The sole undefined factor that defines and singles out the human race, holds it superior to all the existing species and sets it apart: what is it?
Though the actual answer is cooking- we’re the only species that cooks its food before consuming it- the first quality that comes to the minds of many is unsurprisingly, love. Apart from the undeniable fact that animals are capable of forming romantic attachments (on what foundation do you think the families of animals that live in them are based on otherwise?), this ideology also contributes to the erasure of a community that has been here as long as the cishets have. This group of people with many excellent slogans, not excluding a personal favorite, “Strictly Netflix, no chill”, have always existed and been erased due to the ‘straight washing’ of history, in other words, direct effects of extreme allonormativity.
Aromantics and asexuals, commonly referred to as the aces, experience little to no sexual and/ or romantic attraction, with an identity that falls into a spectrum, widely referred to as aspec. Many icons who could’ve been aroace or fall somewhere in the spectrum include Florence Nightingale, Nikola Tesla, Isaac Newton, J.M Barrie, Salvador Dali, George Bernard Shaw and Frédéric Chopin. In this article we will be discussing an individual loved and upheld in the literary world, the creator of the infamous character Heathcliff and the quietest of the three Bronte sisters, Emily Bronte.
Emily Bronte was known for being deliberately mysterious. She was someone who kept her personal life private, as can be observed from her outburst when her sister, Charlotte Bronte, found her poetry collection for the first time and insisted on publishing it. She only agreed to the notion after Anne, the youngest of the six siblings, came forward with her poetry as well, leading to the publishing of the collection, ‘Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell’.
Due to the fact that Emily valued her privacy highly, it’s quite difficult to obtain particulars regarding her life, let alone her sexuality. Moreover, it doesn’t help that early versions of her work were also too heavily edited by her sister, Charlotte. Henceforth, in this essay we address how it is highly probable that Emily was asexual despite widespread claims that she was heterosexual and some other assertions from a few sources that she was a lesbian.
Born in 1818 in West Riding of Yorkshire, England, Emily was the second youngest of six siblings, preceded by Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Branwell. She was known for being headstrong. Constantin Héger, who ran the academy that Emily attended is known for saying that,
“She should have been a man – a great navigator. 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, never have given way but with life. She had a head for logic, and a capability of argument unusual in a man and rarer indeed in a woman... impairing this gift was her stubborn tenacity of will which rendered her obtuse to all reasoning where her own wishes, or her own sense of right, was concerned.”
Unfortunately, not much survives from her personal writing, but we get a strange mixed image from her biographers and her sisters: an eccentric “isolated artist striding the Yorkshire moors” (Poetry Foundation), a religious and prudent figure on high, a fiercely loyal sister and friend, and a cripplingly shy and socially anxious woman who never left her home.
Her only novel, ‘Wuthering Heights’, one of the hallmarks of British literature and quintessential artifact of the Romantic movement, often causes many to conclude that she was allosexual i.e. an individual who experiences sexual attraction. There is still disagreement amongst scholars whether as to the novel was “…a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff” (Wordsworth Classic summary) or if it was just Heathcliff “setting about gaining his revenge on the two families that he believed ruined his life.”
If we were to sum up the entire plot in a single word, which one would we use? Revenge or romance? I like to think that it depends on a person’s literary perspective, but regardless, the idea that someone has to have experienced attraction in order for it to have been one of the themes explored in their writing is quite illogical, especially in the modern world. If that was the case, books like Heartstopper by Alice Oseman shouldn’t have been so well received by the homosexual community, considering the fact that she herself identifies as aroace. To put it simply, aroaces can enjoy romance. They can write it if they want to. They can read it if they want to, too. That doesn’t mean they are less valid than everyone else.
Readdressing the outstanding quality of the human race, according to those who knew Emily Bronte, the only affectionate side of her that they had seen was when she was around animals and in the moors. According to Norma Crandall, her "warm, human aspect" was "usually revealed only in her love of nature and of animals". In a similar description, Literary news (1883) states: "[Emily] loved the solemn moors, she loved all wild, free creatures and things", and critics attest that her love of the moors is manifest in Wuthering Heights.
Furthermore, it is well known that she was very much fond of her pet dog, Keeper. The following account encapsulates the affection she displayed towards her pet:
Poor old Keeper, Emily's faithful friend and worshipper, seemed to understand her like a human being. One evening, when the four friends were sitting closely round the fire in the sitting-room, Keeper forced himself in between Charlotte and Emily and mounted himself on Emily’s lap; finding the space too limited for his comfort he pressed himself forward on to the guest’s knees, making himself quite comfortable. Emily’s heart was won by the unresisting endurance of the visitor, little guessing that she herself, being in close contact, was the inspiring cause of submission to Keeper’s preference. Sometimes Emily would delight in showing off Keeper—make him frantic in action, and roar with the voice of a lion. It was a terrifying exhibition within the walls of an ordinary sitting-room. Keeper was a solemn mourner at Emily’s funeral and never recovered his cheerfulness.
Over the years, Emily's love of nature has been the subject of many anecdotes. A newspaper dated 31 December 1899, gives the folksy account that "with bird and beast [Emily] had the most intimate relations, and from her walks she often came with fledgling or young rabbit in hand, talking softly to it, quite sure, too, that it understood".
While she maintained a close relationship with nature, she wasn’t as affectionate with those of her own kind. To quote one of the few closest to her, her sister, Charlotte,
“My sister's disposition was not naturally gregarious; circumstances favoured and fostered her tendency to seclusion; except to go to church or take a walk on the hills, she rarely crossed the threshold of home. Though her feeling for the people round was benevolent, intercourse with them she never sought; nor, with very few exceptions, ever experienced. And yet she knew them: knew their ways, their language, their family histories; she could hear of them with interest, and talk of them with detail, minute, graphic, and accurate; but WITH them, she rarely exchanged a word.”
Another essential point that should be pointed out is the fact that though Emily lived in an era when to lead a married life and have a family was the social norm and was customarily expected of women, she chose not to. She lived her life alone by choice. Her sisters married and moved on, but she remained on the Yorkshire Moors. She did not seek out marriage, romance, or sex in an era when the first was necessary for a woman if she wanted the latter two without scorn in the highly conventional English society they lived in.
She had no known romantic or sexual attachments. She lived alone and expressed no interest in anyone in particular. Many argue that `Remembrance', a beautiful, formal lament written by her, which begins "Cold in the earth - and the deep snow piled above thee,/ Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!/ Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,/ Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave" mourned a lost lover but it is more likely that it was written for her eldest sister, Charlotte, whom she was the closest to after her demise.
In conclusion, it is most likely that the English novelist and poetess Emily Bronte was asexual. The conventional belief that everyone experiences sexual desire presumably might’ve led to her being perceived as an allosexual. Emily Bronte had no interest in personal romance or sex, just that of fictional characters, especially those that she created; she was much more interested in her family and nature.
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Another essential point that should be pointed out is the fact that though Emily lived in an era when to lead a married life and have a family was the social norm and was customarily expect not to. She lived her not to. She lived her life alone by choice. Her sisters married and moved on, but she remained on the Yorkshire Moors. She did not seek out marriage, romance, or sex in an era when the first was necessary for a woman if she wanted the latter two without scorn in the highly conventional English society they lived in.
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