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Now, therefore, let us return to Miss Murray. She accompanied her mamma to the ball on Tuesday; of course splendidly attired, and delighted with her prospects and her charms. As Ashby Park was nearly ten miles distant from Horton Lodge, they had to set out pretty early, and I intended to have spent the evening with Nancy Brown, whom I had not seen for a long time; but my kind pupil took care I should spend it neither there nor anywhere else beyond the limits of the schoolroom, by giving me a piece of music to copy, which kept me closely occupied till bed-time. About eleven next morning, as soon as she had left her room, she came to tell me her news. Sir Thomas had indeed proposed to her at the ball; an event which reflected great credit on her mamma's sagacity, if not upon her skill in contrivance. I rather incline to the belief that she had first lai 去书内
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  • 陈彦志 陈彦志

    This excerpt from Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall presents a sharp, socially observant narrative. The scene describes Miss Murray’s triumphant reception of a marriage proposal from Sir Thomas at a ball—an event credited to her mother’s “sagacity,” a term laced with the narrator’s implicit irony. This highlights the period’s calculating view of marriage as a tool for social advancement. The narrator’s own experience provides a crucial counterpoint. Forced to copy music while her pupil attends the ball, the governess is confined to the schoolroom, symbolizing her marginalized position. This contrast underscores the rigid class divisions and limited autonomy for working women. The prose is deceptively simple, carrying a critical subtext. The narrator’s dry commentary on maternal “contrivance” critiques the transactional nature of upper-middle-class matrimony. Anne Brontë uses this quiet moment not just to advance the plot, but to offer a pointed analysis of gender, class, and power in Victorian society, establishing the novel’s realist and reformist tone.

    2026-01-19 喜欢(0) 回复(0)

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