Charlotte Bronte power point for Professor Owens English class.

1. Charlotte
Bronte:
How her Circumstances Affected Her
Writing
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2. “When fate hands you a
lemon, make lemonade”
-Dale Carnegie
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3. History of Charlotte Bronte
• Born in 1816 at
Thornton, Bradford
Yorkshire
• Third child of six
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4. Her grief begins at a
very early age
• At the age of five her mother dies.
• She is sent with her sisters to a boarding school
where the conditions are barely livable.
• Her two older sisters die due to the poor conditions
at school.
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5. Charlotte’s father, a clergyman,
is left to raise six children on
his own
• Although a religious man, there aren’t many nice
things said about him in the history books.
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6. Charlotte and her siblings enjoy
writing as a favorite pastime
They wrote stories and created
their own imaginary worlds
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7. THe similarities in Charlotte’s
life and her books are too close
to ignore
• Her books include Jane Eyre, Villette, The
Professor and many others
• Many have even called Jane Eyre an autobiography
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8. Some of the similarities...
Mr. Rochester 2011 Jane Eyre major motion picture
• The protagonist of Jane Eyre is
both calm, intelligent and
homely. Charlotte is described
the same way in most of her
biographies
• Mr. Rochester is said to be based
on Thackeray, a friend of
Charlotte’s.
8 William Thackeray

9. And some more similarities...
• The school Jane was sent to had extremely harsh living
conditions. Charlotte’s school was similar.
• Every male character in the book is unappealing. They
threaten her equality and dignity. Charlotte lived in a time
where women were anything but equals.
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10. Charlotte created the homely
heroine
• Others of her time were
writing of heroines that were
handsome and amicable.
• Charlottes heroines are calm
and independent.
• While others wrote of
idealism, Charlotte strove for
realism.
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11. It is impossible to
separate the life of
Charlotte Bronte
from her books.
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12. Many would have said
Charlotte was doomed
from the very beginning
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13. But instead of using her
sad circumstances as an
excuse...
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14. She turned her
stumbling block into
the very pedestal of her
literary achievements.
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