#agnes grey

[literatture]

Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey    

#anne bronte #anne brontë #agnes grey #*mine #literature #quotes #words #typography #may

[bethanydelleman]

#jane eyre #charlotte brontë #wuthering heights #emily brontë #agnes grey #anne brontë #the tenant of wildfell hall #polls

[flowerytale]

Charlotte Brontë's 1850 Preface to Wuthering Heights

After Emily Brontë’s death in 1848, her sister Charlotte Brontë issued this 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey containing her Preface to the former novel. Also included was a biographical notice of Emily and Anne.

Its significance lies in the fact that this is the first official, public confirmation of the authors’ true gender. After the first publication of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey under the male pen names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, respectively, critics and the public at large debated whether each novel was written by a man or woman, single or multiple authors. In addition, the Biographical Notice provides the background to their route to publication and acknowledges the prejudices facing women writers.

#charlotte brontë #emily brontë #anne brontë #brontë sisters #jane eyre #wuthering heights #agnes grey #*

[adobongsiopao]

Caricature of Brontē siblings from an old issue of "Punch" magazine.

Source: The Official Bronte Group on Facebook

#charlotte bronte #emily bronte #anne bronte #branwell bronte #jane eyre #villette #shirley #wuthering heights #agnes grey #the tenant of wildfell hall #tenant of wildfell hall #punch magazine #bronte sisters #bronte family

[marybeatriceofmodena]

A'ight, what is it about Anne Brontë and Tenant of Wildfell Hall? I keep seeing stuff about how Anne is the unproblematic Brontë sister and that's what kept me away from her books lol

*kracks knuckles* All right. So, remember how the Brontë sisters wrote three novels simultaneously? Charlotte wrote The Professor, Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, and Anne wrote Agnes Grey. The two latter got picked up by publishers, but The Professor was rejected, so Charlotte finished up Jane Eyre and sent it to a publisher, who accepted it immediately and had it published before Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey got printed. All three of them wrote under pen names (Charlotte was Currer Bell, Anne was Acton Bell, and Emily was Ellis Bell), because they knew their novels were, say, a little controversial, and that if it was known they were women, their characters would be judged and immediately associated to their works. So needless to say, they were VERY supportive of each other, because they knew no one else would. (Their father was also supportive, but they published their novels without telling him at first but once they did, he was very encouraging, thankfully.)

It's easy to see why Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights would be considered controversial in their day (they still kind of are today given the Discourse(tm), lol). Agnes Grey, while it didn't do as well as JE and WH, was criticized for being a little too... let's say, honest about a governess' day-to-day life, when Anne wrote it drawing from her own experiences as a governess. The thing with Anne is that people find her stuff a little moralizing, but it was in her best interest to present Agnes as virtuous given how she made little secret of how poorly governesses could be treated, since it wasn't that rare they'd be accused of profiting from the families they were employed by, when there were abuse cases more often than not.

Then The Tenant of Wildfell Hall came out, and that's when criticism started to fly. May Sinclair (an early 20th century suffragist) would later write that the scene where Helen (the main character of the novel) slams her door to her husband's face had a reveberation that was heard throughout England. It's the story (in case you don't mind getting spoiled for a 150-year-old book) of a lady who marries a Victorian fuckboy called Huntington, ends up in an abusive household where her only comfort is her son, and once she realizes that her husband is becoming a bad influence on her child, she leaves him and manages to hide in a house that her brother is willing to rent to her, while she tries to earn a small living by painting. And people lost their shit, because according to them, Helen was a bad woman for leaving her husband, even though she did it to, you know, get her son out of a toxic environment. If Charlotte criticized anything about the novel, it's that she thought some aspects of Huntington were depicted too graphically, but they mostly had to do with his alcoholism and his adultery (this is important: those critcisms have nothing to do with Helen, or how Tenant is shade thrown at Charlotte and Emily's works). That might have been because Anne got some inspiration for Huntington from Branwell, their brother, who was also an alcoholic and got fired from his job as a tutor for having an affair with the lady of the house. Charlotte was pretty fed up with Branwell at that point, and while Emily was the one who got along with him best, they had some pretty big fights because she was in no way a pushover (so the belief that Charlotte and Emily idolized Branwell while Anne was the only one who saw through his BS is also, incidentally, BS).

So, why did Charlotte stop Tenant from being re-printed after Anne's death? Simply put, the criticism against it was getting worse, and people were defaming Anne's character because of it. Charlotte had had her own share of troubles with Jane Eyre - she dedicated the second edition to William Makepeace Thackeray (of Vanity Fair and Barry Lyndon fame) because he was her favorite author, without knowing his wife was institutionalized after suffering from severe post-partum depression. And that led, of course, to people speculating that Jane Eyre was semi-autobiographical, and that Charlotte was Thackeray's mistress. (I mean, it *is* semi-autobiographical, but Thackeray had nothing to do with it.) So she was understandably a little on edge, and while she edited Agnes Grey for a reprinting after Anne's death (given there were a lot of spelling mistakes and the like in the first printing), she asked for Tenant to not be reprinted to protect her sister's memory.

So no, Charlotte did not block Tenant from being as well-known as Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre because she was "jealous", or because she was mad that Anne was "throwing shade" at her and at Emily. She was protecting her sister's reputation, because she wasn't even alive anymore to speak for herself and mount any kind of defense, and that was while Charlotte's own reputation was under fire, after she had lost the two people who had supported her the most - Emily died in 1848, and Anne in 1849. To try to pit these sisters against each other, when two of them died far too young and the surviving one had to pick up the pieces and defend them against public opinion - it is simply distasteful, and it needs to stop.

#Anne Brontë #Charlotte Brontë #Emily Brontë #the tenant of wildfell hall #jane eyre #agnes grey #wuthering heights #literature #english literature #also: tenant is great and you should definitely read it

[hamliet]

Why is Anne Bronte so less appreciated than her sisters? Is she really not as good a writer or is it more of a she wasn't so lucky thing? I didn't even know there was a third sister until this year and I thought the tenant of wildfell hall is a great book that addresses some serious social issues that can be relevant till this day? But I'm no expert.

Honestly, I will die arguing that Anne is at least on par with her sisters, if not superior in some respects. Both Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are really ahead of their time. Both are overtly feminist and deal with social issues, as you say, that remain relevant.

But that's precisely the problem.

Agnes Grey deals with abuse and class dynamics (and was largely autobiographical). Tenant deals with alcoholism, a woman leaving her husband and being framed as morally right for doing so, and actually argues for universal salvation, which was not exactly popular with the church doctrines of the time. Anne's novels were scandalous.

Agnes Grey was actually published alongside Wuthering Heights (Emily's novel). They actually came together in a single volume. And Wuthering Heights was also scandalous, of course. But Wuthering Heights doesn't explicitly frame a character who behaves in a way that would make Victorians* shriek as morally correct, while Anne's does.

*what most people call Puritan ethics is actually Victorian ethics. The Victorians were worse than the Puritans. Like, by a lot.

So, both sisters--Emily and Anne--got a lot of criticism for their supposedly immoral novels. Both sisters were also terminally ill and died very young, leaving Charlotte (Jane Eyre, among other works) as the keeper of their legacies. (Charlotte also died young though, of hyperemesis gravidarum.)

What happens next is debatable in part. The fact is that Charlotte stopped Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall from being republished.

Why is the debatable part. Some scholars argue that Charlotte was trying to protect her sisters from haters and from those who would claim they were leading women astray and would burn in hell (yes! Even in 1800s England there were haters and antis!). Others argue that Charlotte was jealous. There's some personal correspondence of Charlotte's that does hint at this particularly towards Anne; however, Charlotte isn't alive to defend herself and we do not know the full thought behind or context of these words, so I wouldn't be harsh on her.

Still, as a result, both Anne and Emily's works fell out of publication quickly and were actually rather forgotten for a number of years. Yep, Wuthering Heights was no instant classic. However, Charlotte then decided to heavily edit Wuthering Heights (and sanitize it, really). Whether or not Charlotte planned to do the same with Anne's works isn't clear because she was also working on her own projects and died soon after as well. But then, in the late 1800s, a famous biographer focused on Emily, and Virginia Woolfe stated in 1925 that Wuthering Heights was in some ways better than Jane Eyre, and the rest is history.

A few writers like George Moore pointed to Anne's prowess, but she still mostly got forgotten. Not until 1929 did Anne's first biography come out. Literally, it took that long. And afterwards people began to pay more attention (and frankly, the repudiation of Victorian morality, which is so central to her novels, became accepted as, well, moral). Hence Anne's novel resonates morally with a modern audience far more so than most other Victorian novels, and her drive and ambition are pretty evident. Imo her stories are extremely satisfying, and while there are some things Charlotte and Emily do better, there are also some things Anne does better than her sisters.

#ask hamliet #anne bronte #charlotte bronte #emily bronte #the tenant of wildfell hall #agnes grey

[pawswithprose]

The last week in pictures

#books #book #reading #blossom #cherry blossoms #shelfie #lana del rey #poetry #poetry lovers #book shelf #book haul #Anne Bronte #classic literature #classic lit #Agnes Grey #pawswithprose

[thegoblincourtier]

One day we all need to acknowledge how underrated Anne Brontë is.

Agnes Grey is still one of my favourite classics for the way it explores how difficult being a governess was in the 19th century and how, regardless of your class, being a woman sucked ass.

And then there's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is essentially an exploration of what might have happened if Elizabeth Bennet had married Wickham.

Please can we talk about Anne more? 😭 I promise Charlotte and Emily aren't going to go away if Anne has five minutes in the sun.

#anne brontë #the tenant of wildfell hall #agnes grey #emily brontë #charlotte brontë

[burningvelvet]

An interesting parallel between two love interests (both named Edward) in the novels of Charlotte and Anne Brontë:

"'I once had a kind of rude tenderness of heart. When I was as old as you, I was a feeling fellow enough; partial to the unfledged, unfostered, and unlucky; but fortune has knocked me about since: she has even kneaded me with her knuckles, and now I flatter myself I am hard and tough as an Indian-rubber ball; pervious, though, through a chink or two still, and with one sentient point in the middle of the lump.

Yes: does that leave hope for me?'

'Hope of what, sir?'

'Of, my final re-transformation from Indian-rubber back to flesh?'

'Decidedly he has had too much wine,' I thought; and I did not know what answer to make to his queer question: how could I tell whether he was capable of being re-transformed?"

– Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë

"'The ties that bind us to life are tougher than you imagine, or than any one can who has not felt how roughly they may be pulled without breaking. You might be miserable without a home, but even you could live; and not so miserably as you suppose. The human heart is like India-rubber; a little swells it, but great deal will not burst it. If 'little more than nothing' will disturb it, 'little less than all things will suffice' to break it. As in the outer members of our frame, there is a vital power inherent in itself, that strengthens it against external violence. Every blow that shakes it will serve to harden it against a future stroke; as constant labour thickens the skin of the hand, and strengthens its muscles instead of wasting them away: so that a day of arduous toil that might excoriate a lady's palm, would make no sensible impression on that of a hardy ploughman.

I speak from experience — partly my own. There was a time when I thought as you do — at least, I was frilly persuaded that home and its affections were the only things that made life tolerable: that, if deprived of these, existence would become a burden hard to be endured; but now I have no home . . .'"

– Agnes Grey (1847) by Anne Brontë

One of the other most glaring similarities I've noticed is that in Agnes Grey, a church rector is in love with a girl named Rosalie, where in Jane Eyre a minister is in love with a girl named Rosamund, and neither relationship succeeds. A more obvious one is that both novels also center on poor governesses.

#the bronte sisters #charlotte bronte #anne bronte #agnes grey #jane eyre #19th century #victorian literature #victorian #literature #english literature #novels #parallels #lit

[liketheshygirl]

Feeling uncertain and inexperienced

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë​​; Howard end by E. M. Forster; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Persuasion by Jane Austen; Evelina by Fanny Burney; A room with a view by E. M. Forster; Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

#web weaving #phrases #novels #classic literature #dark academia #light academia #jane austen #anne brontë #e.m forster #fanny burney #pride and prejudice #a room with a view #persuasion #agnes grey #howards end #evelina #mansfield park #literature #naivety #female experience

[literatture]

Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey    

#anne bronte #anne brontë #agnes grey #*mine #literature #quotes #typography #words

[bethanydelleman]

sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was starting to write a story taking place in the regency era, and wanted to do a sort of cliche governess marries the widowed father of her charge. But I wasn't sure how old I should make the girl. My understanding was that a governess would only be needed until the girl debuted which could be as early as 15. as of now, I made the girl 14, as, due to her father being over protective he wouldn't allow her to debut until she was older anyways, but I wasn't sure how common it was to get a governess that would only be there for a few years. the governess is sort of desperate for a job, so even if its a bad deal, its okay. I also wasn't sure if the girls hadn't debuted if they could go to parties, or if she didn't debut she would still be considered a child and not allowed (including smaller family/friends get togethers). For this last one I'm trying to remember how the youngest sister is treated in sense and sensibility, but cannot recall.

Thirdly, I was curious how odd it would be for a governess to teach horseback riding. From what I was able to understand, it wasn't improper for ladies to learn sidesaddle, but I wasn't sure who would teach them, or how common it was.

sorry to use you as like, a focused google search, but I was having a heck of a time finding anything about the specifics of governesses. Usually it was all vague terms like "Until the daughters came of age"

Happy to help! Keep in mind that most of my help comes from novels from the time period.

If this is set in the Regency, not all girls "came out" at 15, it depended on a number of factors including if they had elder sisters. Jane Austen's heroines are never out before 17, Catherine Morland and Marianne Dashwood being the two youngest. It also depended on a girl's maturity, as everyone thinks the immature Lydia Bennet should not be out (she is 15). I believe Maria and Julia Bertram (Mansfield Park) aren't out until they are 20 and 19 respectively, and Maria says she'll learn from her governess until 17.

As for how long you would employ a governess, in Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë, Agnes is hired by a family with pretty old girls, the eldest being 16 and very near to coming out and the younger 14, but the family both wants and keeps a governess. This was similar to what happened in Anne's real life, by the way. Agnes is not dismissed from that position even after the elder sister marries, she leaves because her father is dying.

Also, if the father is widowed, he might keep the governess for longer if he could afford it. Miss Taylor, Emma's governess in Emma stayed until Emma was 21 and only left because she married. As Emma was the only daughter at home, Miss Taylor transitioned into being her companion and would probably have served as a sort of chaperone despite being unmarried. Men and women did a lot of activities separately, so having a paid "friend" around for your daughter wouldn't be unusual.

As for gatherings, it's likely that daughters are attending small gatherings once they are mature enough to be quiet. Margaret Dashwood is invited to dine at the park, she is 13, in Sense & Sensibility, but she is not invited to London, which would involve large parties. Fanny Price dines at the parsonage in Mansfield Park, which would count as a close friend, but Mary Crawford remains unsure if she is "out". Even the young Middleton children come out after dessert to greet the guests in Sense & Sensibility, though some of the company dislikes this suggesting it's either not common or the children were expected to behave better (they are 8 and under).

I know nothing about who taught horse riding to women. The only lessons in Jane Austen are an uncle for his niece (Fanny Price) and a guy teaching the girl he's attracted to (Edmund Bertram/Mary Crawford). Fanny muses that Mary's brother could have taught her.

Last consideration, I would consider the skills of your governess. If one is being hired for an older girl, she would need more advanced accomplishments. Can she play, draw, and do fancy work? Does she have good references? Is she old enough that it isn't crazy for her to be in charge of a teenager? (Like is she at least 20?)

Here is what Agnes's employer wants:

For the girls she seemed anxious only to render them as superficially attractive and showily accomplished as they could possibly be made, without present trouble or discomfort to themselves; and I was to act accordingly—to study and strive to amuse and oblige, instruct, refine, and polish, with the least possible exertion on their part, and no exercise of authority on mine. With regard to the two boys, it was much the same; only instead of accomplishments, I was to get the greatest possible quantity of Latin grammar and Valpy’s Delectus into their heads, in order to fit them for school—the greatest possible quantity at least without trouble to themselves. John might be a “little high-spirited,” and Charles might be a little “nervous and tedious—”

Agnes Grey, Ch 7

#question response #governesses #If anyone knows more about horseback riding please add on #agnes grey #anne brontë #writing

[attemptedvictorian]

On a scale of Agnes Grey to Rebecca Sharp to Jane Fairfax to Jane Eyre how’s your governessing going?

#being a governess is quite the profession according to literature #agnes grey #vanity fair #rebecca sharp #jane eyre #emma #jane austen #anne bronte #william makepeace thackeray #charlotte bronte #charlotte brontë #classic literature #classics #literature #books

[aliteraryprincess]

#booklr #the brontes #charlotte bronte #emily bronte #anne bronte #wuthering heights #jane eyre #the tenant of wildfell hall #agnes grey #villette #shirley #the professor

[puzzlingpaperbacks]

reading an anthology of the brontë sisters' poetry is so fun because you get to see all the similarities between them. they all have a slightly different voice, but the poems address such overlapping themes that it's hard not to draw parallels.

#and i know emily's poetry is the best #but i will always have a soft spot for anne's #the bronte sisters #emily bronte #anne bronte #charlotte bronte #wuthering heights #the tenant of wildfell hall #agnes grey #jane eyre #high waving heather #poetry #literature #classic literature

[nik-jr-lit]

agnes grey x edward weston <3

after she sees him for the first time, rosalie asks what she thinks and she really says "nah, he's not as ugly as you said he is. but what i really noticed was how well he prayed and read; he's so earnest." *swoons*

nancy brown being the best wingwoman ever omfg

"i now saw that he could smile, and very pleasantly too" <3

agnes getting so flustered around mr. weston that she gets up to leave the instant he arrives at nancy's house, and then he urges her to stay and that he'll leave but then nancy begs them both to stay. then, still frazzled, agnes moves away to the window to observe mr. weston from afar so then he wants to leave again so she can be by the fire but then he notices how uncomfortable and embarrassed agnes is so he changes the subject to relieve her and aww

THE PRIMROSES!!!! so freaking iconic <3 but then agnes is, again, feeling super awkward and tries to speed-walk away but mr. weston is all "your young ladies don't care if you walk with them so don't trouble yourself to catch up" and so she walks with him :')

".....do you like flowers?" !!!!!!!

when mr. weston, agnes, and rosalie are walking together and agnes feels left out of the conversation, he makes an effort to draw her in and makes a remark specifically to her - this comes right after she admits to him that she feels like she cannot make friends and that she is unwanted in conversation. ofc rosalie butts in but he tried!

the fact that agnes is tormented with rosalie's plan to woo mr. weston not chiefly for herself, but for HIS sake

"no, thank you, i don't mind the rain." AGNES!!!!!!

AND THEN "one glance he gave, one little smile at parting—it was but for a moment; but therein i read, or thought i read, a meaning that kindled in my heart a brighter flame of hope than had ever yet arisen." !!!!!!!

the fact that rosalie & matilda keep agnes away from mr. weston during their scheme makes it clear that the two of them were OBVIOUSLY hitting it off & liked each other but were too oblivious to notice how the other felt and i just !!!!!

"and he asked after you again" omfg!!!! and the fact that rosalie doesn't want matilda to mention that he keeps asking about agnes speaks VOLUMES

agnes' poem is just - i simply cannot express how i feel about it i have no words

"i could think of him day and night; and i could feel that he was worthy to be thought of."

THE BLUEBELLS!!!!

when agnes tells mr. weston that she'll be leaving in a month the first thing he asks is "and you'll be happy to go?" and she's all "yes, but i'll miss some things" and he says "some things? what will you miss?" and she gets embarrassed and thinks, it's you, dammit! i'll miss YOU!!

"above all, that emphatic, yet gentle pressure of the hand, which seemed to say, 'trust me;' and many other things besides" this lady is so freaking smitten and such an overthinker and i love her!!

THE FACT THAT HE BOUGHT SNAP OMG AT THAT POINT THERE WAS NO GOING BACK SHE NEEDS TO MARRY HIM

"in what part of town do you live? i never could discover." uhm SIR!!!! he is just as smitten as her and i'm here for it!! and then he really says, "yes, i do like my new parish and have lots of plans for it, but the only thing i'm missing is a companion 👀" and aggy gets all flushed but she cannot possibly presume that he means what she hopes he means so she dodges him and says "well i'm sure you'll find the right lady for you at your parish" and ughgghhghg GIRL HE LOVES YOU C'MON!!

and bro when he says that he's been walking the beach and the town for the last month looking for her and asking around for her school it is just so FREAKING SWEET <3

"he even called me 'agnes:' the name had been timidly spoken at first, but, finding it gave no offence in any quarter, he seemed greatly to prefer that appellation to 'miss grey;' and so did i." !!!!!!!!!

"'you love me then?' said he, fervently pressing my hand. 'yes.'" AHHHHHHHHH i love them :')

#agnes grey #anne bronte #edward weston #mr. weston #unrequited but actually very much requited love #classic lit