Editing Charlotte Brontë (section)

==Marriage==
[[File:CharlotteBronte.jpg|thumb|upright|This photo-portrait of [[Ellen Nussey]] has long been mistaken for one of her friend Charlotte Brontë. The photo is a copy made {{circa|1918}} by the photographer, Sir [[Emery Walker]], from an original [[carte de visite]] photo which was then privately owned.<ref>{{cite web |work=Post |url=http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1613719.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194617/http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1613719.ece |archive-date=4 March 2016 |title=To walk invisible |publisher=TLS |date=30 September 2015 |access-date=26 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brontesisters.co.uk/Photo-of-Charlotte-Bronte.html|title=The Bronte Sisters – A True Likeness? – Photo of Charlotte Bronte|website=brontesisters.co.uk|access-date=6 September 2017|archivedate=7 September 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907033315/http://www.brontesisters.co.uk/Photo-of-Charlotte-Bronte.html|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Before the publication of ''Villette'', Brontë received an expected proposal of marriage from Irishman [[Arthur Bell Nicholls]], her father's [[curate]], who had long been in love with her.{{sfn|Paddock|Rollyson|2003|p=19}} She initially refused him and her father objected to the union at least partly because of Nicholls's poor financial status. [[Elizabeth Gaskell]], who believed that marriage provided "clear and defined duties" that were beneficial for a woman,{{sfn|Miller|2002|p=54}} encouraged Brontë to consider the positive aspects of such a union and tried to use her contacts to engineer an improvement in Nicholls's finances. According to [[James Pope-Hennessy]] in ''The Flight of Youth,'' it was the generosity of [[Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton|Richard Monckton Milnes]] that made the marriage possible. Brontë, meanwhile, was increasingly attracted to Nicholls and by January 1854, she had accepted his proposal. They gained the approval of her father by April and married on 29 June.{{sfn|Miller|2002|pp=54–55}} Her father Patrick had intended to give Charlotte away, but at the last minute decided he could not, and Charlotte had to make her way to the church without him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03n0wsy/p03n0s7x|title=Being the Brontes – Charlotte Bronte's marriage with The Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls|publisher=BBC|date=26 March 2016|access-date=26 March 2016|archivedate=28 March 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328211134/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03n0wsy/p03n0s7x|url-status=live}}</ref>
Because her father did not attend it was Miss Wooler (Charlotte's former teacher at Roe Head School, and life-long friend), as "friend", who "gave away" Charlotte (Gaskell: Vol II, Chap XIII).
The married couple took their honeymoon in [[Banagher]], County Offaly, Ireland.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/artofbrontes0000alex|url-access=registration|title=The Art of the Brontës|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43248-1|first1=Christine|last1=Alexander|first2=Jane|last2=Sellars|year=1995|page=[https://archive.org/details/artofbrontes0000alex/page/402 402]}}</ref> By all accounts, her marriage was a success and Brontë found herself very happy in a way that was new to her.{{sfn|Paddock|Rollyson|2003|p=19}}