Charlotte Bronte was a renowned novelist of the nineteenth century whose works are still well-known today. Her most famous piece of writing, Jane Eyre, is known for being highly autobiographical, drawing directly from Bronte’s own life experiences on many occasions. Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816 in Thornton in Yorkshire, England. Bronte’s mother, Maria Bronte, passed away from/died of _____ when Bronte was only five years old. She was left with only her Anglican minister father, Patrick Bronte, and her five siblings, Maria, Elizabeth, Branwell, Emily Jane, and Anne. The family, especially the children, were exceedingly close. This is probably due to their father who held strong beliefs in the virtue of self-education. He raised his children on the Bible and Shakespeare, which probably had a large influence on the adult writing careers of …show more content…
Bronte despised living there and later based Lowood School, the primary setting of the earlier chapters of Jane Eyre, on the deplorable conditions she and her siblings experienced there. In her writing, Bronte describes the fictional school as “insert quote about Lowood here” (Bronte #). It’s evident what Bronte thought about Cowan Bridge and the lasting impression it had on her. While there, tragedy struck in the form of a sudden outbreak of typhus. The epidemic took the life of the two eldest Bronte daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, leaving Charlotte as the oldest surviving child. It is thought that the death of Jane’s closest friend at Lowood, Helen Burns, is based on that of Maria, the eldest of her beloved sisters and namesake of Charlotte’s mother. Unlike Jane, who remains at Lowood School for eight years after the outbreak ends, Charlotte and her sisters returned home to their father and continued their education from