Comparison: Charlotte and Emily Bronte

[georgette_x]

Personally, I prefer Charlotte. The writing style is so much more direct, and clear. She's also wryly funny. However, except for Jane Erye, all her other books are about women who shun men, only to marry them in the end. Doesn't make for a very romantic book, which I am a fan of.

On the other hand, Wuthering Heights was a masterpiece. It's one of my favorite books of all time. I hated it the first time I read it, but adored it the second. Probably because I delved deeper into Emily Bronte's sentences. She isn't the kind of writer where you can just skim over parts. No, you have to read the entire thing. Which can take some getting used to.

I'm not pretending to be an expert on the matter. In fact, I've only read one of Charlotte Bronte's books. I just really felt like I needed to make a topic. There you go, my secret is revealed. biggrin

So, any opinions on the matter? Care to compare the Bronte sisters? (haha, rhymes!)  

[Mekaama]

I was required to read Jane Eyre and hated it. I found Charlotte's writing voice prosy and dull, and her romance based plot and characters rather pathetic and unbelievable. I wasn't inspired to read her sister.  

[Diklo]

I must say I prefer Emily. I love "Wuthering Heights" and I reread it annually.

But, I also loved "Jane Eyre." I think both novels epitomize the Gothic novel genre. Emily Bronte, I think, wrote with more passion, while Charlotte is more methodical and precise.

By the way, another favorite author of mine is E.F. Benson. He wrote silly romantic novels in the early 20th century, dozens of them. He was also a serious scholar who wrote a wonderful biography of Charlotte Bronte. I think he really captured her personality. After reading the biography, I read another fictional work of his called "Secret Lives." It takes place in the 1930's or 40's in England. The main character is a dowdy middle-aged woman who sits in her house all day with the gramophone playing too loudly. None of her neighbors knows she is actually a famous writer of "bodice-ripper" romance novels under a nom-de-plume. They all despise her, but they all love her novels.

I realized that the author in the novel had the personality of Charlotte Bronte! She was sort of dull and humorless on the outside, but she had an amazing inner life.

E.F. Benson also wrote the "Mapp and Lucia" novels. They are very funny.  

[dianersj]

i actually hated wuthering heights. then again it was a 2 week assignment given to me in my first year of high school and i haven't read it since. The only thing i can remember was hating the whole issue with Cliff and that girl (i'm terribly sorry her name escaped me) and just how he was so loyal to their agreement of being dirty and he expected her to be the same when she came back from (her neighbor's house was it?) and completely changed. I found that unfair and i sympathized with Cliff.  

[krikit_my_dog_XP]

I love Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. It is one of my favorite books. Then again, I like most classics.  

[PornYesterday]

If I had to choose between the two, which I necessarily don’t enjoy doing, especially with the vast difference in their writing, but I’ll do anyway for this particular poll; I would have to say, Charlotte Brontë. I’ve read all of her works, except for Shirley, and her writing is very consistent, which I appreciate.

My favourite of her works would have to be Jane Eyre, mainly because of Edward Rochester. He simply makes the story, and makes it the amazing classic it has become today… but that may just be me. The mere eccentric qualities of his character opposed to Jane Eyre’s manipulated plainness, really makes it for an interesting read… tantalizingly romantic at points, too. But not so in a cheesy manner… it spoke volumes, and I enjoyed a lot of the themes belying the story’s content.

At the same time, though, I found, Villette in particular, lacking in character development, and awkward in how things led up to one another. Especially with Lucy Snowe’s character, but I don’t want to delve too much into the story, especially not the ending where I was seemingly headed. Some people may not have read it, yet.

And in saying that, I digress.

With Emily Brontë’s writing, though, it’s much more passionate and embellished, particularly when it comes to the emotions of a person. Charlotte’s comes across more concise and metaphorical at points; she uses a lot of symbolism in her writing to enhance a character’s perception, and emotions, too.

In turn, Emily Brontë had simply had one work published, excluding her short stories and poems, while Charlotte was able to publish a few more. In saying so, I feel… if Emily hadn’t passed away, and had, had the opportunity to publish more works, I’m confident in believing her writing would have become more pronounced than it is now, and she would have played a lot more, in comparison to Wuthering Heights.

And if that had happened… I can only imagine some of the things she would have written.


With that, I apologize for the ramble, and typing a little too… proper, just felt like the right thing to do at the time. I suppose this particular Guild makes me feel as if I should write like this, especially considering what it’s all about.

And that’s that.  

[Miss Opie]

It's so tough to decide!

I'm going to go with Charlotte, though, because Jane Eyre has to be one of the most tragically beautiful novels I have ever read. The characters were just so...real. Even the physical attributes and the brutal honesty between Edward and Jane. I found the part in which he tells her that she's beautiful, and she replies by saying that she in fact, is not and neither is he to be one of the most human parts of the book. And Jane's constant voice in the back of her head that was nagging her about the relationship between her and Mr. Rochester, how it was most likely never going to happen, was another distinctly human touch to one of my favorite novels.

Not that I don't love Wuthering Heights to pieces, because I do. I find it amusing how all of the main characters are such horrible people. It adds a little variety to a book world dominated by Mary Sues and Gary Stus. I also loved the fact that Cathy and Heathcliff's love, for the most part, was based upon hate and revenge. It gave it a dark, but slightly humorous (don't ask) tint to the novel and made it unique and wonderful.  

[turtles rock]

I prefer Charlotte Bronte. "Jane Eyre" is one of my favorite books of all time. "Wuthering Heights" was big drag for me to read. It could have been because I wasn't really into it at the time, and I'll probably feel differently should I pick it up to read today though.