11121221i99898989asdasdadsThe novel Jane Eyre has been written in the form of an autobiography, but

it is not the autobiography of the novelist Charlotte Bronte but of the heroine of the novel Jane Eyre. Still
there is no denying the truth that some of Charlotte Brontes own painful experiences have gone into
Jane Eyres account of her life. We should have to know some of the main facts and events of the life of
Charlotte Bronte in order to identify the authasdadadasdentic autobiographical elements which she has
used in her noveL

Charlotte Bronte grew up in the Yorkshire parsonage of her father, with such experience as came from
country boarding-schools, a year in Brussels, and her own family life with its terrible succession of
tragedies-the death of her mother, the blindness of her father, the death of her two sisters, and the ruin
of her brother through dissipation. Charlotte Bronte and her two sisters, Emily Bamdnakdk323ronte and
Anne Bronte, felt obliged to take to. authorship because of their adverse family

circumstances. Branwell, their only brother was a dissolute young man and so could do nothing to help
the sisters financially. TWO of their sisters had already died prematurely: one of them named Maria had
died of tuberculosis. Before taking to writing. Charlotte and Emily had tried to eam their living by
working as teachers and govemesses but these capacities left them most miserable and dissatisfied. The
two sisters had also gone to Brussels to learn French; there they had spent about a year as pupils at a
school. At the school Charlotte had fallen in love with its principal who did not give any response to her
love. Charlotte had also stayed for some time at a country house in the orchard of which there grew a
large chestnut tree which had been struck by lightning and had been split into two. One more important
incident of Charlottes life was that, at the age of nine, she had been sent to a boarding-school where her
experience was quite unhappy. It was a school run by a religious foundation where her two sisters were
also studying. After the death of these two sisters at the school, Charlotte had been withdrawn from the
institution.

We find similarities between Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre, the heroine of the novel. In physical
appearance, Jane Eyre is very much close to Charlotte Bronte. Like Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre has been
depicted as plain-looking and small-statured. The novelist, perhaps, wanted to show that a heroine could
be an interesting personality without being beautiful. Janes account of her life at Lowood School and as
governess at Thornfield Hall has very much to do with Charlotte Brontes experiences at the religious
charity-school subscribing to the Evangelical faith and her experience as a governess. Charlotte Bronte
herself had the same passionate desire for a wider life and fuller experience as she has depicted and
portrayed in her heroine, Jane Eyre. Similarly, we find similarity between their attitude towards
clergymen. The experience of Charlotte Bronte of the practice of religion in her own days had created a
feeling of bitterness in her due to the injustice and the self righteous callousness which she had seen
among the practitioners of religion. All her experience of irksome and offensive tendencies has gone into
the portrayal of the character of Mr. Brocklehurst. Jane has been depicted in the novel as showing
Contempt and scorn for Mr. Brocklehurst, the director of Lowood School, who is a hypocrite in matters of
religion and morality.

There is a marked autobiographical element in Charlotte Brontes portrayal of Helen Burns. She has been
modelled on the novelists own sister, Maria who had died a premature death, and had died of
tuberculosis. Helen Burns dies a premature death and also dies of consumption. She contributes to the
pathos of the novel and Serves to convey to us, and to emphasize Jesus Christs message of piety and
humility. Thornfield Hall in the novel corresponds to that country house where Charlotte Bronte had
lived for some time, and to which she had been escorted by her brother Branwell. And in the orchard of
Thomfield Hall also there grows a large chestnut tree which is also struck by lightning so that half of the
tree is found to have been burnt down. This incident in the novel is autobiographical as well as symbolic.
The damage to the tree forewarns us of the disaster which overtakes Jane on the following day when the
ceremony of her marriage to Mr. Rochester is stopped midway. After

Seeing the blasted tree, Jane reflects on it in terms that anticipate the impending Catastrophe in her life.

There are several small happenings and incidents in the life of Jane which are based on the first-hand
experience of Charlotte Bronte. For sometime the novelist

had worked as a governess and had to face humiliation on account of her pupils as well as her callous
and snobbish employers. These find echo in Janes life with Reed family and in the contemptuous
remarks about governesses of some of the lady guests of Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall in the
presence of Jane. The general description of the conditions at Lowood School in the novel apparently
bears the stamp of Charlotte Brontes own experience of a charity boarding-school where she had
studied along with her two elder sisters who had died there of consumption and malnutrition. The
meagre and ill-cooked food provided at Lowood School and the general callousness of the director of the
school towards the poor girls represent the conditions which actually existed in the charitable
institutions of the time, and those conditions had been witnessed by Charlotte Bronte herself.

The last but one phase of Janes life is spent at Moor House where she lives for some time with Diana
Rivers, and Mary Rivers with frequent visits from their brother St. John Rivers. This life had many direct
and indirect autobiographical touches and echoes. The portrayal of Jane, Diana and Mary is based upon
Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte respectively in their tastes, dispositions, and
characters, pursuing their occupations as at the family home of the Brontes at Haworth. Then there is
an old servant at Moor House whose name is Tabby and Tabby was the name of the old servant of the
Bronte family. Further, St. John Rivers has certainly been modelled on a suitor who had proposed
marriage to Charlotte Bronte and she had rejected her. There is a considerable element in the novel of
folk-lore, fairy-tale, the supernatural and the uncanny; and this element is deeply rooted in local beliefs
of the time, and supplied to the young Bronte sisters by their

devoted servant, Tabby. Even Mr. Rochesters blindness may have been based on the contract from
which Charlotte Brontes father was suffering in his old age.