ABSTRACT
As his disregard for the rules of grammar and punctuation in the excerpt above indicates, the character Percy ‘Rougue’ Northangerland, the pirate hero of Branwell Brontë’s Angrian narratives, exists at odds with himself and the world that he both mocks and rails against. Typical of Branwell Brontë’s writing about the imaginary kingdoms of Glass Town and Angria, this lack of regard for syntax, punctuation and capitalization, and the irregular spelling and grammar in the pirate’s speech emphasize the absolute roguery of the Angrian antihero. The writings about the imaginary kingdom of Angria are part of a game, referred to by Charlotte Brontë as a ‘play’ (Alexander Early Writings 25), begun by the four Brontë siblings, Patrick Branwell and his sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne
in 1826.2 Charlotte, the eldest, was 10, Branwell nine, Emily eight and Anne Brontë two years younger than Emily when they began the first games of imaginary kingdoms.
