The Brilliant Bronte Sisters

Good morning, once again we are exploring the Bronte Sisters as I am winding down March 2024.  This time we are getting the perspective of Shelia Hancock who has been long fascinated by the Bronte sisters.  The documentary is called The Brilliant Bronte Sisters and has a run time of 46:46.

Shelia Hancock is an actress and writer who has been fascinated by the Bronte Sisters.  She seeks to answer her questions: “How did three spinsters write the most shocking books?”  Hancock begins her journey in Haworth and the moors that would have inspired Emily Bronte.  Her quest takes her to Brussels where Charlotte Bronte developed her writing style.  Then she ends her journey in Scarborough and learns more about Anne Bronte.  Along the way, she meets with the leading voices of the Brontës as well as the artists who continued to be inspired by the Brontës.

Shelia kicks off the documentary with her love for Wuthering Heights, how she loved the movies, and how she would run wild on the moors.  However, as she grew up she dug a little bit deeper into Wuthering Heights and looks at how the item was a dark look at the human romance.  Then this transitions into a discussion on both Jane Eyre and Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Shelia goes to the parsonage where the Bronte Sisters grew up.  Patrick Bronte took on a parish with his wife and six young children.  Patrick was a man who pulled himself up by his bootstraps and made his way through the world.  Unfortunately, two of the Brontes passed away as well as Mrs. Bronte, leaving Patrick to raise four children on his own.  Emily, Ann, Charlotte, and Bramwell were raised in the parsonage and Patrick would encourage their creativity.  They all showed potential as artists, however, storytelling was their great passion.

While Patrick prepared his sermons, upstairs, the children allowed their imaginations to run wild.  They were inspired by a gift of twelve soldiers.  It was with these soldiers they would create their imaginary world.  They would act out plays with their soldiers and create adventures for their soldiers.  Like Tony, Shelia examines the magazines that were created by the Bronte siblings.  These small magazines are very impressive, I cannot believe that the children could write that small.  I find it impossible to write that small myself!  Bramwell and Charlotte collaborated on these initial stories and created their own world.  Anne and Emily, not to be outdone by Charlotte and Bramwell, created their own world as well.  Emily sneakily created an entry for her fantasy world and put it in a geography textbook!

From these stories, Shelia then explores the Brontës as individual women.  She kicks off this exploration with a look at Emily and her exploration of the moors in Wuthering Heights.  Shelia parallels Emily’s own love of the moors with Cathy’s obsession with Heathcliffe.  Even today, Wuthering Heights continues to inspire.  Shelia takes in a ballet rehearsal inspired by Wuthering Heights.  She talks with the company that is performing the ballet.  Emily was only twenty-seven when she completed Wuthering Heights.

Charlotte and Anne were inspired by moors as well.  Charlotte was ambitious and wanted fame.  Unfortunately at the time, Charlotte could only secure a position as a teacher instead of the writing career she wanted.  Charlotte was ambitious and driven and hated teaching and the students she had under her care.  However, Charlotte, Anne, and Emily would hatch a new plan.  They would set up their own school.  Charlotte would set off for Brussels to improve her French.  It was this trip that would change Charlotte’s life.  She met the love of her life and was so deeply unhappy with the relationship that she went to a catholic priest to confess the relationship.  Would Charlotte be able to complete her ambitions?  What about Anne’s ambitions?  Will the Brontës ever be published?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out!

I find Shelia a delightful narrator, and she shows a genuine curiosity about her subjects.  I like that she moved beyond the parsonage to places where the Brontës went.  Shelia tells the story of the Brontës very well.  This would be a good documentary to show to an English class, I would also pair it with Tony’s Walking Through History episode on the Brontës.