How successful is the problematic status of the resident governess addressed in Agnes Grey and Jane
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How successful is the problematic status of the resident governess addressed in Agnes Grey and Jane Eyre.
This essay is going to define what is meant by the 'problematic status of the resident governess, by discussing why unmarried women would choose to become a governess, the job they had to do, the conditions of employment how they were treated by their employer, who was often from a similar social background, and how she would be regarded by servants in an attempt to be accepted within a household. I will also look at the experiences of Anne and Charlotte Bronte in their positions as governesses and how the status of governess is dealt with in Agnes Grey and Jane Eyre.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, there was a significant increase in the population in Britain with high infant mortality rates. 'Infant mortality held fairly consistently in the nineteenth century to a figure of about 14-15% (deaths of infants under twelve months old). For children born in England between 1813 and 1830, the percentage surviving beyond five years old were 62.8% among boys and 67.6% among girls. By 1851 in England there were 900 males in the population to every 1000 females. By 1911 there were 936 males to every 1000 females in England...