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To Walk Invisible?

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I watched PBS Masterpiece’s new program, To Walk Invisible, last night. It dramatizes a small slice of the life of three sisters, their destructive brother, and clergyman father. These sisters lived in obscurity for most of their lives, though now their names are famous and their works required reading in schools, printed in countless editions, and brought to life in several film adaptations: Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre), Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights) and Anne Brontë (The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall).

I was drawn to watch the program because Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre helped inspire my love of British literature at a young age (along with The Secret Garden). But after last night, I realized I knew very little about the author herself. Or her family.

The two-hour program shows the sisters feeling frustrated and trapped, forced to be dependent on the men of their family and chafing under the iniquities of life at a time when women were in many ways “powerless and invisible.” While their father stumbles along in partial blindness (both physically as well as blind to his son’s manic manipulations), the brother drinks away every shilling and opportunity given him, until the sisters begin to feel quite desperate about the future, and what will happen to them after their father dies.

The sisters have long written poetry and stories, but Charlotte begins to prod them toward considering publication as a way to support themselves. Emily, who was the most talented poet among them, at first refused to consider publication, unwilling to be scrutinized and judged by anyone willing to lay down a few shillings to buy their work. (Can anyone relate? :))

Finally, worsening circumstances at home spur them to action. It reminded me of my own writing journey in a small way, when after procrastinating for years, my husband’s difficult two-year-long layoff was what finally pushed me to finish my first historical novel.

Emily makes Charlotte promise that no one must ever know who they really are. To be taken seriously, they adopt pseudonyms containing their own initials that are neither female or male: Currer Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell. Like most writers, the sisters experience rejection, but persevere, until each has a novel or more to her credit.

Even their own father does not know until Emily encourages Charlotte to confide in him, so he will not worry about their futures. The actor’s portrayal of his surprise and pride (in Charlotte, especially), was very touching to watch.

One of my favorite moments in the program came later when Charlotte receives an angry letter from her publisher that prompts her to reveal her identity at last. She and Anne to travel 17 hours by carriage to London to try to address a misunderstanding and right the injustice (Emily refuses to go with them).

When they meet the handsome young publisher at last and hand over the letter he sent to “Currer Bell,” he demands to know where she got it. The dismissive, suspicious way he looks at Charlotte, who is very short and plain, makes his disbelief clear.

She very somberly tries to explain the misunderstanding and all the while he just stares at her. Finally he says, “Sorry. You are Currer Bell?”

And then Charlotte’s eyes spark with indignation and she gets a little feisty. “What makes you doubt it, Mr. Smith? My accent? My gender? My size?”

His eyes widen and his face transforms—it is priceless. I think part of the reason realization dawns is because what she says echoes famous lines from Jane Eyre in which the heroine protests, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!”

The publisher begs her forgiveness, effusively shakes her hand, and sends for his head reader who first read Jane Eyre and recognized “its genius.” That man’s mouth drops open as well, star-struck to meet this plain but powerful author he so greatly admired. Loved it.

Yes, sometimes the Yorkshire accents are difficult to understand. And, being based on a true story, parts of it are dark and bleak (especially as the brother’s addiction spirals out of control). Sadly, Emily and Anne both died very young of tuberculosis, only a few months after their brother passed, and Charlotte herself died before the age of 40. Yet all three live on in their much-loved books.

Watching To Walk Invisible made me want to share Jane Eyre with my family, read The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall, (I did enjoy the 1996 adaptation with Toby Stephens) and learn more about Emily Brontë (even though I am not a fan of Wuthering Heights). It inspired me to want to write more myself. If these sisters could write in their situation, I have no excuses!

These hard-working, compassionate, and faithful women accomplished a great deal in their short lives. I want to make the most of the time I’m given, too. If you are a Brontë fan or a writer, I hope you will watch, empathize, and be inspired as well.

If you missed it, you can watch it here for a limited time.

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Julie Klassen

JULIE KLASSEN loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. She worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full time. Three of her novels have won the Christy Award for Historical Romance. Julie and her husband have two sons and live in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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Comments

  1. Thank you SO MUCH for the wonderful story on the Bronte sisters! JANE EYRE has been one of my all time favorite novels. I read it in high school and did an indepth book report on it and over the years, I’ve read it again and again and have watched the movie. To be honest, the book is so much better (but isn’t it usually? I LOVE books.) I truly enjoyed this article and plan to see TO WALK INVISIBLE as soon as possible. Thank you again!

      • My favorite is definitely the 1983 version with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton. Close second is the 1975 version with Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston. Orson Welles in the 1943 version is probably physically closest to the book Rochester. I love the story, Jane Eyre. Sigh. 🙂

        • I liked Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre, and being a Toby Stephens fan, I enjoyed his Mr. Rochester in a different adaption, though he certainly doesn’t fit the role physically! I like different things about many versions, though my least favorite may be George C Scott as Rochester….

  2. I was glad to learn about the Bronte sisters as I watched it. What a hard life they had. And, yes, Julie, keep writing. Love your books!

  3. I watched the program and loved it. The costumes and scenery were very authentic. The acting was superb which made up for the parts of the dialogue I could not understand because of their Yorkshire accents. But as a whole it was lovely and true to the real life story. I too felt after watching that if these ladies, in spite of all their hardships could be so resilient, resourceful and brave, then what is my excuse. Though they had such short life spans, they used their God given talents that ultimately has entertained as well as educate about their era, countless numbers of people…including me! 😊 Oh! And LOVED the scene you mentioned with Charlotte and the young publisher! Charlotte “became” Jane Eyre for sure! 😊

  4. Hi Julie, thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Bronte sisters and To Walk Invisible. I wondered about their faith, which is so evident in their writing, especially in Jane Eyre, and in Emily’s poems, but which seemed almost absent in the program. I did enjoy it, though as you said, much of the story was dark and somber. Even the lighting and settings were dark to cast that mood. Very interesting to see all the challenges they faced.

    • Good points, Carrie.Their faith was downplayed for sure, when it could have added some light to the piece. In fact, I just read that one of the things Anne really wanted to do while they were in London visiting their publisher was to worship at a local church.

      • That’s interesting. It seems from the themes in their writing that their faith was very important to them.

  5. Jane Eyre has long been my favorite classic novel. And now, I am so intrigued by this movie. Thank you for recommending it, Julie! I am so grateful for strong women like the Bronte sisters who paved the way for females authors.

  7. I loved this PBS special. Like you, I had only a vague idea of the sister’s true lives, and it was amazing to see their story unfold.
    My husband even watched it with me, and was astonished to see how these girls were dependent on their drunken brother & father for everything, and what kind of a future that indicated for them. I loved seeing him “realize” things that I, an avid British history lover, have realized for years.
    It was really neat to see each girl’s personality and how it affected their stories. I saw right away how Charlotte’s unrequited feelings influenced Jane Eyre and how Emily’s love for walking on the moor & “spirited” nature created Wuthering Heights.
    I myself am a larger fan of Emily’s work, simply because the emotions that surge in her work are something I understand easier, but my sister is partial to Jane Eyre like you. I should try watching it, or reading it again. I’ve just never really “gotten it.”
    My favorite part of the drama was easily when the girls met with their publisher. Oh, the happy realizations. 🙂

    • Laura, is there something of Emily’s you would recommend I read (besides Wuthering Heights)? I agree, she seems a fascinating, talented woman!

  8. I loved learning more about the Bronte sisters. I really knew nothing besides the books they wrote, so it was very educational and left me with lots of questions I want to research. I think I shall have to revisit their works.

  9. I’ll have to watch this production. The biography, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, by Elizabeth Gaskell, was a fantastic read. Yes, it was melancholy at times and there are several letters written in French that I did not understand. Over all, I really enjoyed it and felt as if I personally understood Charlotte and could identify with her soul. The 1995 Sense and Sensibility soundtrack and Classical Sensibilities are lovely, melancholy music choices to accompany you whilst reading this biography. I do realize they aren’t contemporary to Mrs. Gaskell or Charlotte Brontë , but they fit the mood.

    https://www.amazon.com/Classical-Sensibilities-Austen-Companion-1775-1817/dp/B001IAT52A/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1490715360&sr=8-27&keywords=jane+austen+music

  10. Julie, have you visited the Brontë parsonage at Haworth on one of your England trips? I “went” there on Google maps street view when I read the biography of Charlotte Brontë.

  11. Oh dear, I hate to be a downer Debbie but I can’t say that the show left me wanting to meet any of the Bronte sisters. The story certainly went a long way, though to explain their dramatic dark outlook that comes across in the novels. I was also disappointed that the show didn’t show how soon after Bramwell died, that the sisters also died–that’s the real tragedy–imagine all the stories that were never written.

  12. Julie, thanks for the great wrap-up of “To Walk Invisible” – I thought it was excellent as well. I read a biography of the Bronte sisters years ago and from what I remember this was pretty true to their lives. Remarkable young women with fairly sad lives who were really literary geniuses…against all odds, it seems. The saddest part of all was not in the series – their very short lives. How heart breaking that seems, given their great talent.

  13. I lived in Yorkshire for many years before moving to the USA. I totally understand what you said about the accent, because my husband had the same problem when he first met my (now former) step-father! The man had a very deep voice.

    I’ve been to Haworth on both sunny and overcast days, but I think the overcast days gave more of an understanding of the bleakness surrounding the Bronte family. The front of their home overlooks a church graveyard and it’s said that Patrick Bronte buried over 100 of his parishioners each year. (The church there now wasn’t the one he served. That one was demolished in 1979.) Behind the parsonage is moorland.

    In sunshine, the area looks very different. It was part of stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France, which took place on a bright summer’s day. The photos of the cyclists going UP the steep cobbled high street don’t give any idea of how desolate the place can be, not even the moor that was the inspiration for Wuthering Heights.

    I definitely suggest a visit to Yorkshire if you can make it one day. As well as Haworth, I also suggest Scarborough (where Anne is buried) and Whitby (home of the abbey founded by St Hilda and inspiration for Dracula). Actually, I can probably recommend a number of historic sites in Yorkshire that would make for some good romantic settings 🙂

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