What audiences might not know is that a traditional biopic this is not — the movie is a highly fictionalized, imagined version of Brontë's life with a small number of key historical facts underpinning it.
For someone who understood the varieties of love so well, it seems that Emily herself never knew romantic love. She was happiest in her own company, or with her beloved sister Anne.
No, she did not. Anne Brontë never married and had no children. Four of her siblings similarly died without children; Charlotte Brontë was the only one who married. However, when Charlotte became pregnant, she suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, and passed away with her unborn child.
She became sick with consumption and refused medical attention in October 1848. Emily sadly died at the age of 30 only a few months later on December 9 (Brownson). Throughout the Victorian Era, social class was an important topic of debate and that can be seen throughout Wuthering Heights.
The widely accepted story of how the 19th-century English novelist died comes from her sister, Charlotte, who published a short 'Biographical Notice' following Emily's death from tuberculosis, on December 19, 1848.
Emma Mackey on unlocking the mystery of Emily Brontë
What is the tuberculosis in Wuthering Heights?
In her novel, 'Wuthering Heights', three characters, Francis, Edgar, and Linton die of 'consumption', known today as tuberculosis. Their suffering is described with accurate medical detail. In addition, three of Emily's siblings had died of TB.
Are there any Brontë descendants? There are certainly no legitimate descendants. Branwell, Emily and Anne never married, and, although Charlotte is believed to have been pregnant at the time of her death, her baby died with her.
Charlotte herself resisted all proposals until aged 38 she relented and agreed to marry Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls, a man she had rejected a year earlier, leaving him 'sobbing as women never sob'.
Tuberculosis, which afflicted Maria and Elizabeth in 1825, also caused the eventual deaths of three of the surviving Brontës: Branwell in September 1848, Emily in December 1848, and, finally, Anne in May 1849.
No, the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen were not contemporaries, although they would have been near-contemporaries if Austen had lived a longer life. Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817, but Charlotte was not born until 1816, Emily until 1818, and Anne until 1820.
The novel's controversy stems from its depictions of physical violence and psychological cruelty, which are mostly committed by the characters of Heathcliff and Hindley Earnshaw.
It certainly wouldn't be unusual for a young curate to seek a wife from the daughters of another clergyman, and Anne was described by contemporaries as the prettiest of the Brontë sisters, as well as being the most pious.
Wuthering Heights is not a true story. It is a novel and, by definition, a novel is a story imagined by the author. It is commonly classified as gothic fiction or a gothic tragedy, as it combines aspects of both the horror and mystery genre.
In 1848 Charlotte and Ann visited their publishers in London, and revealed the true identities of the "Bells." In the same year Branwell Brontë, by now an alcoholic and a drug addict, died, and Emily died shortly thereafter.
Charlotte was less than five feet tall and slightly built. She wore spectacles to correct her myopia, and thought herself plain. Politically a Tory, she was strong-minded, clever and ambitious. She held high moral principles, and, despite her shyness in company, was always prepared to argue her beliefs.
Bread was the cornerstone of the Brontë diet, and of the diet of early Victorian society in general, but was we've seen they also enjoyed potatoes and other vegetables, and beef and mutton, this was sheep farming country after all, would also have been regularly eaten.
According to Juliet Barker's biography of the Brontës, he may have fathered an illegitimate child during time in the town, but others suspect that it may be more of Brontë's boasting.
After the death of their mother in 1821, their Aunt Elizabeth came to look after the family. All three sisters attended different schools at various times as well as being taught at home. The Brontë children were often left alone together in their isolated home and all began to write stories at an early age.
Brontës grew up an immigrant family with their father's Irish accent. Charlotte married an Irishman but Anne's work is most influenced by a feeling of being foreign.
First, Catherine and Heathcliff were not blood siblings. We don't know if Heathcliff was officially adopted by Mr Earnshaw; the fact that he did not automatically inherit Wuthering Heights when Hindley died suggests not. Secondly, there is no actual evidence in the book that the two of them ever had sex.
