The Brontë children had a copy of Moore’s book, read it repeatedly, and offered it as reading to their friends. In a letter to Ellen Nussey, Charlotte writes, “for Biography, read Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, Boswell’s Life of Johnson, Southey’s Life of Nelson, Lockhart’s Life of Burns, Moore’s Life of Sheridan, Moore’s Life of Byron [. . .]” (Barker 220). Moore’s biography was especially useful to the Brontës as they interpreted and presented their own versions of Byron.
There were primarily three different kinds of reactions to Byron during the middle of the nineteenth century, and each Brontë sister represents a different kind of response. Emily is considered the most Romantic of the three sisters, thus it is not too surprising to find that she consistently provides a full-scale adoption of Byron in both her poetry and her novel Wuthering Heights.
There are at least three significant conclusions that can be reached as a result of tracing Byron’s influence on female authors across the whole of the nineteenth-century. First, Byron is extremely relevant over the course of the hundred years. He is still interacting with the English, even after he’s been dead for two generations. This demonstrates how popular he really was, how varied and how lasting his image became.
In contrast, Anne seems the most stereotypically Victorian of the three, and therefore tends to exhibit large-scale rejection of Byron in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. And finally, while Charlotte’s poetry demonstrates imitation of Byron, Jane Eyre allows for co-option of him only after punishment and reform, making Charlotte somewhat ambivalent about Byron.
There are at least three significant conclusions that can be reached as a result of tracing Byron’s influence on female authors across the whole of the nineteenth-century. First, Byron is extremely relevant over the course of the hundred years. He is still interacting with the English, even after he’s been dead for two generations. This demonstrates how popular he really was, how varied and how lasting his image became.
His influence helped to shape many of the key literary characters in all of British
literature; his heroes become Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and Rochester in Jane Eyre.
A Byronic hero:
- A Byronic hero exhibits several characteristic traits, and in many ways he can be considered a rebel. The Byronic hero does not possess "heroic virtue" in the usual sense; instead, he has many dark qualities. With regard to his intellectual capacity, self-respect, and hypersensitivity, the Byronic hero is "larger than life," and "with the loss of his titanic passions, his pride, and his certainty of self-identity, he loses also his status as [a traditional] hero" (Thorslev 187).
- He is usually isolated from society as a wanderer or is in exile of some kind. It does not matter whether this social separation is imposed upon him by some external force or is self-imposed. Byron's Manfred, a character who wandered desolate mountaintops, was physically isolated from society, whereas Childe Harold chose to "exile" himself and wander throughout Europe. Although Harold remained physically present in society and among people, he was not by any means "social."
- Often the Byronic hero is moody by nature or passionate about a particular issue. He also has emotional and intellectual capacities, which are superior to the average man. These heightened abilities force the Byronic hero to be arrogant, confident, abnormally sensitive, and extremely conscious of himself. Sometimes, this is to the point of nihilism resulting in his rebellion against life itself (Thorslev 197). In one form or another, he rejects the values and moral codes of society and because of this he is often unrepentant by society's standards. Often the Byronic hero is characterized by a guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime. Due to these characteristics, the Byronic hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination.
Tom Winnifrith comments that a "study of the Brontes' juvenilia provides confirmatory evidence of the sisters' preoccupation with the aristocracy, their emancipation from Victorian prudery, and the attraction of the Byronic hero, beautiful but damned" .
While they lived during Queen Victoria's time, the Brontës were not Victorians. That's it in a nut shell.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThey were raised with much earlier modes and models...such as Byron etc and certainly these modes were more to their personal liking ( high feeling etc. )
In her book, Mrs Gaskell is at constant pains to get Charlotte excused for not being Victorian...( awful father, lived in wild Yorkshire! Deaths! Horrors! ) . It's almost as if that is the point of the book and Charlotte's early death gets her off the hook
The fact that Charlotte was a pre-Victioran living during Queen Victoria's rein makes the question of how later works of Charlotte's would have been received had she lived even more interesting. Because the Victorian crack down socially was continuing to grow and would for some time .
Emily is considered the most Romantic of the three sisters, thus it is not too surprising to find that she consistently provides a full-scale adoption of Byron in both her poetry and her novel Wuthering Heights.
And what is fascinating is ultimately she engages with the outside world the least of the four. Emily can adopt an Byron full scale successfully in the real world in the liberty of the parsonage and moor...and in an interior life .
Branwell relentlessly takes it to the streets, with disastrous results.
In contrast, Anne seems the most stereotypically Victorian of the three, and therefore tends to exhibit large-scale rejection of Byron in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
As it turns out , Byron often leaves an awful mess for others to mop up. I can well see Anne roll her eyes about it lol
Anne was raised by Aunt Branwell more directly than the others and was accordingly less feral if you will than the rest .
This I believe explains in large measure how "gentle" Anne was able, unlike the others, to keep a job and make it a success...at great costs to herself, but still she could stick it....and for years
Who else of the four can say that?
Of course in a group where Bryon is admired , keeping a mere job would not necessarily gain you much credit lol,,, But Anne is not less of a Brontë , she is a Brontë with an added dimension.
.... Charlotte somewhat ambivalent about Byron.
Charlotte is endlessly drawn like a moth to the Byron flame , but realizes the utter unworkability of Byron unbound in real life.
Her struggle between these two views is almost life long.
Charlotte points to "middle age" as a reason for the lessening
of this tension within herself in later life.
Charlotte was finally able to accept the love of a mere human being and found it amazingly fulfilling. Though it must be said it was only when Arthur Bell Nicholls showed some unexpected Byronic traits himself that he finally gained Charlotte's attention ! lol
Sadly it was just when this greater peace between Charlotte's inner and outer worlds was at last reached, she left this sphere
altogether
Jane Eyre allows for co-option of him only after punishment and reform,
Indeed and one can see how during her life Charlotte is so often chastising herself . She watches herself like a jailor ..keeping her Byron self in check .
So one can see in the four mature Bronte children the scale of Byron, from deepest hues to a paler shade
Emily--- Branwell--- Charlotte--- Anne
In her book, Mrs Gaskell is at constant pains to get Charlotte excused for not being Victorian...( awful father, lived in wild Yorkshire! Deaths! Horrors!
VerwijderenThough it must be said it was only when Arthur Bell Nicholls showed some unexpected Byronic traits himself that he finally gained Charlotte's attention ! lol
Ha,ha.....I like this.....
Loved this article, and all the interesting information in the comment above mine too! I am a huge fan of Byron and of the Brontes (especially Emily) and as a writer I love to see how writers inspire each other.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenDeze reactie is verwijderd door de auteur.
VerwijderenHi laura,
VerwijderenNice to meet you.
I like the comment of Anne as well.