Учитель

УДК 
372.8
ББК 
81.2 Англ-93
 
Б 88

ISBN 978-5-9925-0777-5

Бронте Ш.
Б 88 Учитель: Книга для чтения на английском 
языке. — СПб.: КАРО, 2012. — 384 с. («Classical 
litera ture»).

ISBN 978-5-9925-0777-5.

Предлагаем вниманию читателей первый роман Шарлотты Бронте (1816–1855), вышедший в свет посмертно, в 
1857 году. В его основе — впечатления от времени, проведенного автором в брюссельском пансионе для девиц, где 
будущая писательница совершенствовалась во французском 
языке.
В книгу вошел полный неадаптированный текст романа 
с комментариями и словарем.

УДК 372.8
ББК 81.2 Англ-93

© КАРО, 2012

ОБ АВТОРЕ

Английская писательница Шарлотта Бронте родилась 
22 июня 1816 года в семье сельского священника в Йоркшире. Ее мать умерла, оставив своему бедному мужу семью 
из пяти дочерей и сына. Шарлотте в ту пору было всего пять 
лет. Две ее старшие сестры в 1824 году поступили в школу в 
Ковэн-Бридже, но год спустя вернулись больными и умерли 
одна за другой. Девятилетняя Шарлотта вынуждена была 
взять на себя обязанности хозяйки дома и заботу о младших 
сестрах и брате и продолжала образование дома, отдаваясь 
своей склонности к писательству.
Весной 1846 года Шарлотта и ее младшие сестры Эмилия 
и Энн решились выступить с первыми плодами своей литературной деятельности. Вышел в свет небольшой томик 
их стихов под мужскими псевдонимами Коррер (Шарлотта), 
Эллис (Эмилия) и Актон (Энн) Бель. К сожалению, книга 
осталась незамеченной публикой.
В1849 году появился роман «Джен Эйр», завоевавший 
огромный успех и переведенный на многие европейские 
языки. Не много найдется книг с неизвестным именем автора на обложке, которые были бы встречены с таким бесспорным одобрением. К автору возник всеобщий интерес, 
но скромная писательница не открывала своего настоящего имени.
На фоне трагических обстоятельств жизни писательницы (в сентябре 1848 года умер ее младший брат, в декабре 
того же года — Эмилия, в мае следующего — Энн) вышел в 
свет второй роман Шарлотты Бронте «Шерли» (1849), вы

ОБ АВТОРЕ

звавший к себе огромный интерес мастерски нарисованной 
картиной жизни рабочих в провинции. Перед Шарлоттой 
открылись двери лучших литературных кружков Лондона, 
но привыкшая к уединению писательница тяготилась общественным вниманием и почти все время проводила в своем 
старом доме. В 1853 году вышел в свет ее последний роман 
«Городок».
В следующем году Шарлотта вышла замуж за Артура 
Николлса Бейлля, священника в приходе своего отца, но уже 
31 марта 1855 года она умерла, сильно простудившись во 
время одной из прогулок по своим любимым вересковым 
лугам. Простуда вызвала обострение туберкулеза, от которого умерли все ее сестры и мать.
Шарлотта Бронте считается одной из талантливейших 
представительниц школы Теккерея, ее любимого писателя. 
Обладая нервным и впечатлительным темпераментом, она 
владела тем, что Гёте называл секретом гения, — способностью проникнуться индивидуальностью и субъективным 
настроением постороннего лица. Она с поразительной яркостью изображала все, что ей приходилось видеть и чувствовать. Если иногда чрезмерная яркость образов переходит в некоторую грубость красок, а излишний мелодраматизм в положениях и сентиментальный финал ослабляют 
художественное впечатление, то реализм, с которым изображены события, разворачивающиеся в ее романах, делает эти 
недостатки незаметными.

* * *
Несколько месяцев в 1842 году Шарлотта и Эмилия Бронте 
провели в Брюсселе, где совершенствовались во французском 
языке. Тетка, заботившаяся о девушках после смерти их матери, согласилась оплачивать их пребывание в одном из пансионов, чтобы в дальнейшем, вернувшись в Англию, Шарлотта и 
Эмилия могли основать школу. Впечатления от этого периода 
легли в основу первого романа Шарлотты Бронте «Учитель», 
вышедшего в свет посмертно в 1857 году.

CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY

THE other day, in looking over my papers, I found in 
my desk the following copy of a letter, sent by me a year 
since to an old school acquaintance: 

“DEAR CHARLES,
“I think when you and I were at Eton together, we were 
neither of us what could be called popular characters: you 
were a sarcastic, observant, shrewd, cold-blooded creature; 
my own portrait I will not attempt to draw, but I cannot 
recollect that it was a strikingly attractive one — can you? 
What animal magnetism drew thee and me together I 
know not; certainly I never experienced anything of the 
Pylades and Orestes1 sentiment for you, and I have reason 
to believe that you, on your part, were equally free from 
all romantic regard to me. Still, out of school hours we 
walked and talked continually together; when the theme 
of conversation was our companions or our masters we 

1 Pylades and Orestes — Орест, в древнегреческой мифологии сын Агамемнона и Клитемнестры, убивший мать и ее 
возлюбленного, мстя за убитого ими отца; Пилад — лучший 
друг Ореста

THE PROFESSOR

6

understood each other, and when I recurred to some 
sentiment of aff ection, some vague love of an excellent or 
beautiful object, whether in animate or inanimate nature, 
your sardonic coldness did not move me. I felt myself 
superior to that check THEN as I do NOW.
“It is a long time since I wrote to you, and a still longer 
time since I saw you. Chancing to take up a newspaper of 
your county the other day, my eye fell upon your name. 
I began to think of old times; to run over the events which 
have transpired since we separated; and I sat down and 
commenced this letter. What you have been doing I know 
not; but you shall hear, if you choose to listen, how the 
world has wagged with me1.
“First, aft er leaving Eton, I had an interview with my 
maternal uncles, Lord Tynedale and the Hon.2 John 
Seacombe. Th ey asked me if I would enter the Church, 
and my uncle the nobleman off ered me the living of 
Seacombe, which is in his gift , if I would3; then my other 
uncle, Mr. Seacombe, hinted that when I became rector 
of Seacombe-cum-Scaife, I might perhaps be allowed to 
take, as mistress of my house and head of my parish, one 
of my six cousins, his daughters, all of whom I greatly 
dislike.
“I declined both the Church and matrimony. A good 
clergyman is a good thing, but I should have made a very 

1 how the world has wagged with me — (разг.) как у меня 
обстоят дела
2 Hon — сокр. от Honorable, достопочтенный, ставится перед именем младшего сына английского пэра или перед 
именем правительственного чиновника
3 if I would — (разг.) если я соглашусь

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY 

bad one. As to the wife — oh how like a night-mare is the 
thought of being bound for life to one of my cousins! No 
doubt they are accomplished and pretty; but not an 
accomplishment, not a charm of theirs, touches a chord 
in my bosom1. To think of passing the winter evenings by 
the parlour fi re-side of Seacombe Rectory alone with one 
of them — for instance, the large and well-modelled statue, 
Sarah — no; I should be a bad husband, under such 
circumstances, as well as a bad clergyman.
“When I had declined my uncles’ off ers they asked me 
‘What I intended to do?’ I said I should refl ect2. Th ey 
reminded me that I had no fortune, and no expectation 
of any, and, aft er a considerable pause, Lord Tynedale 
demanded sternly, ‘Whether I had thoughts of following 
my father’s steps and engaging in trade?’ Now, I had had 
no thoughts of the sort. I do not think that my turn of 
mind qualifi es me to make a good tradesman; my taste, 
my ambition does not lie in that way; but such was the 
scorn expressed in Lord Tynedale’s countenance as he 
pronounced the word TRADE — such the contemptuous 
sarcasm of his tone — that I was instantly decided. My 
father was but a name to me, yet that name I did not like 
to hear mentioned with a sneer to my very face. I answered 
then, with haste and warmth, ‘I cannot do better than 
follow in my father’s steps; yes, I will be a tradesman.’ My 

1 not an accomplishment, not a charm of theirs, touches a 
chord in my bosom — (разг.) их обаяние и прочие достоинства не затронули в моем сердце ни единой струны
2 said I should refl ect — (разг.) сказал, что мне надо подумать

THE PROFESSOR

8

uncles did not remonstrate; they and I parted with mutual 
disgust. In reviewing this transaction, I fi nd that I was 
quite right to shake off  the burden of Tynedale’s patronage, 
but a fool to off er my shoulders instantly for the reception 
of another burden — one which might be more intolerable, 
and which certainly was yet untried.
“I wrote instantly to Edward — you know Edward — 
my only brother, ten years my senior, married to a rich 
mill-owner’s daughter, and now possessor of the mill and 
business which was my father’s before he failed. You are 
aware that my father — once reckoned a Croesus1 of 
wealth — became bankrupt a short time previous to his 
death, and that my mother lived in destitution for some 
six months after him, unhelped by her aristocratical 
brothers, whom she had mortally off ended by her union 
with Crimsworth, the —  — shire manufacturer. At the 
end of the six months she brought me into the world, and 
then herself left  it without, I should think, much regret, 
as it contained little hope or comfort for her.
“My father’s relations took charge of Edward, as they 
did of me, till I was nine years old. At that period it chanced 
that the representation of an important borough in our 
county fell vacant; Mr. Seacombe stood for it. My uncle 
Crimsworth, an astute mercantile man, took the opportunity of writing a fi erce letter to the candidate, stating 
that if he and Lord Tynedale did not consent to do 
something towards the support of their sister’s orphan 
children, he would expose their relentless and malignant 

1 Croesus — Крез, царь Лидии (560–546 до н. э.), известен 
своими несметными сокровищами

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY 

9

conduct towards that sister, and do his best to turn the 
circumstances against Mr. Seacombe’s election. That 
gentleman and Lord T. knew well enough that the 
Crimsworths were an unscrupulous and determined race; 
they knew also that they had infl uence in the borough of 
X —  — ; and, making a virtue of necessity, they consented 
to defray the expenses of my education. I was sent to Eton, 
where I remained ten years, during which space of time 
Edward and I never met. He, when he grew up, entered 
into trade, and pursued his calling with such diligence, 
ability, and success, that now, in his thirtieth year, he was 
fast making a fortune. Of this I was apprised by the 
occasional short letters I received from him, some three 
or four times a year; which said letters never concluded 
without some expression of determined enmity against 
the house of Seacombe, and some reproach to me for 
living, as he said, on the bounty of that house. At fi rst, 
while still in boyhood, I could not understand why, as I 
had no parents, I should not be indebted to my uncles 
Tynedale and Seacombe for my education; but as I grew up, 
and heard by degrees of the persevering hostility, the hatred 
till death evinced by them against my father — of the 
suff erings of my mother — of all the wrongs, in short, of 
our house — then did I conceive shame of the depen dence 
in which I lived, and form a resolution no more to take 
bread from hands which had refused to minister to the 
necessities of my dying mother1. It was by these feelings I 

1 had refused to minister to the necessities of my dying 
mother — (разг.) которые отказали в куске хлеба моей умирающей матери

THE PROFESSOR

10

was infl uenced when I refused the Rectory of Seacombe, 
and the union with one of my patrician cousins.
“An irreparable breach thus being eff ected between my 
uncles and myself, I wrote to Edward; told him what had 
occurred, and informed him of my intention to follow 
his steps and be a tradesman. I asked, moreover, if he could 
give me employment. His answer expressed no approbation of my conduct, but he said I might come down 
to  —  — shire, if I liked, and he would ‘See what could be 
done in the way of furnishing me with work1.’ I repressed 
all — even mental comment on his note — packed my 
trunk and carpet-bag, and started for the North directly.
“Aft er two days’ travelling (railroads were not then in 
existence) I arrived, one wet October aft ernoon, in the 
town of X —  — . I had always understood that Edward 
lived in this town, but on inquiry I found that it was only 
Mr. Crimsworth’s mill and warehouse which were situated 
in the smoky atmosphere of Bigben Close; his residence 
lay four miles out, in the country.
“It was late in the evening when I alighted at the gates 
of the habitation designated to me as my brother’s. As I 
advanced up the avenue, I could see through the shades 
of twilight, and the dark gloomy mists which deepened 
those shades, that the house was large, and the grounds 
surrounding it suffi  ciently spacious. I paused a moment 
on the lawn in front, and leaning my back against a tall 
tree which rose in the centre, I gazed with interest on the 
exterior of Crimsworth Hall.

1 in the way of furnishing me with work — (разг.) чтобы 
обеспечить меня работой