Agnes Grey

by

Anne Brontë

Rosalie Murray Character Analysis

The oldest daughter of Mr. Murray and Mrs. Murray, Rosalie is Agnes’s full-time pupil from age 16 to age 18, after which Agnes continues to give her lessons only in German and drawing. Though intelligent and talented at music and foreign languages, Rosalie has received a poor moral education from her superficial, status-obsessed parents. As a result, she is only interested in learning subjects that will make her more attractive to admirers and finds her chief pleasure in “conquering” men’s hearts—though she is not interested in falling in love herself. She causes Agnes a great deal of anxiety and pain when, in a fit of boredom, she tries to make the secret object of Agnes’s affections, village curate Mr. Weston, fall in love with her. At her mother’s urging, Rosalie marries the rich aristocrat Sir Thomas Ashby, because he is the richest and highest-ranking man likely to propose to her. Only after the marriage does Rosalie discover his drunkenness, gambling, infidelity, and jealousy. Isolated and miserable at her new country estate Ashby Park, Rosalie invites Agnes to visit her and her baby daughter—but when Agnes counsels Rosalie to try to reform her husband and devote herself to their child, Rosalie expresses scorn for both projects, wishing that she could still flirt and seek pleasure without obstacles. Agnes predicts that Rosalie’s life will be permanently unhappy due not only to her unwise marriage but also to her distorted value system.

Rosalie Murray Quotes in Agnes Grey

The Agnes Grey quotes below are all either spoken by Rosalie Murray or refer to Rosalie Murray. 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 7: Horton Lodge Quotes

I really liked her—when she did not rouse my indignation, or ruffle my temper by too great a display of her faults. These, however, I would fain persuade myself, were rather the effect of her education than her disposition: she had never been perfectly taught the distinction between right and wrong; she had, like her brothers and sisters, been suffered, from infancy, to tyrannise over nurses, governesses, and servants[.]

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Rosalie Murray, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Murray
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8: The ‘Coming Out’ Quotes

“You did not ask me if Mr Richardson were a good, wise, or amiable man.”

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Mary, Rosalie Murray
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9: The Ball Quotes

“Sir Thomas is young, rich and gay; but an ugly beast, nevertheless; however mamma says I should not mind that after a few months’ acquaintance.”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Mary, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 61
Explanation and Analysis:

“But if I could always be young, I would always be single. I should like to enjoy myself thoroughly, and coquet with all the world, till I am on the verge of being called an old maid; and then, to escape the infamy of that, after having made ten thousand conquests, to break all their hearts save one, by marrying some high-born, rich, indulgent husband, whom, on the other hand, fifty ladies were dying to have.”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 62–63
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 14: The Rector Quotes

“[W]hy, you must allow me some share of female vanity: I don’t pretend to be without that most essential attribute of our sex[.]”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Murray, Mr. Hatfield
Page Number: 97
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

“Tilly, though she would have made a fine lad, was not quite what a young lady ought to be[.]”

Related Characters: Mr. Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Rosalie Murray, Matilda Murray, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 117
Explanation and Analysis:

“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 19: The Letter Quotes

“[I]f he married a richer wife, misfortunes and trials would no doubt have come upon him still; while I am egotist enough to imagine that no other woman could have cheered him through that so well: not that I am superior to the rest, but I was made for him, and he for me[.]”

Related Characters: Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey (speaker), Agnes Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Rosalie Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 124
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21: The School Quotes

Alas! how far the promise of anticipation exceeds the pleasure of possession!

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22: The Visit Quotes

“It’s the husband’s part to please the wife, not hers to please him; and if he isn’t satisfied with her as she is—and thankful to possess her too—he isn’t worthy of her, that’s all.”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23: The Park Quotes

“But you knew what he was before you married him.”

“No; I only thought so: I did not half know him really. I know you warned me against it, and I wish I had listened to you: but it’s too late to regret that now. And besides, mamma ought to have known better than either of us, and she never said anything against it—quite the contrary.”

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Rosalie Murray (speaker), Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:
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Rosalie Murray Quotes in Agnes Grey

The Agnes Grey quotes below are all either spoken by Rosalie Murray or refer to Rosalie Murray. 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 7: Horton Lodge Quotes

I really liked her—when she did not rouse my indignation, or ruffle my temper by too great a display of her faults. These, however, I would fain persuade myself, were rather the effect of her education than her disposition: she had never been perfectly taught the distinction between right and wrong; she had, like her brothers and sisters, been suffered, from infancy, to tyrannise over nurses, governesses, and servants[.]

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Rosalie Murray, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Murray
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8: The ‘Coming Out’ Quotes

“You did not ask me if Mr Richardson were a good, wise, or amiable man.”

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Mary, Rosalie Murray
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9: The Ball Quotes

“Sir Thomas is young, rich and gay; but an ugly beast, nevertheless; however mamma says I should not mind that after a few months’ acquaintance.”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Mary, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 61
Explanation and Analysis:

“But if I could always be young, I would always be single. I should like to enjoy myself thoroughly, and coquet with all the world, till I am on the verge of being called an old maid; and then, to escape the infamy of that, after having made ten thousand conquests, to break all their hearts save one, by marrying some high-born, rich, indulgent husband, whom, on the other hand, fifty ladies were dying to have.”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 62–63
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 14: The Rector Quotes

“[W]hy, you must allow me some share of female vanity: I don’t pretend to be without that most essential attribute of our sex[.]”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Murray, Mr. Hatfield
Page Number: 97
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

“Tilly, though she would have made a fine lad, was not quite what a young lady ought to be[.]”

Related Characters: Mr. Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Rosalie Murray, Matilda Murray, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 117
Explanation and Analysis:

“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 19: The Letter Quotes

“[I]f he married a richer wife, misfortunes and trials would no doubt have come upon him still; while I am egotist enough to imagine that no other woman could have cheered him through that so well: not that I am superior to the rest, but I was made for him, and he for me[.]”

Related Characters: Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey (speaker), Agnes Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Rosalie Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 124
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21: The School Quotes

Alas! how far the promise of anticipation exceeds the pleasure of possession!

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22: The Visit Quotes

“It’s the husband’s part to please the wife, not hers to please him; and if he isn’t satisfied with her as she is—and thankful to possess her too—he isn’t worthy of her, that’s all.”

Related Characters: Rosalie Murray (speaker), Agnes Grey, Agnes’s Mother/Alice Grey, Agnes’s Father/Richard Grey, Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23: The Park Quotes

“But you knew what he was before you married him.”

“No; I only thought so: I did not half know him really. I know you warned me against it, and I wish I had listened to you: but it’s too late to regret that now. And besides, mamma ought to have known better than either of us, and she never said anything against it—quite the contrary.”

Related Characters: Agnes Grey (speaker), Rosalie Murray (speaker), Mrs. Murray, Sir Thomas Ashby
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis: