Knowing about the pioneers of feminism: The Brontë Sisters

Acting as a landmark in the history of English literature, these women had given a new face and a perspective to women in the 19^th century. And their masterpieces were not only milestones in the timeline of literature but they were also pioneers of a revolutionary concept for females across the world; feminism. Their portrayal of female characters in their novels was way too deviant from the social norms and expectations of the ‘ideal female’. Their projections of female characters were contemporary and new-fangled. Through just a plain quill, they did change the world and for the better.

The Brontë sisters were the part of a nineteenth-century literary family living in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, are, now, well known as poets and novelists. They were amongst several other radical female writers who originally published their poems and novels under male pennames: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, respectively. Their stories immediately attracted attention for their passion, progressiveness and ingenuity. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was the first to triumph, while Emily's Wuthering Heights, Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were later to be recognized as masterworks of literature. Living in a very conservative society, the Brontë family had to face several hardships, starting from poverty, illnesses and all sorts of deprivation.

Charlotte:

She was the eldest amongst the three Brontë sisters and third born amongst all the siblings. Due to the untimely death of her mother and elder siblings, she was a mother figure for her younger siblings. She first published her works under the pen name Currer Bell. Brontë's first manuscript, The Professor, did not acquire a publisher, although she did not lose hope because of an encouraging response from Smith, Elder & Co. of Cornhill, who expressed an interest in any lengthier works Currer Bell might wish to send to them. Brontë responded by finishing and sending a second manuscript. A few weeks later Jane Eyre was published. It tells the story of a plain governess, Jane, who, after difficulties and abuse in her early life, falls in love with her enigmatic employer, Mr Rochester. They marry, but only after Rochester's insane first wife, of whom Jane initially has no knowledge, dies in a dramatic house fire. The book follows an eventful and life of Jane, who is a simple but an idealistic woman, as she grows into a strong and independent women. The book's style was original, combining naturalism with gothic melodrama, and broke social norms because it evoked first-person female perspective. Brontë believed art was most substantial when based on personal experience; in Jane Eyre she transformed the experience into a novel with universal appeal.

Emily:

She was younger to Charlotte and elder to Anne. She was a homely and rather quiet individual. She was a very imaginative, peaceful and shy. She was greatly inspired by several fictional and fantastical books and spent most of her childhood time writing fictional stories. Yet, Emily Brontë remains a mysterious figure and a challenge to biographers because information about her is scant due to her reclusive nature.  She published her most famous book Wuthering Heights, whose ferocity and desire made the Victorian public and many early reviewers to believe that it had been written by a man. The vivid, wild and outrageous portrayal of the led characters baffled the conservative crowds. The fresh story grabbed a lot of attention from the critics, yet it got a mixed review for being extremely contemporary, raw and even immoral for it touched on topics such as infidelity, difference in caste, and mostly the fact that the lead female character was deviant from social expectations. Yet, the book subsequently became an English literary classic. Emily Brontë never knew the extent of fame she achieved with her only novel, as she died a year after its publishing, aged 30.

Anne:

Anne Brontë, like her aforementioned sisters was an English novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Her first published novel was Agnes Grey. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels, appeared in 1848. Like her poems, both her novels were first published under the masculine pen name of Acton Bell. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is perhaps amongst the most scandalous of contemporary Victorian novels. In seeking to present the truth in literature, Anne's depiction of alcoholism and dishonesty was severely troubling to 19th-century conservatives. Helen Graham, the protagonist, the tenant of the title, intrigues Gilbert Markham and gradually she reveals her past as an artist and wife of the self-indulgent Arthur Huntingdon. The book's antiquity and brilliance lies in its disclosure of the position of women at the time, and its multifaceted plot. Anne's life was cut short when she died of what is now suspected to be pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 29.

These sisters should not just be appreciated for their words and artwork but also what their writings symbolized. Their writings attempted to change the perspective towards women; to show images of independent females who aren’t encaged by social rules but masters of their own fate.