#in Agnes Grey Matilda’s pretty dumb it’s Rosalie who does most of the plotting

[amarrymeinbostonwriter]

I drew this wayyy earlier in this NaNoWriMo Season. Like November 3rd maybe?  

So one of my main complaints with Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey is actually the portrayal of Rosalie and Matilda Murray (none of my followers/mutuals are probably surprised, I’m sure).

So Vicar Hatfield is hitting on 17 year old Rosalie...Yeah, gross. In 1847 when the novel came out, it was acceptable for full grown ass adult men to do that. So instead of maybe demonizing the child (or children in this case because 15 year old Matilda functions as Rosalie’s side kick in Agnes Grey) maybe we should reframe that story in its proper light? Cue Kesha’s “Dinosaur” on full blast. 

Yeah, Rosalie is a bit of a Victorian Regina George and Matilda is her rude horse-loving sister (read Victorian gender/sexuality code: a butch lesbian). Basically, they are both supposed to be examples Anne Bronte uses to tell little Victorian girls how not to be. Ouch.

The top panel is Anne Bronte’s versions of Matilda and Rosalie because they’re technically the second arc villains of her text as they are unpleasant to Agnes, the heroine, specifically and everyone else in general. 

And the bottom panel is closer to how they are in my NaNo project. I felt bad for both of them in the original book. At the end of the book, Rosalie is in a loveless marriage (not to Hatfield thank God) and the new governess (not Agnes) is trying to break Matilda’s spirit and force her to conform to the ideals of a straight Victorian Lady. :/

So I decided to answer the question of what happens next for Matilda (and other characters though she was my focal character for this project) with my NaNo project. I also explain why Rosalie and Matilda were horrible when Agnes knew them as well as many other things. The Markhams from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall will appear briefly in the story too as well of a boat load of fictional Victorian lesbians and gay men who befriend Matilda as she lives multiple lives across the second half of the 19th century. 

I basically reclaimed the Murray girls and rewrote their stories. Is that unhinged of me? Very possibly- especially since they aren’t supposed to be the heroines- but that’s what I’ve been working on this past month along side my grad studies.