A condição do feminino: educação e moral em Agnes Grey, de Anne Brontë

Abstract

Anne Brontë died a young author. She was the younger sister of the "Brontë Sisters". Her writing style differs from those of Charlotte and Emily because Anne, the way she wrote the novel, makes clear the desire to go in search of a feminine identity in a totally different context from what was lived in the nineteenth century in England. Through her broad view of the condition of women, Anne brings a reading that can be called intimate, since due to her reality, she would have more skillful more ability to deal with the social and moral evolution of English society to portray love stories, as other authors usually already did. The youngest of the Brontës lived a short and tragic life, in the sense of the material deprivations experienced, the professional humiliations suffered and the bitter lack of love fulfillment. Owner of a keen sensibility, she belonged to an undefined social stratum, because although she was not rich, she was the educated daughter of the local Anglican minister, living with girls equally educated from bourgeois and even noble families. Anne and her sisters were literally sandwiched between two classes: the bourgeoisie or nobility (bosses) and the working class, represented there by the common domestic servants, who, embodying the bossess' ideology, discredited and disdained the governess. The episodes that illustrate this situation are masterfully captured by Anne Brontë in a story without exaggeration and devoid of self-pity, almost as if suffering did not affect her. Therefore, I present the novel Agnes Grey as the center of this research that will point out how women are represented in the fictional universe. Agnes narrates the life of its author, Anne, and makes an analysis of the other characters in the work, since most were women and all were tied to the domestic sphere, with many limitations to make any kind of decision. To analyze the work as critical and historical supports as well, I mention here some of the works: Victorian Literature and Education Moralizing, by Flávia Costa Morais, Miss Brontë, by Juliet Gael, A Roof of Your Own, by Virginia Hoolf, The Laughter of Medusa, by Hélène Cixous.