Charlotte Brontë, Autobiography, and the Image of the Hero
Abstract Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was one of the many real-life heroes, probably the pre-eminent one, in Charlotte Brontë's life and works. He was a masculine type that attracted her, as both woman and writer, from a very early age; but she was not alone in her admiration of what Carlyle called 'the great ones of the earth'. The paper argues that Charlotte's response to historical characters like the Duke of Wellington is not only part of a cultural dynamic of hero-worship that provided a ready context for 'veneration' but is also part of the complex self-fashioning that we all experience in the process of identity formation. Wellington and his various mutations can be traced in her writing from the juvenilia to Shirley in particular, and can be seen as an evolving critique on the hero. They also reflect an important element of Charlotte Brontë's personal narrative and indicate the way hero-worship helped to mould her ambition, her love of politics and her idea of integrity.
Charlotte Brontë: A radical Tory
Although it is well known that Charlotte Bronte had pronounced political views and interests from childhood onwards, few academics have examined her preoccupation with politics, in the sense of public life and government affairs, at any length. Insofar as critics and scholars have considered her political opinions, they have found her Toryism hard to reconcile with the rebellious spirit in evidence throughout her mature fiction—a spirit that was felt by more than one contemporaneous reviewer to be akin to that of Radicalism. This article shows that there is no contradiction: Charlotte Bronte's political opinions were rooted in her ardent patriotism and love of freedom, both of which passions are compatible with Tory values. In her writings, veneration for the traditional British institutions, and for the Duke of Wellington as the preserver of Britain's ancient liberties, coexists with awareness of the right of women as well as men to carve out independent and meaningful lives for themselves. In the latter respect, she may be said to have adopted a radical stance. (Less)
Private and Social Themes in Shirley
Abstract I Consider it a great honour to address the Bronte Society. The Transactions of the Society reveal the variety of approaches to the work of the Brontes and the continuing relevance and freshness of their creative achievement. There are still new things to say and new ways of saying them.