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Who Was Emily Brontë?
Emily Jane Brontë, best known for her 1847 novel Wuthering Heights, led a reclusive life in the Yorkshire countryside alongside her father, Reverend Patrick Brontë; her brother, Branwell; and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne. The Brontë sisters shared a passion for writing and published their works under pseudonyms. Emily adopted the name “Ellis Bell” when she published her only novel, which has since received critical acclaim and commercial success.
Early Life
Emily Brontë was born on July 30, 1818, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England. She was the fifth child of Reverend Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell Brontë, who was also a published author. The family relocated to Haworth in April 1821, shortly before the untimely death of Emily’s mother due to cancer, which occurred just months after Anne’s birth. To support the family, Emily’s maternal aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, moved in to help care for the children.
At the age of six, Emily attended the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge with her sisters Charlotte, Elizabeth, and Maria. Tragically, both Elizabeth and Maria fell seriously ill at the school and later died from tuberculosis in 1825. Following this, Reverend Brontë withdrew Emily and Charlotte from the institution.
Back in Haworth, Emily led a quiet life, indulging in extensive reading and creative storytelling with her siblings. The surviving Brontë children, including Branwell, possessed vivid imaginations, and together they crafted tales inspired by toy soldiers their father had given them. In 1835, Emily briefly attended Miss Wooler’s school in Roe Head alongside Charlotte, who worked there as a teacher. However, Emily returned home after only a few months.
Struggling to find employment, Emily took a teaching position at Law Hill School in September 1837 but resigned by the following March. In 1842, she and Charlotte traveled to Brussels to study, but their aunt Elizabeth’s death compelled them to return to Yorkshire.
Wuthering Heights
Emily’s early literary efforts included the creation of a fictional world called Gondal, which she developed with her sister Anne. This imaginative realm inspired her prose and poetry. Charlotte discovered some of Emily’s poems and sought to publish them alongside her own works and those of Anne. The resulting collection, Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, was published in 1846 but only sold a handful of copies.
Emily’s seminal work, Wuthering Heights, was released in December 1847 under her pseudonym, Ellis Bell. The novel intricately weaves the stories of two families—the Earnshaws and the Lintons—across two generations, centered around the titular homes, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The character Heathcliff, an orphan raised by the Earnshaws, drives the plot with his obsessive love for Catherine Earnshaw and his subsequent quest for revenge after perceiving her rejection.
Death and Legacy
Initially, Wuthering Heights confounded reviewers; however, its status as a literary masterpiece solidified posthumously. Emily Brontë passed away from tuberculosis on December 19, 1848, just two months after her brother Branwell succumbed to the same illness. Her sister Anne followed soon after, also falling victim to tuberculosis in May 1849.
Today, interest in Emily Brontë’s life and works endures. The parsonage where she spent much of her life is now a museum, operated by the Brontë Society, dedicated to preserving and celebrating the literary contributions of the Brontë sisters.