In her Introduction to an edition of "Agnes Grey," Barbara A. Suess writes "Bronte provides a portrait of the governess that is as sympathetic as her fictional indictment of the shallow, selfish moneyed class is biting." Anne Bronte relies on her own personal involvement in her duties as a home teacher to bring Agnes Grey to life. Agnes, a rector's daughter, must take employment as a governess to help her family make financial ends meet. But her situations with the spoiled, self-obsessed Bloomfield children and later with the ruthless Murray family forces her into a lonely, humiliating experience that is a wearying one extraordinarily blossoming into a romantic relationship with the local vicar, Edward Weston. Agnes' concern for her family brings her to these unfortunate trials where she suffers stupid and egotistic proprietors and their over-indulged progeny. She was not able to foresee the hardships she would have to undergo along with the class snobbery to which she was also subjected. And yet a career as a governess was the only "respectable" job available to an unmarried woman in Victorian England. Bronte's simple and uncomplicated rendition of these sordid affairs made circumstances surrounding such brutish conditions authentic enough to necessitate investigation and improvement.

Bronte, Anne

Anne Bronte

Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd

Oneworld Classics Ltd

Overture Publishing

London: Alma Books

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

London, 2018

Source title: Agnes Grey (Evergreens)

The well-educated daughter of a penniless clergyman, Agnes Grey is treated like a child by her own family and so sets out to prove herself by seeking employment as a governess. Soon, however, her idealistic notions regarding the education and care of her wards are dashed as she battles to control the wild Bloomfi eld children in her fi rst situation, and is then held in low regard by the superior Murray household. This edition contains extra material for students.

1 online resource (257 pages)
This new edition contains extra material about the author's life and works, notes and bibliographic information
Print version record
Cover; Agnes Grey; Note on the Text; Notes; Extra Material; Anne Brontñâ#x80;#x99;s Life; Anne Brontñâ#x80;#x99;s Works; Select Bibliography

2023-10-08