Works of Quiet Rebels

This new book contains a whole Brontë-related chapter:

The Routledge Handbook of Victorian Rebels

Edited  By Brenda Ayres

Routledge

ISBN: 9781003507574

Although history records that the British nineteenth century was obsessed with order,conventionality, and conformity, there were many Victorians from all walks of life, across lines of class, race, and gender, who resisted social mores and sometimes the laws themselves, in a variety of ways and to varying degrees. Some expressed dissension through music, art, literature, and social protest. Others were more subtle like manipulative wives who gained what they wanted while seemingly remaining docile and submissive. Some rebellion fermented into social and political movements. The revolt of still others was extremely executed by serial killers, criminals, and suicides. Contemporary readers can learn from these rebels and discern what values and ways that were uniquely Victorian should be retained and those that should be rejected after having observed their outcomes. To that end, this collection of essays offers a study for both novice and expert on Victorian rebels.

And the chapter is:

Works of Quiet Rebels

The Unconventional Brontë Sisters

By Catherine J. Golden

A madwoman in the attic, an impassioned love, and a mysterious/abusive past—such sensational themes may seem ripped from today’s social media; in fact, they are defining elements of the novels of the Brontë sisters, quiet rebels who veiled their identities and gender as writers. The sisters’ lives outwardly conformed to nineteenth-century expectations, but their rebelliousness found expression in their works published under pseudonyms—Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Public reception grew more damning when reviewers discerned their gender. Ellis/Emily’s Wuthering Heights (1847) was immoral and savage while Currer/Charlotte’s Jane Eyre (1847) was anti-Christian, bold, and immoral, though spellbinding. Acton/Anne’s Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) disturbed Victorians in its fearless presentation of domestic abuse and alcoholism, so unpleasant to sister Charlotte that she did not promote it after Anne’s death. Using period reviews and criticism, this essay examines the degree to which each sister challenged rigid Victorian morals, gender roles, and religion. Of the unconventional Brontës, this essay privileges the unsung sister—Anne Brontë—as the most rebellious of the trio and frames her Tenant of Wildfell Hall as a novel of rebellion.