When Charlotte Brontë sat down to write Jane Eyre, she didn’t yet know she was writing a major work of English literature. The gothic novel about a governess’s romance with the brooding Mr. Rochester was an instant classic in its time and is still much loved today. After all, who can resist a tale featuring a mysterious woman locked in an attic? 1. Like Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë worked as a governess. Jane Eyre was a provincial girl hired to work as a governess among strangers. So was Charlotte Brontë. In 1839, the wealthy Sidgwick family employed Brontë to live in their country estate and educate their children. She hated the job, writing, “I had charge given me of a set of pampered, spoilt, turbulent children, whom I was expected constantly to amuse, as well as to instruct.” She became depressed and withdrawn, causing Mrs. Sidgwick to scold her.