Emily Brontë

 NAME Emily Brontë

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Emily Brontë is famous for her novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature known for its intense emotion and complex characters

BIRTH Emily Brontë was born on July 30, 1818, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Emily Brontë's father, Patrick, an Irish clergyman with a touch of eccentricity, often carried a loaded pistol.  After their mother, Maria, succumbed to cancer in 1821 at the young age of 37, an unmarried aunt, a strict Calvinist Methodist, came to help raise the family. While the Brontë children appreciated her efforts, a true maternal bond never fully formed.

Emily was surrounded by sisters: Charlotte, the future author of Jane Eyre, and Anne, who wrote Agnes Grey. There was also a brother, Patrick  (always known simply as Branwell),  Unlike his sisters, Branwell struggled with addiction and frequented a local pub.  Tragically, Emily also had two other sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, who died of tuberculosis in 1825.  Her father outlived all his children.

CHILDHOOD Emily Brontë's childhood was marked by both love and loss. Emily's mother died when she was just three years old, and the children were raised by their father and their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. The Brontë siblings created elaborate imaginary worlds, which became the foundation of their literary works.

In 1826, a spark of joy arrived in the form of a box of wooden soldiers for Branwell. Emily and her sisters eagerly joined in, using them to create the fantastical kingdom of Angria.  As Emily grew older, her creative pursuits took a new turn.  At 13, she and Anne branched off from Angria, crafting a new saga centered on Gondal, a faraway island. This imaginary world would become the focus of her writing for years to come, filling countless miniature notebooks until 1845.

EDUCATION A harsh chapter unfolded in 1824 when Emily, along with her sisters Charlotte, Maria, and Elizabeth, were sent to the Clergy Daughters' School.  This institution, later immortalized by Charlotte as Lowood School in Jane Eyre, was a place of cruelty, poor hygiene, and meager food.  The conditions likely contributed to the deaths of Maria and Elizabeth from tuberculosis in 1825.  Thankfully, their father swiftly removed Emily and Charlotte from the school.  Their education continued at home, largely self-directed by Charlotte.

 
At the age of seventeen, Emily became a pupil at Miss Wooler's school at Roe Head, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, where Charlotte was a teacher, but managed to stay only three months before being overcome by extreme homesickness. She returned home and Anne took her place. At this time, the girls' objective was to obtain sufficient education to open a small school of their own

CAREER RECORD Emily took up various positions as governesses and teachers to earn money to pay for an art education for her brother Branwell. her CV reads thus:
1838-9 Emily became a teacher at Law Hill School in Halifax beginning in September 1838, when she was twenty. Her health broke under the stress of the 17-hour work day and she returned home in April 1839.
1839-42 A stay-at-home daughter, doing most of the cooking and cleaning and teaching Sunday school. She taught herself German out of books and practiced piano.
1842-43 Emily accompanied Charlotte to Brussels, Belgium, where they attended a girls' academy run by Constantin Heger. They planned to perfect their French and German in anticipation of f returning to Yorkshire to establish a school of their own.
1844 Using a small inheritance from her aunt Emily set up with Charlotte a school for girls in their home village of Haworth. Although they advertised they received no pupils, so the sisters turned to their poems and novels which they had been writing.
1846 It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by her family that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1846. 

1847 Emily's only novel, Wuthering Heights was published on December 4.

APPEARANCE Emily was tall and slender with a pale complexion, high cheekbones, and striking gray-blue eyes. Her features were often described as serious and thoughtful.

The only undisputed portrait of Brontë, from a group portrait by her brother Branwell, c. 1834

FASHION Emily dressed in the modest, practical attire typical of the Victorian era, often in simple, dark-colored gowns suitable for her quiet, rural life.  

CHARACTER Emily was a silent, reserved woman almost to the point of rudeness with strangers. In private she was somewhat wacky, preferring to live in her imaginary land of Gondal, and mystical to the extent that Charlotte had to tone down her image after she died. There's nowt as queer as folk.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Emily's sense of humor was subtle and often dark, reflected in the complex, sometimes grim humor found in Wuthering Heights.

RELATIONSHIPS The introverted Emily was very close to her siblings, particularly her sisters Charlotte and Anne. She had few close friends outside her family and preferred to keep to herself.

MONEY AND FAME Wuthering Heights initially received mixed reviews, and Emily did not live to see its eventual acclaim. She did not gain significant wealth from her writing during her lifetime.

FOOD AND DRINK Emily was known for her simple tastes in food, often preparing meals for her family herself. She enjoyed the plain, hearty fare typical of her Yorkshire upbringing.

When Emily Brontë wasn't lost in the worlds she created through writing, she, like her sisters, enjoyed the simple pleasure of berries.  The wild moors surrounding their home provided a bounty of blackberries, gooseberries, elderberries, and other seasonal delights.

MUSIC AND ARTS Emily had a talent for music and played the piano. She also enjoyed drawing and painting, although her literary work overshadowed these artistic pursuits.

LITERATURE Free from the constraints of formal schooling, Emily and her sisters delved into a rich literary world at home. They devoured the works of renowned authors like Byron and Scott, and even took inspiration to create their own magazines, modeled after Blackwood's Magazine.

In 1844, a period of introspection led Emily to revisit her poems, meticulously copying them into notebooks.  This private act of creation was unexpectedly disrupted in the fall of 1845 when Charlotte stumbled upon the notebooks.  Charlotte, recognizing the brilliance of Emily's work, insisted on publication.  Emily, fiercely protective of her privacy, initially resisted.  However, when Anne revealed her own collection of secret poems, Emily found a kindred spirit and ultimately relented.

The year 1846 saw the publication of a joint poetry collection titled Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, pen names adopted by the sisters.  Despite their literary efforts, initial sales were dismal, with only two copies finding buyers.  Undeterred, the Brontë sisters continued to write, each submitting a novel for publication the following year. Emily's brooding masterpiece, Wuthering Heights, was accepted alongside Anne's novel, Agnes Grey.

Emily Brontë's primary literary contribution is Wuthering Heights, a novel that explores themes of passion, revenge, and the supernatural. 

The ideas for Wuthering Heights evolved from Gondal, her fantasy world set on a Pacific island. Her classic, poetic story was about Heathcliffe's doomed, obsessional love for Cathy located on the Yorkshire moors that Emily knew so well. The Wuthering Heights building itself is said to be modelled on a local farm house.

The critics were initially shocked by the novel's immoral passion, unusual construction and violent nature. One referred to it as "brutal, coarse and vulgar”. The book subsequently became an English literary classic.

Emily also wrote poetry, which is noted for its emotional intensity and lyrical beauty.

NATURE Emily had a profound connection to nature, particularly the Yorkshire moors surrounding her home. The rugged landscape profoundly influenced her writing, serving as the atmospheric backdrop for Wuthering Heights.

PETS Emily had a a large mastiff dog called Keeper who was so beloved that she rose from her sickbed the evening before her death to feed him. When she died, Keeper followed her coffin and then according to Charlotte, came into the church with the family, “lying in the pew couched at [their] feet while the burial service was being read”

 
She also had a cat called Tiger who played at Emily’s feet while she wrote Wuthering Heights.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Emily enjoyed walking on the moors, a pastime that provided inspiration and solace. She also engaged in household activities and took care of the family pets.

SCIENCE AND MATHS Her works reflect a keen observational sense and a deep understanding of human nature.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Emily was a silent, reserved, emotionally bound up woman. In private she preferred to live in her imagined land of Gondal rather than the real world. The mystical writer was obsessed by death and her classic, poetical story, Wuthering Heights, about Heathcliffe’s doomed, obsessional love for Cathy shocked many critics with its immoral passion, unusual construction and violent nature.

Emily's works delve into complex philosophical and theological themes, questioning the nature of good and evil, the afterlife, and human existence. Her personal beliefs were private, but her writings suggest a deep, contemplative nature. 

SCANDAL Emily led a life largely free of scandal. Her reclusive nature and the use of a pseudonym helped her avoid the public eye and controversy.  

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Emily's health was delicate throughout her life. She suffered from respiratory issues and ultimately succumbed to tuberculosis .Throughout her last consumptive illness, Emily refused all drugs and medical attention despite being in extreme pain during its later stages.

HOMES Emily Brontë's life wasn't always defined by the wild beauty of the Yorkshire moors. Until 1820, she resided in a austere Georgian vicarage on Market Street in Thornton, West Yorkshire. In that year, the family moved to Haworth Rectory, located on Church Street in Haworth. This parsonage, where Emily and her sisters were raised in relative isolation,  is now the Brontë Parsonage Museum, a popular tourist destination attracting over 200,000 visitors annually. Interestingly, it was Charlotte's father who even conducted the first tours of the house in the 1850s!

Bronte parsonage By DeFacto - Own work, 

DEATH Emily's health, like her sisters', had been weakened by unsanitary conditions at home and at school. Having caught a cold during the funeral of her brother in September 1848, she grew very thin and ill, but rejected medical help and refused all proffered remedies, saying that she would have "no poisoning doctor" near her. She died on December 19. 1848 at about two in the afternoon. 

Emily Brontë's funeral took place on December 22, 1848, three days after her death. She was interred in the Brontë family vault at St. Michael and All Angels' Church in Haworth, Yorkshire.

The funeral service was conducted by Arthur Bell Nicholls. Patrick Brontë, Emily's father, acted as the chief mourner during the ceremony. A notable and poignant detail of the funeral was the presence of Emily's beloved dog, Keeper. The dog led the funeral procession, highlighting the strong bond Emily had shared with her canine companion. According to Ellen Nussey, a close friend of the Brontë family:

"Keeper was a solemn mourner at Emily's funeral and never recovered his cheerfulness."

The funeral took place during a somber time for the Brontë family. Emily's death came just three months after her brother Branwell's passing, and it was a period of profound grief for the surviving family members. The timing of the funeral, close to Christmas and the winter solstice, added to the melancholy atmosphere surrounding the even

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA 

1. Wuthering Heights The 1939 movie with with Larry Olivier as Heathcliffe and Merle Oberon as Cathy is by far the finest of several film versions of Emily's classic novel. "No matter what I ever do or say Heathcliffe, this is me-now-standing on this hill with you. This is me, forever," said Merle Oberon memorably. The second best version was probably the 1970 one with Timothy "007" Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall. The 1992 version with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche with remarkably Sinead O'Connor as Emily was a turkey! We mustn't forget Sir Cliff Richard's 1995 musical version and the Monty Python semaphore version.

 
2. Kate Bush's 1978 UK #1 Wuthering Heights was the single that introduced her to the public. (Incidentally Kate Bush shares the same birthday as Emily).

3. Devotion, a 1946 film about the Brontës where Branwell has an American accent and the Rev Nicholls a German/Austrian one.

ACHIEVEMENTS 

1. Wuthering Heights is the best selling Penguin Classic in the UK.

2. The success of the Brontës helped the equality for women cause. You could say Emily's tragic masterpiece was a great weep forward.

REFERENCES Wikipedia and my knowledge.