Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Agnes Grey, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Education, Authority, and Class
Money vs. Love in Marriage
Women and Fulfillment
Power and Cruelty
Religion
Summary
Analysis
The next Sunday, a rainy April day, Rosalie takes the carriage to church. Agnes accompanies her happily, for the service allows her to see and listen to Mr. Weston. The only shadow on her happiness is her fear that she’s insulting God by thinking more about “the creature than the Creator,” but she comforts herself with the thought that thinking on the goodness of God’s creation constitutes worship.
When Agnes worries that she is thinking more about “the creature than the Creator,” she means that she may be thinking more about Mr. Weston (a “creature”) than about God (“the Creator”). She reassures herself with the thought that contemplating Mr. Weston’s goodness—which ultimately derives from God—is a way of thinking about God’s goodness. Agnes’s thoughts in this passage showcase both her religiosity and her increasing passion for Mr. Weston.
Themes
After church, Rosalie and Agnes wait under the covered porch for the carriage. When Mr. Weston comes out, Rosalie asks him to visit one of the Murrays’ sick cottagers. He agrees to visit at a particular time the next day. The carriage arrives, the footman walks Rosalie to it under an umbrella, and Mr. Weston offers to do the same for Agnes. After he hands Agnes into the carriage, Rosalie scowls and tells Agnes the footman would have come back for her. Agnes is a bit glad Rosalie is annoyed—hoping Rosalie has reason to think Mr. Weston prefers Agnes.
Rosalie is annoyed that Mr. Weston (who, notably, she does not want to marry) shows attentive politeness to Agnes, who actually admires Mr. Weston and might like to marry him. Rosalie’s desire to “conquer” Mr. Weston, despite how much more Mr. Weston matters to Agnes both personally and socially, shows her fundamental thoughtlessness and egotism.
Themes
Rosalie tells Agnes that Sir Ashby will likely propose to her at a ball next Tuesday—and so, before then, she means to conquer Mr. Weston. Agnes silently wishes that Mr. Weston could hear Rosalie’s talk. The next day, Rosalie comes into the schoolroom and demands Matilda go on a walk with her; when Matilda suggests that Agnes go instead, Rosalie demands her sister come, not Agnes. Later, at dinner, Agnes hears from them how they ran into Mr. Weston on his visit to the Murrays’ cottager.
By implication, Rosalie doesn’t want Agnes to walk with her because she plans to run into Mr. Weston and sees Agnes as a potential rival for Mr. Weston’s affections. Again, Rosalie’s desire to “conquer” Mr. Weston, a man she does not intend to marry, shows how limited roles for Victorian women and Rosalie’s mother’s focus on Rosalie’s attractiveness have channeled Rosalie’s energy and ambition into destructive behaviors.
Themes
