Leaving "vain favours" to those with "sunny imaginations": The control of expectations in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Villette

Since the initial publication of Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte has maintained a place among the most widely read and studied authors. For that reason much speculation has been carried on concerning biographical mirroring of her novels' characters, especially the narrating protagonists of Jane Eyre and Villette. Because of the many apparent similarities between Charlotte's life and the background of her characters, many critics treat this material biographically. This has lead to assumptions made about the lack of distinction between the narrators' comments and Charlotte's own. Many assumptions are about how Charlotte's life affects the lives of those in her fiction. Charlotte's own biographer, Elizabeth Gaskell, writes of her intentions of mixing her comments with her heroine's. She is certain that Charlotte's writings are greatly influenced by her own experiences.