A Costly Morality: Dependency Care and Mental Difference in the Novels of the Brontë Sisters

The article investigates four fictional accounts of the complications involved in providing dependency care for one with a compromised mind—difficulties the authors knew well due to their father’s decision to keep his alcohol- and opium-addicted son Branwell at home instead of institutionalizing him. Charlotte and Anne create fictional heroes who struggle to compassionately manage individuals dealing with drug addiction, mental illness, and cognitive disability, while Emily indicts the domestic sphere in the creation of such conditions.