'Agnes Grey' by Anne Brontë Deserves the Utmost Respect

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë is a morality tale, in essence, and provides a nice contrast to a few of my recent criticisms of both Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen. I can’t say that Anne Brontë outdoes her sisters Charlotte (Jane Eyre) and Emily (Wuthering Heights) as a novelist, but of the three—or four, if we include Austen—I would certainly choose Anne as my minister, be that religious or governmental. Charlotte doesn’t as fiercely engage core issues, Emily is perhaps not even sane, and Austen is sometimes narrow-minded.

Author Sophia Alexander
with Anne Brontë's 'Agnes Grey'

I leave the story of Agnes Grey with the greatest respect for Anne’s principles, especially relating to her bent for animal rights. Agnes’s solution to a dire situation in which she had limited authority to take charge leaves the reader taken aback with both awe and horror.  Much, much respect to the author of Agnes Grey.

As one reviewer puts it, Agnes Grey is more of an ‘exposé on governessing’ than Charlotte’s more
romanticized view of it in Jane Eyre. Not only that, but it seems that Charlotte actually wrote Jane Eyre after Agnes Grey was written (though Anne’s book was published two months later than Jane Eyre was), both stories about plain governesses. I can’t say that Agnes Grey was as charming as Jane Eyre, overall, but I certainly approve of it heartily, all the while still shaking my head about the disaster of a romantic situation for Jane Eyre.

A state of coquettish affairs eventually arises in Anne’s novel quite similar to what I’ve criticized some of Austen’s works for, but Anne manages it far more gracefully. She acknowledges at once that Agnes wouldn’t have believed the situation plausible herself had she read it in a novel, but that she’d experienced it first-hand—making me believe Anne herself really had! So, my qualms that way were settled in one deft statement by Anne (even if now I wonder how her vindication so absolutely settled the question for me—but I think it’s because she’d proven herself trustworthy already).

Even then, however, Agnes does her utmost to focus on her own behavior, her own reactions. She is always monitoring herself, often scolding herself for being uncharitable or ridiculous. I was impressed when I started to take issue with Agnes, and then Agnes herself takes issue with Agnes! So by the time Anne describes Agnes’s tender, pained feelings surrounding a man that a beautiful woman is only toying with, the reader really is provoked to feel the utmost sympathy for Agnes. Perhaps a bit of scorn for the coquette, too, but that’s not the point. The point is Agnes and the thoughtful sincerity of her affections and morality. Our hearts break for her.

Agnes does her best not to hold a grudge. Later, when the coquette is caught in a bad marriage, Agnes is truly sympathetic but gives her advice that we readers today would despair over. Her advice does seem quite sound for the time—to make the marriage work as best she can, to be the best wife she can be despite the man’s countless terrible faults and wandering ways.  However, let me credit Anne Brontë with this: her next novel is centered on a woman who actually does leave a bad marriage, so I can’t but think that her own advice troubled her somewhat, that perhaps she even felt guilty about the fate of the poor coquette. Anne’s sympathetic, thoughtful soul kept her pushing her own bar.

Bravo on a work that I admire greatly, Anne Brontë! Happy 175th publication birthday this December to Agnes Grey!

P.S. She used the expression ‘kill time’ in this 1847 novel, which sounded quite modern to my ears! But if you do have a little time to kill—the book’s not long at all—you could do far worse than spending it on this thoughtful, poignant, well-written narrative that speaks to both the heart and mind.