Emily Brontë is an especially intriguing figure who is beloved by many readers of Victorian English literature and Gothic novels. While Emily Brontë produced only one novel in her incredibly short time, Wuthering Heights remains an iconic masterpiece of literary genius that is still being taught as a canonical classic in schools today.

Despite Wuthering Height’s everlasting influence, little is known of Emily Brontë herself. It might be fair to say that we know so little of Emily Brontë because she died young and spent much of her life inside with the rest of the Brontë family. The Brontë sisters are excellent examples that writers don’t need to party as hard as F. Scott Fitzgerald or be as adventurous as Jack London to write great novels. Continuing our series of the Brontë family and her sisters Charlotte and Anne, Emily Brontë was perhaps the most introverted of the Brontë children, so here are 30 facts we know about the mastermind behind Wuthering Heights:

Life & Times of Emily Brontë

1. When was Emily Brontë born?

Emily Jane Brontë was born on July 30, 1818 in Thornton, England. Emily Brontë was the 2nd-youngest Brontë sibling after Anne Brontë. Charlotte Brontë was her older sister.

2. Emily’s homesickness made attending school difficult

While Emily Brontë attended Roe Head Girls’ School, where her sister Charlotte Brontë was a teacher, she only stayed there for a couple of months before her other sister Anne Brontë took Emily’s place. Emily Brontë totally hated the grueling routine that was set for her and longed for her long hikes through the moors by the Haworth parsonage. Charlotte wrote that: “Liberty was the breath of Emily’s nostrils; without it, she perished…. I felt in my heart she would die if she did not go home.” We feel you, Emily.

3. There is only one undisputed picture of Emily Brontë

The only undisputed picture of Emily Brontë is the portrait that her brother Branwell Brontë painted of her and her sisters Charlotte and Anne in 1834. Bran That’s Emily Brontë in the middle! Charlotte Brontë is on the right and Anne Brontë is on the left.

4. Branwell Brontë did another portrait of his sister

This is another Brontë sister image that Branwell Brontë painted with oil on canvas around 1833. However, there is disagreement whether this portrait is of Emily Brontë or her sister Anne Brontë. This could be Emily or it could be Anne. Maybe we’ll never know! Judge for yourself!

5. Emily Brontë couldn’t handle the stress of work

The other Brontë sisters were more practical and appreciated work as an opportunity to support their household, but Emily Brontë was different from her sisters. When Emily Brontë became a teacher at Law Hill School in Halifax, West Yorkshire in September 1838, her always-fragile health soon got even worse under the stress of the 17-hour workdays. Her justified hatred for working stupid jobs only grew. Emily Brontë returned home back to the Haworth parsonage soon after in 1839, with the idea that the Brontë sisters would start their own school.

6. Emily Brontë was uncomfortable in Brussels despite excelling in her studies

Emily Brontë joined her sister Charlotte to the Héger Pensionnat, a boarding school in Brussels, Belgium in 1842, where the Brontë sisters attended Constantin Héger’s girls’ academy to get better at their French and German before launching their own school. Emily Brontë, unlike her sister Charlotte, was uneasy in Brussels and refused to embrace Belgian styles, declaring, “I prefer to be as God made me,” which made her somewhat an outsider.

7. Constantin Héger wrote that Emily Brontë “should have been a man”

Constantin Héger was impressed by Emily’s talents and strength of character, one that due to the sexist culture at the time was thought to be wasted on a woman. Gross! He wrote that if Emily Brontë hadn’t been a woman then “Her powerful reason would have deduced new spheres of discovery from the knowledge of the old, and her strong imperious will would never have been daunted by opposition or difficulty.” Barf! He also described her as having “a head for logic, and a capability of argument unusual in a man and rarer indeed in a woman.” Eww! Can’t believe Charlotte was into this dude.

8. It was Charlotte Brontë that discovered Emily’s talent, which made Emily furious

Charlotte Brontë came across her sister Emily’s hidden stack of poems in the mid-1840s and immediately thought they were brilliant. Charlotte Brontë made it her personal mission to find a home for a collection of poems written by herself and her two sisters called Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. However, the poems were very personal to Emily Brontë and her anger lasted for days because of Charlotte’s perceived trespassing. Nevertheless, Charlotte Brontë persuaded Emily to publish them.

10. Emily Brontë was never in love

Surprisingly, the creator of one of the most tragic love stories of all time with frightening levels of passion had never experienced love herself. However, Emily Brontë herself was quite reserved, enjoying her own company and that of the rest of the Brontë family home at the Haworth parsonage.

11. Emily Brontë didn’t have really any friends, except for her sister Anne Brontë

Emily Brontë was probably the most introverted of her sisters. Her closest friend was her sister Anne Brontë, with whom she shared their own fantasy world, Gondal. The two were inseparable companions and in 1845, Anne Brontë took Emily to visit some of the places she had come to know and love in the five years she spent as a governess. During the trip, the sisters enjoyed acting out some of their Gondal characters.

12. Emily Brontë found it hard to speak in public

While all the Brontë sisters were relatively reserved, Emily Brontë was quite peculiar. As a child, Emily Brontë and Anne would hide from guests under tables and behind closed doors, avoiding any unnecessary social contact. However, Emily Brontë carried this into adulthood. Sometimes when she was directly addressed, she would remain silent, unable to speak in others’ presence. Some of us may find her extreme social anxiety relatable.

13. Emily Brontë was horrible at spelling

Emily Brontë was a brilliant writer but she was ironically bad at spelling. Her earliest diary entries, which Emily Brontë wrote around the age of 16, show elementary spelling mistakes including misspelling kitchen as “kitchin.” However, her later diaries show improvement and it was recorded that Emily Brontë worked on improving her spelling skills on her own through reading anything she could get her hands on.

14. Emily Brontë knew how to shoot a pistol

While Patrick Brontë taught all his kids how to shoot a pistol, Emily Brontë was the one to never miss a shot. A family friend described her as having “as firm a hand, and as steady an eye as any veteran of the camp.”

15. Emily Brontë also knew how to cook

The Brontë sisters had an elderly housemaid called Tabby Aykroyd that they all loved, and who is the inspiration for Nellie Dean in Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë developed a passion for cooking when Tabby slipped and broke her leg. The Brontë sisters were scared she might get fired, so they all pitched in the housework, with Emily handling the bulk of the kitchen duties. A family friend reported that Emily Brontë’s bread was the best in the village.

16. Emily Brontë once cauterized her own wound

While Emily Brontë might have appeared fragile and dainty, she was actually quite the tough badass. On one occasion, Emily Brontë was bitten by a rabid dog. Emily, who decided not to worry others and take matters into her own hand, grabbed a flaming hot poker from the fireplace and used it to cauterize her wound. This scene exists in her sister Charlotte’s novel Shirley, in which the character is based on Emily.

17. Emily Brontë was a dog person

Being bitten by a rabid dog didn’t change the feelings Emily Brontë had towards animals. Emily’s paintings were frequently inspired by the family’s dogs, notably Emily’s bullmastiff named Keeper, and Anne’s spaniel called Flossy. Keeper, in particular, was frequently spotted resting next to Emily Brontë on the carpet while she read, in addition to accompanying her on her daily walks around the moors.

18. Emily once had to stop her brother Branwell Brontë from burning himself alive

Brontë brother Branwell’s spiraling alcohol and drug addictions turned their family from a well-ordered one to one filled with drama and strange behaviors. After Branwell Brontë nearly set fire to the home while intoxicated, his father Patrick Brontë requested that Emily and Branwell shared a bedroom. Emily rescued him by flinging him off the bed and extinguishing the fire with a huge pan of water from the kitchen.

What books did Emily Brontë write?

19. Emily Brontë paid for Wuthering Heights to be published

Although Wuthering Heights went on to become a worldwide success and is arguably on the most renowned of all the Brontë novels, the novel was unable to find a publisher at first, so Emily Brontë paid £50 (about $66 American) to have it published in order to offset any losses to the publisher.

20. When was Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë published?

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë was published in 1847 by this publisher named Thomas Cautley Newby, who also published Anne Brontë. After Emily Brontë passed away, her sister Charlotte Brontë edited the original text for the 2nd edition published in 1850.

Click to buy Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë!

21. Wuthering Heights was not a hit when it was first published

When Wuthering Heights was published in 1847, Victorian society saw it as both indecent and uncultured, with the plot directly contradicting their conventional understanding of what literature should be. Emily Brontë died barely one year after its release, believing her novel was a mistake and would be quickly forgotten.

22. A scene in Wuthering Heights was inspired by her brother’s ghost experience

There’s a famous scene in Wuthering Heights when a knocking at the window called to Mr. Lockwood, suggesting that he was seeing the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw. This chilling scene was perhaps inspired by Branwell Brontë ’s own ghost story, in which he had a similar dream about his older deceased sister Maria Brontë.

23. Emily’s father Patrick Brontë never read Wuthering Heights

Not only did her father Patrick Brontë not know that Emily Brontë was even writing a book despite living in the same house together, but he also never got to read it because of his poor eyesight and cataract surgery after it Wuthering Heights was published.

24. Emily Brontë got some family inspiration for her novel’s drunk character

The character of Hindley Earnshaw’s brutal and genuine representation of alcoholism paralleled the lifestyle of Emily’s alcoholic brother Branwell Brontë. Emily had published an article on the illness of alcoholism years back, demonstrating yet another knowledge of issues that were ahead of her time.

25. There could’ve been a Wuthering Heights sequel

A note from her publisher Thomas Cautley Newby found in her desk seems to confirm this, which said: “I am much obliged by your kind note & shall have great pleasure in making arrangements for your next novel. I would not hurry its completion, for I think you are quite right not to let it go before the world until well satisfied with it, for much depends on your next work . . . I shall, therefore, have pleasure in accepting it upon the understanding that its completion is at your own time.”

Emily Brontë — Her Death & Legacy

26. Emily Brontë didn’t believe in doctors

Emily Brontë was extremely skeptical about doctors and refused to take any medication provided to her, stating that she would have “no poisoning doctor” care for her. However, Emily Brontë appeared to get a last change of heart, saying, “If you will send a doctor, I will see him now.”

27. When did Emily Brontë die?

Emily Brontë died on December 19, 1848, after she caught a severe cold at her brother Branwell’s burial ceremony that rapidly turned into lung inflammation and eventually tuberculosis. Emily Brontë was only 31 years old when she passed away.

28. Emily Brontë’s coffin was shockingly small

Emily Brontë caught a severe cold at her brother Branwell’s burial ceremony, which rapidly turned into lung inflammation and eventually tuberculosis. Emily’s condition deteriorated as a result of her refusal to attend doctors, and her coffin was barely 16 inches wide. The carpenter stated that he had never created one narrower for an adult.

29. Emily’s best friend mourned her death

Keeper was Emily Brontë’s dog, and he is believed to have accompanied her coffin to the grave when Emily Brontë died in 1848 — and mourned and howled at her bedroom door for weeks afterward.

30. Wuthering Heights has been adapted many times.

The first Wuthering Heights film was A.V. Bramble’s silent 1920 version, followed by William Wyler’s 1939 film starring Laurence Olivier and Geraldine Fitzgerald — which was nominated for 8 awards, including ones for Olivier and Fitzgerald. All in all, at least 12 different films and television of Wuthering Heights have been made over the years, starring terrific actors like Tom Hardy, Juliette Binoche, Ian McShane, Charlotte Riley, Timothy Dalton, and Ralph Fiennes.

Click on the movie to buy Wuthering Heights (1939)

Final Thoughts on Emily Brontë

There is relatively little known of Emily Brontë, compared to her sisters, and our modern-day perceptions of Emily Brontë are mostly based on her sister Charlotte’s description and Charlotte’s biographer, Elizabeth Gaskell. However, despite knowing little of Emily, we managed to draw an image of her true character, one that was a wild spirit of the moors, fierce with her pen in contrast to her reserved nature. Though she did not realize it in her lifetime, Emily Brontë’s name will forever be remembered for decades after her death.

Read our other content on literary superstars like Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker — as well as the Brontë family and Charlotte Brontë and Anne Brontë.

Cover Image Credit: image via Wikimedia Commons

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