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ABOUT
CHARLOTTE BRONTE
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The family continued to
live at or return to Haworth, especially since
the sisters had begun their literary career.
The atmosphere in the family home must have
been severe, inasmuch as their brother also
chose to spend his adulthood there and died as
an alcoholic and drug addict. The sisters were
all of a maudlin spirit, given to spells of
'nervousness' that was reflected in their
stories. The family domain must not have been
the most harmonious of residences and would
have been a very lonely place for Charlotte in
the years prior to her marriage.
Gaskell, who met Charlotte
after the release of Jane Eyre and
shortly after the deaths of her sisters and
brother, believed that Charlotte was obsessed
with a dual nature, that she was both the
woman and the author; Charlotte Bronte and
Currer Bell: "henceforward Charlotte
Bronte's existence becomes divided into two
parallel currents - her life as Currer Bell,
the author; her life as Charlotte Bronte, the
woman. There were separate duties belonging to
each character - not opposing each other; not
impossible, but difficult to be
reconciled" (334) Perhaps this would
account for her melancholy, in concert with
the loss of so many family members in a very
short time.
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