In search of the Brontes Part 2 - 3/6

[@ksotikoula]

When I read that part and his treatment of Ellen, I too thought that Charlotte didn't lost much not being with him. He would never have understood Charlotte's anxiety about her father and would not agree on his living with them like Nicholls did or caring for him after her death. Charlotte often told him that she liked his home character better than his businesslike one. I guess she could see the danger of his turning out into a rich, worldly and perhaps corrupted man.

[@ksotikoula]

She had written to him:You are to keep a fraction of yourself,if it be only the end of your little finger,for him(Currer Bell)&that fraction he will neither let gentleman or lady,author or artist,take possession of.I understood it as saying she didn't care what their relationship was going to be,as long as he didn't let anyone else interfere.I believe she had his mother in mind.She had once suffered by Madame interfering in her platonic relationship with Heger to like seeing it again.

[@ksotikoula]

In 8:44 Charlotte instead of introducing herself to Smith she just handed him his letter towards Currer Bell. When he asked quite abruptly where did she get this? she answered from the post office, it was addressed to me and she could not help laughing at his surprise.

[@ksotikoula]

In 1:57 Charlotte did not hear gossips that Arthur Bell Nichols was pining for her. Ellen Nussey just told her that there were gossips that Charlotte was going to marry him and Charlotte replied that the rumour was so unfounded that she could not even relate it to him as a joke due to the cold far away civility and their (curates) view of her as an old maid.

[@ksotikoula]

There are some biographers that agree with you. I believe she responded to the vivacity and the spontaneous and joyous in him. Gaskell had written in a letter that C was a person with a great urge to live. So, she was not the melancholic person she presented her in her biography. Her letters to Smith and some of her friends are teasing and funny. I believe she was very attracted to him but could see his faults plainly.Some think that even if he had proposed she wouldn't accept him.I am not sure.

[@ladylucy780]

About Emily's and Anne's manuscripts and juvenilia. I don't think they were destroyed, I think they were sold. Mr. Nicholls started selling some Bronte things, for example he sold Emily's writting desk. That would explain why Charlotte's juvenilia still survives, he didn't sold her things only those of her sisters. Why would he leave C.B juvenilia, full of drama and worse, and destroy those of her sisters? He wanted to protect C B privacy for most part, so why leave her scandalous juvenilia writtings and destroy those of her sisters. Branwell's juvenilia survived as well because Branwell was not liked then and nobody wanted to buy it. It's nonsense that Charlotte destroyed it. Sure she edited her sisters' works and added some lines or supressed some publication, but she didn't destroyed the original writtings. That's why we know what lines she added. Anne would not destroy it, you can see it from her writtings. She insisted on writting every brutal line, because it was truthful. She would not try to "supress" or "edit" anything, she didn't care what others thought of her and Emily that much. As for Emily herself, she probably didn't even admit to herself that she was dying and if she did I hardly doubt even she would find a nerve to destroy such a big part of her life (from what I've read Gondal was a huge deal for her). My quess is that it was sold and will turn up in some old attic. It could be in any part of the world as people from America, Belgium traveled to England to buy some Brontes' relics. Charlotte Bronte belgium essays begin to turn up, now it's time for E and A. PEOPLE GO AND LOOK AT YOUR GRANDPARENTS ATTICS! LOL.

[@jposh707]

If it had been Bramwell's book the father would have been like "My son! I love you! My son, you are a GENIUS!" But since it was written by a woman (Charlotte), he was just like "Meh. It's a better book than I expected." I hate chauvinism!!!!

[@Vic35102]

jposh707 i toetly agree banwell was the golden boy that did no good

[@iamme611]

I am selfish. When I hear there was another novel that Emily started I want to cry! I hope fragments of it show up. I'd hate to think charlotte burned it.....

[@sahaniperera3]

Honestly, I am glad that C burnt them, if she did. After i realized the idiotic conclusion done by a modern writer to the incomplete Sandition novel by Jane Austen, I am totally relieved that the book was burnt, otherwise some ignorant people who think they know E or A Bronte by their years of work or study would have given a disadvantages conclusion.

[@ksotikoula]

I don't like him much either.But he was right about Dr John.He had suggested to Charlotte to make his house the set of a novel.She refused saying that she would feel too much like the snake that enters the paradise& that she didn't like her subjects to know.She reconsidered it however.Some think that Smith was offended by her presenting him as the worldly Graham who could not understand Lucy.She also comments in Villette that in Paul's friendship she could count on. It was not a passing whim.

[@ksotikoula]

But no one showed interest. I doubt if anyone of the critics or the public knew of her death before Charlotte cleared things up and wrote that prologue to Wuthering Heights stating their separate identity and works. So there was not any demand for it and Emily, who could continue it, was gone. Charlotte could have kept it as a memento despite the pain it cost her to look at the productions of a lost sister. But Emily herself could have been averse to it. We will never know I am afraid...

[@ksotikoula]

So you see Graham&Smith had the same faults&merits. I dislike mostly his intense attentions to C that made people believe he was going to marry her (so blattant they must have been) & then his not mentioning his engagement. It was either indifferent if he considered C a friend or guilty for creating different impressions. I believe C was hurt mostly about his unfriendly conduct&not by any disappointed hopes for getting him as some claim.She had pre-decided that with Villette or was testing him.

[@iamme611]

Yes, I agree about not liking Smith. Though I do think there is ample evidence Dr. John is based on him. I just read Lyn Gordan''s bio calledCharlotte Bronte: A passionate life. When I read of this horrid treatment towards an olderly woman and a battered wife, I was quite happy she stayed away from him. (not that I am a big Nichollas fan, but he is much kinder than Smith).

[@silverlitunicorn8573]

"When I read of this horrid treatment towards an olderly woman and a battered wife"~why, what did he do?

[@ksotikoula]

I would like to comfort you about that, but it is highly improbable that someone would have rescued them&would not have presented them so far. I only hope that Emily hadn't written much of it, so that the loss wouldn't be much, if eventually Charlotte did destroy it. You see, if Emily had gained more recognition while she lived or if her publisher was as active as Smith, someone might have done the same he did for Charlotte: preserve what was left even for profit.