The Professor

Though it was never received by the public with the enthusiasm of Jane Eyre, The Professor is Charlotte Bronte's first novel. Following the exploits of William Crimsworth as he finds his way in the world, The Professor greatly influenced Bronte's later novels as she grappled with the stylistic challenge of writing from a male perspective. The story itself is one of inner struggle to discover one's true purpose, as William rejects the life his aristocratic family and his tyrannical brother had in mind for him, travelling to Brussels instead to become an educator.