Charlotte Brontë Group at eNotes

Grammardog Guide to Jane Eyre

Is it possible perhaps that Charlotte Bronte wanted to hide herself...

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 07:04:05 PST

Is it possible perhaps that Charlotte Bronte wanted to hide herself behind a male persona as she actively wanted to shun the limelight? She had great respect for those women who could talk in a forthright manner in public and not veer from their beliefs in the face of public opprobrium, but she was not one of these women. Her depressions and hypochondriasis would lead one to believe that she was a highly strung woman aware of her own emotional...

Charlotte Bronte was writing her works at a time (the 1840s) when women...

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:40:45 PST

Charlotte Bronte was writing her works at a time (the 1840s) when women authors were not taken as seriously as male authors. Bronte started to use a male pseudonym when she published her and her sisters poems under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, male pen-names. Bronte pretended to be a male and used male narrators in order to project masculinity, which would broaden her audience (because some people might not want to read a book...

One must understand the era in which Charlotte Bronte was writing to see...

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:40:45 PST

One must understand the era in which Charlotte Bronte was writing to see why she would use a male pen name. The 1840s was a time in history when women authors were not perceived to have the credibility that male authors had. Women were thought to be frivolous, frilly, and dainty creatures who had no perception of "the real world." This was a time when women's roles were that of mother, wife, housemaid, and little else. It was not...

Why did Charlotte Bronte pretend to be a male author ?

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:58:13 PST

Why did Charlotte Bronte pretend to be a male author ?