As a novel that follows the plight of a young woman forced into the position of a governess to make ends meet, Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey has of course often been compared with her sister's more famous novel Jane Eyre. And as a love story, it has also been compared with the novels of Jane Austen. It even reminds a little of the cautionary morality tales that had been popular up to that time, such as Defoe's Moll Flanders. Agnes Grey follows a governess with the same name as she serves in two middle class families. The children are spoiled. Her position is precarious. Through Agnes, Anne Bronte explores the position of nineteenth century middle class women. Agnes Grey is quite different from the books of Anne's famous writing sisters, Emily and Charlotte. While the latter have many romanticized elements, the former is firmly grounded in realism. The families Agnes works for are not romanticized. In fact, there is a subtle critique of Victorian society. The children are monsters and the parents uninvolved. Agnes feels the frustration of her position and the cruelty of her employers. Still she resolves to make her own way, with her own skills and hard work. Agnes does not reach a fuller development like many contemporary heroines. She is held back from developing to her full potential because of the society around her and the precarious economic position she is in."
Author Biography
Anne Bronte (1820 -1849) was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Bronte literary family. The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Bronte lived most of her life with her family at the small parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a boarding school. At the age of nineteen, she left Haworth working as a governess between 1839 and 1845. After leaving her teaching position, she fulfilled her literary ambitions. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters (Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, 1846) and in short succession she wrote two novels. Agnes Grey, based upon her experiences as a governess, was published in 1847. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall appeared in 1848. Anne's life was cut short with her death of pulmonary tuberculosis when she was 29 years old. Anne Bronte is often overshadowed by her more famous sisters, Charlotte, author of four novels including Jane Eyre; and Emily, author of Wuthering Heights. Anne's two novels, written in a sharp and ironic style, are completely different from the romanticism followed by her sisters. She wrote in a realistic, rather than a romantic style. Her novels, like those of her sisters, have become classics of English literature."
