asdasdaadasd1238783738723811121221i99898989asdasdadsThe 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sisters at the school, Charlotte had been withdrawn from the institution.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.