tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7074545955842912793.post4064368375470975287..comments2024-03-26T23:35:38.726+01:00Comments on the Brontë Sisters: He continued to write to Charlotte, and while she initially did not respond to his letters, they gradually developed a clandestine correspondence, and met secretly whenever Nicholls stayed with the family of Reverend Joseph Brett Grant near Haworth.Geri Meftah Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00596915249757782612noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7074545955842912793.post-73678393264935202442013-04-28T03:31:46.656+02:002013-04-28T03:31:46.656+02:00Charlotte's own accounts of this courtship and...<i>Charlotte's own accounts of this courtship and eventual engagement, given in her letters to Ellen Nussey as it went along, could not be bettered in the finest novel in the world</i><br /><br />Indeed. But the tragedy for us today is Charlotte and Ellen had a huge falling out in June 1853 and the letters between the women stopped for 6 months...for the first time in 25 years. <br /><br />Ellen was visiting Haworth at the end of June 1853. She was shocked to learn not only was Mr. N still on Charlotte's radar, Charlotte was carrying on a correspondence with him and no longer set against the idea of the marriage<br /><br />Ellen lost her head. She lost her head to the point where she left Haworth in a huff and wrote complaing letters to others ( Mary Taylor Mary Hewitt etc)<br /> <br />When Miss Wooler urged Charlotte to heal the breach, Charlotte wrote " I hardly know how to take the step you suggest " <br /><br />Hard words must of been exchanged<br /><br />And so this why just how and when Charlotte and Mr. Nicholls came together is so murky...we have no letters to Ellen letters to chart the last 6 months.<br /><br />It was only when Miss Wooler told Charlotte Ellen was ill and Charlotte had already decied on marrying Mr. Nicholls that the letters started again.<br /><br />And even so the letters did not mention Mr.Nicholls until "somehow" Charlotte mixed up her letters to Ellen and Arthur , sending each the letter meant for the other. <br /><br />When this mix up happened, Arthur was a fact of her life and Charlotte was free to gave Ellen a summing up. But that's not at all the same as reports in real time would have been for us today<br /><br />So we see Charlotte's closest associates, her father and Ellen, were so foolish as to angry demand she choose them over Mr. Nicholls<br /><br />Well that's how they put it. But how Charlotte heard it was as a demand for her to choose thier wants over her judgment and instantly . <br /><br />Very foolish. Of course Charlotte chose her own judgment over these outlandish demands. <br /><br />Arthur Bell Nicholls was the happy beneficiary of thier mistake. If they wanted to chase Charlotte into Mr. Nicholls arms, they could not have hatched a finer plan. <br /><br />It was Miss Wooler who stood by Charlotte though out this ordeal as she found her own way and some of Charlotte's best letters of her last year are written to Miss Wooler.<br /><br />Miss Wooler is also given a warmer picture of Charlotte's marital happiness than Ellen because she was not against the match, nor jealous of the husband. <br /><br />Miss Wooler was for whatever Charlotte decided was best for herself. A real friendAnnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05033117202223821117noreply@blogger.com