Haworth, Yorkshire (a.k.a. Bronte Land)

Visiting Bronte Land, or Haworth (Ha-wuth), was like stepping through a time machine into the days of Charlotte and Emily. My favorite part of the museum was listening to Sue, our guide, discuss the history of the Brontes through photos. The stories are what make their world come to life; Sue's tales of Branwell Bronte's (the girls' brother) raucous behavior as well as Charlotte's dislike for her own personal appearance made the family more accessible on a personal level. In turn, these descriptions invigorate any previous reading of the texts as you can see the motivation behind some of the characters and how closely related they may have been to the writers themselves. Sue's talk of the Brontes and their daily habits made the family and their surrounding areas come alive.

The Bronte Museum itself is filled with primary source documents and historical items--everything is there that can come right out and pinch you as if to say, "It really did happen. They really existed and this is where Jane and Catherine and everyone else came from, too." Charlotte's indignant letter about the specifications of making of her wedding dress is Jane refusing wedding proposals until it is just right for her. Emily's massive dog Keeper's collar and her own detailed watercolor of the half-bull, half-mastiff reflects his importance in her life; her preference to him over most human companions (other than her own family) is much like Heathcliff's preference for the wild moor. Catherine says, "he's a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man....and I am his friend" (94) in her attempt to explain Heathcliff to Isabella Linton, much like Anne and Charlotte Bronte may have had to explain their sister Emily to friends who didn't understand her standoffish ways. Only Emily's family seemed to understand and accept her for who she was, much like it seemed only Catherine Earnshaw loved and understood Heathcliff.

Each artifact from the family is a reminder of what their lives were like--isolated, full of imagination, and yet, full of early deaths. Small tablets listing the poor health conditions of the town reinforce why the bleak graveyard outside the parsonage (the Bronte's home) is stacked with graves, according to Sue 42,000 bodies buried there, and why further burials were not allowed in the same space. Emily's "dark" world of Wuthering Heights doesn't seem so dark anymore--her reality was people dying left and right from unknown conditions. It is no wonder both Emily and Jane exclude the role of a biological mother from their novels almost entirely and include the deaths of other important females such as Helen Burns and Catherine Earnshaw Linton--this was their life, too; their own mother died at such a young age that the girls scarcely knew her and their two older sisters also passed by about the age of ten. One museum sign posts a critic's early review of WH: "There is an old saying that those who eat toasted cheese at night will dream of Lucifer. The author of Wuthering Heights has evidently eaten toasted cheese" (Bronte Museum, 2009). While Emily's story is dark and twisted, her experiences with life and death assuredly intertwined with any strange and personal mind dwellings of her own. Their surroundings forced the Brontes to create their own worlds full of new people and adventures, but they also infused realism into their romantic ideals because they were writing characters and settings based largely on what they saw around them--people who dreamed of better, healthier and happier days with freedom and choice rather than isolation and control. The museum also emphasizes the Bronte sisters' strength in their words and actions in sharp contrast to their brother who could not seem to show the same confidence in his artistic endeavors or willpower in his daily life--both Emily and Anne reflect this same experienced female confidence in their heroines.

The gift shop at the museum is filled with many, many versions of the Bronte sisters' books, books about the family themselves and also various maps of Yorkshire and the moors. Its emphasis seems to build on historical knowledge of the Brontes and the time period--it reflects just how real these stories were in description of the land and daily life. The only truly fanciful ideas were the roles of the women in the books which, while they may have reflected the Bronte sisters' ideals for women's future of independence and strength, were not a reality for the whole of women in their time. Newer, graphic novel versions of both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights reflect the timelessness of the stories and ideas in them--going on personal journeys, fighting for what you believe in, showing strong will and character to succeed or else dying in relinquishing these traits. The many maps available call attention to the importance of the landscape---it is interesting that places the Bronte sisters would have relished in exploring independently, today we mostly prefer to feel guided and safe upon. I think Charlotte, and definitely Emily, would be annoyed at the maps--they would probably prefer we embrace the wild and venture out onto the moors on our own path.

On the moors, you truly do feel alone--free with your thoughts and able to make your own choices without anyone's judgment or leading. You can feel just as the sisters might have tromping through damp nature--with the exception of the ultra lightweight dresses they would have worn with a little cloth to cover their feet in the cold, brisk weather; these were some tough ladies in their day or any day! The views are spectacular and help create that feeling of nature in abundance and in sharp contrast to the isolated homes perched on steep hilltops. It is no wonder that young Cathy and Heathcliff would find it "one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and remain their all day" (41) as it would provide a nice escape from the strict rules inside the house where they might be "banished from the sitting-room, for making a noise, or a light offense of the kind" (41). The weather is fickle: wind whips and rain falls softly only for a moment or two as you pick your way amongst sheep and their abundant dropping and then the sky will soften and sunlight dries you almost instantaneously. The moors truly reflect the good and the bad, the wild and the calm of nature and, always, the choice to embrace it or to reject it. As we reached the site of Top Withens (a.k.a. the plausible inspiration for Wuthering Heights), I was fatigued but in awe that a house would be so remote, so a-shambles and yet so chilling: it fits the novel to a tee. Nature has literally taken over, as young Catherine Linton and Hareton would have loved, and exposed the entire interior. Just before leaving, my leg was stung by a nettle growing out of the stones of the house itself--brief, but a palpable piercing--and I thought it was much like Heathcliff himself had reached out as a gentle but sharp reminder that this was his space and it was my time to move on.