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Chapter 16: The Substitution
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
Agnes admits to the reader that she has started spending up to two minutes in the mirror on her appearance, which dissatisfies her with its plainness. In childhood she was taught that one’s interior matters more than one’s exterior—but her experience suggests that people love beauty and judge women based on their looks. Morally good but not good-looking women are often ignored, while pretty women get away with bad behavior. Thus, unbeautiful people may feel they have a great capacity to love that never gets exercised.
In Victorian society, middle-class women are economically dependent on men and largely achieve economic security through marriage. When men choose wives based on women’s looks, women are economically incentivized to be as attractive as possible—even as well-meaning educators tell them that their minds and morals matter more than beauty. Agnes, a morally good but not beautiful girl, finds the disjunction between what people claim to value and what they actually value frustrating.
Themes
On Tuesday, Rosalie and Mrs. Murray go to the Ashby Ball. The next morning, Rosalie tells Agnes that she has accepted a proposal from Sir Thomas Ashby and expresses glee at “becoming mistress of Ashby Park”—yet she also seems fearful of the marriage and wants to delay it. Agnes, who believes the marriage a bad idea and judges Mrs. Murray for pushing it, talks to Rosalie about her hesitation—and learns that Rosalie primarily wants to delay the wedding so that she can continue conquering hearts. Rosalie makes Agnes promise not to tell anyone she’s engaged. Agnes, disgusted, decides that Rosalie deserves Sir Ashby and that their wedding can’t come too soon.
Mrs. Murray has raised Rosalie to consider the conquest of a rich, high-ranking husband her primary goal in life. According to this worldview, Rosalie has completed her main task in life by accepting a proposal from Sir Thomas Ashby and “becoming mistress of Ashby Park.” Yet this victory means that Rosalie’s education in attractiveness and skills in flirtation are now obsolete. It may be this feeling of obsolescence, of her life being “over,” that leads Rosalie to want to delay her marriage. Agnes, who considers this view of love and marriage perverse, is in consequence disgusted with Rosalie’s fears.
Themes
The wedding is scheduled for six weeks later, in June. Sir Ashby travels to London to deal with business, which helps keep the engagement quiet. Meanwhile, one Mr. Green keeps writing Rosalie love letters, Harry Meltham keeps visiting, and Rosalie tries to ensnare Mr. Weston. Rosalie begins visiting the poor cottagers far more often, thus frequently running into Mr. Weston. She also insists that Agnes take the carriage to and from church rather than walking with her and Matilda—and, whenever possible, she prevents Agnes from attending church at all. Finally, she keeps Agnes so busy that Agnes has no time to visit Nancy Brown or other cottagers.
Rosalie abuses her power over Agnes, as her family’s employee, to keep Agnes away from Mr. Weston and pursue her own egotistical goal of “conquering” him—even though Rosalie does not love Mr. Weston and Agnes does. With this casual cruelty, Rosalie reveals her own egotism and lack of consideration for anyone of lower social status.
Themes
After Rosalie and Matilda run into Mr. Weston one morning, Matilda tells Agnes—despite Rosalie’s attempts to shush her—that Mr. Weston asked after her health, given that he sees her out so rarely. Agnes asks whether Nancy Brown ever asks after her. When Matilda says they told Nancy that Agnes preferred to read and draw at home, Agnes says that it would have been more accurate to say that the Murrays keep her too busy to go out. Rosalie snaps that Agnes has plenty of free time. Agnes doesn’t bother to answer. She tries hard not to display her indignation about or interest in the girls’ accounts of Mr. Weston, comforting herself that Rosalie will marry soon.
As a dependent employee in the Murray household, Agnes has very little power. Yet she still insists on telling the Murray girls the truth: they have been keeping her from leaving the household. This insistence on the truth is an indirect lesson to Rosalie, showing her that Agnes is aware of and hurt by Rosalie’s behavior. Rosalie’s irritated reaction suggests that she has enough of a conscience to be nettled by reminders of her bad behavior—or enough of an ego to be irritated by reminders that she is treating lowly Agnes as a romantic rival.
Themes
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Unfortunately, Mr. Weston is likely to move away soon, as he and Mr. Hatfield have differing approaches and don’t get along. Agnes comforts herself with religion and with the thought that she at least appreciates Mr. Weston’s virtues in a way that Rosalie cannot. Unable to share her tormented feelings with anyone, Agnes ends up writing poetry about her loss of hope and her continued appreciation for her love (of, it is implied, Mr. Weston). Two other incidents hurt her as well: the Murrays give her terrier Snap away to the village rat-catcher, who treats his dogs badly; and she gets a letter from home that Richard Grey’s health is worsening.
The irreconcilable conflict between Mr. Weston and Mr. Hatfield reminds readers of Mr. Weston’s religious sincerity in contrast with Mr. Hatfield’s hypocrisy. When Agnes, tormented by love, takes refuge in religion, it suggests that sincere religiosity can be a comfort in hard times. Meanwhile, when the Murrays give away Agnes’s beloved terrier Snap to an abusive owner, their casual cruelty to the poor dog symbolizes their simultaneous cruelty to Agnes, as their dependent employee.
Themes
