| Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte originally | | | | first hand. The knew that if their preacher father |
| published their novels under the pen names of | | | | would die, they would be left penniless and |
| Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. They felt that book | | | | homeless. All three sisters attempted employment |
| publishers and the reading public would take them | | | | in the above mentioned fields. Emily had the most |
| more seriously if they used the names of men. | | | | difficult time. She became homesick and pined for |
| The year 1847 saw the publication of Charlotte's | | | | her 'liberty,' as she called her time spent alone on |
| masterpiece, Jane Eyre; Emily's singular | | | | the moors. Indeed, Emily was a recluse and spent |
| contribution to literature, Wuthering Heights; and | | | | little time away from home. Charlotte Bronte |
| Anne's Agnes Grey. | | | | bemoaned the drudgery of her employment and |
| Both Charlotte and Anne's novel concerned the | | | | felt that the dull routine stifled her mind. |
| lives of governesses. Both sisters pointed out the | | | | Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte decided to |
| plight of single, educated women in a time when | | | | open a girls school, hoping for the intellectual |
| women were dependent on male relatives for | | | | challenge of being in charge, as well as creating a |
| financial security. Employment opportunities were | | | | place for themselves to work and prosper after |
| few and far between for an unmarried woman of | | | | the death of their father. The school project |
| those days. Without a husband or relative to | | | | failed. Charlotte urged her sisters to write novels |
| depend on, Victorian women faced a life of | | | | and the three of them produced their books in |
| poverty and peril. Governess jobs, or | | | | secret, in the dining room of the Parsonage at |
| employment in a girls' school was the only avenue | | | | Haworth. |
| for success. And those jobs did not allow for | | | | It was not until after the death of Emily that |
| Independence. A governess lived in the home of | | | | Charlotte and Anne revealed their true identifies |
| her charges while a teacher at a girls' school | | | | to their publisher. Anne died shortly after, leaving |
| generally lived on the school campus. | | | | Charlotte alone, to deal with the legacy of the |
| The Bronte sisters understood these problems | | | | Bronte Sisters. |