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
On June 1, Rosalie marries Sir Ashby. After the ceremony, she says goodbye to Agnes in the school room, promises not to forget Agnes, and asks why Agnes doesn’t congratulate her. Agnes says she can’t congratulate Rosalie until she’s sure this life change is genuinely good for her but wishes her joy and “blessings.” Rosalie, tearing up, hugs Agnes hard and rushes away. Agnes inwardly forgives Rosalie. She thinks Rosalie isn’t fully aware of how much she’s hurt Agnes and others, and she hopes God forgives her too.
It is genuinely unclear to what extent Rosalie knows that she has hurt Agnes by pursuing Mr. Weston. Yet Rosalie’s tears and Agnes’s religiously motivated forgiveness of Rosalie suggest that both women are aware of potential future unhappiness in Rosalie’s marriage to Sir Thomas Ashby.
Themes
That evening, Agnes visits Nancy Brown, apologizes for the hiatus in her visits, and asks about Mr. Weston. Nancy doesn’t know whether the rumors about him leaving are true either. That Sunday, Agnes scrutinizes Mr. Weston to see whether Rosalie’s marriage has devastated him. Happily, she sees no evidence of that. She walks home from church with Matilda, who is lonely, bored, and sullen. Mrs. Murray, having married off Rosalie, has turned her sights on Matilda. She’s forbidden Matilda from associating with grooms, hunting dogs, and the like, leading to numerous fights between Matilda, her mother, and Mr. Murray. Mr. Murray thinks Matilda would have made a good son, but he believes she’s failing as a daughter.
Mr. Weston’s lack of devastation at Rosalie’s marriage implies that he was never dazzled by her flirtation or her social status, unlike the religiously hypocritical, status-conscious Mr. Hatfield. Meanwhile, Mr. Murray’s sense that Matilda is a bad daughter but would have been a good son shows how limited the social roles available to Victorian women are: Matilda’s virtues and interests can find no socially acceptable outlet because they are considered masculine, not feminine.
Themes
Mrs. Murray blames Agnes for not gently inducing Matilda to enjoy ladylike behavior and follow all her mother’s commands, blaming her for not having shaped Matilda’s preferences. She accuses Agnes of a lack of hard work, devotion, and investment in how her students reflect on her personally. Once, she even suggests that a less merciful employer would already be looking to replace Agnes. Before Agnes can reply, Mrs. Murray bustles off.
Mrs. Murray blames Agnes for the habits that Matilda learned from Mr. Murray before Agnes arrived—while also refusing to let Agnes speak sternly to Matilda to correct these behaviors. Needless to say, Mrs. Murray’s desire to give Agnes no power over Matilda but all the responsibility for Matilda’s behavior makes Agnes’s job impossible.
Themes
Matilda, bored and cooped up, begins to visit poor cottagers with Agnes. One day, Matilda and Agnes run into Mr. Weston, who asks Matilda if she has heard from Rosalie. Matilda says yes—Rosalie has written from Paris and is very happy. She says the last word with meaningful, impertinent emphasis, but Mr. Weston just says he hopes Rosalie will stay happy.
When Mr. Weston says he hopes Rosalie will stay happy, it implies that he is aware of Sir Ashby’s bad reputation and is worried that Rosalie’s having married for money and status will lead to her ultimate unhappiness.
Themes
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When Matilda runs off after her dog, Agnes asks Mr. Weston whether he thinks Rosalie will be happy, and Mr. Weston says that he doesn’t know: while Rosalie’s worst problem is “thoughtlessness,” he has heard bad things about Sir Ashby. He asks Agnes whether Mrs. Murray wanted the marriage. Agnes says the lady did, and she believes Rosalie likely did too since she made fun of Agnes’s attempts to persuade her not to go through with it. Mr. Weston says that at least Agnes can comfort herself that she tried—but he doesn’t know how Mrs. Murray can live with herself. Agnes says that it’s strange, but some people believe that marrying their children off to high-born, rich spouses is the most important thing.
Agnes and Mr. Weston both disapprove of Sir Thomas Ashby’s immoral reputation and of Mrs. Murray’s desire to marry off Rosalie to him anyway due to his wealth and high rank. This shared disapproval implies their shared religious and social values: morality is more important than money or status—and parents should teach their children as much.
Themes
Matilda returns. She and Agnes continue on their errand, and Mr. Weston on his. But on the way back, they run into him again, and he picks Agnes some bluebells, having remembered that they’re one of her favorite flowers. Agnes goes home happy and hopeful—but the next morning she receives a letter from her mother that Richard is very ill. Mrs. Murray—reluctantly, claiming there’s no need to rush, and praising her own “consideration”—allows Agnes to leave for her upcoming vacation a little early. When Agnes arrives home late that night, her mother and Mary, looking very pale, meet her and tell her that her father has died.
Mr. Weston remembers Agnes’s favorite flowers and picks them for her without being asked. His quiet attentiveness to her desires and preferences hints that he may return her affections. His use of bluebells to communicate his affections to her, meanwhile, strengthens the symbolic association the novel has made between flowers and love. When Mrs. Murray praises her own “consideration” in letting Agnes take vacation a few days early to visit her extremely sick father, meanwhile, it shows how callous and inconsiderate employers can be of their dependent employees’ needs.
Themes
