Agnes Grey

by

Anne Brontë

Mr. Weston Character Analysis

Mr. Weston is the new curate in the village nearest the Murrays’ country home, Horton Lodge. Less than a year before he took the position, his beloved mother died; he deals with his grief by throwing himself into his work and trying to better the lives of the poor villagers around him. Due to his religious sincerity, charitable works, and intellectual straightforwardness, Agnes clings to him as an image of human goodness while she is surrounded by status-seeking superficiality at the Murrays. Agnes quickly falls in love with him. Though Rosalie Murray attempts to make a “conquest” of Mr. Weston, Mr. Weston seems immune to her charms and bemused by her attention. A year after Agnes leaves her job with the Murrays, she and Mr. Weston run into one another by chance on the beach, and Mr. Weston reveals that—unable to work with the status-obsessed rector in the Murrays’ village, Mr. Hatfield—he has taken a curacy in a village near the school. He begins to call regularly on Agnes and her mother; eventually, he confesses his love to Agnes and asks her to marry him. They have three children and live simply and happily together.

Mr. Weston Quotes in Agnes Grey

The Agnes Grey quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Weston or refer to Mr. Weston. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Education, Authority, and Class Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11: The Cottagers Quotes

Habitual associates are known to exercise a great influence over each other’s minds and manners. Those whose actions are for ever before our eyes, whose words are ever in our ears, will naturally lead us, albeit against our will, slowly, gradually, imperceptibly, perhaps, to act and speak as they do.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: The Primroses Quotes

As for the primroses, I kept two of them in a glass in my room until they were completely withered, and the housemaid threw them out; and the petals of the other I pressed between the leaves of my Bible—I have them still, and mean to keep them always.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray
Related Symbols: Flowers
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15: The Walk Quotes

I thought of the poor man and his one lamb, and the rich man with his thousand flocks; and I dreaded I knew not what for Mr Weston, independently of my own blighted hopes.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray, Mr. Hatfield
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17: Confessions  Quotes

If the mind be but well cultivated, and the heart well disposed, no one ever cares for the exterior. So said the teachers of our childhood; and so say we to the children of the present day. All very judicious and proper, no doubt; but are such assertions supported by actual experience?

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:

[B]esides my hope in God, my only consolation was in thinking that, though he knew it not, I was more worthy of his love than Rosalie Murray, charming and engaging as she was; for I could appreciate his excellence, which she could not: I would devote my life to the promotion of his happiness; she would destroy his happiness for the momentary gratification of her own vanity.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby, Mr. Hatfield
Page Number: 113
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Mirth and Mourning Quotes

“It seems unnatural: but some people think rank and wealth the chief good; and, if they can secure that for their children, they think they have done their duty.”

“True: but is it not strange that persons of experience, who have been married themselves, should judge so falsely?”

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston (speaker), Rosalie Murray, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 119
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24: The Sands Quotes

“I am not so presumptuous as to believe that […] though you tell it me; but if it were so, I am rather particular in my notions of a companion for life, and perhaps I might not find one to suit me among the ladies you mention.”

Related Characters: Mr. Weston (speaker), Agnes Grey
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Agnes Grey LitChart as a printable PDF.
Agnes Grey PDF

Mr. Weston Quotes in Agnes Grey

The Agnes Grey quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Weston or refer to Mr. Weston. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Education, Authority, and Class Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11: The Cottagers Quotes

Habitual associates are known to exercise a great influence over each other’s minds and manners. Those whose actions are for ever before our eyes, whose words are ever in our ears, will naturally lead us, albeit against our will, slowly, gradually, imperceptibly, perhaps, to act and speak as they do.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: The Primroses Quotes

As for the primroses, I kept two of them in a glass in my room until they were completely withered, and the housemaid threw them out; and the petals of the other I pressed between the leaves of my Bible—I have them still, and mean to keep them always.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray
Related Symbols: Flowers
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15: The Walk Quotes

I thought of the poor man and his one lamb, and the rich man with his thousand flocks; and I dreaded I knew not what for Mr Weston, independently of my own blighted hopes.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray, Mr. Hatfield
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17: Confessions  Quotes

If the mind be but well cultivated, and the heart well disposed, no one ever cares for the exterior. So said the teachers of our childhood; and so say we to the children of the present day. All very judicious and proper, no doubt; but are such assertions supported by actual experience?

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:

[B]esides my hope in God, my only consolation was in thinking that, though he knew it not, I was more worthy of his love than Rosalie Murray, charming and engaging as she was; for I could appreciate his excellence, which she could not: I would devote my life to the promotion of his happiness; she would destroy his happiness for the momentary gratification of her own vanity.

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston, Rosalie Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby, Mr. Hatfield
Page Number: 113
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Mirth and Mourning Quotes

“It seems unnatural: but some people think rank and wealth the chief good; and, if they can secure that for their children, they think they have done their duty.”

“True: but is it not strange that persons of experience, who have been married themselves, should judge so falsely?”

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Mr. Weston (speaker), Rosalie Murray, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 119
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24: The Sands Quotes

“I am not so presumptuous as to believe that […] though you tell it me; but if it were so, I am rather particular in my notions of a companion for life, and perhaps I might not find one to suit me among the ladies you mention.”

Related Characters: Mr. Weston (speaker), Agnes Grey
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis: