Are All of the Brontës Literary Geniuses?

         The Brontë family seemed to have some stellar writing genes in their blood, for the sisters Charlotte and Emily produced two of the most influential pieces of literature, the novels Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, respectively. It therefore makes sense that the two novels have several similar characteristics. Both novels incorporate gothic elements as well as similar geographic settings. For instance, both novels include ghosts, a classic gothic element. The ghost of Jane’s uncle, Mr. Reed, seems to appear to her in the second chapter of Jane Eyre: “All looked colder and darker in that visionary hollow than in reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit…” (Brontë 28). Wuthering Heights also includes ghostly figures. The ghost of Catherine Earnshaw appears to Mr. Lockwood when he stays over at Wuthering Heights for the night. The novels also include settings that have moors. Jane finds herself at the doorstep of the moor house when she runs away from Thornfield and to the comfort of the Rivers siblings. In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff and Catherine fall in love on the moors next to Wuthering Heights.

However, the novels also have their own distinct style; the narrator in Jane Eyre addresses the reader directly in many instances, while Emily Brontë frequently changes its narrator within the frame narrative. Charlotte Brontë is very abrupt in addressing the reader when she declares that Jane married Mr. Rochester. Jane uses the very short and to-the-point sentence, “Reader, I married him” (Brontë 915). Emily Brontë doesn’t directly address the reader like her sister, but she very uniquely changes who narrates Wuthering Heights. Initially, Lockwood is the narrator, but then Nelly becomes the narrator for some time with shifts between Lockwood and Nelly as the narrator; at some points, even Heathcliff narrates. The novels are different in terms of message as well. Emily Brontë’s message is that love triumphs over revenge, as evidence by the fact that at the end of the novel Cathy and Hareton marry despite the intrusions of the vengeful Heathcliff. The message of Jane Eyre has not to do with revenge, but to do with the importance of autonomy and independence; Jane starts as an orphan with no autonomy and eventually becomes an independent woman who has a large sum of money and is on an equal footing with her husband.

In many ways, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights grew from the same soil. They each have their own distinct style, but they share many of the same elements.

Work Cited

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Bookbyte Digital, 1847. iBooks.