The source of these fantasies was, to a degree, beyond control, occurring in the region the twentieth century has termed “the unconscious” by writing them down from childhood on, Brontë learned to preserve and draw on relatively undisguised desires and ego conflicts in a way lost to most adults. Certain characters and situations that crystallized the emotional conflicts of early adolescence became necessary components of emotional satisfaction. Its literary forebears were the written corporate daydreams of her childhood and the Romantic poets she read during the period when the fantasies took shape. Brontë startled the Victorians because her work was so little influenced by the books of her own era. Tension and ambiguity grow from the intersections and conflicts among these levels of writing and, indeed, among the layers of the self.įew writers of English prose have so successfully communicated the emotional texture of inner life while still constructing fictions with enough verisimilitude to appear realistic.

The individualism and richness of Charlotte Brontë’s (21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) work arise from the multiple ways in which Brontë’s writing is personal: observation and introspection, rational analysis and spontaneous emotion, accurate mimesis and private symbolism.

Charlotte brontë novel