Another novel form the brilliant Charlotte Bronte (The Professor - Charlotte Bronte)

Member Name: regal_eagle

Product:	The Professor - Charlotte Bronte
Date:	29/06/07 (504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining!

Disadvantages: Language is archaic, ending is protracted

‘The Professor’ by Charlotte Bronte

This book was written before ‘Jane Eyre’, the most famous and loved book from all the books written by the Bronte sisters. I had never heard of this book till recently, and I immensely enjoyed reading it; when I finished the book it was four in morning! The reason I was prepared to read ‘The Professor’ is because I count ‘Jane Eyre’ as one of my all- time favourite novel. I have also read ‘Vilette,’ which is not dissimilar to ‘The Professor.’

The Story:

William, an orphan and an Eton graduate, decides to leave his aristocratic maternal uncles and seek his own way up in the world. He approaches his estranged brother for employment as a clerk. He receives a nasty shock in discovering that his brother is a tyrant and nothing like a gentleman. With the help of a stranger by the name of Hensden, he is freed from his employment without a dint on his own self- respect.

He proceeds to try his luck in Brussels as an English teacher in an establishment for boys and later the neighbouring establishment for girls. It is here where he finds more heinous examples of human character, unveiling deceit and treachery. He sees beneath the pretty face and manners of the ‘directress’ of the school to find a calculating and unscrupulous mind.

But it is here also where he finds a gem, which needs a little polishing to bring out her true colours. He meets a fellow teacher, who is also his pupil learning English. His world is suddenly turned upside down when Mademoiselle Henri suddenly disappears with no trace and under suspicious circumstances.

Characterisation:

As ever Bronte has created some highly original characters. My favourite was Hunsden, who was painted extremely vividly. Hunsden is of a respectable family who despises the rich lords and rulers of world, and sees himself as a radical reformer. He has a strange relationship with William, where he helps him when he is most needed but at the same time he throws atrocious taunts and abuses at William, who bears them with aristocratic indifference. I found the character of Hunsden intelligent, original and thoroughly refreshing. In a letter to William he writes:
"There is a sort of stupid pleasure in giving a child sweets, a fool his bells, a dog a bone. You are repaid by seeing the child besmear his face with sugar; by witnessing how the fool's ecstasy makes a greater fool of him than ever; by watching the dog's nature come out over his bone. In giving William Crimsworth his mother's picture, I give him sweets, bells, and bone all in one; what grieves me is, that I cannot behold the result; I would have added five shillings more to my bid if the, auctioneer could only have promised me that pleasure.
"H. Y. H.

Style:

The language is radically different to modern literature but that is to be expected. It may seem like a lot of hard work to get through the long winded sentence structures, but I found the subtle humour, vivid character analysis and the natural style of Charlotte Bronte really entertaining and it was a pleasure to read the book.
However, I thought that the ending was rather too long and protracted. There is room for improvement there, as it is not up to the same standard as ‘Jane Eyre,’ but that is justified since we know ‘The Professor’ is one of her early works.

Conclusion:

A very pleasurable read for fans of Jane Eyre, though I probably will not read it again. It is not a very long book, and I would recommend it.

Amazon: £1.99 for the Woodsworth Classic edition, or just read the free eBook on the net!

Thank you for reading this review!

Summary: Lovely read!