Agnes Grey

Agnes Grey

The first edition title page of Agnes Grey. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë took up the first two volumes of the edition.
Author	Anne Brontë
Language	English
Genre	Victorian literature
Publication date	December 1847
Publication place	United Kingdom
Followed by	The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Agnes Grey is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë, first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Brontë's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman.

The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. An additional theme is the fair treatment of animals. Agnes Grey also mimics some of the stylistic approaches of bildungsromans, employing ideas of personal growth and coming to age, but representing a character who in fact does not gain in virtue.

The Irish novelist George Moore praised Agnes Grey as "the most perfect prose narrative in English letters," and went so far as to compare Anne's prose to that of Jane Austen. Modern critics have made more subdued claims admiring Agnes Grey with a less overt praise of Brontë's work than Moore.

Background and publication

The genesis of Agnes Grey was attributed by Edward Chitham to the reflections on life found in Anne's diary of 31 July 1845.

It is likely that Anne was the first of the Brontë sisters to write a work of prose for publication, although Agnes Grey, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre were all published within the same year: 1847.

The original edition of Agnes Grey, published in 1847, had numerous orthographic, punctuation, and other issues attributed to neglect by the publisher Newby. However, the second edition, published in 1850, had many changes after the careful editing of Charlotte Brontë.

Plot

Agnes Grey is the daughter of a minister of modest means. Mr. Grey decides to try to gain more wealth so as to give his wife somewhat of what she lost when she married him. But the merchant that he entrusts his money to, dies in a wreck, and Mr. Grey loses all the money he invested, plunging the Greys in debt.

Agnes, her sister, Mary, and their mother all try to keep expenses low and to bring in extra money, but Agnes is frustrated that everyone treats her like a child. To prove herself and to earn money, she is determined to get a position as a governess, teaching children of rich families. Eventually, she gets a recommendation for a good family, a position, and her parents' permission. With some misgivings, she travels to Wellwood house to work for the Bloomfield family.

The Bloomfield family is rich and is much crueller than Agnes has envisioned. Mrs. Bloomfield spoils her children while Mr. Bloomfield constantly finds fault with Agnes's work. The children are unruly and Agnes is given no authority over them so that she cannot control them. Tom, the oldest Bloomfield child, is actually abusive, but nothing Agnes can do can stop the boy from torturing small animals. In less than a year, Agnes is relieved of her position, since Mrs. Bloomfield thinks that her children are not learning fast enough. Agnes returns home.

She then goes home and begs her mother to help her find a new situation. She advertises, and is given a situation in a wealthy family – the Murrays. The two boys, John and Charles, are both sent to school soon after her arrival, but Rosalie and Matilda are still on her hands. Matilda is a tomboy, prone to lying. Rosalie is a flirt. Both girls are selfish and sometimes unpleasant, and although Agnes's position is slightly better than it was at Wellwood house, she is still often ignored or used in the girls' schemes and games.

Agnes begins to visit an old woman, Nancy Brown, whose poor eyesight requires someone to aid her in reading the Bible; there Agnes meets the new parson, Mr. Edward Weston. They become friends, which is noticed by Rosalie Murray, who has by now entered into society and is a favourite with nearly all the men in the county.

Rosalie becomes engaged to Lord Ashby, a wealthy baronet from Ashby Park. She tells Agnes, but makes her promise to keep silent, as she is still going to flirt with other men before she is married. One day, she and Agnes go on a walk, and meets Mr. Weston. Rosalie begins to flirt with him, much to Agnes's chagrin, as she has formed an attachment to him.

Agnes receives a note from Mary, who has by now married to Mr. Richardson, a parson of a rectory near their home, saying that their father is dying, and begging for her to come. Agnes comes, and arrives just too late. After her father's funeral, Agnes opens a small school with her mother, leaving the Murrays and Mr. Weston.

She receives a letter from Rosalie who is very unhappy in her marriage, begging her to come for a visit. Agnes goes, and is shocked by the change in Rosalie from the merry, happy girl, to the faded, unhappy young woman. Rosalie confides in her and tells her that she despises Lord Ashby, and claims he only left London because he was jealous of all the gentlemen she was attracting. She also hears that Mr. Weston had left the area, and grieves, as she won’t be able to see him again.

Agnes leaves Ashby Park and goes back to her new home. The day after she arrives, she goes for a walk on the sea shore, when she runs into Mr. Weston, who had been looking for her since he went to the nearby parsonage.

He is introduced to Mrs. Grey, and they become good friends. Agnes finds her attraction to him growing, and is very happy to accept when he proposes. In the end, is very happy having married Edward Weston, and she has three children.

Characters

• Agnes Grey—Main protagonist and narrator of the story. She is the younger daughter of Richard Grey, and is determined to take care of herself, to save trouble for her mother.
• Edward Weston—A country parson whom Agnes meets while visiting the poor near the Murray's estate. He and Agnes fall in love, but Agnes believes that he loves the beautiful Rosalie Murray. In the end, he and Agnes marry.
• Richard Grey—Agnes’ father, a poor parson who loses his patrimony in a disastrous speculation which ruined his health.
• Alice Grey—Agnes’ mother, a lady who left her family to marry Richard Grey, and who opens a school with Agnes after her husband's death.
• Mary Grey-Agnes’ sister who later marries a parson, Mr. Richardson.
• Mrs. Bloomfield—Mistress of Wellwood. Agnes’ first employer, she is convinced that her incorrigible children are really very good, and that Agnes is a bad example to them.
• Mr. Bloomfield—Master of Wellwood. He is convinced that Agnes is not competent, and as a result, often watches her, scolding her for the misbehavior of the children, which she could not prevent.
• Matilda Murray—The younger daughter of the Murray family. She is a tom-boy who has learned to swear from her father and the outdoors servant men. She does not want to learn anything, but is forced to by Agnes’ being there. She is very fond of horses and wants more than anything to ride with her father on his hunting trips.
• Rosalie Ashby (formerly Rosalie Murray)—The oldest Murray child, who makes Agnes a sort of confidant. She is a selfish girl who flirts with any man she comes in contact with. She is jealous of Agnes because of Edward Weston, even though she told Agnes that Mr. Weston was an “ugly blockhead.”She marries Lord Ashby because he was rich had a title, and she adored Ashby Park. She later regrets her marriage, and becomes closer to Agnes.
• John Murray—Older of the two Murray boys. He is sent to school about a year after Agnes comes to be his family's governess.
• Charles Murray—The younger of the two Murray boys. He is sent to school about two years after Agnes come to the Murray's household.
• Mr. Murray—Agnes's second employer. He is often out hunting, and has taught his daughter, Matilda to swear.
• Mrs. Murray—Agnes's second employer's wife. She is a fashionable, showy woman who wants her daughters to marry well. Matilda drives her crazy because of her tom-boy ways. She convinces Rosalie that Lord Ashby's character is not as bad as is reported.
• Lord Thomas Ashby—Rosalie's husband. He has a terrible character which Rosalie knows about when she marries him. While he is always talking about different women, he gets furious and jealous if Rosalie mentions one other man.
• Mr. Hatfield—Curate near the Murray's estate. He has an attraction to Rosalie because of her fortune, and she flirts with him for a while. When he proposes, she laughs at him, and he ends up marrying an older woman with a lot of money,
• Nancy Brown—An older woman whom Agnes befriends. In her house, Agnes and Mr. Weston meet. She is a great admirer of Mr. Weston's.
• Tom Bloomfield—The oldest Bloomfield child. He is cruel to animals, something Agnes tries to stop, but fails as he is encouraged by his parents and his uncle.
• Mr. Richardson—A middle-aged parson. He marries Mary Grey.

Style

Agnes Grey has a very "perfect" and simple prose style which moves forward gently but does not produce a sense of monotony. Critics such as George Moore, suggest that Agnes Grey represents a style that "had all the qualities of Jane Austen and other qualities". Her style is both witty and apt for subtlety and irony. Stevie Davies also points to the intellectual wit behind the text:

The genuineness of texture and dialogue in Agnes Grey is the product of minute observations, focused by a fine authorial irony and delicate power of understatement.

Genre

File:Agnes Grey cover.jpg

Book cover

Cates Baldridge describes Agnes Grey as a novel which "takes great pains to announce itself as a bildungsroman" but in fact never allows its character to grow up or transform for ideological reasons. Baldridge says that the early emphasis on the bourgeois upbringing of Agnes allows the presuppositions of the reader that the transformative bourgeois class will develop an ideal person of virtue. However, Agnes stalls in her development because of the corrupted nature of the household in which she is employed and the ineffectiveness of the moral transformation, become a static member of the bourgeois, ambivalent to the Victorian value of moral transformation in virtue.

Autobiographical novel

Agnes Grey is also an autobiographical novel with strong parallels between its events and Anne's own life as a governess; indeed, according to Charlotte Brontë, the story of Agnes largely stemmed from Anne's own experiences as a governess. Like Agnes, "dear, gentle" Anne was the youngest child of a poor clergyman. In April 1839, she took up a position as a governess with the Ingham family of Blake Hall, Mirfield, in Yorkshire, about 20 miles away from Haworth, to whom the Bloomfields bear some resemblance. One of the most memorable scenes from the novel, in which Agnes kills a group of birds to save them from being tortured by Tom Bloomfield, was taken from an actual incident. In December 1839, Anne, similarly to Agnes, was dismissed.

Anne found a post at Thorp Green, Little Ouseburn, near York, around 70 miles away, just as Agnes' second position is further from home, with older pupils—Lydia Robinson, 15. Elizabeth, 13, and Mary, 12. There was also a son, Edmund, who was eight when Anne began working there in the spring of 1840. Anne's brother Branwell became his tutor in January 1843. The fictional Murrays of Horton Lodge echo the Robinsons; similarly to the "dashing" Mrs. Murray, who "certainly required neither rouge nor padding to add to her charms", Mrs. Lydia Robinson was a handsome woman of 40 when Anne came to Thorp Green.

Stevie Davies remarks that Agnes Grey could likewise be called a "Protestant spiritual autobiography". Firstly, the book retains a sober tone and Agnes also displays a very strong Puritan personality reflected in her name. Agnes is derived from the Greek for chaste, hagne, and Grey is commonly associated with "Quakers and quietists to express radical dissociation from gaudy worldiness".

F.B. Pinion is of the opinion that Agnes Grey "is almost certainly a fictionalized adaptation of Passages in the Life of an Individual". However, he also points to several sections that are "wholly fictitious":

the opening and Agnes's return home after failure in her first post; the love story which develops during her second period as a governess; the marriage and disillusionment of Rosalie Murray; and, above all, the happy ending.

Themes

Social instruction

Throughout Agnes Grey, Agnes is able to return to her mother for instruction when the rest of her life becomes rough. F.B. Pinion identifies this impulse to return home with a desire in Anne to provide instruction for society. Pinion quotes Anne's belief that "All good histories contain instruction" when he makes this argument. He says that Anne felt that she could "Reveal life as it is...[so that] right and wrong will be clear in a discerning reader without sermonizing." Her discussion of oppression of governesses, and in turn women, can be understood from this perspective.

Oppression

Events representative of cruel treatment of governesses and of women recur throughout Agnes Grey. Additionally, Brontë depicts scenes of cruelty towards animals, as well as degrading treatment of Agnes. Parallels have been drawn between the oppression of these two groups—animals and females—that are "beneath" the upper class human male. To Anne, the treatment of animals reflected on the character of the person. This theme of oppression provided social commentary, likely based on Anne's experiences. Twenty years after its publication Lady Amberly commented that "I should like to give it to every family with a governess and shall read it through again when I have a governess to remind me to be human."

Animals

Beyond the treatment of animals, Anne carefully describes the actions and expressions of animals. Stevies Davies observes that this acuity of examination along with the moral reflection on the treatment of animals suggests that, for Anne, "animals are fellow beings with an ethical claim on human protection."

Empathy

Agnes tries to impart in her charges the ability to empathise with others. This is especially evident in her conversations with Rosalie Murray, whose careless treatment of the men who love her upsets Agnes.

Isolation

Maria H. Frawley notes that Agnes is isolated from a young age. She comes from a "rural heritage" and her mother brings up her sister and herself away from society. Once Agnes has become a governess, she becomes more isolated by the large distance from her family and further alienation by her employers. Agnes does not resist the isolation, but instead uses the opportunity for self-study and personal development.

Critical reception

Agnes Grey was popular during Anne Brontë's life, despite the belief of critics at the time that the novel was marred by 'coarseness' and 'vulgarity.' The novel lost some of its popularity after Brontë's death due to disfavour of its perceived moralising. There has, however, been a recent increase in examination by scholars of Agnes Grey and Anne Brontë herself.

In Conversation in Ebury Street, the Irish novelist George Moore provides a commonly cited example of these newer reviews, overtly praising the style of Anne in the book. F.B. Pinion agreed to a large extent that Agnes Grey was quite a masterwork. However, Pinion felt that Moore's examination of the piece was a little extreme and his "preoccupation with style must have blinded him to the persistence of her moral purpose" of Agnes Grey.

References

Works cited

• Craik, W.A. (1968). The Brontë Novels. Methuen & Co Ltd.
• Frawley, Maria H. (1996). ""An Alien among Strangers": The Governess as Narrator in Agnes Gray". Anne Brontë. Twayne Publishers. pp. 82–116. ISBN 0-8057-7060-7.
• Harrison, Ada M.; Stanford, Derek (1959). Anne Bronte:Her Life and Work. London: Mehtuen & Co Ltd.
• Nash, Julie, and Barbara A. Suess, ed. (2001). New Approaches to the Literary Art of Anne Brontë. Ashgate Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7546-0199-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)

External links

• Agnes Grey overview
• Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë. Copyright, 1847; Oxford: The Shakespeare Head Press, Basil Blackwell and Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931 at A Celebration of Women Writers
• Agnes Grey at Project Gutenberg
• Agnes Grey at Open Library