The Shadow on The Wall - Branwell Bronte

He would go down as everything from the failure of the family to the if-only romantic anti-hero his sisters would become famous for creating, but he would go down, while history would see his sisters raised to the highest echelons in literature. They were the Bronte sisters. He, in the end, was much less.
But before all that, he was Branwell Bronte.
No copyright infringement was intended by this video.

[@talex1625]

The sad thing is, Branwell was always remarkable. We all are.

[@StellaWaldvogel]

He was more than that. And I'm not trying to idealize him, I know full well the difficulties alcoholics and addicts can inflict on the people around them. My heart goes out to his father and sisters. But he was an exceptionally GOOD poet, and he could write unflinchingly about subjects most people refuse to think about. Look up his "Real Rest" and "Caroline." Life must have been painful for him. Happy people don't write things like that. He really seems like he was suffering from some form of clinical depression they couldn't treat in those days. I think he was self-medicating, trying to make life more bearable.

[@robertsantana3261]

Beautifully read and written. Branwell had talent. He just didn’t realize it.

[@sthelenshistorychannel]

The thing about Branwell that is regularly overlooked by people is that he was a good example of a bad example, and Charlotte, Emily and Anne's stories wouldn't have been the same without his failings. Just goes to show that no one should be spoken of as useless xD

[@megacapulet6470]

Brilliant insightful documentary , Such unfulfilled potential of Branwell i really feel for him and am always looking for new information on him , so tragic and yet i dont pity him he was obviously a highly intelligent man with a real artistic force ,born into that extraordinary family the Brontes.

[@mickeyfinn8956]

Great video! Just to clear things up, it’s pronounced HOWarth as in How - Now - Brown - Cow.

[@OwenAbc]

Thank you for this, I'm fascinated by the family, Branwell in particular. I'm visiting Haworth next week for the first time, for a week, excited much!

[@Contessa6363]

How did the visit go? That would be exciting. I have never been to where they are from!😃👍👍♥️

[@artangel4172]

Thank You! You do justice to Branwell! Heart and Understanding! Exactly what is missing in the crazy Bronte fanatic world of groups experts, speculators and God knows who else. But to find out what happened and who was really Branwell, Emily and the others is all in the books disguised like novels, and in the poems! What makes them so great? well, it was all real, and they were real!

[@StellaWaldvogel]

Have you seen "To Walk Invisible"? It's excellent.

[@artangel4172]

@@StellaWaldvogel Yes, a couple of times. It’s a good film, I think.

[@vaslav030547]

Obviously quite an American viewpoint. I live only eight miles form Howarth and have strong connections there. May I just point out that the pronunciation is not HAYworth, but HOWorth

[@lirele]

Fascinating look into the Bronte family.

[@Contessa6363]

Couldn't imagine fighting TB and multiple addictions. Laudum was highly addictive. Many women in the American West were addicted. It was most definitely " Mother's Little Helper" in the 19th century.😮😮😮

[@martinwhite8333]

I am on Team Branwell!

[@jemajoy8839]

This is a well made documentary ❤

[@maroc1772]

So sad for Branwell😢 He inspired emily for heathcliff charatcer and also hindley charatcter too!

[@StellaWaldvogel]

And, sadly, Anne's Arthur Huntingdon in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

[@lindosland]

A good video, but there's something very important to know about Branwell that rarely gets mentioned, and that is his involvement with the local Freemasons. There's a book called 'Charlotte Bronte's Thunder', by Michele Carter that tells a complicated story of intrigue and crime around Branwell and Haworth. Now the main theme of the book is that Charlotte told this horrific story secretly through anagrams and masonic references incorporated into her books. The anagram part seems to be complete fantasy to me, but the story told is very credible. While Juliet Barker refuses, in her iconic book, 'The Brontes', to believe that Yorkshiremen of the time were as uncouth and direct as Mrs Gaskell insisted they were, and as Emily portrays them in Wuthering Heights, the evidence is closer to Emily's portrayal (and the story of my own ancestors from nearby bear this out). I'm intrigued by Carter's claim to have investigated deaths and wills of the time, and proved that there was a practice among a select group of men of taking steps to alter inheritance by cheating, and that freemasons were involved. Branwell incurred the disapproval of his fellow freemasons by seeking to take over the wealth of the Robinson family by marrying Mrs Robinson, but the freemasons put a stop to it. Branwell's letters make it quite clear that he considered the possibility of gaining the inheritance through Mrs Robinson to be his route to salvation; a despicable attitude. Branwell;s friend John Brown introduced him to the Freemasons and got him in though he was underage. It was I think Brown who gave him the message that he would be shot if he sought to contact Mrs Robinson again. This makes sense; they were ensuring that he did not get the wealth of Mr Robinson, and Mrs Robinson's refusal to see him can therefore be seen as the result of pressure put upon her. The business of cheating on inheritances so as to enrich a select group seems to be supported by evidence. Patrick Bronte was in a struggle against the rich landowners for years because they would not pay for a clean water supply for the typhus ridden village. He was however, limited by the fact that his job depended on his staying in favour with them. Charlotte and Emily make many reference to 'entail' in their novels; it was the business of entail that was key to the scam regarding the altering of wills. Branwell was I think led into bad ways by his freemason friends who met in the Black Bull and also encouraged his drinking.

[@voicemesmerising9771]

Branwell is great and I love him so much, may your soul rest in peace, I miss u uncle so much

[@poetryjones7946]

Anne Brontë never went to the Cowan Bridge school; she was far too young at the time.

[@kithale316]

Please get the names correct. MARIA Brontë was the name of the Mother. So was the nane of the sister not Mary.

[@marysue7165]

I've always felt Bramwell was crushed by his family's expectations. It's tough to be told you're a genius all your life and you discover your just an average human being. I'd want to drink and do drugs too

[@paulwinfield3070]

Is Hayworth another Place or do you mean Hawarth pronounced How? Worth

[@littlesleights]

Haworth! Thank you for the correction and sorry for the mispronunciation.

[@talex1625]

Picky. It was obvious that it was just a slight mispronunciation.

[@tonyharwood]

​@@talex1625 Quite an important error as they are two different places.

[@nigelhaywood9753]

'Thornton', not 'Thorn-n'. I had to look at the subtitles to see what name she was trying to say. Good documentary though.

[@suzesdance.vibe.lounge5061]

Maria not Mary

[@christschinwon]

Poor Patrick having to bury his wife and all 6 children. Still remained a man of God. He must have known it was the contaminated water and not some devilish trick!

[@georgeionita7307]

His father should have guided him to spent time with his education .

[@adrianmitchell99]

Aren't we all ''doomed'' to be shadows on the wall? If Branwell Bronte was not a success, why are you talking about him today? 🐱🌈🦄🤔🌝

[@megenberg8]

yes, that is more truthful. but we to Heaven live again - and unlike on earth, know only joy and contentment! that is truly remarkable!

[@srijitajana9467]

Is Heathcliff in wuthering heights a mouthpiece of branwell bronte?

[@littlesleights]

Jeez I would hope branwell wasn't as belligerent as heathcliff! 😭 But in a way you're not wrong, there's a lively debate on the moody and emotionally tortured male figures who shows up in Bronte novels and how much was based on the sisters' perspective of their tortured, frustrating, beloved brother who had so much talent.

[@barbaratanke6183]

You have used my artwork without asking.

[@mstrikesback168]

And yet, he wrote Wuthering Heights. A failure, indeed.

[@littlesleights]

Wuthering Heights was written by his sister Emily, though there is debate that she took inspiration from some of her brother's ideas!

[@poetryjones7946]

Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights 😹