Sabrina Herceg

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS IN THE VICTORIAN NOVEL:

A READING OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S THE PROFESSOR

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the B.A. in English

Language and Literature and Art History at the University of Rijeka

Supervisor:

Sintija Čuljat, Ph.D.

September 2010
 ABSTRACT

This paper examines in what amount personal experience, social norms and gender

relations influenced the author of the Victorian novel. Consisting of three sections, the thesis

begins with a general introduction on historical background and Victorian period. The second

section accounts for Charlotte Brontë‟s life and work and the circumstances responsible for her

writing career. The remaining two sections focus on the novel itself and the autobiographical

elements embedded in it; and the interchange of those elements between male and female

protagonists.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT...................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................4

VICTORIAN PERIOD.................................................................................6

CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S THE PROFESSOR.........................................6

THE AUTHOR AND HER WORK......................................................7

THE PROFESSOR................................................................................10

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................19

BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................................22
INTRODUCTION

The great social and political upheavals of the second half of the nineteenth century

thoroughly changed the way people perceive themselves and the world around them. In order to

express this change, writers subtly embedded their life into novels, and they cleverly

incorporated the criticism of the society and politics.

The theme of this paper is to show how much Charlotte Brontë's life influenced her

writing and in particular, novel The Professor and I shall try and explore how much did her life

influence her writing, and try and find out more about her life from her writing. This theme has

been chosen because my university education acquainted me with Charlotte Brontë's work in the

class Literature of Victorian age, under the guidance of professor Sintija Čuljat, Ph.D. Since

Charlotte Brontë lived in the Victorian period it is very interesting to explore into the social and

gender relations in the society, furthemore her writing can provide us with first hand insight into

women's minds, and finally how her writing had an influence on feminist changes that were a stir

in that period.

The questions I shall try answering are: how much did Charlotte Brontë's personal life

influence her writing, how did she struggle with social norms and prejudices in the Victorian

age, and did her writing influence feminist movement. However, trying to answer these questions

one has to concider the social climate of that era and that the conclusion depends on subjective

interpretation, it is my opinion that sources cited here are just an inspiration to read her works

and to take into consideration the motifs behind her novel The Professor.

I will start with a brief delineation of the political and social climate of the second

half of the nineteenth century, and giving a brief overview of the consequences it had. I am going
to exemplify how Charlotte Brontë use subtle allusions to criticise the norms and mistreat of

women; gender and class discrimination.

I hope this thesis will help illuminate one of the key aspects of Victorian period novels,

and its preoccupation with the problem of discrimination and chauvinism, and how much

inspiration authors found in their own lives.

 VICTORIAN PERIOD

The Victorian Period revolves around the political career of Queen Victoria. She was

crowned in 1837 and died in 1901. A great deal of change took place during this period--brought

about because of the Industrial Revolution; so it's not surprising that the literature of the period is

often concerned with social reform.

Duality is present in the literature from this period. On one hand there is the concerns

for the individual, the exploitation and corruption both at home and abroad, and national

success.Against the backdrop of technological, political, and socioeconomic change, the

Victorian Period was bound to be a volatile time, even without the added complications of the

religious and institutional challenges brought by Charles Darwin and other thinkers, writers, and

doers.

Victorian period is marked in history as prudent one. The Industrial revolution changed

the perspective of the modern man. Man was still the one who provided for his family, but that

varied throughout the different classes. Women, as well as children had to work in order to

survive. Most of them were contracted in hard physical labour, and life expectancy was short.

However, women from middle class, and upper- middle class and high- class did not had to work

if they got married. In her work Charlotte Brontë is considered with the middle- class women

who are teachers or governess. Being a governess, entire life was not the happiest prospect, since

that meant constant moving from one household to another, never being able to acquire

stableness in their life. Women were condemned to wonder forever in life and die alone if they

did not marry, and if they marry then they did nothing and again could not be the ones who

equally contribute to the household. Victorian period derived women of every right and they did

not have any means of expressing themselves, because women were considered inept. The
clearest example is Charlotte Brontë herself, and her sisters Emily and Anne, who published their

books under male pseudonyms in order to be just considered as serious authors.

The second half of the nineteenth century was cruel and limiting for women, but the

reactions to this form of oppression was feminism and suffragettes movements that resulted in

giving the voice back to women, and ending discrimination, which is still and ongoing battle.

CHARLOTTE BRONTË’S THE PROFESSOR

The author and her work

Charlotte Brontë was born in 1816. Her father was Reverend Patrick Brontë and her

mother was Maria Bronte. Her brother Patrick Branwell was born in 1817 and her sisters Emily

and Anne in 1818 and 1820. Also in 1820 the Brontë family moved to Haworth. Charlotte

Brontë‟s mother died in 1821.

Charlotte Brontë was home schooled, as well as her sisters and her brother. The three sisters and

their brother were the only company to each other and they conceived in great detail the

imaginary world called Angria. Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Brontë became authors despite (or

perhaps because of) the strange life — outwardly empty, inwardly rich — which they led as

children: Charlotte herself, looking back on the years at Haworth, wrote of their feeling of being

"buried with inferior minds." The Brontë children were all avid readers, and since they were

isolated children, plagued often by illness, death, and desolation, they frequently retreated into a

world of literary fantasy, spawned by the works of Sir Walter Scott, as well as other romantic

authors of the time. Spurred by their vivid imaginations, the children invented role-playing

games, at times with the aid of wooden toys, other times in provisional costumes. While many
children of the time spent their leisure in such pursuits, it was the manner in which the girls

specifically played that provides insight into the strength of their spirit.

After some time spent at home, her family decided that it would be best to send her to

school, and in 1831 Charlotte became a student at Roe Head. After just one year of education she

left school and went back home so that she can teach her sisters.1

Charlotte, Anne and Emily after various jobs decided to open a school. In order to

prepare for that Charlotte and Emily went to Brussels to finish their education. Emily returned

home in 1834, but Charlotte remained there for another year, and finally went home in 1844.

After completing her studies Charlotte returned home and the sisters were ready to open

their own school. Unfortunately, their endeavor proved to be useless, since they did not receive a

single application for the school. Soon after that, Charlotte found Emily‟s poems. They decided

to publish the works of all the sisters and coined the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

The same year, 1846, Charlotte wrote The Professor but the novel was rejected by several

publishers. However, a year after their poems were published Charlotte‟s novel Jane Eyre,

Emily‟s novel Wuthering heights and Anne‟s novel Agnes Grey were published under their

pseudonyms.

Charlotte and Anne in 1848 visited London and met with their publishers, revealing

their true identities. That same year their bohemian brother Patrick Branwell died from alcohol

and drugs. Shortly after him, Emily died and Ann died one year after Emily. Charlotte continued

1
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio1.html
to move in London‟s literary circles and met some of the most prominent authors such as

William Makepeace Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell.

Charlotte got proposed to in 1852 by Reverend A.B. Nicholls, curate of Haworth, but

sadly her father objected to the matrimony and so Charlotte refused his offer. The second novel

she wrote Villette was published in 1853.2 Soon after as Charlotte‟s father was growing old, he

stopped objecting the marriage between Charlotte and Reverend Nicholls, and not long after that

they became engaged. Soon after they were married Charlotte became pregnant, but

unfortunately she caught pneumonia. Although the illness could have been cured she did not

receive any treatment, and according to some sources she may seized the opportunity and ended

her life intentionally. Her first novel The Professor was published a year after her death in 1857,

the same year Elizabeth Gaskell published Charlotte Bronte‟s biography.

2
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio1.html
 THE PROFESSOR

“Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Brontë became authors despite (or perhaps because of) the strange

life — outwardly empty, inwardly rich — which they led as children: Charlotte herself, looking

back on the years at Haworth, wrote of their feeling of being "buried with inferior minds."3

Her great novels are concerned with condemned, zealous, perceptive, lonely, passionate

heroines who are versions of herself. Charlotte's life was spent in grief, in a struggle against the

grim realities which surrounded her: abandonment, brutalization, emotional deprivation, death.

During her life she was forced to confront the traumatic loss of her mother, her four sisters, and

her brother and the search for reality and for her own identity.

Charlotte Brontë was a woman ahead of her time. Her thoughts and opinions on woman

and their position in society greatly differed from reality of that time. In Victorian era women

were considered as adornments and nothing more than bearers of children. In her writing she

subtly contradicts society‟s rules, and they represent the voices of oppressed women not just in

England but throughout entire world. Charlotte Brontë must not be labelled as a feminist, but she

is a proto-feminist, she is the one who together with other women writers such as Mary Shelley,

George Sand, and Elizabeth Gaskell, built the foundation on which later on women‟s rights

movements and suffragette would continue to build.

A woman who revealed an independent spirit was rare, if non-existence during Charlotte

Brontë‟s time. Such feelings were typically concealed beneath a stoic exterior, suppressing the

3
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio1.html
creative, emotional, and spiritual self. Such suppression had dangerous consequences an

unhappy, unfulfilled life. Charlotte Brontë wrote that imagination was a restless faculty which

needed to be heard and exercised. "Are we to be quite deaf to her cry and insensate to her

struggles?".4

Her novel The Professor was the first she ever wrote. Charlotte‟s motivation to write it

was taken from her own life. She wrote the novel on her stay in Brussels, where she went to

acquire education in order to be able and open a school together with her sisters. Furthermore, it

is interesting that she chose for her main protagonist a male character. Maybe she chose it

because she hoped it would be more appealing to the publishers and wider audience if her

character was a young man. Despite that, her novel was rejected by the publishers claiming it

was too short.

Imaginative dramas that the girls portrayed legendry figures, figures of strength throughout

history: Bonaparte, Caesar, Hannibal, and the Duke of Wellington. Such were no ordinary games

of make believe, but elaborate, well-written dramas. It was the archetypical male hero who

interested the girls, not weak or impressionable females. Even female historical figures that

appeared strong, such as Cleopatra, did not interested Charlotte, for Cleopatra used her sexuality

to attain greatness, instead of achieving it on her own. Charlotte rejected the use of sexuality to

attract men in any form, and criticized women who resorted to this female characteristic as

lacking self-respect, a fate she deemed worse than death.5

4
http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/EG-Charlotte-2.html , Chapter II

5
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/genderov.html
 In the preface of the novel she stated that this was not her first attempt at writing, and

that before this novel she did not publish anything. Her wish was to write a novel that is short

and that it still consists of drama, suspense and thrill. She also wrote that her protagonist is

someone who had to work for his successes, someone who had to fight for his existence.

Throughout her life she also had to work for herself, and fight her way to success, and those

qualities she had also given to William Crimsworth. Charlotte made him the main character just

because he had the freedom to succeed on his own. As a man he had more opportunities given to

him, whereas Frances Evans who was in the same situation was not given the opportunity to

achieve prosperity. Eventually she had to marry William Crimsworth, because without him she

could not go to England and get a job as a teacher. In The Professor we have two almost the

same stories from two characters whose only difference is their gender. At the beginning when

William finishes Eton, although his mother‟s family denounces him, he does not despair because

he is sure he will be able to get a job which he does at his brother‟s mill. On the other hand

Frances Evans is woman, her parents have died, same as William‟s, her only living relative is her

old aunt. His only living relative is his estranged brother. Soon her aunt dies, and Frances gets

fired from her job as a teacher of lace mending. William cannot put up with his brothers cruelty

and resigns his post at the mill. They both are jobless at one point in the novel, but the difference

is that Frances cannot find a job, since she has no skill but lace mending, and she was not given

the opportunity to learn any other more useful skill that would give her prospect in her future.

Whereas, William is not so distressed by the notion of not having a job, and indeed to him a new

job is offered in a matter of days.

On his arrival to Belgium, William Crimsworth was not impressed by what he saw, and he was

instantly homesick. Charlotte Brontë poured her own impression of Belgium and Brussels into
this novel. The cultural shock she experienced made an impact so great that she wrote about it in

this novel.

“Belgium! name unromantic and unpoetic, yet name that whenever uttered has in my ear a

sound, in my heart an echo, such as no other assemblage of syllables, however sweet or classic,

can produce. Belgium!”6

Problems she encountered there are all described in the book. Starting with the general

disliking if the scenery, her discontent only grew more and more. Her thoughts and opinions she

expressed through the character of William Crimsworth. He finds it difficult to adjust to the

customs of the local people. We have to bear in mind that William comes from Anglican

surroundings, which defined his education, thought and behaviour. On the other hand local

population is Catholic and therefore they practice different customs and behaviour. Catholics are

lavish, flaunty and loud, while Protestants are more subtle, quiet and very private. Customs of

local people are confusing and sometimes Crimsworth finds them primitive and disgusting. His

stiff character does not allow him to try and understand the differences, but he considers only

English customs worthy and justified. His rigidness comes from a simple fact that he is not

happy in Brussels and that he never wanted to go there but was obliged to go in order to get a job

and provide for him.

The language poses another problem. Although William Crimsworth speaks French,

since not practicing it he has a problem with understanding French- speaking people. The novel

is embedded with French sentences that to a reader can cause problems if he does not speak

French, but that was probably Charlotte Brontë‟s idea, to more vividly show how lost in

translation was William upon his arrival to Brussels. The duality of the novel is illustrated by

6
Charlotte Brontë: The Professor, 1995, Penguin books, p. 53
bilingualism of its main characters. Whereas, Frances Evans is French native speaker and

William is English native speaker. By this their characters are representing the two sides of the

book. The side that deals with the obvious; a young man fresh from Eton, and it is now upon him

to get out of his misfortunes by his own means, fighting the cruel world in order to find his place

there. And on the other hand we are dealing with a subtle message of discrimination of women,

since women are not given the same right in life. Frances is a woman who is after the death of

her aunt left without any means. She is desperate, trying to find a job, but she cannot for there are

no suitable jobs for a middle class woman. Frances does not have even the money to get to

England and try and find a job there as a governess or a French teacher. Again she is in the same

situation as William, only he was given the opportunity and means to go to Belgium and teach

English, whereas Frances does not have one simply because she is a woman.

After a brief courtship, Frances and William marry. From the novel it is clear that he

was in love with her, but her feelings are not so straight forward. Frances is very private person,

and in the novel the author does not give us insight into her inner thoughts. On the basis of the

life of Charlotte Brontë, I draw a conclusion that she very possibly did not love William, but

realised that she would not be able to prosper and provide for herself without him. She needed

him to travel to England and become a teacher. Even if he did not love him it is certain from the

novel that she felt a deep appreciation and respect for him. Some sources claim that Charlotte

Brontë did not truly love her husband, but she felt a great respect for him, and having that in

mind we can interpret this as an element that she took from her life.

Frances is described as ordinary, poor and alone, with no prospect for marriage, and

advancement in life. Furthermore, Francis is described as having ordinary features; her physical

features do not make her stand out, for she represents every woman who is stranded in social
norms of that time. Although, Brontë is not a typical feminist, under layers of her writing she is

advocating, for that age, radical ideas, of women independence, and equality.

“Well, monsieur, I wished merely to say, that I should like, of course, to retain my employment

of teaching. You will still, I suppose, monsieur?‟

„Oh, yes! It is all OI have to depend on.‟

„Bon!- I mean good. Thus we shall have both the same professions, I like that; and my efforts to

get on will be as unrestrained as yours- will they not, monsieur?‟

You are laying plans to be independent of me,‟ said I.

„Yes, monsieur; I must be no incumbrance to you- no burden in any way.”7

Unlike Charlotte‟s real life the relationship between Frances Evans and William is

fulfilled and they marry and move back to England. Despite her unhappy life, in her novels

Charlotte Brontë wrote the love story as a fairytale. The ordinary woman, with no prospects, falls

in love with a man, and in the end they marry. Charlotte herself, married a man she did not really

love, but she respected him, and considered him to be a good man. Although she did not achieve

love in her life, to every heroin in her novels and also in The Professor she gave her a happy

ending.

The profession of governess and teacher were limited to women who were poor but proper. She

believed that a governess had no existence, and was not considered a living or rational being

except in connection with the tedious duties she was forced to perform. Marriage was always a

viable solution, yet Charlotte Brontë would only marry a man she respected, no matter his status

7
Charlotte Brontë: The Professor, 1995, Penguin books, p. 215
or fortune. She resigned to live in the role society placed upon her, yet no one, not even a

stringent society, could hamper her burgeoning emotions. It was through her words that

Charlotte Brontë created a woman of free thought, intellect, and strong moral character; the same

traits Charlotte herself possessed.8

“And that is your lace-mender?‟ said he; „and you reckon you have done a fine magnanimous

thing in offering to marry her? You a scion of Seacombe, have proved your disdain of social

distinctions by taking up with an ouvriére! And I pitied the fellow, thinking his feelings had

misled him, and that he had hurt himself by contracting a low match!” 9

Charlotte Brontë withdrew from a society that would not entirely accept her, and

expressed her muffled ideals through her words. Brontës suppressed spirit that gave way to her

literary fantasies. She often likens herself to others in her oppressed situation. The society‟s

norms of the ugly daughter or poor spinster, she equated to slaves imprisoned by circumstances

beyond their control.

The desire both William and Frances have about opening a school is what brings them

closer together. They both wanted to go back to England and open a school of their own; they

unfortunately lacked the funding for that dream of theirs. Charlotte and her sisters Emily and

Anne also wanted to open a school, but they could not find pupils who would attend it, so their

project failed. Luckily for the protagonists of The Professor, William and Frances, they managed

8
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio1.html

9
Charlotte Brontë: The Professor, 1995, Penguin books, p. 232
to get help from William‟s old acquaintance Mr. Hudson. Mr. Hudson is the man who helped

William leave England and he was the one who also helped him get a job in Bruxelles. He and

William established a partnership, and Mr. Hudson lend them money to open a school, in which

both William and Frances thought.

Frances Evans lost both of her parents very early in her life. Her mother died when she

was very young. Furthermore, after the death of Frances‟ mother, her aunt came to live with her

and her father. This situation Charlotte Brontë also took from her own life. Charlotte‟s mother

died when Charlotte was very young, and after her death, aunt came to live with the Bronte

family and to raise Charlotte, Anne and Emily.

„Maman est morte, il y a dix ans.‟

„And you do homage to her memory by forgetting her language? Have the goodness to put

French out of your mind so long as I converse with you- keep to English.‟ (...)

„You live with your father I suppose?‟

„My father is dead.‟

„You have brothers and sisters?‟

„Not one.‟

„Do you live alone?‟

„No- I have an aunt- ma tante Julienne.”10

10
Charlotte Brontë: The Professor, 1995, Penguin books, p. 133
 Her fictions, with their strongly romantic emphasis on the Gothic and the supernatural,

with their intense sexuality their implicit satire, and their emphasis on the sustaining power of the

inner life of the imagination, are autobiographical, at least in a psychological sense. Charlotte

Brontë used her life as an inspiration for her novels. Her first novel The Professor is dedicated to

her experience as a student in Bruxelles. Her life served her as a spring of ideas for her novels.

Her writing is layered with multiple themes such as women rights, society and relationships

between people, and their interaction. Charlotte Brontë withdrew into the world she created. It

was through her writing that she was allowed to breathe life into her suppressed self and dreams.

She spoke of the evils of the condition of women, deep-rooted within the structure of the social

system. Charlotte Brontë urged women not to linger on such problems; though the literary world

must be grateful she did not heed her own advice. It was through her discontent that the

characters of Jane Eyre and Lucy Snowe were born. She believed that a good woman, like any

decent man, could not live without self-respect. She believed passion a temporary emotion that

could easily give way to disgust, or worse, indifference.11 However, Charlotte‟s characters are

not weak. They are women who know what they want, and they want independence and equality

with men. Heroines are never victims, they are aware of their position in life and possibly

frustrated because of their helplessness in the society solely due to the fact that they are women.

The male character is not the saviour, but a man who is not afraid to stand up against society

rules, and who accepts the woman for her real worth, her mind. The male character in her work

accepts the woman because of her qualities such as hard work, sharp and witty mind, and reality.

11
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/lowes1.html
 CONCLUSION

Charlotte Brontë wrote her works during the reign of Queen Victoria. In that age in

England is characterised by social inhibition of lust, emotions and sexuality. It is an age of moral

values and traditions that propagates the Queen herself. Women who did not respect the rules

were outcasts and taken out of the social life. She wrote to express her frustrations and pettiness

of her life. Brontë transferred some experiences from her life, and give it a life of its own. .

Furthermore, she writes her characters giving them modern qualities. Although Brontë

was not explicitly feminist her work has a silver threading thought of women independence,

although it is not expressed in a direct manner. The feminist messages Charlotte Brontë writes in

her novel The Professor are subtle, but in my opinion feminism was not the first thing that

Brontë had in mind while writing her book. She wanted to express the injustice inflicted on her

by the society because it gave her no chance to take care of herself. She was completely helpless

in dealing with people, and not given the chance to live her life, and of course by the mere fact

that her chances for success were close to noting simply because she is a woman.

In the art and literature of the Victorian period women are idealised and therefore they

are sheltered from the outside world and in particular the real world. Women are thought to be

beings from supernatural realm, and the women sole purpose is to provide safe haven from the

cruel reality. Charlotte breaks form that tradition and her heroines are dealing with the world,

and trying to make the best of it. He character from The Professor is working for herself, and she

is content with the fact she is earning for her living. The only thing that frustrates her the lack of
any skill, since she is a women she could not acquire any practical skills except for lace

mending, and she is frustrated by that fact since there are no physical reason for her not to learn.

Her career as an author starts while she was very young. Together with her sisters Ann and

Emily she excersised her imaginaton while they were still children. Her education as a writer

continued by reading articles, newspapers and different books, this sharpened her mind and

shaped her view of the world. Her opinion on women rights also shaped then, and thanks to her

wit and intelligence she managed to full editors, prominent literary circles into thinking that she

is indeed a man. Their argument was that no one can sunk into mans mind and be so harsh on the

female sex but a man. When she and her sisters revealed their real identity they caused a

sensation in London, and amongst the readers.

Charlotte‟s life served her as an inspiration to writing. She spent a year in Bruxelles, fell in

love with her teacher, and planned to open a school. Charlotte as her character Frances Evans

lost her mother, and father and lived with her aunt. She described the character of Frances as a

woman who is plain, nothing stands out on her, and she is modest, hard working and intelligent.

She is better than the other girls whose main goal in life to get married and life for the rest of the

life without a care in the world. She wants to make her own way in the world and does not want

to be a burden to anyone, not even her future husband.

Charlotte wrote of the dignity and self respect a woman must have, in th eparts of the books

where Willima Crimsworth is describing his class at the womens school where he thought

English. Brontë does not glorify her female character nor does she glorify the male character.

She changes them profundly and shapes them on her own opinion on how women and men

should be. During the Victorian period women were idealised and glorified deprived of every
self-awarness, Charlotte Brontë did exactly the oposite and brought the women down from the

pedistal upon which the artistic society placed her.

Charlotte Brontë andf her sisters transformed the viewpoint of man as well as women. The

real women overcame the idealised picture that man ruled society bestoved upon them. To

achieve this women did not use their sensuality or sexuality but by using their willpower,

intelligence and strenght of their own sex .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abrams, M.H. (ed.) 1993. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 6th edition, Vol II. New

York; London: WW. Norton and Company

Brontë, C.1995 The Professor, London, Penguin popular classics

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio1.html Accessed on 24th September

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/lowes1.html Accessed on 24th September

http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/EG-Charlotte-2.html Accessed on 24th September

http://www.online-literature.com/brontec/ Accessed on 24th September

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_bronte_charlotte.htm Accessed on 24th

September