Gutenberg Articles

Appearance

Excerpt ​

Excerpt from Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous Bells, by Charlotte Brontë

What more shall I say about them? I cannot and need not say much more.
In externals, they were two unobtrusive women; a perfectly secluded life
gave them retiring manners and habits. In Emily’s nature the extremes of
vigour and simplicity seemed to meet. Under an unsophisticated culture,
inartificial tastes, and an unpretending outside, lay a secret power and
fire that might have informed the brain and kindled the veins of a hero;
but she had no worldly wisdom; her powers were unadapted to the practical
business of life; she would fail to defend her most manifest rights, to
consult her most legitimate advantage. An interpreter ought always to
have stood between her and the world. Her will was not very flexible,
and it generally opposed her interest. Her temper was magnanimous, but
warm and sudden; her spirit altogether unbending.

Anne’s character was milder and more subdued; she wanted the power, the
fire, the originality of her sister, but was well endowed with quiet
virtues of her own. Long-suffering, self-denying, reflective, and
intelligent, a constitutional reserve and taciturnity placed and kept her
in the shade, and covered her mind, and especially her feelings, with a
sort of nun-like veil, which was rarely lifted. Neither Emily nor Anne
was learned; they had no thought of filling their pitchers at the
well-spring of other minds; they always wrote from the impulse of nature,
the dictates of intuition, and from such stores of observation as their
limited experience had enabled them to amass. I may sum up all by
saying, that for strangers they were nothing, for superficial observers
less than nothing; but for those who had known them all their lives in
the intimacy of close relationship, they were genuinely good and truly
great.

This notice has been written because I felt it a sacred duty to wipe the
dust off their gravestones, and leave their dear names free from soil.

Explanation ​

Charlotte Brontë’s Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell (1850) is a prefatory note to the 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, written after the deaths of her sisters Emily and Anne Brontë. The excerpt provided is a poignant, intimate characterization of the two sisters, who published under the pseudonyms "Ellis Bell" (Emily) and "Acton Bell" (Anne). Written with a mix of grief, admiration, and defensive pride, Charlotte’s account serves as both a eulogy and a rebuttal to the critical misunderstandings of her sisters’ work. Below is a detailed breakdown of the passage, focusing on its language, themes, literary devices, and significance.

Context ​

  • Authorship and Pseudonymity: The Brontë sisters initially published under male pseudonyms to avoid the prejudice against female writers. By 1850, their identities were known, but Charlotte’s Biographical Notice was partly an attempt to shape the public’s perception of Emily and Anne, whose works (Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, respectively) had been met with moral outrage and confusion.
  • Personal Loss: Emily died in 1848 and Anne in 1849, leaving Charlotte as the sole surviving sister. Her tone is elegy—mournful yet fiercely protective.
  • Victorian Gender Expectations: The passage reflects the tension between the sisters’ unconventional genius and the era’s expectations of "proper" femininity (meekness, domesticity). Charlotte both defends their originality and frames their "unworldliness" as a virtue.

Themes ​

  1. The Paradox of Hidden Greatness

    • The sisters are "nothing" to "strangers" and "superficial observers," yet "genuinely good and truly great" to those who knew them intimately. This duality underscores the Brontës’ reclusive lives and the private, unrecognized depth of their talents.
    • Key Lines:
      • "In externals, they were two unobtrusive women; a perfectly secluded life gave them retiring manners and habits."
      • "For strangers they were nothing... but for those who had known them all their lives... they were genuinely good and truly great."
    • Implication: Greatness is not always visible or socially validated. The Brontës’ power lay in their interiority, not public performance.

  2. Contrasting Temperaments: Fire vs. Restraint

    • Emily: Portrayed as a force of nature—"vigour and simplicity," "secret power and fire," "unbending spirit." Her genius is elemental, almost dangerous, but impractical for "the business of life." Charlotte suggests Emily’s talent was too raw for the world, needing an "interpreter" (perhaps Charlotte herself).
      • Key Metaphors:
        • "Fire that might have informed the brain and kindled the veins of a hero" → Emily’s creativity is heroic, even martial, but untamed.
        • "Unsophisticated culture, inartificial tastes" → Her genius is organic, not cultivated by formal education.
    • Anne: Gentle, "milder and more subdued," with "quiet virtues" and a "nun-like veil" over her emotions. Her strength is in endurance ("long-suffering, self-denying") rather than explosive passion.
      • Key Imagery:
        • "Nun-like veil" → Suggests piety, secrecy, and a life devoted to something beyond the secular world (her art).
        • "Constitutional reserve" → Her reticence is innate, not affected.

  3. Artistic Originality vs. Convention

    • The sisters are "not learned"; they draw from "the impulse of nature" and "intuition," not "the well-spring of other minds." This was both a strength (their work was radically original) and a vulnerability (critics dismissed them as "coarse" or "unfeminine").
    • Key Line:
      • "They always wrote from the impulse of nature, the dictates of intuition."
    • Implication: Their art is authentic but unpolished by tradition, which made it shocking to Victorian readers.

  4. The Burden of Misunderstanding

    • Charlotte’s defensive tone implies the sisters were judged harshly. Emily’s "unworldly wisdom" and Anne’s "taciturnity" made them easy targets for criticism. The passage is a corrective, insisting their apparent flaws were virtues.
    • Key Line:
      • "I felt it a sacred duty to wipe the dust off their gravestones, and leave their dear names free from soil."
      • Metaphor: "Dust" = slander or neglect; Charlotte positions herself as a custodian of their legacy.

Literary Devices ​

  1. Juxtaposition/Contrast
    • Emily’s "vigour" vs. Anne’s "mildness"; "fire" vs. "veil"; "heroic" vs. "nun-like." These oppositions highlight their individuality while uniting them as outsiders.
  2. Metaphor and Simile
    • "Fire that might have informed the brain and kindled the veins of a hero" → Emily’s creativity is a physical, almost violent force.
    • "Nun-like veil" → Anne’s emotional life is sacred and hidden.
  3. Paradox
    • "The extremes of vigour and simplicity seemed to meet" → Emily embodies contradictory traits, reflecting the complexity of her nature.
    • "For strangers they were nothing... for those who knew them, truly great" → Their value is invisible to the world but immense in private.
  4. Alliteration and Rhythmic Prose
    • "Secret power and fire" → The sibilance and plosives create a sense of suppressed energy.
    • "Long-suffering, self-denying" → The repetition of the "s" sound emphasizes Anne’s quiet endurance.
  5. Symbolism
    • "Gravestones" and "dust" → Represent both death and the threat of obscurity. Charlotte’s act of writing is an attempt to preserve their memory.

Significance of the Passage ​

  1. Feminist Subtext
    • Charlotte subtly critiques the limitations placed on women. Emily’s "unadapted" powers and Anne’s "veiled" feelings suggest that their talents were stifled by a society that demanded female passivity. Yet, their very "unworldliness" becomes a source of strength.
  2. Defense of Romantic Genius
    • The passage aligns with Romantic ideals of the artist as a solitary, intuitive figure. The sisters’ lack of formal learning is framed as a virtue, not a deficiency.
  3. Personal Grief and Sisterly Loyalty
    • Charlotte’s tone is deeply personal. Her descriptions are not just literary criticism but acts of love and mourning. The final sentence—"wipe the dust off their gravestones"—is both literal (they died young) and metaphorical (their reputations were tarnished).
  4. Literary Legacy
    • This notice shaped early perceptions of the Brontës. Emily’s "fire" became central to readings of Wuthering Heights as a wild, untamed masterpiece, while Anne’s "reserve" influenced the reception of her more restrained but morally complex novels.

Close Reading of Key Lines ​

  1. "Under an unsophisticated culture, inartificial tastes, and an unpretending outside, lay a secret power and fire..."

    • The contrast between the "unpretending outside" and the "secret power" suggests a hidden depth. Emily’s genius is not performative but intrinsic, almost dangerous in its intensity.
    • "Fire" recurs as a motif for Emily (see also Wuthering Heights, where fire symbolizes passion and destruction).

  2. "Her will was not very flexible, and it generally opposed her interest."

    • Emily’s stubbornness is both a flaw and a mark of her integrity. She refuses to compromise, even to her detriment—a trait that may explain her refusal to soften Wuthering Heights for critics.

  3. "A constitutional reserve and taciturnity placed and kept her in the shade..."

    • Anne’s silence is not shyness but a deliberate withdrawal. The "shade" implies both modesty and obscurity, reinforcing the theme of unrecognized greatness.

  4. "I may sum up all by saying, that for strangers they were nothing..."

    • The bluntness of "nothing" is striking. It underscores the sisters’ invisibility in life, making Charlotte’s act of memorialization all the more urgent.

  5. "Wipe the dust off their gravestones..."

    • The verb "wipe" is tender, almost ritualistic. Charlotte positions herself as a caretaker, ensuring their names—and thus their works—are not forgotten.

Conclusion ​

Charlotte Brontë’s Biographical Notice is a masterful blend of eulogy, apology, and manifesto. Through vivid contrasts, defensive pride, and lyrical prose, she immortalizes Emily and Anne as misunderstood geniuses whose true worth was visible only to those who knew them intimately. The passage is not just about the sisters but about the cost of artistic originality in a conformist world. It also reveals Charlotte’s own grief and her struggle to reconcile her sisters’ private virtues with the public’s harsh judgments. In defending them, she crafts a lasting image of the Brontës as women who, though "unobtrusive" in life, left an indelible mark on literature.