Yes, I named my cat Charlotte Brontë. My introduction to the four-month-old kitten my veterinarian cousin rescued on my behalf three summers ago was this very cell phone photo. She’s bigger now and still gorgeous. And she’s napping on the chair across the room, occasionally glancing over at me through slitted eyelids, as if she knows I’m writing about her. Because, really. Why wouldn’t I be?
Then there’s her namesake, the woman whose books I chose to study for my senior thesis in college.
Jane Eyre was the first “classic” I read without having it assigned to me in school. I think I was 12 or 13 years old when I discovered it. I discovered the BBC movie version, starring Timothy Dalton, about a decade later, and that sealed it as my favorite romance novel of all time.
I enjoy Jane Austen’s novels, and I do love the movie version of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth as much as the next woman. But perverse as it may be, I’ll take Mr. Rochester over Mr. Darcy any day.
Hm. I wonder what that says about me?
maegregale.com 
um, it says you know an awesome hero when you see one. mr. rochester may have teased jane but he was never the inveterate ass that darcy was. i’m a ciaran hinds as rochester girl, though.
Lora, thank you! That’s it exactly, and I think I was too tired when I posted to think it through. Mr. Rochester really is, overall, a less obnoxious hero than Mr. Darcy. The pride and the prejudice…they annoy me. 🙂 As for Ciaran Hinds as Rochester–I don’t think I’ve seen that version. Must update the Netflix queue. I suspect, though, that Timothy Dalton will always be my quintessential Rochester, as that’s the movie I fell in love with.
The magic of the Internet unites people who don’t know each other, but have odd things in common.
One hot day last July, I went to the ASPCA shelter and came home with a wonderful, loving, talkative calico I named Charlotte. I told people that I named her “mostly” after Ms. Brontë; but, really, it was completely after her.
Unlike you, I didn’t write a senior thesis in college. However, as a junior I took an upper-level seminar about the works and lives of the Brontë sisters. I was the only male student in a class of six. (Our AMAZING professor was also female.) I wrote my final paper on religious themes in Jane Eyre or Villette (I can’t remember which one, it was almost a decade ago).
Anyhow. Your Charlotte is a cute kitty. 🙂 My Charlotte is, too. Thank you for posting!
Thank YOU for posting! And I’m sorry for my delayed reply. I’m always excited to “meet” fellow Brontë aficionados. Cheers to you and your feline Ms. Brontë. 🙂 And I’d be fascinated to hear about what you discovered about the religious themes in her writing…two of my favorite topics: religion and the Brontës.