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Chapter 11: The Cottagers
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
In mid-March, when Agnes has a free moment while Matilda is going for a ride and Rosalie is socially busy, she decides to visit Nancy again. When she arrives, Nancy is deeply anxious about her cat, which has disappeared and which she fears gamekeepers will kill. After Agnes reads to Nancy and helps her with some sewing, Mr. Weston enters carrying the cat. He sees Agnes, bows to her, and gives the cat to Nancy, saying that he saved it from Mr. Murray’s gamekeeper. Nancy thanks him ecstatically.
Mr. Weston is not only kind to Nancy’s cat when he visits Nancy—he goes out of his way to save her cat when it disappears. Yet again, the novel is linking kindness toward animals with kindness toward other humans, as well as setting up Mr. Weston as an exemplar of human goodness and religious sincerity.
Themes
When Agnes prepares to leave, Nancy tells her to stay until the rain that has started stops again. Meanwhile, Mr. Weston announces his intention to go, noting that “someone else” has been reading to Nancy. Nancy announces that Agnes has been sewing for her too. As Mr. Weston prepares to leave, he half-jokingly asks Agnes to make amends for him with Mr. Murray, who directed “ungentlemanly language” at him when he saved the cat that had been stalking his rabbits. Agnes tells Mr. Weston that unfortunately, she can’t help—she rarely sees Mr. Murray. Mr. Weston says goodbye and leaves. A while later, Agnes leaves too. Back at Horton Lodge, Matilda complains that the rain cut her ride short, but Agnes wasn’t at home to make her tea.
When Mr. Weston mentions that “someone else” has been reading to Nancy, he clearly means Agnes—he has noticed that she engages in charitable acts toward the poor villagers just like he does. Moreover, he attempts to engage her directly in conversation before leaving Nancy’s cottage in a way that reveals he knows she’s Mr. Murray’s employee. These details may suggest that Mr. Murray has been noticing Agnes with approval, just as she has been noticing him.
Themes
