiction of a scene in Jane Eyre in which Jane and Rochester's wedding is interrupted by news that Rochester already has a wife, Bertha, that he has locked in the attic of Thornfield. In this particular scene, Rochester has lea Jane and Mr. Mason up to the attic to justify holding his wife hostage due to her "madness", saying, "I invite you all to come up to the house and visit Ms. Poole's patient, and my wife! You shall see what…

If one were to Google the Brontë sisters, one of the first images to surface would be this portrait of the three novelist sisters—an oil on canvas painted by their brother, Patrick Branwell Brontë in 1834—entitled “The Brontë Sisters.” From left to right in the painting are Anne Brontë, known widely for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Emily Brontë, who wrote Wuthering Heights (1847), and Charlotte Brontë, famous for Jane Eyre (1847), amongst other works. This painting is the only surviving group portrait of the sisters. It was considered long lost until Mrs. M. A. Nicholls, the second…

Frederick Walker gives us a beautiful photograph representation of the relationship that Jane Eyre and Rochester experience in Charlotte Bronte’s novel. They were madly in love and were able to conquer the trouble that was caused by Rochester’s marriage to Bertha. This whole situation got me wondering how divorces worked in the Victorian Era as I wondered why Rochester did not legally divorce Bertha but still keep her safe. Divorce in the Victorian Era was a very different process than it is now and not many people were able to participate. For the longest time in Great Britain, a marriage…

Along with the Goddess Sulis, the famous Roman Baths are continuously evoked in The Flight of Gemma Hardy. This site continues to draw tourists from all over the world and, even today, is believed to promote healing with its special waters. Jane Austen, who lived in Bath and used the location as a primary setting in some of her novels, is often celebrated here with festivities in her honor (Charlotte Brontë is similarly memorialized in Yorkshire, where people are encouraged to walk in her footsteps and explore the land she loved). Charlotte Brontë mentions Bath in a letter to…

Physiognomy in Charlotte Brontë's time was likely similar to our own recent boom in the astrology field, though both are practices of divination tracing back to 500-200 B.C. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras was known to carefully select his students based on their physical attributes, which he believed was a surefire method of choosing the most gifted and skilled (just try to imagine this practice setting today's college entry standards!). As physiognomy evolved through the centuries, varying beliefs attached to this practice have entered the conversation; for example, one of the…

"The reason? Author Charlotte Bronte had visited in the 19th century, and based her most famous work, Jane Eyre, on both a legend of Norton Conyers and the house itself. In 1839 Charlotte learned of the story of a mad woman who was confined to an attic bedroom- this grisly myth inspired the character of Mrs Rochester, and the house became the fictional Thornfield Hall." 

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage/norton-conyers-the…