ABSTRACT

Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey has been overlooked or misjudged by even the most adamant Brontee enthusiasts. The Bildungsroman is central to Romantic genology. As is well-known in the field of comparative genre studies, the early Bildungsroman, wherein the hero merely sets out to be educated by the world, in order eventually to integrate himself into society as a useful and productive member, has at least two aesthetic limitations. In the course of the novel she not only learns what it means to put her faith into practice, but she also is able to recognize the true meaning and purpose of religion. This occupies the site of Romantic ideas of inward religion, and it also makes the link to nature more understandable. That Anne was at peace with her own religiosity seems clear from her poems and letters. Her major biographers have found evidence that her search for the divine began in infancy and became a passionate dedication.