Emily Brontë - The Strange One?

Emily Brontë - The Strange One?

Emily Brontë is the least well known of the Brontë sisters. She died at the age of 30, having published one major work – Wuthering Heights - a strange, rambling gothic masterpiece that puzzled and dismayed critics at the time, who were troubled by its moral ambiguity.

Like her novel, Emily was also regarded as strange - solitary, uncompromising, uninterested in small talk or social conventions and either painfully shy or bluntly antisocial.

In this video I draw upon my 30 years' experience in psychiatry to explore the life and inner world of Emily Brontë trying to work out whether her strangeness was just the eccentricity of creative genius or something else – an autistic spectrum disorder perhaps.

[isabelalzateestrada]

Isn’t Anne Brönte the least well known of the Brönte Sisters? I’ve heard of Emily, and of Wurthering Heights but I have never heard of Anne or any of her books.

[__str]

The whole Brontë family experienced unfortunate situations throughtout their whole lives. Diseases and death were so common. They all died very early.

[annettekellner]

Autism was the first condition that came to mind as you started listing her problems. Many university professors are on the autistic spectrum.

[lunarmoon]

Emilys love for the darkest of winter days, the cold lashings of the rain as she walked on the sodden moors with Keeper, brought more happiness to her than any Van Gough sun... she thrived on privacy independence.. her love for the wild open spaces brought the essence of her creation in the form of the wild unforgiven HEATHCLIFF, .. she knew him well... untamed, unmanageable, yet in an instance forgiving.. she knew him, .. she was

[Literaturedoodle_]

If you like Wuthering Heights, you should check out here poems too. They're re just stunning.

[BillyBelle]

It's honestly an astounding novel for even today's time. The melancholy darkness of this novel is other worldy. She puts words together that don't seem to belong but the emotion behind them makes them fit perfectly. There's a sense of light within the overwhelming darkness which seems to be Emily's or (Katherine's) ultimate and overwhelming love for the land that she grew up in. Anytime Emily talked about the land, she made sure to bluntly state how intense the landscape actually is and how miserable it can be but that its become so familiar and somewhat peaceful in that sense for her. She can constantly spot something beautiful within it... Katherine had the yearning for change and greater things but constantly battled the overwhelming need for what's familiar and dear, which is possible that that is what Emily battled as well. That's probably what k*lled Katherine in the novel. She couldn't find inner peace with herself and that stumped a lot of people back then, and even today. The idea that someone can become so stressed and constantly at war with their contrasting feelings that it can literally k*ll them from the stress of it all, was and is, simply unbelievable to many people. I can definitely see that Emily could have been autistic. A brilliant mind all around though. Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre have a similar vibe but Wuthering Heights is definitely more of an emotional and mental rollercoaster.. its a novel you really have to sit back and decipher the real and underlying meaning behind certain phrases or situations.

And all of this is excluding the stresses that she fought with her incredible love for Heathcliff.

[CassyC]

Or she could have been an introvert, extremely shy & like most of us introverts, extremely disappointed in other people (judgement, prejudices, behaviours, social norms etc) food for thought.😊 🙂

[terencebennison]

I just love Chloe Pirrie in the role of Emily Bronte in To walk invisible', an excellent actress who deserves many high profile roles.

[mariannehavisham]

She died from anorexia according to a biography by Dr Katherine Frank and the coffin maker said her coffin was the most narrow he had ever built for an adult. She starved herself to death. She over-exercised and was preoccupied with food. There are hints of this in her novel

[francescagillon]

She was born in the year of the tiger and in the month of the lion. She was bound to be wild and savage. She was not interested in small talk but she probably hated mediocrity. Maybe she portrayed herself in Heathcliff. At first I thought her hard life had made her wild until I looked her up in my chinese astrology book.

[DeadGuye]

One of the best and saddest books and movies ive seen(b/w laurence olivier film only)

[tiredmillenial]

Aaa Emily...my autistic, creative, ahead of her time girly. Came to this world to drop a banger gothic classic and I thank her for that.

[birdyjireh]

As an extremely introverted person, I think Emily was just an introvert.

[YazMar-zb]

The moral of the novel: there is no moral 💀
I think i might have nostalgia too ❤😂

[tomasomaonaigh]

Nostalgia, it's not what it used to be.

[kirkpetersjr]

Because people dont like being around other people most foul want to enjoy their moments surrounded in beauty should not imply a disorder.
Psychiatry is always with the implicit assumption that there is a standard to compare against.

[cherrylee]

I agree that Emily was likely autistic.

[dayzeereyes]

Y’all call everyone autistic now. Its so trendy.

[phillipstroll]

Bs. She was an athiest but had to keep it silent and she hated hypocrisy. She wrote more than wh and anyone who had read her work knows she was perfectly normal. They'll also know she was a stoic, an athiest and she hated wilful ignorance and hypocrisy. She wrote an entire work speaking of against hypocrisy. That's why she shunned most of society because she couldn't stand weakness of character.

[Stonebrick]

Don’t you think it might a little insensitive to feature autistic people on a show called “insane history”?