In 1848, Branwell became addicted to both drugs and alcohol and it soon
became clear that he was dying. Emily had always counted Branwell among
her closest friends and was the only one of her siblings who allowed that
friendship to triumph over the urge to judge; she went as far as beating
out the flames with her bare hands when he, in a drunken stupor, wrapped
himself in a blanket and lit it on fire. Despite all of her efforts, Branwell
died in September 1848 at the age of thirty. Emily caught a cold at his
funeral and never left home again. She died of tuberculosis on December
19, 1848, also at the age of thirty, and never knew the great success of
her only novel
Wuthering Heights, which was published almost exactly
a year before her death on December 19, 1848. From the opinions of those
who knew her well, Emily emerges as a reserved, courageous woman with a
commanding will and manner. In the biographical note to the 1850 edition
of Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Bronte attributes to her sister
"a secret power and fire that might have informed the brain and kindled
the veins of a hero," while Monsignor Heger, who taught her in Brussels,
was impressed by her "powerful reason" and "strong, imperious will."
Further information
about Emily Brontë
© Jody Allard.