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Emily Brontë

Emily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, being younger than Charlotte Brontë and older than Anne Brontë. She published under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell.

Emily was born in Thornton, near Bradford in Yorkshire to Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. In 1824, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was perpetual curate, and it was in these surroundings that their literary oddities flourished. In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and their brother Patrick Branwell Brontë created imaginary lands (Angria, Gondal, Gaaldine, Oceania), which were featured in stories they wrote. Little of Emily's work from this period survived, except for poems spoken by characters (The Brontës' Web of Childhood, Fannie Ratchford, 1941).

In 1842, Emily commenced work as a governess at Miss Patchett's Ladies Academy at Law Hill School, near Halifax, leaving after about six months due to homesickness. Later, with her sister Charlotte, she attended a private school in Brussels. They later tried to open up a school at their home, but had no pupils.

It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by Charlotte that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1846, Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. To evade contemporary prejudice against female writers, the Brontë sisters adopted androgynous first names. All three retained the first letter of their first names: Charlotte became Currer Bell, Anne became Acton Bell, and Emily became Ellis Bell. In 1847, she published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, as two volumes of a three volume set (the last volume being Agnes Grey by her sister Anne). Its innovative structure somewhat puzzled critics. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic. In 1850, Charlotte edited and published Wuthering Heights as a stand-alone novel and under Emily's real name.

Like her sisters, Emily's health had been weakened by the harsh local climate at home and at school. She caught a chill during the funeral of her brother in September, and, having refused all medical help, died on December 19, 1848 of tuberculosis, possibly caught from nursing her brother. She was interred in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels family capsule, Haworth, West Yorkshire, England.


“Heathcliff, make the world stop right here. Make everything stop and stand still and never move again. Make the moors never change and you and I never change.”
Emily Brontë
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“Es una tontería lamentarse de una desgracia con veinte años de anticipación.”
Emily Brontë
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“Yo, desdichada criatura tuve que bajar finalmente mi bandera, tras una larga lucha hasta el oscurecer, con el abatimiento y la soledad.”
Emily Brontë
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“but both their minds tending to the same point—one loving and desiring to esteem, and the other loving and desiring to be esteemed—they contrived in the end to reach it.”
Emily Brontë
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“You are a dog in the manger, Cathy, and desire no one to be loved but yourself!”
Emily Brontë
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“The flash of her eyes had been succeeded by a dreamy and melancholy softness; they no longer gave the impression of looking at the objects around her: they appeared always to gaze beyond, and far beyond—you would have said out of this world.”
Emily Brontë
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“His features were lost in masses of shaggy hair that hung on his shoulders; and his eyes, too, were like a ghostly Catherine's, with all their beauty annihilated.”
Emily Brontë
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“Catherine's face was just like the landscape—shadows and sunshine flitting over it in rapid succession; but the shadows rested longer, and the sunshine was more transient.”
Emily Brontë
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“Ah, vieste não é, Edgar Linton? - disse, com irada excitação.- És uma dessas coisas que sempre encontramos quando menos as queremos, e que quando são desejadas, nunca se encontram!”
Emily Brontë
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“Depois de teres arrasado o meu palácio, não me construas uma choupana e penses que estás a ser muito caridosa por isso.”
Emily Brontë
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“a partir de agora posso aguentar tudo! Se a pessoa mais vil ,e esbofeteasse uma face, eu não só lhe daria a outra face, como ainda lhe pediria perdão por tê-la provocado;”
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“tu e todo o mundo têm noção de que há ou deverá haver uma existência para além de nós. Qual seria o sentido de eu ter sido criada, se estivesse contida apenas em mim mesma? Os grandes desgostos que tive foram os desgostos de Heathcliff, e eu senti cada um deles desde o início: o que me faz viver é ele. Se tudo o mais acabasse, e ele permanecesse, eu continuaria a existir; e, se tudo o mais permanecesse e ele fosse aniquilado, o universo transformar-se-ia um imenso desconhecido. O meu amor por Linton é como a folhagem das florestas. O tempo transformá-lo-á, tenho a certeza, da mesma forma que o Inverno transforma o arvoredo. O meu amor por Heathcliff lembra as rochas eternas: proporciona uma alegria pouco visível, mas é necessário. Nelly, eu sou Heathcliff!" ”
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“All seems smooth and easy: where is the obstacle?' 'Here! and here!' replied Catherine, striking one hand on her forehead, and the other on her breast, 'in whichever place the soul lives.”
Emily Brontë
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“Really, Miss Catherine, how can I know?' I replied. 'To be sure, considering the exhibition you performed in his presence this afternoon, I might say it would be wise to refuse him: since he asked you after that, he must either be hopelessly stupid or a venturesome fool.”
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“Atât de lipsită de speranţă e lumea din afară, încât de două ori mai preţioasă mi-e lumea din interior.”
Emily Brontë
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“El mundo es para mi una horrenda colección de recuerdos diciéndome que ella vivió y que la he perdido.”
Emily Brontë
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“Aunque él la amase con toda la fuerza de su mezquino ser, no la amaría tanto en ochenta años como yo en un día”
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“Si él estuviera en mi lugar y yo en el suyo, aunque le odiara con un odio que convirtiera mi vida en hiel, nunca hubiera levantado la mano contra él. [...] nunca le hubiera echado de su compañía, mientras ella la deseara. En el momento en que el afecto desapareciera, yo le hubiera arrancado el corazón y bebido su sangre. Pero hasta entonces [...] me hubiera dejado morir a pedazos antes de tocar un solo pelo de su cabeza.”
Emily Brontë
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“No coward soul is mine.”
Emily Brontë
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“While enjoying a month of fine weather at the sea-coast, I was thrown into the company of a most fascinating creature: a real goddess in my eyes, as long as she took no notice of me. I 'never told my love' vocally; still, if looks have language, the merest idiot might have guessed I was over head and ears: she understood me at last, and looked a return - the sweetest of all imaginable looks. And what did I do? I confess it with shame - shrunk icily into myself, like a snail; at every glance retired colder and farther; till finally the poor innocent was led to doubt her own senses, and, overwhelmed with confusion at her supposed mistake, persuaded her mamma to decamp. By this curious turn of disposition I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness; how undeserved, I alone can appreciate.”
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“Le di mi corazón, lo cogió, lo pisoteó hasta dejarlo sin vida y me lo devolvió luego.”
Emily Brontë
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“Se tutto il resto perisse e lui restasse, io continuerei a essere; e, se tutto il resto persistesse e lui venisse annientato, l'universo mi diverrebbe estraneo; non mi sembrerebbe di esserne parte.”
Emily Brontë
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“¡Oh, Dios mío, es inconcebible! ¡No puedo vivir sin mi vida! ¡No puedo vivir si mi alma!”
Emily Brontë
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“Yo creo que hay fantasmas que vagan por el mundo, lo sé. Quédate siempre conmigo, bajo la forma que quieras, ¡vuélveme loco! Pero lo único que no puedes hacer es dejarme solo en este abismo donde no soy capaz de encontrarte.”
Emily Brontë
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“Dijiste que yo te había matado, ¡pues entonces persígueme! Las víctimas persiguen a sus asesinos.”
Emily Brontë
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“No he sido yo quien ha roto tu corazón, te lo has roto tú misma, y al hacerlo has destrozado, de paso, él mío. Y la peor parte me toca a mí, porque aún tengo fortaleza. ¿Crees que me apetece vivir? ¿Qué clase de vida podrá ser la mía cuando tú...? ¡Oh, Dios mío! ¿Acaso te gustaría a ti vivir si te encerraran el alma en una tumba?”
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“Si perecieran todas las demás cosas pero me quedara él, podría seguir viviendo. Si, en cambio, todo lo demás permaneciera y él fuera aniquilado, el mundo se me volvería totalmente extraño y no me parecería formar parte de él.”
Emily Brontë
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“Sea cual fuere la sustancia de la que están hechas las almas, la suya y la mía son idénticas”
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“Pues amo el suelo que pisa y el aire que respira y todo lo que toca y lo que dice. Me gusta su forma de mirar y de comportarse, me gusta todo él de arriba abajo. ¡Ya está!”
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“Nunca le declaré abiertamente mi amor, pero si las miradas hablan, el más tonto habría podido advertir que me tenía trastornado el juicio.”
Emily Brontë
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“I cannot live without my soul!”
Emily Brontë
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“It is not in him to be loved like me: how can she love in him what he has not?”
Emily Brontë
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“They forgot everything the minute they were together again.”
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“Time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees — my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath — a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff — he's always, always in my mind — not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself — but as my own being — so, don't talk of our separation again — it is impracticable.-”
Emily Brontë
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“The entire world is a collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her.”
Emily Brontë
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“Perhaps your envy counselled her Heathcliff to rob me of my treasures? But I've most of them written on my brain and printed in my heart, and you cannot deprive me of those.”
Emily Brontë
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“Two words would comprehend my future -- death and hell: existence, after losing her, would be hell.”
Emily Brontë
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“We're dismal enough without conjuring up ghosts and visions to perplex us.”
Emily Brontë
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“mesmo que eu o derrubasse vinte vezes, isso não o tornaria menos bonito, nem a mim menos feio. (...) - Um bom coração ajuda a ter um belo rosto, meu rapaz, mesmo que a pessoa seja monstruosa. Sabias que um coração empedernido é capaz de tornar a pessoa mais bonita num verdadeiro monstro.”
Emily Brontë
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“Deixe-me a sós, que preciso pensar; enquanto penso, não sofro...”
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“Bem, amo o chão que ele pisa e o ar que o rodeia e tudo quanto ele toca e tudo o que ele diz. Gosto das feições dele e de todas as suas acções;gosto dele todo. Pronto!”
Emily Brontë
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“e se ama Edgar, e Edgar a ama a si. Parece tudo normal e fácil. Onde está a infelicidade?- Aqui! e aqui! - respondeu Catherine, batendo com uma mão na testa e a outra no peito.”
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“por isso ele nunca saberá o quanto o amo: e não por ele ser bonito, Nelly, mas por ele ser mais eu, do que eu própria. Não sei de que são feitas as nossas almas, mas elas são iguais; e a de Linton é tão diferente da minha quanto um raio de lua é diferente de um relâmpago, ou o fogo do gelo.”
Emily Brontë
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“Any relic of the dead is precious, if they were valued living”
Emily Brontë
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“For the space of half a year, the gunpowder lay as harmless as sand, because no fire came near to explode it.”
Emily Brontë
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“Ognuno di noi ha dovuto cominciare, incespicando e barcollando sulla soglia, e se i nostri insegnanti ci avessero scherniti anziché aiutarci, continueremmo ancora oggi a incespicare e a barcollare.”
Emily Brontë
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“A che servirebbe essere stata creata se fossi tutta contenuta qui? Le mie grandi pene a questo mondo sono state le pene di Heathcliff, e io le ho osservate e provate tutte fin dall'inizio; il mio grande pensiero nella vita è lui. Se tutto il resto perisse, e lui rimanesse, io continuerei a esistere; e se tutto il resto rimanesse, e lui fosse annientato, l'universo mi diventerebbe totalmente estraneo. Io non sembrerei farne parte. Il mio amore per Linton è come le fronde di un bosco. Il tempo le cambierà, ne sono consapevole, come l'inverno cambia gli alberi...il mio amore per Heathcliff somiglia all'eterna roccia sottostante...fonte di scarsa gioia visibile, ma necessaria.”
Emily Brontë
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“YESTERDAY afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to spend it by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mud to Wuthering Heights. On coming up from dinner, however, (N.B. - I dine between twelve and one o'clock; the housekeeper, a matronly lady, taken as a fixture along with the house, could not, or would not, comprehend my request that I might be served at five) - on mounting the stairs with this lazy intention, and stepping into the room, I saw a servant-girl on her knees surrounded by brushes and coal-scuttles, and raising an infernal dust as she extinguished the flames with heaps of cinders. This spectacle drove me back immediately; I took my hat, and, after a four-miles' walk, arrived at Heathcliff's garden-gate just in time to escape the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower.”
Emily Brontë
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“It was a strange way of killing, not by inches, but by fractions of hairbreadths, to beguile me with the spectre of a hope, through eighteen years!”
Emily Brontë
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“But no brutality disgusted her: I suppose she has an innate admiration for it, if only her precious person were secure from injury!”
Emily Brontë
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