Charlotte Bronte and the 19th Century

Charlotte Bronte was born in Yorkshire, England on April 21,1816. Charlotte was a sibling of there sisters; Maria, Elizabeth and Emily. Her mother died in 1821, when Charlotte was 5, so the 4 children were raised by their father and mothers sister, a devout Methodist. The four sisters went to Cowan Bridge to get an education, when an outbreak of tuberculosis killed two sisters, Maria and Elizabeth. Charlotte and Emily were brought home, and after several year, Emily went back to school at Roe Head. Here, she became a teacher in 1835, soon after she decided to become a private governess. She was hired to tutor children of a wealthy family in 1839, but she soon left it as she was miserable there. She found work with another family, but was equally miserable. She hired her sister Emily to help her start a governess school for herself. As this failed, she and Emily decided to collaborate on a book of poems. Once this books of poems had little lime-light, they decided to write their own separate novels. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte became a critique of Victorian assumptions about gender and social class, and was named one of the most successful novels of its era, both critically and commercially.

Bronte, C, E (1920)

The 19th century was the collapse of many Empires such as the Spanish, French and Chinese. This allowed other Empires such as the British, United States, German and Russian to grow. 

In this era, slavery was greatly reduced, as the British Royal Navy introduced the UK Slavery Abolition Act, ending the global slave trade in 1834. 

At this time, a patriarchal society was still in play, and females had little or no say. When Jane Eyre was released in 1847, it stunned society as the novel had a female protagonist. It was rare, even unfounded to have a female playing the main role in a story, and to show her having so much independence was even more of a shock. This novel uncovered the hidden secrets of the 19th century and how children were brought up. Jane Eyre, in parts is a direct comparison to Charlotte Bronte's life and childhood.