Emily Jane Bronte, daughter
of Patrick Bronte, a clergyman, and Maria Branwell, the daughter of a
merchant, was born on July 30, 1818. Emily was born in a small
village called Haworth located in Yorkshire.
When Emily was three her
mother died of cancer and Emily's aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, came and
lived with them to take care of the children. In 1824 Mr. Bronte sent
four of his daughters; Elizabeth, Maria, Charlotte, and Emily to
boarding school. Most of the time when they were at their school they
were cold and undernourished. When Maria and Elizabeth contracted
tuberculosis and died, Mr. Bronte became very worried and brought
Charlotte and Emily home. As they grew up the Bronte's always had an
amazing imagination. Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell would use
wooden toys and make up stories that happened in imaginary kingdoms.
During the 1830's the
children left home to study or work. Though, most of their attempts
were unsuccessful. Emily was very depressed all the time. It was not
until the mid-1840's, when she returned back to Haworth, did Emily
become relatively happy. After they had all returned Emily,
Charlotte, and Anne, whom all had been interested in writing for most
of their life, decided to write and publish a collection of poems.
They published their book under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton
Bell, to conceal the fact that they were actually women. Although,
when it was finally published the book only sold 2 copies.
After this they resorted to
writing fiction. Charlotte wrote the novel Jane Eyre, an immediate
success, and Emily wrote her book Wuthering Heights, which came out
to very negative reviews. People called the book “misshapen”,
“grotesque”, and “shocking”. Even Charlotte said that it was
very strange.
Later, as we all know, the
book became more popular, but not before Emily died of tuberculosis
on December 14, 1848, but now Emily Bronte is remembered just as much
as her popular and classic book.
