In 1848, Elizabeth Rigby reviewing Jane Eyre in The Quarterly Review, found it “pre-eminently an anti-Christian composition,” declaring: “We do not hesitate to say that the tone of mind and thought which has overthrown authority and violated every code human and divine abroad, and fostered Chartism and rebellion at home, is the same which has also written Jane Eyre.”
Oh, yes. All the Brontes were bashed for their novels. Jane Eyre sent clerics into hysterics as did Wuthering Heights. It disturbed the more worldly and sensitive Charlotte; Emily blew it off and went back to peeling potatoes and walking her dogs.
Interesting quotation. Charlotte’s description of the hypocritical clergyman at the girls’ school is especially sharp. The worst thing about it, is that it was drawn from life, and Charlotte maintained that there was no exaggeration, but rather the opposite.