Motherless Women Writers: The Affect on Plot and Character in the Brontë Sisters’ Novels

The idea that an author's heritage and environment can be reflected in the plotline of his/her narratives and in the development of each character is thought-provoking; while it is true that an author's voice may not be the same as the narrator's voice, the work is still influenced by the author and his/her perception of the characters, their world, and their journey. The characters expand from an idea the author has (suddenly or not) into a personality, a heart, and a voice that comes from the author's imagination onto the page the same as plot details might. The way the story unfolds and the way the characters interact with one another must be well crafted before the author is content, and this implies that the author's work is a reflection of his/her actual nature, ideas, and struggle. The Brontë sisters are no different, and I believe that their struggle of being raised without a mother influenced the way they saw the world and the way that each interpreted her loss into each work. What I hope to discover is whether or not being motherless affected plot and character development in the Brontë sisters' novels. Approach: I believe being motherless at an early age influenced the novels of the Brontë Sisters, and I will examine this in three of their works: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I will be examining exactly how each sister created and interacted with her female characters, and how the plot was devised. I will also investigate how the central female character is affected by the lack of a mother figure or affected by an older female figure in the course of their narratives. These elements will prove whether or not the lack of a mother figure is necessary for the story to develop. I will look into the sisters' backgrounds through biographical accounts to express parallels between the 3 characters of the novels and the Brontë Family and their acquaintances if any parallels reside in these works. I will be constructing this thesis in the following manner: I will provide a brief discussion of the lives of the Bronte sisters in a background section. I will also introduce and discuss the three sections of each work that best emphasizes the motherless circumstance in each novel. Next, I will provide a parallel section where I will …