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    Agnes Grey
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    Agnes Grey
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    Agnes Grey
    Ebook261 pages3 hours

    Agnes Grey

    By Anne Brontë

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Introduzione di Marisa Sestito
    Edizione integrale

    Agnes Grey, la protagonista dell’omonimo romanzo del 1847, opera prima e in parte autobiografica di Anne Brontë, fa la governante presso due famiglie della facoltosa borghesia inglese di età vittoriana. La sua famiglia è caduta in disgrazia e prendersi cura dei figli dei ricchi, indisciplinati e viziati, è l’unica scelta rispettabile che la ragazza possa fare per sopravvivere. Con una prosa elegante e scorrevole, la minore delle sorelle Brontë mette a confronto la grettezza della nobiltà dell’epoca, del tutto priva di scrupoli e di valori, e i sani principi morali di una giovane timorata di Dio, che cerca in ogni modo di smascherare il lato oscuro delle persone “perbene”.

    «Ogni storia vera contiene un insegnamento; può capitare tuttavia che il tesoro sia ben nascosto e, una volta trovato, risulti esiguo e insignificante, un grinzoso gheriglio rinsecchito che miseramente ripaga la fatica di schiacciare la noce. Se questo sia applicabile o meno alla mia storia, non sono io la persona più adatta a giudicare. Penso a volte che possa risultare utile per alcuni, divertente per altri; ma ognuno può giudicar da sé.»


    Anne Brontë

    (1820-1849), sorella minore di Charlotte ed Emily, visse fino a diciannove anni nella campagna inglese dello Yorkshire, insieme al padre, un umile pastore di origini irlandesi, e al resto della famiglia. Impiegatasi poi come governante, lasciò presto la professione per coltivare le proprie ambizioni letterarie, che furono tuttavia stroncate dalla tubercolosi, malattia che portò Anne ad una morte precoce nel 1849. Fu autrice di un volume di poesie, scritte insieme alle sorelle, e di due romanzi, Agnes Grey e L’inquilino di Palazzo Wildfell.
    LanguageItaliano
    PublisherNewton Compton Editori
    Release dateJan 10, 2012
    ISBN9788854138315
    Unavailable
    Agnes Grey
    Author

    Anne Brontë

    Anne Brontë was born in Yorkshire in 1820. She was the youngest of six children and the sister of fellow novelists Charlotte and Emily, the authors of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights respectively. Her mother died when she was a baby and she was raised by her aunt and her father, The Reverend Patrick Brontë. Anne worked as a governess before returning to Haworth where she and her sisters published poems under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. She published her first novel, Agnes Grey in 1847 and this was followed by The Tenant of Wildfell Hallin 1848. She died from tuberculosis in 1849

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    Reviews for Agnes Grey

    3.5/5

    1,151 ratings75 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A slow to boil and very engaging semi-autobiographical novel of working as a governess.
    • 4/5
      Shy, retiring Agnes Grey is ill-suited to the role of governess, yet due to her family’s financial problems and the limited job prospects for genteel young women in Victorian England, she is forced to serve in this disagreeable position. The families she works for are caricatures of the haughty and dissolute rich. Agnes always manages to hide her true feelings and carry on. I enjoyed this brief novel even more than I thought I would. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Even though not a whole lot happens, I quite enjoyed this short novel, as well as the background material included in the edition I read. This is the start of a bit of a Brontë binge, because, well, what better to do during this oddest of springs?
    • 4/5
      A young, middle-class woman in mid-1800s England gets a harsh awakening from her sheltered life when she seeks employment as a governess to two different upper-class families. Mistreated by both the snobby employers and her charges *and* the lower-class servants, she leads a snubbed and lonely life.Slow to start (I'm still not certain what the point of the first third of the novel was, really), but once it gets going, I enjoyed Miss Grey's story. I especially enjoyed the quiet simplicity of the love story bit. It was interesting, too, how Anne tells the story of the governess life in a much different, much more realistic and everyday style than her sister, Charlotte.
    • 4/5
      It's not fair that I'm always grouping "The Brontë Sisters" and comparing their respective works with one another. I'm not the only one who does this, though.At this point, I've now read everything from Emily and Anne, and only Jane Eyre from Charlotte. Stylistically, they're similar, but each has their own distinctive flair. Though Anne is probably the least recognized of the three sisters, I'd put her right up there with Emily.I thought Agnes Grey started particularly strong. In fact, of the Brontë works I've read thus far, this one probably hooked me the fastest. The backstory regarding Agnes's family and the details of her first assignment as governess were very entertaining and evocative.Midway, my attention did wane. The subsequent assignment and all that came with it just didn't hold my attention the same. Despite a stellar start, Agnes Grey is probably the least overall memorable of the stories I've read.I regret that more of Anne's and Emily's work doesn't still exist.
    • 3/5
      Slowly working my way through the Brontë novels. Anne was the youngest Brontë sister (there were five altogether; Maria and Elizabeth died young). After experimenting with juvenilia stories about the imaginary countries of Angria and Gondal, the sisters sent off full-fledged novels to various publishers (Agnes Grey from Anne, The Professor from Charlotte, and Wuthering Heights from Emily). All were rejected. Charlotte came back with a second novel, Jane Eyre, which was accepted and led to the publication of the other sister’s works (publishers originally believed that all were the works of the same author, and that author was male; the sister’s use of the male pseudonyms Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell contributed to the belief).
      Literary critics consider Anne the most “controversial” of the sisters. Agnes Grey is an autobiographical account of Anne’s experience as a governess; her other novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, was even more “scandalous”. The main controversy in highly autobiographical Agnes Grey is the revelation that English governesses were poorly treated by the families that hired them; this doesn’t seem particular surprising nowadays but it may have been shocking to contemporaries that somebody actually bothered to write it down. The most risqué comment in the whole book is an observation that the wealthy husband of one of the characters has “opera girls” in London.
      The account of child-rearing makes an interesting contrast to today’s “helicopter parents”; the parents of Agnes’ charges don’t usually see them as often as once a day. The children of her first family are horribly misbehaved by modern (and probably contemporary) standards; the most shocking revelation to modern sensibilities would probably be the gentle Agnes suggesting that the children’s manners could be considerably improved with a “stout birch rod”. The second batch is more tractable but also turns out rather poorly; Agnes (who actually seems to be something of a wimp) can’t bring them into conformity with her standards of behavior.
      A good chunk of the second half of the novel is a romance – or what passes for one in Victorian England. Agnes eventually hooks up (not in the modern sense) with a local clergyman and Lives Happily Ever After.
      Not so the actual Brontës, alas. In confirmation of a recent book I read about the historical incidence of disease in England, Maria died at 11 from unknown causes, but probably tuberculosis; Elizabeth at 10 also from unknown causes (but again probably tuberculosis); Charlotte at 38 (probably from tuberculosis, but typhus and dehydration have also been suggested); Patrick at 31 from tuberculosis exacerbated by alcoholism and laudanum addiction; Emily at 30 from tuberculosis; Anne at 29 from tuberculosis. Living in Yorkshire was apparently hard on the lungs.
      Worth reading for the historical value. The degree that religion figures in Anne’s narrative – a lot of the dialog takes place after church services, and Agnes is always conveniently running into her clergyman while delivering uplifting reading to the poor – should serve to disabuse 19th century romance novel fans of the notion that life was all balls and hunts.
    • 3/5
      Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte; (2 1/2*)A clergyman's family falls into difficult financial times and one of the daughters must go into service as a governess. How many times and how many ways have we read this one? To give Bronte her due, she was young at the time she wrote this and she did have some experience of that which she wrote. I have to admit part of the reason I read this is that I was quite curious as to how this sister held up against her sisters and the outcome was 'rather poorly'. But then who can stand up against Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights? I found Agnes Grey rather predictable and somewhat of a snooze. Anne Bronte does bring some nice bits of writing to the table throughout her novel but I doubt I would have completed the read had it not been that I was taking part in a tutored & group read. I did love the very last part of the novel so the author did score some marks.
    • 3/5
      A largely biographical novel, telling the trials and tribulations of a daughter of a clergyman who resorts to being a governess in order to reduce her burden on the family finances. Unfortunately, Agnes is allowed too little authority over her spoilt charges and has too little experience, character and authority in herself to be able to exert what little authority she does have over the brats. And they are uniformly brats who are neglected and over indulged by their parents. It is also a cycle that is difficult to break, with Rosalie Murray looking set to treat her child in the same manner as she was, thus perpetuating the cycle of bad behaviour. Agnes herself is not someone I'd want to spend a great deal of time with. Too innocent to know much of the ways of the world, she is entirely out of her depth for most of the novel. She is also too insipid to do much about it. She always takes the back seat and does little to develop her own character. I accept she's in a difficult situation, the governess sitting uncomfortably between the servants and the family, being a part of neither circle. It leads to a isolating position, despite Agnes' claim (about which she then does nothing) that she is the equal of the ladies and their friends that she has been employed to educate. The other topic this book covers is courtship & marriage. There are two very different end results, and, one suspects, one is supposed to take the message that a good marriage is deserved by the more godly (preachy and pious) person. I, however, take from it that I'm amazed any marriage was ever good, in that they seem to be based on a mere handful of meetings and those barely seem to scratch the surface of the kind of exploratory conversations you'd have on a modern date. Rosalie discovers her husband is not at all what she imagined he would be, and has no skills to manage him. I occasionally complain my husband is not at all romantic, but I did know that before I married him. Not the longest book, and not a difficult read. But it has that 19th century preaching tone about it - you're supposed to take a lesson from it. And so it's unlikely to be one I'll come back to.
    • 5/5
      I am a big fan of the Brontes. While Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights are deservedly all time classics, Anne's two novels are less well known and comparatively neglected; and Agnes Grey is probably less known than Anne's other novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Agnes Grey is comparatively short and is a semi-autobiographical novel where Anne recounts the eponymous young lady's experiences as a governess to the children of wealthy families. When her father's business ventures fall apart after the sinking of a ship of his merchant business partner, young Agnes goes to work as a governess to earn the family some money, despite discouragement from her family. Her experiences are actually quite hilarious, dealing with spoiled and delinquent children and their oblivious parents who refuse to see any wrong in their offspring, particularly in the case of the Bloomfields. Later she looks after the older daughters of the Murrays, who are also a trial, being self-centred and needy, but with whom she is able eventually to establish a modus vivendi. She also falls in love with a vicar in the Murrays' local village, Mr Weston. This is a lovely and very satisfying novel, in some ways ahead of its time in dealing with "feral" children, as is Wildfell Hall in dealing with domestic abuse. A great read.
    • 4/5
      Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte was originally published in 1847 and feels much like a biography, based as it is on the author’s experiences as a governess working among families of the English gentry. Becoming a governess was at that time pretty much the only way a woman could earn a respectable living. The author does capture the awkwardness of being caught between the classes, she is above the servants, but not on the same level as those she works for. Even bearing in mind her upbringing and the time, I didn’t really like Agnes Grey, finding her rather judgmental and stiff although she did mellow quite a bit by the end of the book.The story tells of the two positions that Miss Grey was in, first with the Bloomfield family and then with the Murray family. The Bloomfield children were absolute horrors and she had no back up from the parents whatsoever. The Murray children were somewhat older and presented Miss Grey with a whole new set of behavioral problems. The eldest daughter was vain and self-centered and the other daughter was given to rough behavior and cursing like a stable boy. Being a governess was a very difficult job as on the one hand you are held responsible for the behavior of your charges but on the other you are meant to be invisible, there, but in the background.Being the daughter of a minister, herself, it came as no surprise that it is the local curate that sees beyond the governess to the woman that she is. Agnes returns his regard, but at the same time her elder charge was using all the men in the neighborhood to practice her wiles one, including the curate, Mr. Weston. Then Agnes gives up her position and returns home when her father dies. She and her mother open a small school but one day, while on a walk she again meets Mr. Weston who now lives in a nearby parsonage. The character of Agnes Grey was that of a very moral and religious young woman and it was very easy to see the parallels between this fictional character and the author herself. And although the book seemed to have an abrupt ending, I thought it was nice that the author wanted her governess to have that happy ending that she herself did not.
    • 3/5
      Anne Bronte is one of the Bronte sisters, all of whom wrote novels. This book is based on Anne's own experiences as a governess. If the details are true to life then she had some horrible brats as students and I do feel sorry for her. However, feeling sorry doesn't mean that I thought the book was good. I don't think Anne had the skill that her older sister, Charlotte, did for writing about characters that made one care what happened to them. Even the eponymous character didn't engage me. I wanted her to, at least once, stand up for herself but she consistently backed down. In one of the most horrible scenes she prevented a cruel boy from torturing a little bird by killing the bird herself. Surely there was some other way to resolve this problem. I could tell almost from the minute the young curate, Edward Weston, was introduced that Agnes would fall in love with him and, somehow, they would marry. Even when both Grey and Weston each leave the place where they met and Agnes was not able to learn where he had gone I knew that somehow they would reconnect. If that's a spoiler I apologize but, as I said, it seemed pretty obvious from the outset.Not my favourite classic by any stretch of the imagination. Give me George Eliot or Elizabeth Gaskell any day.
    • 4/5
      Many similarities to her sister Charlotte's Villette, though not so powerful. Agnes is more reliable a narrator -- occasionally coy, but transparently so -- though somehow (or perhaps 'therefore') I didn't find her quite as engaging. She's steadfast and determined, but mostly in a very quiet manner, so without the Villette-style revelations that "Oh by the way, I lied about X" there's little real spark. But she is likeable and admirable, and the story a sweet one of what makes a good education and a happy marriage.
    • 3/5
      Wow.....I cannot believe how long it took me to finish this book, although the book is certainly not entirely to blame......my life was a much larger factor....however, had i been 'gripped' more by what i was reading, it would not have taken me nearly 2 months (!) to get through it. But then again, one does not read Bronte sister books for adventure and heart-pounding excitement, so i have no one to blame but myself. With that all said, i did enjoy some aspects of the book. It always fascinates me to learn that self-centered rude entitled behavior is not some recent quality in society that we are all so quick to point to as some terrible decline feature of today's world, but has been with us a very long time. This also shows clearly the value that faith can have in offering up a path through which we can maneuver through difficult times. A little sappy, a somewhat predictable ending, but no regrets.
    • 3/5
      This was a Librovox recording that was ok. I thought that the voice of Agnes was a bit whiny. This matched the first half of the book which was Agnes's narrative about the awful students in her care. I sympathized with her a bit and thought that not only the students but parents were absolutely awful and disrespectful. It is interesting how little preparation a governess had for taking care of the young people she spent all day teaching and guiding. Going into a family with predefined behavior and disfunction had to be incredibly difficult. I am sure that very little was ever discussed prior to starting a placement in terms of managing difficult situations a governess was most likely going to experience.

      A governess was both a necessity and an evil. She was needed but not included as a member of the family. The ultimate decision-making was also in the hands of the parents, something that I am sure many youth took advantage of on a day to day basis.

      The second half of the book was more bright as some of the characters received their just desserts and Agnes found her path and voice. I was happy with the ending and must confess that I do enjoy things being wrapped up neatly.

      Looking forward to more of the Bronte sisters.
    • 4/5
      # 13 of 100 Classics Challenge

      Agnes Grey🍒🍒🍒🍒
      By Anne Bronte
      1847

      Partially influenced by her personal experience as a governess, Anne Bronte takes us into her world of the humble, mistreated and overworked governesses, with horribly undisciplined mean children of the rich.She falls for an impossible man, but eventually finds true love. And happiness.A great classic. My first Anne Bronte and not my last.
    • 4/5
      (Original Review, 1981-02-06)I read "Agnes Grey" after a visit to the Mosteiros dos Jerónimos, supposing I ought to try the lesser known sister after reading so much of Charlotte's work and of course “Wuthering Heights.” What a wonderful surprise. Anne had me at "...she would rather live in a cottage with Richard Grey than in a palace with any other man in the world." It's a beautiful novel and undeservedly overlooked. The tone is on the surface much less dark, but Anne pulls no punches about women's oppression and the appalling behaviour of the 'noble' families she had the misfortune to encounter in her time as a governess. The dialogue reminds me of Jane Austen in places, exchanges that are gently witty and scathing. Mr. Weston is something of an unassuming romantic interest, but coming to the novel as an adult I rather more appreciate Anne's quietly decent men than the Byronic sociopaths her sisters were obsessed with. For me the novel is more about women. Agnes' relationship with her mother is genuinely touching, imbued with Anne's longing for her own. The final meeting between Agnes and Rosalie juxtaposing their characters and fates, now firmly fixed, is haunting stuff. Anne's heroines are not defined by the men they love, but by their own convictions and resources - how refreshing even in 1981!
    • 3/5
      I looked at several reviews of Agnes Grey before reading it, but they were so varied in opinion I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t find the heroine as insipid as many readers did; although she mostly failed to change the children in her charge she never failed to try to the best of her abilities, including physical means; and remaining polite and ‘in her place’ didn’t mean she lacked strong feelings.Where I felt the novel lacked power was in its romance. The only thing holding the two apart was their inability to meet often. There was nothing like Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth and Darcy having to accept their own faults and evolve into better people - Agnes and Mr Weston are both essentially perfect and only require a little leisure time to get to know each other so that doubts about each other’s feelings can be overcome.
    • 4/5
      Anne Bronte delivers a finely detailed account of the depressing trials of a untrained and timid young governess and her ruthless charges.She unfortunately gains little in self confidence as she moves with her mother to teach in their own school at the seaside.Mr. Weston, her concealed love interest, acts in his own secretive manner, as artful as the manipulations Agnes Grey despises in Miss Matilda,yet Agnes does not fault him for his many months of needless silence.His sterling act in her direction is the purchase of the dog, Snap. There is no reason given why Agnes did not purchase and so save the dog from cruelty herself.
    • 3/5
      I am glad I read this. It wasn't terrible but compared to "Tenant" I would never believe it was written by the same woman. It's just rather dull. Agnes is self-righteous and to our modern eyes rather a wimp. Yes her charges are horrible little monsters and a reader can't judge her by our modern standards but "Tenant" has issues which are no longer relevant in it and it's still a great book. So of some interest but flawed. The fact that it has never been filmed probably about sums it up.
    • 5/5
      I am resolved to work my way through all the novels by the Brontë sisters – Ann, Emily, and Charlotte. Agnes Grey is Anne’s first of her two novels. Anne was born January 17, 1820. She was a novelist and a poet. She spent most of her life with her family at the parish church of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. She was a governess from 1839 to 1845. Agnes Grey was published in 1847. Anne died May 28, 1849.She drew on her experiences at Haworth and as a governess in writing the novel. The first paragraph sets forth her ideas on writing a novel. She wrote, “All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry shriveled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut. Whether this be the case with my history or not, I am hardly competent to judge; I sometimes think it might prove useful to some, and entertaining to others, but the world my judge for itself: shielded by my own obscurity, and by the lapse of years, and a few fictitious names, I do not fear to venture, and will candidly lay before the public what I would not disclose to the most intimate friend” (1). Every time I delve into one of the Brontës, I can not help to hear their voices—soft, gentle, erudite—as I imagine them to be.As was frequently the case in those days, a writer was at the mercy of the typesetters. In a letter to her publisher, she wrote, “There are numerous literal errors, and the text of Agnes Grey is marred by various peculiarities of punctuation, especially in the use of commas (some of these, however, may be authorial)” (xi). She began revising the text, and a copy of the third volume has “some 121 revisions made in pencil in her hand, many of them involving quite significant substantive alterations” (xi). James Joyce faced the same problem with Ulysses with typesetters who could not read English. I corrected the text for many years—nearly up to his death.Anne’s novel is considered quite an achievement. As the novel proceeds, she becomes more confident. Here is a conversation between Anne and Rosalie: “‘If you mean Mr. Weston to be one of your victims,’ said I, with affected indifference, ‘you will have to make such overtures yourself, that you will find it difficult to draw back when he asks you to fulfil the expectations you have raised’ // [Anne’s reply] ‘I don’t suppose he will ask me to marry him—nor should I desire it … that would be rather too much presumption! But I intend him to feel my power—he has felt it already, indeed—but he shall acknowledge it too; and what visionary hopes he may have, he must keep to himself, and only amuse me with the result of them—for a time’” (xii).As the Introduction to my paperback copy points out, “Agnes Grey is undoubtedly in many ways a deeply personal novel’ (xii). “Charlotte Brontë described the work as ‘the mirror of the mind of the writer” (xii-xiii). One of the things that Anne emphasized in her novels, comes right out of her experiences as a governess. The treatment of these young women was nothing less than atrocious. Agnes Grey speaks with the authority of experience. In addition, her moral and religious sensibilities are evident throughout the novel.I hope this taste of a fantastically talented young writer will inspire you to snuggle up with Anne Brontë and delve into Agnes Grey. All you need is a cup of tea, some patience, and the reward is a thoroughly satisfying picture of young women in England of the 1840s. 5 stars!--Jim, 12/6/17
    • 3/5
      Anne seems to be the forgotten Bronte, and while I liked this book as a change of pace from the outright melodramas and romances that Charlotte and Emily wrote, it really wasn't up to snuff with my expectations, I guess.
    • 4/5
      Of all the reviews on Goodreads, reviews of the Brontes puzzle me most. Wuthering Heights is meant to be a romance, relaxation reading etc... And Anne Bronte, who is now certainly my favorite sister, is always a distant third...
      This novel isn't as good as The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, sure. But it's more lovely, full of gentle irony, moral correction, and the promise that somewhere there is at least one person, who is not a member of your family, who is not a complete dip-shit. Like Austen, but more enraged, which is understandable given the facts of the story.
      I've read people who complain that this novel 'tells' too much rather than 'showing,' but given that it's written in the first person, I hardly see how it could 'show' without being insanely obtuse; imagine someone sitting down at a bar to regale you with a tale, except he treats it like a Henry James novel. No thanks. I've read that this is too moralistic. I wonder if the people who write this are the same ones who complain that other novels don't have any sympathetic characters? Come on people! Can you imagine a novel full of sympathetic characters, and then have those sympathetic characters not be pissed off that other people are terrible? Ugh. Insufferable.
    • 3/5
      Plain and rather predictable, but nice.
    • 3/5
      The story of Agnes Grey is essentially thinly veiled autobiography which parallels key elements of Anne Bronte’s own life. Related in the first person, it is the story of a clergyman’s daughter in the north of England who seeks financial independence in light of the family’s straightened circumstances and eventually chooses, much to the astonishment of her parents and sisters, to become a governess. The ensuing narrative provides ample opportunity to present some powerful depictions of over indulgent and thoughtless parents, their obstreperous and selfish children as well as the vacuity of the schoolroom. We see two families, the Bloomfields and the Murrays, each of which proves unkind, unfeeling and insensitive after their own fashion. We also see the attendant village societies with their divisions, jealousies and aspirations – although the overall presentation of these is more akin to Jane Austen’s two inches of ivory rather than to Dickens’ or Eliot’s wider panorama of the social order.This novel fits the pattern of so many great classic realist works of the Victorian era from Dickens to Hardy, which explore the principle division of matter and spirit. The material conditions of nineteenth century society are always kept in mind; we are given details of the wealth and earnings of Agnes, her economic strains and anxieties; and we are shown how they contrast with the ease and comfort of her employers as well as the pecuniary motivations for the marriages they arrange. But, while worldly enough to incorporate such gross matters, the moral and spiritual dimension of the characters is always the principle focus of interest. For Agnes, the most important concern is to maintain integrity in the face of experience; to focus on the simple and honest virtues of love rather than social probity or advancement. Agnes’ mother sums this up most clearly towards the end when she affirms the choice she made to marry for love rather than money many years earlier by turning down her own father’s offer to restore her place in his will if she will renounce her marriage. She stoutly asserts that “he is mistaken in supposing that I can regret the birth of my daughters...; had our misfortunes been three times as great as they were ... I should still the more rejoice to have shared them with your father...” (p.124). What keeps Agnes going in the dark times as she feels increasingly alienated from the world and its values, is this family feeling and the thought of doing her best for them. When the admirable curate Mr Weston asks her what her favourite flowers are, she replies with “primroses, blue-bells and heath-blossoms” because they remind her of home; and here she pledges herself to Victorian hearth and home: “It is so much that I think I could not live without it” she says (p.84).The great temptation for the characters of the novel is the pride that comes from their wealth and the ability it gives them to exploit others. On one side are the wealthy who have generally succumbed to this egotism. Rosalie Murray, one of Agnes’s charges, fits this mould. Agnes admits to caring for her and seeing her virtues of vivacity and charm; but her indulgent parents and their philistine world view have allowed Rosalie’s weaknesses to outgrow her strengths. As Agnes notes “Her temper being naturally good, she was never violent or morose, but from constant indulgence and habitual scorn of reason, she was often testy and capricious; her mind had never been cultivated; her intellect at best was somewhat shallow; she possessed considerable vivacity, some quickness of perception, and some talent for music and the acquisition of languages, but till fifteen she had troubled herself to acquire nothing; - then the love of display had roused her faculties, and induced her to apply herself, but only to the more showy accomplishments” (51). Even worse are the cruelties of Tom Bloomfield, the eldest child of Agnes’ first placement. He is constantly defiant to Agnes and vicious to animals (he is the boy Lear refers to who kills things for his sport). This culture culminates in mercenary attitudes to love and marriage as seen in Rosalie’s poor choice of a husband, something connived in by her parents. All this is counterpointed with Agnes’s steadfast and level headed moral judgement. Her connections reflect this same modest and simple attitude: her constant and loyal family, Nancy Brown (a local cottage dweller looked down on by the well-to-do because of her meagre living) and the curate Mr Weston. Modesty, endurance and a clear sighted simple honesty and faith are the touchstone virtues here. And, as we would expect they are rewarded in their way.The drama played out between these sets of characters is to a great degree predictable but the resolution is skilfully held back until extremely late in the story; the heart of the novel is Agnes herself, her modesty and moral integrity. She can judge harshly: Tom Bloomfield and the uncle who incites him to outrageous acts of so-called “manly” torture are clearly taken to task in the narrative. But she can also forgive Rosalie for her thoughtless marriage when she sees its sorrowful consequences in a poignant scene. So, along with a moral toughness there is a capacity for flexibility and kindness.Agnes can seem a little pious at times to modern taste but the voracious, vindictive and spiritually vapid world of her antagonists serves to provide a counterweight to this. There is no shortage of cruelty and heartlessness to be seen in this novel, but these lack the energetic vigour with which Emily presents such emotions in "Wuthering Heights". But, the purpose of this book is to embody the values of Christian virtue not to extol or explore the passions of pantheistic or pagan character as her sister does. Whereas Emily’s novel leads us to the shimmering energies of “unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth”, Anne affirms a more conventional Victorian pietism by concluding that “we endeavour to live to the glory of Him who has scattered so many blessings in our path”. Unquiet slumbers? Quiet glory has its value, too.
    • 3/5
      Interesting social commentary, dull to read in some sections. apparently somewhat autobiographical.
    • 3/5
      It's one of the Brontes so, of course, there's a level of wonderfulness that's a given. The romance in this story feels like an add-on but the exposure of the hypocrisy of the "upper" classes and the rudeness towards the "lower" classes is wonderful. Jane Eyre is still my favorite but I'm glad I've now read Anne.
    • 4/5
      Anne Bronte's writings bring like in the 1800s to life on the page. Her short descriptive chapters set a fast pace to her vivid writing. This is a small treasure of a novel with semi-biographical experiences is often ignored alongside her sisters more famous novels, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights but it is not forgotten.
    • 2/5
      Somewhere in the middle of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Agnes Grey lacks character development and plot.
    • 4/5
      The least-studied Bronte throws her experiences as a governess into the ring and the result is a scathing tale of the upper classes and how they treat their middle class servants.The heroine Agnes Grey is a virtuous clergyman's daughter who, when her family finds themselves struggling, offers up her services as a governess. Her experiences are terrible: The children are unruly and unwilling to submit to authority, and the parents expect the kids to be tamed without discipline or harsh words. Agnes soon finds that governesses have an awkward place in their charges' families. They are treated like servants, yet expected to hold themselves in a manner better than such. Servants, in fact, seem to hold a resentment for a governess's place in their master's home. The governess then lives a lonely life, without confidantes, far from home. They are supposed to have no feelings, and to think only of their charges. When Agnes suffers a loss, her mistress is sulky that Agnes should take a short leave. She is ordered about with no concern of her own health or welfare, stuffed into uncomfortable carriage seats and forced to endure walks in uncomfortable weather and often finds herself sick.Agnes survives it all due to her sense of moral duty, which oftentimes borders on pride. She is afraid to admit failure to her family, who discouraged her from the work at first. Thus, she puts up with the cruelest of children in her first job as a governess, which she was woefully underprepared for. The second family she worked for was almost as bad. There, her primary charges were two young women: one a determined flirt, the other a foul-mouthed tomboy, neither of which felt obliged to be peacefully taught anything by a governess. The flirt, eldest daughter Rosalie, establishes a semblance of a friendship with Agnes, which consisted of Rosalie confiding in all the naughty things she did, and Agnes admonishing her. When Rosalie marries unhappily and is shut away in the country by her jealous husband, she calls on her old governess for conpanionship, but as usual does not listen to any of her advice. Thus, Rosalie becomes a self-sabotaging character: she is determined to always have things her way, even if her way makes things worse for her. In contrast, Agnes finds a most agreeable companion in the curate Mr. Weston. Both find comfort in religion and helping the less fortunate. Agnes falls in love almost immediately, but does not dare hope that marriage is in the cards for a woman of her class and position. As stoic and sensible as she tries to be, her mind belies an schoolgirl giddiness when she thinks of Mr. Weston. It is interesting that she and Rosalie take almost similar actions to cross his path: Rosalie wants to ensnare Mr. Weston's affections before her marriage to stroke her ego, so she visits the cottagers more in hopes to find him administering to parishoners there. Similarily, Agnes hopes to run into and hear about Mr. Weston as she visits the cottagers. The difference lies in their motives: Rosalie's intents are perverted because she disdains mens' feelings and only wants to be adored and have the satisfaction of turning down another proposal. Agnes's love is pure and based on admiration for Mr. Weston's moral character.The novel ends with happiness for those who deserve it -- very satisfactory for the reader. It is interesting to compare the novel to the "governess stories" of another Bronte, Charlotte, like "Jane Eyre" and "Villete", the latter being a closer comparison. In "Villette," Lucy Snowe is an isolated teacher who finds herself in a patronizing pseudo-friendship with one of her flirtatious and insulting charges. Like Agnes, Lucy makes a romantic connection with a likeminded sober and upstanding character. "Agnes Grey," however is a more damning account of the treatment of governesses. Few respectable jobs were open to educated women with no fortune to tempt men into marriage. Their minds and moral character set them apart, making them outsiders and resigned to a lonely life. They worked to survive, not to hope for any wordly pleasure, for the only pleasure that mattered was that of the family for whom they worked. The fact that Agnes can find happiness at the novel's conclusion is heartening, but it does not diminish the harsh treatment she received by her employers. I can only hope that the novel's publication made an impression on Victorian readers, and sought them to treat their governesses much more fairly.
    • 5/5
      Some consider Anne Bronte the least "creative" of the three sisters and say that her style is less aesthetically pleasing. I, however, like her work far more than that of Charlotte or Emily. "Agnes Grey" is a touching story told in a language that is as concise as it is vivid. Kudos to Anne Bronte!