Agnes
Posted by Susie on September 22, 1997 at 17:23:54:
In response to Helen, Jane, Agnes, written by Helen on September 22, 1997 at 10:37:36
] ] Confession time: I haven't cried yet (even over the death of Helen Burns) but am having serious trouble putting this book down. I had forgotten what a compelling read it is, and how it grips one from the first page. I read Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte while on holiday, and although covering similar territory (trials and tribulations of a young governess)and providing an interesting picture of the social set-up, it is not nearly as powerful. It seems to be something to do with CB's insight into characters and emotions that engages the reader so immediately - would you agree?
] I love both books, for different reasons: Agnes Grey is not "powerful" or thrilling, but it achieves a kind of serenity and perfection of tone which sometimes I long to read. And she is a lot better at creating rounded characters: Rosalie is surely a lot more realistic a portrait of a spoilt rich girl than Blanche Ingram will be. I think Jane Eyre is the first "having it all" book - she really believes she has the right to an emotionally fulfilling life, but Agnes Grey is about making a satisfactory life for yourself when you think you can't have it all - sometimes this can be an equally inspiring role model.
I take your point about the acute observation of character in Agnes Grey and its quieter tone; it certainly doesn't grip one emotionally in the way that Jane Eyre does from the first pages. I suppose the difference lies in a difference of emphasis; Anne Bronte as cool realistic observer of personality and social mores, Charlotte more as the passionate and sensitive portrayer of inner emotions and motivations; Agnes coming to terms with her lot and finding peace within the status quo, Jane aspiring to a greater liberty, a proto -feminist:
"Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them , or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex."
Radical stuff for 1847, eh?
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
