Radical stuff
Posted by Helen on September 23, 1997 at 06:18:14:
In response to Agnes, written by Susie on September 22, 1997 at 17:23:54
] 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?
Great quote! but the one with which I most identify is Jane later in the book, which I can't quote now for fear of spoiling it for other people!
Can't wait to get there!
Helen
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