Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte, Governess

Charlotte Bronte's true identity revealed through her powerful and poignant letters.

1.Bronte's biographer, Claire Harman, on her experience as a governess.

Among the 900 surviving letters of Charlotte Bronte, the ones written while she was a governess most vivdly reveal her characteristic blend, as a young woman, of unhappiness and frustration mingled with hope and ambition.

Claire Harman sets out the drab, demeaning details of Bronte's career as a governess, and her passionate longing for a more fulfilling life. In her letter to her old school-friend, Ellen Nussey, Bronte writes enviously of another friend who has been travelling in Belgium: "I hardly know what swelled to my throat as I read her letter - such a vehement impatience of restraint and steady work - such a strong wish for wings - wings such as wealth can furnish - such an urgent thirst to see - to know - to learn - something internal seemed to expand boldly for a minute - I was tantalised with the consciousness of faculties unexercised.....".

Producer: Beaty Rubens.