An online talk from the Brontë Parsonage Museum
“
In her deep mourning dress….her fine eyes blazing with meaning, and her sensible face indicating a habit of self-control… she seemed a perfect household image”– Harriet Martineau’s Daily News Obituary, 6 April 1855
Following on from last year’s talk on Charlotte and Celebrity, this talk will focus on how the legacy of the Brontë family was created and how authentic a view this provided. The process began with Charlotte’s curation of Emily and Anne’s literary output, but is most strongly associated with Elizabeth Gaskell’s
Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857) which shaped decisively not only how Charlotte was perceived but also her father, her husband, her brother and significant figures associated with the Brontës, such as Carus Wilson and Lydia Robinson. This often-mythical view will be compared to the perceptions of those who knew or met Charlotte and her family, including Ellen Nussey, George Smith and the people of Haworth.