Agnes Grey

Summary

Agnes Grey is Anne Brontë's first novel, a quiet, clear-eyed story of a young governess, told in the first person with a moral purpose announced in its first sentence: all true histories contain instruction. Agnes is the younger daughter of a poor clergyman in the north of England and his gentle wife, who gave up her wealthy family to marry him. When her father loses their small savings in a failed merchant venture, Agnes, eager to help and to prove herself, insists on becoming a governess. Her first post is with the Bloomfields at Wellwood, a newly rich family whose spoiled children are unteachable and cruel: young Tom tortures birds and the parents blame Agnes for every failure. She is dismissed within a year. Her second post, with the Murrays of Horton Lodge, is grander but no kinder. The older daughter, Rosalie, is a beautiful, vain flirt who collects admirers and finally marries the rich, dissolute Sir Thomas Ashby for his title; the younger, Matilda, is a tomboy who swears like a stable boy. Agnes is treated as a servant, ignored in company, and lonely. Her comfort is the new curate, Edward Weston, a sincere, plain man whose sermons and care for the poor contrast with the vain rector Mr. Hatfield. Agnes visits the old, half-blind cottager Nancy Brown, whom Weston has comforted, and quietly comes to love him. Rosalie, out of vanity, sets out to attract Weston too and keeps Agnes away from him. When Agnes's father dies, she leaves to open a small school with her mother at a seaside town. Years later, walking on the sands at dawn, she meets Weston again; he has found a living nearby, seeks her out, and asks her to marry him. They live happily on a modest income. The novel is written in plain, honest prose and is full of moral observation about the treatment of governesses, the education of children, cruelty to animals, and the difference between real and showy religion. Readers should notice its quiet humor and its contrast between vanity and integrity.

Top Lessons

• The dignity of work

  Agnes takes up a hard and humble post to support her family. The novel honors honest labor.

• True and false religion

  Weston's plain, caring faith contrasts with Hatfield's vanity.

• Vanity and its cost

  Rosalie's marriage for rank brings her misery.

Verified Quotes

Medical Lens

The death of Agnes's father and the illness of cottagers are handled with simple realism.

• Ch. 22

  Agnes's father dies.