Sarah Freeman (2)

The newly married Charlote Bronte (Mrs Nicholls) told her single friend Ellen Nussey: ‘Take warning Ellen, the married woman can call but a very small portion of day her own. Not that I complain of this sort of monopoly as yet and I hope I never shall incline to regard it as a misfortune, but it certainly exists.’ Her marriage was unexpected and to a most unlikely candidate, her father’s reserved curate. It was especially so given her youthful obsession with her creation the wickedly glamorous Duke of Zamorna and her desperation to be as glamorous as the heroines she created to adore him.

What is so fascinating is that despite doubting herself – she was so small, so plain and dull – it was her character, conversation and imagination that attracted male admirers. There were several surprising proposals and the pain of her unrequited love for Monsieur Heger. It still feels intrusive to read these letters. ‘If my master withdraws his friendship from me entirely I should be altogether without hope; if he gives me a little – just a little – I shall be satisfied – happy; I shall have reason for living on, for working Monsieur, the poor have not need of much to sustain them – they ask only for the crumbs from the rich men’s table. But if they are refused the crumbs they die of hunger. Nor do I, either, need much affection from those I love – I am not used to it. But you showed me of yore a little interest – I hold onto it as I would hold onto life.’

Her final decision to marry the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls, seen through the prism of her fruitless devotion to Heger, is incredibly moving. In one way love was always toxic for Charlotte Bronte and even this gentle and conventional love proved fatal – her writing stopped and then a pregnancy and violent illness ended in her death in 1855. ‘I am not going to die am I? she asked her husband. ‘He will not separate us, we have been so happy.’… (plus d'informations)