The Professor

When the orphaned William refuses his uncles proposal to become aclergyman and rejects an offer from his brother Edward to work as his clerk, hedecides to accept a position as an English teacher at a boys school in Belgium.When his career leads him to take up another post at a girls school nearby,William becomes emotionally involved with the manipulative headmistress ofthe establishment, Mademoiselle Reuter. The tangle of feelings produced bythis relationship and his love for a younger pupil sets the young teacher on adownward spiral towards disaster.Based on Charlotte Brontës own autobiographical experience in Brussels as ateacher, and later reworked into the much-expanded Villette and only publishedposthumously, The Professor was Charlotte Brontës fi rst attempt at full-lengthfi ction and bears all the hallmarks of her future work, with touches of genius andan unparalleled sharpness of style.