时间：2022-10-18 11:22:36
夏洛蒂・勃朗特（1816-1855）的《简・爱》曾经被多次改编成电影、电视剧和音乐剧等。今年，又一部同名电影即将上映，可见这部经典小说确实魅力非凡。
说起夏洛蒂・勃朗特，不得不提勃朗特姐妹的文学成就――三姐妹占据了英语文学名人榜单中的三个席位，恐怕连众多男性作家都自叹
不如。
实在很难想象，三位住在约克郡荒凉漠泽、害羞腼腆、相貌平凡的女性竟有着如此惊人的爆发力――也许封闭的世界恰恰有助于她们发掘内在的
才华。
是什么样的环境和际遇造就了这部长盛不衰的小说？一起来看看夏洛蒂・勃朗特在约克郡度过的岁月――
（注：CE: Teens曾在2008年4月号的“环球风情”栏目中介绍过勃朗特姐妹的故乡，有兴趣的同学可以查阅。）
Charlotte Bronte 1)represented a fascinating mystery to the London literary world of 1847.
An unknown writer named Currer Bell had
produced Jane Eyre, a popular and 2)controversial novel. Two other novels were published the same year, Agnes Grey by Acton Bell and Wuthering Heights by Ellis Bell. Were the novels written by three different writers or only one? And were they written by men or women?
Even the publishers of the novels didn’t know. So in 1848, Charlotte and her sister Anne, the author
of Agnes Grey, traveled to London to introduce
themselves to publisher George Smith and assure him that they were different people and both women.
Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was still a source of
controversy, though. Its 3)heroine was a strong woman who took 4)responsibility for her own life. It contained scenes of wild passion and violent acts. Rochester’s plan to marry when he had a living wife shocked the people of that time.
It was certainly a strange production for someone
like Charlotte Bronte, who led such a 5)retiring life. And Charlotte 6)acknowledged that Jane was not a version of herself. But Jane was a reflection of
principles that Charlotte lived by.
Charlotte was a 7)preacher’s daughter 8)to the core. She was raised with strong faith and a firm sense of duty. Her father, Patrick Bronte, was a
9)curate 10)assigned to the Yorkshire 11)parish of
Haworth, a land of 12)moors and isolated farms. The family lived in a 13)modest stone house surrounded by the church and graveyard. Charlotte had two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, and three younger
14)siblings, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. Their mother died while the children were small; Maria and Elizabeth died in childhood after difficult years in a girl’s school. Maria would become the model for Helen Burns in Jane Eyre, and some of the dialogue even came from real life.
Their mother’s death left the four surviving
children with their father and an aunt. Both adults were 15)distant, and the 16)bleak northern weather left the children with little to do much of the year. They began to write poetry, stories, and plays.
When the three girls grew older, they were sent to school. Anne’s poor health and Emily’s homesickness soon brought them home. But Charlotte showed her 17)stern sense of duty even as a child, and attended school at Cowan Bridge and Roe Head. Although nearsighted and extremely shy, she made life-long friends at Roe Head.
As Charlotte and her brother and sisters entered their teens, they faced the 18)prospect of earning their livings. For women of her time and class, there were few options. One was becoming a 19)governess, and Charlotte took a position. Her employers were kind. But Charlotte had an 20)aversion to strangers all her life that she could not overcome.
Charlotte left her employers and made plans with her sisters to start their own school. For this purpose, she and Emily went to Belgium to acquire 21)proficiency in French. However, shyness and homesickness drove them both home again.
Charlotte also taught with her friend Miss Wooler at a school near her home for a while. But she was still not happy with the work. In her book The Life of Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte’s friend Elizabeth Gaskell pointed out reasons why being either a governess or a teacher was unsuitable for her. One was Charlotte’s shyness, which would even cause her 22)raging headaches if she spent too much time in the company of strangers. Charlotte also did not understand children. Although she was always kind to everyone, she didn’t know how to 23)relate to them.
Most of the Brontes’ youngyears were spent
trying to make money. When plans for a school fell through, the girls began to seriously consider writing, and began working on novels. They would do household
24)chores during the day, write when they could, and meet in the evening after everyone else was in bed. They would compare and critique each other’s work.
All three met with more or less success, but Jane Eyre won instant popularity. It also earned enough money that Charlotte could now expect to make a living as a writer.
But bad fortune came along in the next two years. Emily and Anne died from 25)tuberculosis and Branwell, who had developed an 26)opium 27)addiction, also passed away.
The children’s aunt had passed away a few years
earlier, and this left Charlotte alone with her father. With only each other to 28)rely on, they grew close, and looked out for each other.
Charlotte continued to have writing success with
Shirley (1849), Villette (1853) and The Professor (1857). Her father was very proud.
Charlotte finally had a short 29)respite from her lonely life. At the age of 37, she married her father’s assistant, Arthur Nicholls. They lived
happily after Charlotte’s difficult earlier life, much like Jane Eyre and Rochester. But unlike Jane and Rochester, their happiness was cut short. Nine months after their wedding, Charlotte died from a 30)lingering
fever and was buried in the family 31)vault in Haworth church.
Charlotte Bronte’s writing brought her into contact with a wider world, and she became friends with great authors of her day, such as Robert Southey注1 and William Makepeace Thackeray注2. But she always remained a true 32)inhabitant of her rural home, retiring, 33)sober, and 34)circumspect. Like her sisters, the bleak and lonely beauty of the moors was a part of her.
对于1847年的伦敦文学界来说，夏洛蒂・勃朗特代表着一个引人入胜的谜团。
一位名叫柯勒・贝尔的不知名作家写出了《简・爱》这部广受欢迎但又备受争议的小说。同年，另外两部小说相继出版，它们是阿克顿・贝尔的《阿格尼丝・格雷》以及埃利斯・贝尔的《呼啸山庄》。这些小说是出自三位不同作家之手，还是同一个人写的呢？它们的作者到底是男性还是女性？
甚至连小说的出版商也不知道答案。于是在1848年，夏洛蒂和她的妹妹安妮――《阿格尼丝・格雷》的作者来到伦敦，向出版商乔治・史密斯介绍自己，让他知道她们是两个不同的人，而且都是女性。
然而在当时，夏洛蒂的《简・爱》仍然是引发争论的源头。小说的女主人公是一位独立自主的坚强女性。书中对狂烈的感情以及暴力行为进行了一幕幕的描写。
罗切斯特在妻子还在世的情况下打算跟别人结婚这一情节让当时的人大为震惊。
对于像夏洛蒂・勃朗特这样一个隐居避世的人来说，这部小说无疑是一个奇怪的产物。夏洛蒂承认简不是自己的写照，但这个角色反映了她一生恪守的
准则。
归根结底，夏洛蒂是一名牧师的女儿。在成长过程中，她一直被灌输坚定的信念和强烈的责任感。她的父亲帕特里克・
勃朗特是一位被派到约克郡霍沃斯教区的助理牧师。那个地方只有漠泽和与世隔绝的农场。勃朗特一家就住在一间朴素的石屋里，周围都是教堂和墓地。夏洛蒂有两个姐姐――玛莉亚和伊丽莎白，还有三个小弟妹――布兰韦尔，艾米莉和安妮。他们很小的时候母亲就去世了；在一间女子学校度过了艰苦的年月后，尚处童年的
玛莉亚和伊丽莎白也去世了。玛莉亚后来成了《简・爱》中海伦・伯恩斯的原型，有些对话甚至取材自现实生活。
母亲死后，四个活下来的孩子就由父亲和姨母抚养。两位大人都是不甚热情的人。北方寒冷的气候也让孩子们在一年中的大多数时间无事可做。于是他们开始创作诗歌、故事和戏剧。
三个女孩长大后被送到学校上学。安妮身体虚弱，艾米莉思乡病严重，两人没多久就回到家中。然而，还是孩子的
夏洛蒂已经表现出坚定的责任感，先后在科恩桥学校和罗黑德学校就读。虽然她有近视，而且非常害羞，夏洛蒂还是在
罗黑德交到了一生的朋友。
夏洛蒂和弟妹们步入少年期后，他们要面对自力更生的问题。处于她那个年代和社会地位的女性并没有太多选择，其中一个就是当家庭教师，夏洛蒂便选择了一个这样的职位。虽然她的雇主都很和善，但终其一生，夏洛蒂始终未能克服对陌生人的排斥感。
夏洛蒂离开了雇主，打算和妹妹们开设自己的学校。出于这个原因，她和艾米莉前往比利时学习法语，以达到熟练水平。然而害羞的性格加上思乡病，两人又一次回到家中。
夏洛蒂也曾经与朋友伍勒小姐在自家附近一所学校教书，但依然干得不顺心。在《夏洛蒂・勃朗特的一生》一书中，夏洛蒂的朋友伊丽莎白・加斯克尔指出了夏洛蒂不适合当家庭教师或老师的原因。一是因为夏洛蒂很害羞，如果她与陌生人在一起待太久，她甚至会产生剧烈头痛。另外，夏洛蒂也不懂孩子的心。虽然她对所有人都很友善，却不知道怎样跟他们沟通。
在青年时期的大部分时间里，
勃朗特姐弟们都在努力赚钱。当开办学校的计划失败后，几个女孩开始认真考虑将写作作为职业，并开始写小说。白天她们做家务活，有时间就写一会儿；晚上当其他人都上床睡觉后，她们就聚在一起，互相比较、点评作品。
三姐妹或多或少都取得了成功，但只有《简・爱》一炮而红，也为夏洛蒂赚到足够的钱。她现在可以以写作为生了。
可是在接下来的两年里，噩运接踵而至。艾米莉和安妮因为感染肺结核去世，布兰韦尔则染上鸦片毒瘾，也离开了人世。
孩子们的姨母在早些年就过世了，所以现在只剩下夏洛蒂和她的父亲。父女俩只有对方可以依靠，他们越发亲近，相依为命。
夏洛蒂随后的《雪莉》（1849年）、《维莱特》（1853年）和《教师》（1857年）也相继获得了成功。父亲引以
为傲。
夏洛蒂孤独的生活终于可以暂告一段落。37岁时，她嫁给了父亲的助手
阿瑟・尼科尔斯。经过了
夏洛蒂早年的艰苦生活，他们过上了幸福的生活，就像简・爱和罗切斯特那样。但两人的幸福只是昙花一现，没能像简和罗切斯特那样延续下去。在婚礼结束的九个月后，夏洛蒂高烧不退，最终去世。她被安葬在霍沃斯教堂的家族墓穴中。
夏洛蒂・勃朗特的写作让她接触到更广阔的世界。她与同时期的伟大作家如
罗伯特・骚塞和威廉・梅克比斯・萨克雷成为了朋友。但她自始至终都没有离开那个农村的家――隐居避世、严于律己、小心谨慎。和妹妹们一样，漠泽那荒凉而孤独的美正是她的一部分。