Letters from Charlotte Brontë to Constantin Héger
Dublin Core
Title
Letters from Charlotte Brontë to Constantin Héger
Description
In 1913, The Times of London printed four letters written by Charlotte Brontë to her former professor Constantin Héger. The letters are part of a correspondence that took place after Charlotte left Brussels, where she had been attending the Hégers’ boarding school, in 1844. All four letters are written in French (the language in which Charlotte had been tutored by Héger), with the exception of a postscript to the last letter which is written in English.
The letters reveal that Charlotte had been utterly infatuated with Héger, whom she knew was married with children. She wrote to him as frequently as every two weeks until Madame Zoë Héger, Constantin’s wife, insisted that she limit herself to every six months. Héger’s replies were few and far between until, as Charlotte’s letters became increasingly desperate, he ceased to reply altogether. It is said that Héger tore up the letters in a fit of frustration, after which his wife retrieved the pieces, reassembled them, and preserved them in her jewelry box. Héger’s children donated the letters to the British Library in 1913, the same year that they were printed in The Times.
While Charlotte’s deep admiration for Héger had been documented in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë, the full extent of her affection was not known until the publication of the letters. Each of the four letters expresses her increasing emotional torment as she awaited a reply that would never come, culminating in a final exclamation of despair:
“… but when a dreary and prolonged silence seems to warn me that my master is becoming estranged from me – when day after day I await a letter and day after day disappointment flings me down again into overwhelming misery, when the sweet delight of seeing your writing and reading your counsel flees from me like an empty vision – then I am in a fever – I lose my appetite and my sleep – I pine away.”
The depth of feeling, and more specifically of suffering, expressed in the above passage is a testament to her exceptional talent as a writer, but at the same time there is something almost pathetic about the fact that it is not fiction. In fact, the unguarded emotion with which Charlotte writes is reminiscent of a crucial scene in Jane Eyre, her most famous novel, during which Jane passionately declares her love for Mr Rochester despite the unlikelihood of him returning the sentiment (although, of course, he does).
It seems significant that Charlotte’s infatuation and subsequent heartbreak had a profound influence on her writing. Why, then, did Gaskell exclude the details of Charlotte’s attachment to Héger? One possible explanation is that she didn’t want to alarm or embarrass the relatives of either Charlotte or Héger, while another is that she simply didn’t want to taint Charlotte’s reputation as a virtuous Victorian woman. Either way, to ignore the implications of the letters is to ignore an entire dimension of Charlotte’s character.
The letters reveal that Charlotte had been utterly infatuated with Héger, whom she knew was married with children. She wrote to him as frequently as every two weeks until Madame Zoë Héger, Constantin’s wife, insisted that she limit herself to every six months. Héger’s replies were few and far between until, as Charlotte’s letters became increasingly desperate, he ceased to reply altogether. It is said that Héger tore up the letters in a fit of frustration, after which his wife retrieved the pieces, reassembled them, and preserved them in her jewelry box. Héger’s children donated the letters to the British Library in 1913, the same year that they were printed in The Times.
While Charlotte’s deep admiration for Héger had been documented in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë, the full extent of her affection was not known until the publication of the letters. Each of the four letters expresses her increasing emotional torment as she awaited a reply that would never come, culminating in a final exclamation of despair:
“… but when a dreary and prolonged silence seems to warn me that my master is becoming estranged from me – when day after day I await a letter and day after day disappointment flings me down again into overwhelming misery, when the sweet delight of seeing your writing and reading your counsel flees from me like an empty vision – then I am in a fever – I lose my appetite and my sleep – I pine away.”
The depth of feeling, and more specifically of suffering, expressed in the above passage is a testament to her exceptional talent as a writer, but at the same time there is something almost pathetic about the fact that it is not fiction. In fact, the unguarded emotion with which Charlotte writes is reminiscent of a crucial scene in Jane Eyre, her most famous novel, during which Jane passionately declares her love for Mr Rochester despite the unlikelihood of him returning the sentiment (although, of course, he does).
It seems significant that Charlotte’s infatuation and subsequent heartbreak had a profound influence on her writing. Why, then, did Gaskell exclude the details of Charlotte’s attachment to Héger? One possible explanation is that she didn’t want to alarm or embarrass the relatives of either Charlotte or Héger, while another is that she simply didn’t want to taint Charlotte’s reputation as a virtuous Victorian woman. Either way, to ignore the implications of the letters is to ignore an entire dimension of Charlotte’s character.
Creator
Charlotte Brontë
Source
British Library
Date
1844-1845
Rights
British Library
Format
Manuscript, 4 pages
Type
Letters
Files
Citation
Charlotte Brontë, “Letters from Charlotte Brontë to Constantin Héger,” Manhattan College Omeka , accessed June 17, 2024, https://omeka-pilot.manhattan.edu/items/show/74.