BORED IN THE HOUSE AND IM IN THE HOUSE BORED

mysharona1987:

“Charlotte and Emily’s fascination with violent men, and Anne’s aversion to them, can be traced back to their brother, Branwell Brontë. Whenever anyone scratches their head over how three daughters of a country parson managed to write with such passion and insight about human nature, my eyes start rolling. With a brother like Branwell – handsome, charming, alcoholic – the sisters were provided with more than enough inspiration. The different ways in which they interpreted Branwell’s behaviour is where it gets interesting. The seductive nature of a happy ending can’t be disputed, and the two older Brontës provide it in spades. In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff and Cathy are never united, but their children fall in love: Heathcliff’s behaviour is almost justified, as it has brought Linton and Cathy mark II together. Likewise in Jane Eyre, Mr Rochester falls in love with Plain Jane, attempts to commit bigamy, is thwarted, his wife luckily burns to death and they live happily ever after. Charlotte and Emily offered their fictional Branwells a form of redemption that in reality he failed to achieve. Anne, the sister who spent the most time nursing Branwell, either refused or was unable to romanticise what happened to her brother. In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall an abused wife, Helen Graham, runs away from her alcoholic husband, Arthur Huntingdon. She meets Gilbert Markham and falls in love with him but is unable to marry him. Anne’s depiction of Arthur Huntingdon’s decline drew heavily on Branwell’s death and still stands out today as an unflinching depiction of alcoholism.”

— Beulah Maud Devaney