Agnes Grey (32 page)

1
(p. 3)
what I would not disclose to the most intimate friend:
The novel opens with a declaration of the absolute truth of what is to follow, with nothing withheld. Like her sister Charlotte’s first-person narrator, Jane Eyre, Anne’s Agnes Grey harbors no illusions about her character or her appearance; she sees her own faults and lays them bare just as she does the faults of those around her. This statement has also prompted much speculation about the autobiographical nature of what follows.

2
(p. 4)
too unfit for buffeting with the cares and turmoils of life:
Here one suspects Anne speaks directly through her character—she too was the baby of the family and no doubt was just as eager to prove her independence and competence when she left home to become a governess at about the same age.

3
(p. 10)
“dispose of them to some liberal picture-dealer, who has the sense to discern their merits”:
Selling their watercolor sketches was another unsuccessful moneymaking scheme of the Brontë sisters. Anne’s heroine in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall supports herself in this manner after she leaves her husband.

4
(p. 12)
“To teach the young idea how to shoot”:
The quotation is from
The Seasons
(“Spring,” lines 1152-1153), a four-part poem by Scottish-born English writer James Thomson (1700-1748).

5
(p. 14)
“get to yon’ spot afore there come much rain to signify ”:
Anne, like her sisters, was familiar with Yorkshire dialect and sprinkles it liberally in the speech of her lower-class characters.

1
(p. 17)
“she need have nothing further to do with the nursery-maid”:
Agnes is being asked to do far more than is ordinarily expected of a governess, including supervising the washing of Mary Ann’s clothes; this is a bad portent, though of course Agnes is too inexperienced and too powerless to resist.

2
(p. 19)
This was very shocking, but I hoped in time to be able to work a reformation:
Already Tom has been socialized into emulating what is all too typical male violence toward animals and women. Agnes, of course, will prove unable to overcome such deeply entrenched social and family values.

3
(p. 20)
“as long as I have power to prevent it”:
Here is another sign of Agnes’s naive faith in her own power as an educator; she cannot prevent such slaughter of innocents and, ironically, later will be forced herself to kill small animals Tom has found lest he torture them.

1
(p. 23)
their governess, and a perfect stranger to himself:
Mr. Bloomfield’s rudeness highlights Agnes’s uncomfortable position as, in effect, a lower servant, which undermines any authority she might have with her charges.

2
(p. 26)
hold his hands and feet till the frenzy was somewhat abated:
A tale surfaced many years after Anne’s death that she had once tied down one of her charges to control his fury; whether the tale is true or not, this incident again highlights Agnes’s lack of authority.

3
(p. 27)
no better result, than sport to the children, dissatisfaction to their parents, and torment to myself:
Agnes’s frustration is all the more painful because she realizes how much in need of moral guidance the children are, yet she is incapable of finding any way to teach them.

4
(p. 32)
“They
may
crush ... not of them”:
Agnes slightly misquotes (probably from memory) from George Gordon, Lord Byron’s “Stanzas to Augusta” (1816), lines 22-24.

1
(p. 33)
misjudged by those above:
Agnes’s frustration at her impotence only increases the longer she stays at the Bloomfields’. Her distress must be considered within the context of her evangelical faith: She sees it as her sacred duty to help those near her, in this case these young children whose very souls are at risk if they are not reformed.

2
(p. 37)
she was rather weak than wicked:
Brontë satirizes many varieties of false Christian in the novel; here she punctures Mrs. Bloomfield’s mock humility and pride in her supposed piety. Her misquotations from scripture are a sure sign of her moral failings.

1
(p. 43)
He taught his nephew to imitate him in this to the utmost of his ability:
It was hardly unusual in Victorian times for children to partake of watered wine or spirits, and of beer or ale, but here is something more insidious, a determined attempt to make the boy share all of his uncle’s vices.

2
(p. 46)
“Blessed ... obtain mercy”:
See the Bible, Matthew 5:7. Agnes trades scriptural precepts with Mrs. Bloomfield, who misquotes and misapplies the Bible to justify her own moral obtuseness.

1
(p. 49)
what would become of our mother and us when he was gone, God only knew:
One cannot but suspect an implied criticism of Patrick Brontë in Agnes’s comments about her father.

2
(p. 52)
“for there are bad and good in all classes”:
Agnes’s mother makes this claim, but her bias is toward expecting those of higher rank (like the Murrays) to be superior in manners and behavior than the nouveau riche Bloomfields.

3
(p. 52)
fifty pounds:
This sum is perhaps at the high end of the expected salary range for a young, inexperienced governess, but it probably reflects more the status of the Murrays than the qualifications of Agnes.

1
(p. 55)
for there were some railways then:
The first railway came to York in 1840, and Brontë herself probably used it to journey to Thorp Green.

2
(p. 58)
Port Nelson in New Zealand:
Mary Taylor, a friend of Charlotte’s, very recently had left for New Zealand in March 1845.

3
(p. 60)
Valpy’s delectus:
In November 1843 Anne had bought, with her own money, a copy of this popular Latin textbook for her charges at Thorp Green. Few governesses would have had the ability to tutor in Latin.

4
(p. 62)
to show the unfortunate state of the family to which my services were, for the present devoted:
The contrast of the Bloomfields to the Murrays is striking: The former were consciously vicious, but the latter are more adrift because they lack any moral compass. The result, sadly, is much the same—lack of active virtue is as debilitating as intentional vice.

5
(p. 65)
swear like a trooper:
The military then (as now) was proverbial for expertise in swearing; that Matilda has learned this from her father suggests that neither he nor Mrs. Murray are very much aware of the example set before their children by their own bad conduct.

6
(p. 67)
which would otherwise have been one of welcome rest, and holy, calm enjoyment:
It is typical of the Murrays that they never consider Agnes worthy of even the most incidental concern as to her needs or preferences. Their relegation of her to the worst place in the carriage and the headache this causes ruins even Sabbath observance for her.

7
(p. 69)
regulated their behaviour by the same standard:
Again one senses the utter powerlessness of the governess—she is mistreated by the family, and even the lower servants look down upon her, adding to her daily misery.

1
(p. 71)
“Coming Out”:
This phrase refers to a young woman’s making her formal entrance into society (usually at seventeen), with the strong implication that she is also seeking to attract proposals of marriage.

2
(p. 72)
“my sister is going to be married”:
The brief discussion of Agnes’s sister’s marriage suggests how such a relationship should be contracted, but Rosalie of course learns nothing from this good example.

1
(p. 76)
“but
being
a younger son, that is all he is good for”:
As a younger son, under the system of primogeniture, Harry Meltham will inherit nothing, so to the venal Rosalie he is useful only for flirting and not a serious prospect for marriage.

1
(p. 79)
“praying, earnestly and sincerely from his own heart”:
Mr. Weston’s sincere faith shines forth in everything he does, in sharp contrast to the shallow, High Church pretensions of Mr. Hatfield, who always prefers show to substance, thus betraying his lack of true Christian belief.

2
(p. 80)
the clearness and force of his style:
Again, in contrast to his superior’s attempts at grandiloquence that leave his listeners unmoved and unenlightened, Mr. Weston’s true eloquence is well suited to “the evangelical truth of his doctrine.”

3
(p. 82)
bind heavy burdens ... fingers; make the word of God ... commandments of men:
See the Bible, Matthew 23:4 and 15:6, 9, respectively. Agnes uses scripture here to portray Mr. Hatfield as one who needlessly complicates the divine message, and also one who uses hellfire and brimstone to frighten his lower-class parishioners into obedience.

1
(p. 84)
occasionally, I went to see them on my own account:
It was expected that middle-class women, especially in the country, would visit the poor, take them small items of food and clothing, and in general be of assistance. Even though she is poor herself, Agnes performs this duty regularly.

2
(p. 88)
“‘He that loveth not... the Law”’:
These are difficult verses from 1 John and Romans 13, respectively. The point is that Mr. Hatfield quotes such passages but then fails to interpret them in a way that promotes faith, emphasizing fear instead.

3
(p. 89)
“till I was weary to bear it”:
Mr. Hatfield’s behavior—kicking Nancy Brown’s cat across the floor as he chases after Rosalie Murray—is contrasted to the depressed state of the old woman’s mind after she had listened earnestly to his sermonizing.

4
(p. 90)
“‘If there be ... open his grief’”:
This is a quotation (apparently from memory) of an exhortation read on the Sunday preceding Communion. Though Mr. Hatfield likes the pomp and circumstance of observance, it is clear from his behavior a moment later that he has no interest in the meaning of the words he speaks.

5
(p. 92)
“a cat to know manners like a christian ”:
Ironically, Mr. Hatfield has shown very un-Christian behavior to the cat; Mr. Weston’s concern for the cat marks him as a true Christian.

6
(p. 93)
“”God IS LOVE’”:
See the Bible, 1 John 4:8, 16. Mr. Weston can turn the same scripture that Mr. Hatfield uses to inspire fear into a message of love and forgiveness.

7
(p. 96) a silver
watch:
Mr. Hatfield has a gold one, needless to say; Agnes, we know, has no watch at all, since she must listen to a clock striking to know the time.

1
(p. 102)
“I can’t make the tea as I like it”:
Typically, servants would bring a kettle of hot water and the tea caddy into the room so the hostess could measure the tea leaves, pour the water, and brew to taste. Significantly, Matilda is so ill-prepared for marriage that she cannot even make a pot of tea to her own liking.

1
(p. 106)
“The human heart is like indian-rubber”:
In Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane
Eyre,
the character Mr. Rochester makes a similar remark about the toughness of the human heart.

2
(p. 108)
I began this book ... amongst them:
Agnes now revises her pledge to completely disclose her thoughts, but she does so for a very good reason: It would be most improper for a young woman to reveal fully her perceptions about the man with whom she has fallen deeply in love. (It was in part Jane Eyre’s violation of this unwritten precept that caused so much consternation in reviews of the novel.)

3
(p. 109) It
seemed ... ask in vain:
Agnes is too devout to feel comfortable praying for her own happiness; but in asking God that her love for Mr. Weston be requited she is praying, in effect, for his happiness—a more laudable object.

1
(p. 110)
a new fashionable novel:
Such novels usually were about highborn characters and featured silly romantic plots. Rosalie would favor such nonsense and perhaps is influenced by it in her own conduct with Sir Thomas.

2
(p. 114)
“reformed rakes make the best husbands,
every
body knows”:
This was a common proverb at the time. The title character of
Pamela,
a novel by the English writer Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), makes the same remark; her experience, unlike Rosalie’s, eventually proves it true.

1
(p. 124)
Berlin wool:
The reference is to the same type of woolwork as described above in footnotes on p. 56 and p. 63; in this case, the errand is but a pretext for Rosalie to meet her beaux.

1
(p. 142)
The footsteps
...
when it was reared:
This passage seems interpolated without much justification, since we have never heard before of Agnes’s poetry writing—nor will we again; but it does seem in keeping with Anne Brontë’s practice. This poem is often assumed to be a response to the sudden death, in 1842, of the supposed object of Anne’s affections, William Weightman, her father’s curate at the time.