Agnes Grey

I thoroughly delighted in reading Agnes Grey. The story is at once morose yet joyful, as is the custom of how Anne Bronte writes. There were many valuable life lessons, more so than that which fill the pages of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. Especially since Anne Bronte drew off of her own experiences as a governess. The story line is beautiful and there are enough despicabale characters to make Agnes's quiet and simple mannerisms all the more endearing. The moroseness and candid facts of the life differences between the wealthy and the poor who work for them make the novel so remarkably intriguing and fascinating. I coldn't have asked for a more beatiufl story. And it certainly put me off of ever wanting to be a governess to the rich and bored young women of the 1800s!!!

Imagine an evening at obscure Haworth parsonage in the depths of Yorkshire! Three female geniuses sat in the tiny parlor writing away at classics which will live forever. Emily with Wuthering Heights; Charlotte the eldest noted most for Jane Eyre. And then there is Anne....the least well known of the girls. In her short life (1820-1849) she wrote two novels: Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall which stand up well in the annals of English fiction. Agnes Grey is a short novel of under 200 pages. It tells the story of Agnes Grey the daughter of an impecunious Church of England pastor. Anne leaves the love of her family to become a governess. She works for the horrible Bloomfield family noted for their son's torture of small animals; the bumptiious and repulsive hunting father and the snobbish mother. Disgusted with this family Miss Grey goes to the aristocratic family the Murrays. This is a wealthy family which is self-centered and as cold as a brisk day on the Yorkshire moors. Rosalie and Matilda are the two sisters who are to be taught by Agnes. They are shallow and ignorant girls. Rosalie weds a rich older man to get his estate but is very disappointed in her marriage. Agnes finds happiness with the altruistic and kind clergyman the Rev. Weston. The novel is plainly told with honesty and conviction. The life of a governess caught in the limbo between that of servant and family member is well captured. Women in the 19th century had a dfficult time if they had to support themselves outside of the home. There have many copies of novels about governesses by Anne in Agnes Grey and Charlotte in Jane Eyre are at the top of this type of story. Anne Bronte deserves to be read and appreciated for her literary gifts. She impresses me as a kind Christian woman who loved her family and those less fortunate than she. Her palpable love for animals is also evident. This is a fine novel for anyone wishing to read a good story well told.

Because of poor money management by her clergyman father, Agnes becomes a governess, first to the Bloomfield family and then to the Murrays. Writing in the first person, Agnes relates her experiences, taking her remembrances from a journal she's kept for many years. Caring for the three spoiled Bloomfield children, she learns all about arrogance and over-indulgent parenthood. It is always Agnes's fault when the children misbehave. Yet it is her calm reportage and her own high principles that mainly impress the reader. With the Murrays her problems are different, and concern mainly the dealings of flirtatious Rosalie, who cares only about finding a suitable husband. Of course she chooses poorly and ends up unhappy. It's Agnes, though, who comes through all this the "victor": not only does she find a good husband in Edward Weston (the curate whom Rosalie had rejected), but she is obviously head-and-shoulders above the upper-middle class people she works for in morality, decency, self-respect, even common sense. To witness Agnes's success is the joy of the book; her straightforward and ironic tone only add to the pleasure.

Mrs Brontë tells the tale of Agnes Grey, a young governess of a little over 20 and her experience working for two families, The Bloomfields and their 3 children Tom, Mary Ann and Fanny, and with the Murrays and their two daughters Mathilda and Rosalie. In writing her first novel, Mrs Brontë must have drawn from her own experiences in 1839 when she worked for the Ingham family at Blake Hall and from 1840 till 1845 with the Robinsons at Thorp Green Hall. As her sister Charlotte sated, this personal experience lies behind many of the characters and events as well as Agnes's feelings in the novel. As a first novel, it show an astonishing maturity and technical accomplishment since "Agnes Grey" is in many ways a very personal story. Mrs Brontë describes as vividly as possible the strong pressures that a governess' life involved at that time - the isolation, the frustrations, the insensitive treatment of employers and their families. Actually it transpires in this novel that middle-class households used to consider a governess as little more than a servant thus undervaluing her role as an educator. And the author's view of such households is sharply cynical: they are self-satisfied, vulgar, small-minded snobs who delight in social pretension. They are mercilessly depicted in their moral emptiness and Agnes actually suffers from moral isolation which becomes more and more oppressive and alienating, especially during her stay with the Murrays. In this family Agnes feel deprived from ordinary human kindness and warmth of affection so much so that she falls into depression because she feels that her moral identity is being destroyed, no longer confident in her "distinctions of right and wrong". A remarkable novel about a young woman and such issues as moral behaviour, moral responsibility and individual integrity.

Agnes Grey is probably the simplest Bronte novel, but in my opinion the best, because it is a sincere story. It is always looked upon as inferior to "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights", but if reviewed as a story of a governess in the Victorian Era, it is suddenly far more interesting. "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre do not give a realistic view of the times the Brontes lived in, but "Agnes Grey" does and she does not spare us the details.I myself believe that Anne was in love with William Weightman, her fathers curate and seeing that she lets het own heroine Agnes win Mr. Weston, makes me feel that she tries to show us her dream, if she could have had it. It is simple, but happy. And that is exactly what this book is about. It is not to say that love is a never ending passion and all hardships end when one finds THE ONE, but simply to state that joy and wisdom can be found in a happy union.And now, after I have read it many times, I still cry when Agnes tells Mr. Weston that she loves him. That one word "Yes" says it all.

In the beginning I thought that I wouldn't like this book because of the period in which it was written (Victorian Era). I liked this book because of the plot and characters. The love story, adventure, and decision making in this book, make it extremely interesting. The young girl is immersed in a wealthy society even though she is not wealthy herself. The portrayal of the differences in classes are evident. In this book, the young girl is a governess. It shows the frustration and feelings that a governess goes through. This book was incredibly easy to get into. The writing style made the reading a simple task. Many people have not read any books by the third Bronte sister, and I would recommend reading this book.