Did Charlotte Bronte Hate Jane Austen?

In my senior year of highschool we had to read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for an English project. I had recently finished reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, and quickly noticed similarities between the two novels. This led me to research Charlotte Bronte, to see if she was at all inspired by Austen, and that was why the books were similar. What I found was not at all what I was expecting!

In an piece by Adieen E. Brody, titled "Why was Charlotte Bronte Critical of the Writings of Jane Austen?", the writer compares the two authors and also goes over Charlotte Bronte's general dislike of Austen.

After being recommend to read Austen, this is what Bronte had to say about Pride and Prejudice:

"An accurate, daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face, a carefully-fenced, highly-cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses. These observations will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk.

Now I can understand admiration of George Sand; for though I never saw any of her works which I admired throughout..... yet she has a grasp of mind, which, if I cannot fully comprehend, I can very deeply respect; she is sagacious and profound; - Miss Austen is only shrewd and observant."(Mrs. Gaskell, Life of Charlotte Brontc·, p. 336-337)

I remember being shocked by Bronte's response! Especially by the line "I shoulde hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses", because I believe, neither would Austen!

Of course, both women were not rich, and wrote to sustain themselves. Charlotte also did work as a teacher. Austen never worked outside of her writings. But I think people, especially nowadays have this image of Jane Austen being extremely well off and wealthy- either they believe that came out of her writing (which it didn't) or that she grew up that way (also incorrect). I do think however, that Austen understood that for many women marriage was the only thing they could do (espeically if you were a genteel lady).

Later in the piece, Brody says that:

"Charlotte Bronte was well aware of the dark side of life, and did not ignore it. Jane Austen was no doubt equally aware of it, but considered it had no place in her books. As she wrote in Chapter 48 of Mansfield Park, commenting on the elopement of Mrs Rushworth and Henry Crawford, "Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest."

The piece ends with this quote: "It seems a pity that Charlotte Bronte, who had little joy in her life, could not have let Pride and Prejudice entertain and amuse her as it has all its other readers." Which I couldn't agree more with.

It funny to me that Bronte seemed to dislike Austen when Jane Eyre is fairly similar to Northanger Abbey... although I guess the difference is that one was written making fun of books like the other. I remember after first reading about this (one sided feud), my hatred of Charlotte Bronte grew ten-fold. And I truly think it's kind of unfortunate (for her) that she had to write bad books and have such horrible, horrible opinions.

Brody, Adieen E. Why Was Charlotte Bronte Critical of the Writings of Jane Austen? - Core. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/230240639.pdf.