Theme Of Wealth In Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey

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There are eight different types of wealth in life. These include inner, physical, career, economic, adventure, family, and social. It is not uncommon for people to put a higher value on economic wealth than every other type. When this happens, people’s morals and values change for the worse. This is most directly related to inner wealth, which is a persons’ mindset, religion, and character. In the novel, Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte uses different characters to portray the message that a person’s inner wealth is more important than their economic wealth. The first family that Agnes encounters as a governess is the Bloomfield’s. Agnes had been given a positive image of this family, however she quickly discovered that it couldn’t be more untrue. …show more content…
Murray, but that she makes even the first impression a bad one. She compares this to the way that Agnes’ mother treats her help to really highlight how poor her manners are. Rosalie Murray is the most prominent of the Murrays in this novel. She seems to treat Agnes the worst, by keeping her away from her love interest. However, Bronte gives Rosalie the not so happy ending that she desired, to marry a rich man and have a loveless marriage. This emphasizes that in the end, money will not make you happier. The Murrays are peculiar because they try to be seen as good people by going down to the villages to help the less fortunate, but when they do go they make hurtful remarks towards the villagers and make it obvious that they don’t want to be there. This supports the idea that they are much more concerned with their appearance than their character. The Murrays visits to the village are important in the novel, because eventually Agnes begins to visit the villagers alone and meets Mr. …show more content…
Agnes Grey was brought up in a loving household and taught good manners and morals. Anne Bronte uses Agnes as a model for the ideal person. Even when the families she works for mistreat her, she bites her tongue and refrains from saying anything that she shouldn’t. She is pleasant to the people that disrespect her and patient with the children she teaches. After a disagreement with Mrs. Bloomfield, Agnes said “I judged it prudent to say no more. This was the nearest approach to a quarrel I ever had with Mrs Bloomfield” (Bronte, p. 55). Even when someone upsets and demeans her, Anges is graceful and respectful. This is also represented within the interactions with the Murray family. Rosalie, upon discovering Agnes has a liking for Mr. Edwards, does everything she can to keep them apart. Agnes does not object, but simply obeys Rosalie’s commands to finish unnecessary tasks and stay within the home. She does not get upset with Rosalie when she finds out she has been telling lies about her to Mr. Edwards, she merely cries in her room and returns to her work. Bronte uses every bad situation she puts Agnes in to highlight how good of a person she truly is. At the end of the novel, Agnes ends up happily married to Mr. Edwards with enough money to ensure her families comfort and happiness. She says,
Our modest income is amply sufficient for our requirements: and by practicing the economy we learnt in harder times, and

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