It deals with the most evil characters and the
most evil phases of human experience. But it fascinates. Heathcliff, the
chief figure in the book, is one of the greatest villains in
fiction,--an abhorrent creature,--strange, monstrous, Frankensteinesque.

Anne Bronte is known by her share in the book of "Poems" and by two
novels, "Agnes Gray" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," both of which
are disappointing. The former is based on the author's experiences as a
governess, and is written in the usual placid style of romances of the
time. "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" found its suggestion in the wretched
career of Branwell Bronte, and presents a sad and depressing picture of
a life of degradation. The book was not a success, and would no doubt
have sunk long ago into oblivion but for its association with the novels
of Emily and Charlotte.

In studying the work of Charlotte Bronte, the gifted older sister of the
group, one of the first of the qualities that impress the reader is her
actual creative power. To one of her imaginative power, the simplest
life was sufficient, the smallest details a fund of material. Mr.
Swinburne has called attention to the fact that Charlotte Bronte's
characters are individual creations, not types constructed out of
elements gathered from a wide observation of human nature, and that they
are _real_ creations; that they compel our interest and command our
assent because they are true, inevitably true. Perhaps no better example
of this individualism could be cited than Rochester. The character is
unique. It is not a type, nor has it even a prototype, like so many of
Charlotte Bronte's characters. Gossip insisted at one time that the
author intended to picture Thackeray in Rochester, but this is
groundless. Rochester is an original creation. The character of Jane
Eyre, too, while reflecting something of the author's nature, was
distinctly individual; and it is interesting to note here that with Jane
Eyre came a new heroine into fiction, a woman of calm, clear reason, of
firm positive character, and what was most novel, a plain woman, a
homely heroine.

"Why is it," Charlotte had once said, "that heroines must always be
beautiful?" The hero of romance was always noble and handsome, the
heroine lovely and often insipid, and the scenes set in an atmosphere of
exaggerated idealism. Against this idealism Charlotte Bronte revolted.
Her effort was always toward realism.

In her realism she reveals a