They then will grow to love learning and virtue. She sets forth dreaming that her kindness and care will make her charges love her.
Agnes spends much time describing how her work as a governess turns out to be nothing like she imagined. The first person narration of Agnes Grey can understandably lull readers into thinking that the book is merely a cautionary tale. However, Agnes’s barely acknowledged indignation, her wounded pride, and her somewhat snobbish sense of her own moral superiority give Agnes Grey an emotional bite as it reveals the hardships faced by governesses when they went to live among those whose social rank was equal to their own, but whose greater wealth made it easy for them to treat their governesses poorly. On the face of it, the story might seem like a lesson, a boring work of Victorian morals. They are indulgent, cruel, careless, vain, and greedy. To do so, Agnes presents herself as the opposite of her employers. The emotionally even Agnes narrates the story of her time as a governess, carefully filtering her experiences to teach a moral about how various vices turn boys into violently oppressive men and girls into unhappy women. A realistically humanizing story told in beautifully simple prose, Agnes Grey is a delightful Bronte novel that is not to be overlooked.Agnes Grey is a quietly powerful tale.
The events in the novel have close ties to Anne Bronte’s real experiences as a governess, and it has been suggested that this semi-autobiographical narrative opened readers’ eyes to the unfair and restrictive lives of 19th century governesses. The novel follows her journey as she learns that independence is not the most valuable part of life, and as she finds back to her home to build a life among those she loves.Īnne Bronte’s debut novel gives a uniquely first-hand perspective into the isolating and difficult lives that governesses of the time faced through their years of service. Though she is constantly surrounded by people, she has to sacrifice close supportive familial and romantic relationships in her pursuit of her career. Agnes seeks out placements as a governess, and her jobs takes her between wealthy households far from home with unruly children and untidy houses.ĭespite her self-perceived independence and maturity, Agnes lives an isolated life that is full of oppressive rules and strictures. “Well! what is there remarkable in all this? Why have I recorded it? Because, reader, it was important enough to give me a cheerful evening, a night of pleasing dreams, and a morning of felicitous hopes.”Īgnes Grey is a young woman determined to prove to her family that she is mature and able to contribute financially to the household when her father’s investment plan goes awry.
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