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Title: Agnes Grey (Oxford World's Classics) by Anne Bronte, Hilda Marsden, Robert Inglesfield ISBN: 0-19-283478-9 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.31 (16 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Simple, Unpretentious and Down-to-Earth
Comment: After reading "Wuthering Heights" (by Emily), "Jane Eyre" (by Charlotte), and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (by Anne), I found myself slightly disappointed by the lack of passion and romanticism in Anne Bronte's "Agnes Grey". This novel truly is simple, unpretentious, and down-to-earth--and, therefore, far too easy to underestimate and undervalue.
The title character is the younger daughter of a poor family, who seeks employment as a governess in order to help her parents make ends meet. This noble act of maturity on her part earns her nothing but disillusion, humiliation and hardship in the hands of the tyrannical children and over-indulgent parents of Wellwood House (Note the intriguing initials W.H., which stand for Wuthering Heights and Wildfell Hall in other Bronte books) and, later, Horton Lodge. For several chapters, Anne Bronte does not do much but--dare I say it?--complain about the lot of the Victorian governess. Though her portraits of the children and their parents were obviously drawn from reality, which certainly won sympathy from me, I wanted to tell her to "Get on with the story" many times.
The plot does pick up after the artful and exasperating Rosalie Murray has her "coming out" ball. Thoughtless rather than tyrannical, Rosalie has the most well-drawn character of all of Agnes' charges, which makes her such a great foil for Agnes. Rosalie delights in thinking that she could have any man she wishes and enjoys nothing more than toying with men's hearts. When she finds out that Agnes might be in love with the curate, Edward Weston, she makes every attempt to make Mr. Weston fall in love with _her_, thinking that it would be a grand joke to make Agnes miserable. Yet it is impossible to hate her, somehow. She steals every scene she is in; half the story is truly hers.
I am happy to say that both Rosalie and Agnes get what they deserve, which is, fittingly, what each explicitly asked and worked for. (Read that any way you wish--or better yet, read the book.) "Agnes Grey" has left me believing that we truly do sow what we reap and receive what we ask for.
Rating: 4
Summary: Goodness Gracious Agnes
Comment: A pretty little Victorian novel by Anne Bronte. Not nearly as good as 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' but still charming and fun. The portrait of Agnes as an innocent but good and charitable governess is well drawn. However her 'goodness' gets a bit tiring toward the end. You begin wishing she would stand up for herself, but I guess that wouldn't be acceptable Victorian behaviour. Of course as a governess she meets tyrannical children, stupid egoistic employers, silly gentry, but she also describes the peasants of the time and compares 'good' and 'vain' preachers. In the end goodness is rewarded and greed is taught a nice lesson. Worth reading if only to compare to 'The Tenant' and better known works by the other Bronte sisters.
Rating: 5
Summary: Agnes Grey- simple but magnificent
Comment: 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.
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Title: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Oxford World's Classics) by Anne Bronte, Herbert Rosengarten, Smith Margaret ISBN: 0192834622 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Shirley (Oxford World's Classics) by Charlotte Bronte, Herbert Rosengarten, Margaret Smith ISBN: 0192833782 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Villette by A.S. Byatt, Ignes Sodre, Charlotte Bronte ISBN: 037575850X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Professor (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Bronte, Heather Glen ISBN: 0140433112 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Evelina : or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Elizabeth Kowaleski Wallace, Fanny Burney ISBN: 0375758054 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 04 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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