For the purpose of this discussion, I want to define social location. Social location is comprised of the variables that contribute to ones identity. Gender, race, class, sexuality, religion, and geographic location, all factor into a social location. Certain elements of one's identity may confer more or less power and privilege due to the conditions of the time and place one lives in. For an author, this can translate into whether one has access to an audience, how the public receives and interprets work, how the author is regarded and treated personally, and to what degree that work is successful critically and commercially.
Emily Bronte spent the majority of her life in Haworth England, a small backwater town on the Yorkshire moors with excellent views and moody ambiance, but very poor heath conditions. As the daughter of the perpetual curate of the Anglican church St Michael and All Angels, (Patrick Bronte, an Irish transplant and strict and eccentric father) Emily held a special place in the community. But this position did not confer much personal power. As a woman in a male dominated society with rigid gender roles and expectations, she had limited options. The parsonage in which the family lived was theirs only for the lifetime of their father, so all the children, (of which their were many) would have been expected to find a living, either through work or marriage. Emily briefly taught school, while her sisters held positions as governesses, which they hated. The sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) dreamed of opening their own school, but the scheme failed, despite their efforts to educate themselves at home and at the Pensionate Heger in Brussles Belgium. This plan illustrates the sisters' ambition to be self-sufficent and independent, and also perhaps reflects their limited value on the marriage market as unmonnied, somewhat plain, eccentric clergyman's daughters.
Emily Bronte then, was a white, barely middle class woman, an Anglican clergyman's daughter in a small town on the remote Yorkshire moors in the northern part of Britain far from cosmopolitan London, an obscure writer of poems and a proud occupant of a self-created fantasy world shared by her sibilings (Gondol and Angria) who might remain today totally obscure were it not for her sisters desire to be published. For her part, Emily Bronte seemed to have little regard for what the rest of the world thought about anything. Economically, Emily, had she not died at the age of thirty in 1848 from the tuberculosis that all her siblings most probably suffered from, would not have had a very bright and secure future, financially or socially. (Ironically and tragically, Patrick Bronte outlived all his children and died at the age of at the age of 84 in 1861.)
How then, from this place, did such genius arise? The myth of the Brontes has been under construction since the sister's work first surfaced with the publication in 1846 of the poems of "Currer,Ellis and Acton Bell" and the following year of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, by Charlotte, Emily and Anne respectively. In the preface to the 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights, Charlotte positions Emily as a sort of idiot savant in the wild, a child who knew not what she did, if you will. When in fact, Emily and her sisters (and extremely disapointing brother who failed as a painter and drank himself to death) unique upbringing as a studious and creative child, surrounded by fellow intelligent siblings, developed her craft from an early age. Siobhan Craft Brownson writes on the Poetry Foundation. Org site, "... many of the myths surrounding her life arise from the time immediately after her mother's death, including the isolation of Haworth, the harsh eccentricities of her father, the dour Methodism of Aunt Branwell, and the abnormal upbringing of the Brontë children." Elizabeth Gaskell, a contemporary and author of The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857), Craft Brownson notes, figured large in this mythologizing as well. Myths of the types perpetuated mask a keen mind, influenced by Byron and German romantic poets and hide her behind the image of a shy woman more in touch with animals and the nature than other human beings.
Gender and Authorship
The Bronte sisters position was not totally unique to their class. Many women of their background (genteel but not wealthy) sought work as governesses or teachers. But many women of the time, even if they were able to be published, did not write one of the greatest novels of the English language. Similar to other female authors, the Bronte sisters chose to hide their true identities . Pseudandry, the use of a male pen name by a female author was not uncommon. George Elliot was in fact, Mary Ann Evans. George Sand, Aurore Dupin. The reason for this was not only were female authors faced with more obstacles to publication, but the reception of their work was impacted. Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell(1846), sold only two copies and was given only three reviews, but the poetry of "Ellis Bell" was received favorably (Craft Brownson.) Wuthering Heights however, was decried as "strange" and without a moral to justify the wild, "savage" and violent antics of Heathcliffe and Cathy, two lovers divided by class, and possibly one scholar has posited, race. Many reviewers debated whether the author was male or female, or if the sisters were separate individuals or not. The focus of critics attention shifted from the work to the private life of Emily Bronte once the gender of the author was revealed to be feminine (Tomm and Hamilton, 1988.) It was not until after hear death that her novel was recognized as a literary classic. Bronte would have no doubt been shocked to learn that though she earned nothing from her work, her hometown has turned Bronte mania into an industry and in 2007, a rare first edition of Wuthering Heightssold for six figures.
Place and Authorship
Emily Bronte was not well traveled. But the space she occupied in her short life was preoccupied with nature and the landscapes of her native Yorkshire. John Bowen cautions however, that the world in which she lived was rapidly industrializing and rife with class struggles and labor conflicts. He notes that Manchester and Leeds, large industrial centers, were not far and that Haworth was in fact a mill town. (Bowen, The British Library). Though issues of class and race loom large in Wuthering Heights, the reader is left with the impression of the wild moors and bleak and dreary landscapes occupied by gothic homes and monstrous passions. To explore the world of Emily Bronte and her life, check out the literary map below. Each pin/location on the left reveals details of her life and how her environment shaped her art.
A literary map highlighting the places that shaped Emily Bronte's life and work. Click on the map or the link "Literary Map" to access the interactive features of this image.