Brontes - any fans who can explain…

[Peverellshire]

1. Which was the most talented? Best book in your opinion?
2. Could most clergymen’s daughters write well? Did their isolation set them apart & focus imagination.
3. Was Branwell an alcoholic? And or mentally unwell? What was up? Did he have an affair with that woman of house or exaggerated? What was root of downfall?
4. Was Patrick Bronte, unusual, aspirational even? Thinking about emphasis on education & changing surname from more ordinary, Brunty. Why?
5. If the sisters had moved & lived away from home would they have ultimately led happier lives, been more content? I know one did but the lure of home too strong.
6. If their mother had lived would that have dramatically altered the course of their life?

Thanks!

@Justdontforgethelegofrog didn’t his father, or B himself, push art? & he wasn’t much good & this made him spiral?

@Justdontforgethelegofrog they also ate up every book they could find, even the dullest ref book seemed to be revered, but you’re right.

@Winterscomingagain what made Patrick settle for a life of poverty with a Cambridge degree? Probs not that simple & religious calling overrode? I hadn’t realised he’d clearly fought so hard for an education, wouldn’t ambition mean he’d strive for more?

I expect I'm being hopelessly naive on the literary front, but a lot of that subject matter is within the pages of the Bible (OT). And would the sisters have had access to ancient Greek plays by Sophocles and Euripides? They're dark around themes like defilement of the body.

Thanks, @Winterscomingagain for your answer. Very helpful. Interesting thread for a Sunday morning.

I remember the Blue Peter item! I was intrigued by their tiny little books and their noms de plume.

I’ve subsequently visited Haworth many times. It’s very interesting.

@MartyFunkhouser brill Blue Peter did these things, really good quality docs. I imagine if they’d had TV & social media this would never have happened. :) I loved their rich internal world that developed over time. Tried to read book on Kingdom & couldn’t get into it.

Which was the most talented? Best book in your opinion?

They were all brilliant writers in their way! Villette is my personal 😍 but everyone has their own fave.

• Could most clergymen’s daughters write well? Did their isolation set them apart & focus imagination.

Probably but the Brontes were in a unique situation - very high achieving dad who let them read/write what they liked, contact with a lot of equally amazing women - Mary Taylor etc. Its also kind of a myth that they were isolated. Haworth was a bustling town and Bradford etc not too far away. They went to lectures, concerts etc. Don't forget Emily and Charlotte also went to Brussels.

• Was Branwell an alcoholic? And or mentally unwell? What was up? Did he have an affair with that woman of house or exaggerated? What was root of downfall?

Hard to know but it does seem as if some kind of love affair affected him.badlu

• Was Patrick Bronte, unusual, aspirational even? Thinking about emphasis on education & changing surname from more ordinary, Brunty. Why?

I would say extremely! - the son of an Irish farmhand who got to Cambridge! It's supposedly unclear why he changed his name but they are some anti Irish, anti Catholic tendencies in some of Charlotte's work that she might have got from him.

• If the sisters had moved & lived away from home would they have ultimately led happier lives, been more content? I know one did but the lure of home too strong.

Probably considering how pestilential Haworth was!

• If their mother had lived would that have dramatically altered the course of their life?

It would be fascinating to know!

@lucysnowe2 Patrick was aspirational & clever, clearly. I wonder why he didn’t move on and up? Grieving wife & daughters? Thanks! Bronte was an affected change? That tells us something, could have gone for ordinary Brown or similar? Did he know Haworth not the healthiest place at time, too?

Interesting too they were out & about, moors make early life seem windswept & isolated.

Which was the most talented? Best book in your opinion?

Emily. However best books are by Anne.

Could most clergymen’s daughters write well? Did their isolation set them apart & focus imagination.

I would guess not. The Brontes are in a unique situation.

Was Branwell an alcoholic? And or mentally unwell? What was up? Did he have an affair with that woman of house or exaggerated? What was root of downfall?

I think he was an alcoholic and did have the affair. He was the golden boy of the family and this sadly set him up to fail.

Was Patrick Bronte, unusual, aspirational even? Thinking about emphasis on education & changing surname from more ordinary, Brunty. Why?

Very unusual and aspirational.

If the sisters had moved & lived away from home would they have ultimately led happier lives, been more content? I know one did but the lure of home too strong.

They do move away from home but they are limited by their sex and class - explored in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre and Vilette particularly. They don't have anough money to live independently but as genteel women pretty much all that is open to them is being a governess unless they manage to get married, which won't necessarily be happy.

If their mother had lived would that have dramatically altered the course of their life?

Who knows!

That movie was great.

Its also kind of a myth that they were isolated. Haworth was a bustling town and Bradford etc not too far away. They went to lectures, concerts etc. Don't forget Emily and Charlotte also went to Brussels

And Charlotte had friends whom she visited, and she met other people when staying at friends' homes, so developed quite a wide circle of acquaintances. And she went to London and met her publisher. I don't think they were necessarily more isolated than other families living rurally with limited money were at that time, when the railways were only just being built and travel was difficult and expensive.

People who knew Charlotte remarked that she spoke with an Irish accent, which she must have picked up from her father.

Apparently their father grew up in a house with 4 books, one of which was the bible.Its easy to see how why they really grasped on to any literature they'd access to.

He was self educated and became a teacher at a Presbyterian school when he was only in his teens. He seems to have been influenced and helped by many with evangelical leanings so perhaps they influenced him.
The small living provided by the Church of England would have seemed like great wealth in comparison to what he grew up with .He had been brought up in the Church of Ireland so would have had natural leanings towards the Anglican Church.

@Winterscomingagain interesting. Why did he send Maria & Elizabeth & Charlotte, away to school. High risk? Sickness & ££. No time to teach them, house too crowded? Opportunities?

OP I also find the Brontes fascinating - especially Patrick.

Someone on here recommended the book 'A Taste of Sorrow' - a fictionalised account of their lives which I found really interesting.

The Juliet Barker biography mentioned above is phenomenal in exploring their lives through a historical context.

I think Patrick wanted Branwell to be successful in something so that he would be able to support the family when he was gone. It is so tragic that he outlived all his children. Also ironic that the son-in-law that he did not want Charlotte to marry actually looked after him in his old age.

@LefkaOri I know some older ladies still stuck in this mindset NB: hats :)

See also - Little Women

Just finished reading a biography of Maria Bronte - very interesting. Will see if I can find the name of it.

I'm reading the juliet barker biography. It's pretty thorough and interesting if rather long. Worth a read of you're interested in all aspects of the brontes, their work and their lives.

I like Anne's novels best.

Also ironic that the son-in-law that he did not want Charlotte to marry actually looked after him in his old age.

I don't think Patrick had anything against Arthur Nicholls personally, he just didn't want Charlotte to marry anyone. I think it was Juliet Barker who suggested that it wasn't for selfish teasons, but that he feared she wouldn't survive pregnancy and childbirth. And he was right. Although he was probably thinking of how small and slight she was.

I have always been fascinated by the Brontë sisters, the elder ones were born in the same village as I was ( not Haworth, that came later!) . My favourite is Jayne Eyre, the book is superb and there have been several decent film adaptations. I always believed Patrick was an unusually modern man in terms of supporting his children and ensuring they had as many opportunities as was possible given the times!