The Prime of Life and the Brodie Set by Muriel Spark - Essay Example

? The Prime of Life and the Brodie Set Muriel Spark has gained immense amount of critical acclaim for her novel d ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’. The novel is set in a puritanical, all-girl school called Marcia Blaine that follows the life of six ten-year old girls, who are taken under the titular character Miss Brodie’s wings as she tries to mould them into the ‘creme de la creme’ of the school. The group of six girls consists of Sandy, Rose, Mary, Jenny, Monica and Eunice. They share a close bond with Miss Brodie, who is quite an unorthodox teacher, who believes that she has reached her prime which is a metaphoric pinnacle of one’s state or in other words Miss Brodie is at her most robust phase, where she is blessed with all kinds of desirable human traits such as beauty, sex appeal, wit and maturity. (Kimball, 1993; Kermode, 2004) The six girls were then dubbed as the Brodie Set; the girls were considered to be different from the rest of the students and soon enough ‘The Brodie Set’ takes on the form of a clique in their school, with every girl envying them and wanting to become a part of them and failing. Miss Brodie familiarized the girls with several of her ideals like her avid interest in arts, theatrics and drama, her belief in Calvinism and also introduced them to the ideology of ‘Fascism’. Miss Brodie’s avid interest in Fascism explains her motive behind forming the Brodie Set. She chose the most impressionable yet, outstanding from her class in order to implement her views on them so that they may carry on her philosophy. She frequently invites them home and takes them into her confidence, Spark describes: “Miss Brodie's special girls were taken home to tea and bidden not to tell the others, they were taken into her confidence, they understood her private life and her feud with the headmistress and the allies of the headmistress."(25) It is evident that Miss Brodie treated her status as an educator as a luxury, which she wanted to bestow on a select few, whom she deemed worthy of it. In the story, each girl of the Brodie Set is said to have been endowed with either beauty or brains that seemed to have piqued Miss Brodie’s interest in them. Jenny is known for her beauty; Eunice for her swimming skills and gymnastics; Monica for her excellence in mathematics and her quick temper; Mary is mild-mannered and is the set’s scapegoat that ends up taking blame for everything; Rose is the highly sexualized member of the set and like Jenny is also known for her good looks and finally, Sandy is more insightful and deepest out of all the other members. After clearly screening all the candidates, the Brodie set becomes few of her cherished pupils as she continues to impress her personal views of life and society on to them. From the very beginning to prime basis of the group was educational, but Miss Brodie believed in a more all-encompassing form of education and on many occasions it seemed that she was only creating an army of her minions. Having cited the Latin verb ‘Educere’ on several occasions, it is ostensible that Miss Brodie wanted to instil her beliefs in them in every way and as per the literal meaning of the verb which is ‘to draw out’, Miss Brodie wanted to bring out the best in them which she believed was only possible by teaching them her values. (Galman, 2012, p. 34) Although, the group started off as an educational one but there were many instances it seemed that Miss Brodie had much ulterior motives than simply honing the skills of these girls. For example, during the course of the novel, Miss Brodie exhibited some very unusual desires which included manipulating the girls and wanting to guide the course of their lives. This aspect of her personality is further underlined by the following statement she makes in the novel, “Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life...” (Spark, 1961, p. 9). She dearly wishes for Rose to enter into a sexual relationship with one of her former lovers and a teacher at Marcia Blaine, Mr. Lloyd. She confides in Sandy, “From what you tell me I should think that Rose and Teddy Lloyd will soon be lovers...” (p. 128). It seems that Miss Brodie had began to feel that since she had a huge hand in making moulding the girls into what they were, it gave her the exclusive right to tamper with their lives. Close analysis of her behaviour it can be postulated that Miss Brodie suffered from a ‘God complex’, she was a proponent of Calvin and in many instances Sandy also points out that Miss Brodie believed that she ‘providence’(129). She acted like a prophetess trying to guide her set and was primarily focused on winning followers and teaching students. Her tampering with her girl’s life and affairs is a clear-cut example of this characteristic of hers. However, in many ways she also came off as a narcissist with double standards. She badmouthed the teachers around them, but she did not let any of her students pass any judgment on them. Her opinions on matters seemed absolute and she deemed her judgment far more superior than that of others. She even deviates from the set school curriculum as she often tells her student to study the course just for the sake of passing the exam and then asks them to forget whatever they learned soon after. The latter part clearly exhibits her flagrant disregard for the material that was being taught to her students. She is a progressive feminist, who was blessed with values and a mindset ahead of her time that had turned her into a pariah in the school. (Little, 1983, 129-135) Her behaviour earned her the ire of her colleagues and even the headmistress of the school, who by the end of it was simply looking for excuses to fire her. As Miss Brodie was quite different from the set standards of a woman in the then-society, therefore it is often hinted in the novel and it is no surprise to the readers that she was quite insecure and lonely. This may explain her reason for keeping the Brodie set, as she desperately sought some form of acceptance from students that she had handpicked herself. As the girls grew older, she began to screen them even further to choose her confidante from amongst them and it turns out that it was Sandy, who later on chosen for this task. As she herself could not find a place for her views in the society, it seems that she simply wanted to pass on her beliefs to pupils, who would then carry it forward and ensure that her beliefs and value system remains in the society. The girls had joined Miss Brodie’s class while they were just children and had then continued to remain under her guidance till they reached the thresholds of womanhood. The story recounts the lives of the girls from age 10 and all the way to the end of their schooling, when they reached the age of 17. Their destinies and overall personalities did not fulfil the expectations that Miss Brodie had of them, but they did change immensely over the course of their sessions with her. Upon becoming a part of the Set, the girls, who were just 10 at that time had already begin to distinguish themselves from others and continued to mingle only with one another and miss Brodie. As mentioned the Set was more or less like a clique, so any girl vying to enter their circle was neither welcomed nor entertained. This was ostensible a girl named Joyce Emily tries to become a part of the Brodie set. She is not accepted by the girls or Miss Brodie for that matter. However, despite Miss Brodie’s distaste of Joyce Emily, she separately takes the girl under her influence and then talks her into fighting for the Spanish Civil War on the nationalist side. Joyce Emily finally runs away but the train she was travelling in got attacked and she died in the process. Although, Miss Brodie certainly did not intend for her to die, but in order to get rid of her and avoid making her a part of the set she actually coaxed Joyce into taking a dangerous path that naturally resulted in her untimely death. The girls had always looked up to Miss Brodie and at such a tender age, when one goes through major bodily and emotional changes, the Brodie set was able to tackle these issues by internalizing and modelling her behaviour. Rose and Sandy while discussing the likelihood of Miss Brodie having sex with her ex-Fiance Hugh as they tell each other that Miss Brodie told them: “We clung to each other with passionate abandon on his last leave” (p. 20). Their relationship was transcended beyond a teacher-student relationship and the girls sought more than just mentorship from their teacher. She encouraged the rebellious streak in the girls, which seemed always seemed to work in their advantage so they never even contemplated about countering her in any way. Miss Brodie seemed to embody certain characteristics that though never earned the approval of the society, but it was understandable why the young and impressionable girls of Marcia Blaine would be more than happy to comply with. The Marcia Blaine represents a typical conservative society, where Miss Brodie’s feminist and fascist ideology was not seen in a positive light. However, children are naturally susceptible to external influences and are especially drawn to people, who support things that forbidden to them by their elders. Miss Brodie being a very unconventional teacher encouraged them to explore their sexuality and even encouraged to enter into inappropriate romantic relationships with teachers. At age 10, the girls were just beginning to understand their superiority over others and soon after being promoted to senior classes at age 12, they continue to cherish their bond and the entire set viewed Miss Brodie as their leader by default. The girls were in awe of their teacher to the point that Miss Brodie was absolutely sure of their loyalty, which was obvious as she passed raucous remarks on them without having any fear that one of them may tattle-tale about her to the headmistress. As the girls are growing up, they become more aware of their sexuality; the only reference to it was made earlier when Jenny was confronted by an exhibitionist when she was ten. The aforementioned event seems to have triggered sexual repression within the set, particularly Sandy. Later on, their sexual growth became more and more pronounced as at age 13, Sandy shares her fist kiss with the same teacher, Mr. Lloyd who was once enamoured with Miss Brodie. After Jenny’s incident, it becomes apparent that Sandy has the greatest potential to counter Miss Brodie’s views. After Jenny’s unfortunate encounter, she begins an active where she role-plays as a police officer investigating sexual misconduct all around the school looking for various acts of misconduct and investigating them in order to expose them. It is clear that even at such a tender age Sandy acknowledge the depravity of the man, who accosted Jenny. While she gets to know more and more about Miss Brodie, she cannot help but repress her reservations and qualms with some of her beliefs. Initially, she is both piqued and ambivalent about Miss Brodie’s sexual conquests in the form of Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Lowther. She begins to equate the exhibitionist’s character with that of Miss Brodie and develops an unconscious hostility towards that causes her toe stop Jenny from telling her about the incident but she cannot explain why she does not want it. Despite the blind obedience Miss Brodie’s personality elicited from the other girls, Sandy seemed vastly unsure of her feelings even when she was young and worked with her imaginary partner in the investigation, whom she names Anne Grey. During her obsession with police officers and criminal investigations, Sandy finds incrimination evidences against Miss Brodie’s inappropriate relationships with other teachers. However, she is more shocked to discover that Miss Brodie has been projecting her affection for her ex-Fiance on to the two teachers. She is so captivated by the deductions she made but could never pluck up the courage to actually put an end to Miss Brodie’s career in Marcia Blaine. Throughout this phase, Sandy’s feelings towards Miss Brodie is described as a loose end and Spark uses words like ‘undecided state’ or ‘having an unfinished quality’. As they all progress in years, their bond changes and so does their personality. As the lot transitions in to their 16th year, all of them have matured greatly as women and it is hinted that they all have become quite familiar with their sexes. As discussed earlier, it was during this time that Miss Brodie expresses a desire to tests each and every one of the girls and finally decides to take on Sandy as her confidante. Sandy at that time had begun to model for Mr. Lloyd’s art class along with Rose. Although, Miss Brodie had unshakeable faith in all 6 of the girl; she knew that her training could never go wrong and none of the girls would ever dream of betraying her trust. She As the girls grew older, their academic endeavours had caused them to drift apart but their loyalty remained constant, which is why they never seemed to mind Miss Brodie’s intervention in their lives; particularly Rose’s and Sandy’s. Sandy began to exhibit certain amount of jealousy towards Rose, who was held in higher regard by Miss Brodie because of her beauty. She even divulges her thought to Sandy that she wishes that Rose would be taken by Mr. Lloyd as her lover, which may have caused her distress. Sandy, despite her plain appearance, was always complimented by Miss Brodie for her insightful nature, which Rose clearly lacked. Sandy, despite Miss Brodie’s wishes begins an affair with Mr. Lloyd instead, while his wife and children were away. This was a turning point in Sandy’s life for she reaches several epiphantic moments about herself and her teacher, Miss Brodie. Due to her sexual relationship with his teacher, Sandy was the only girl who changed drastically and saw through Miss Brodie’s machinations. Sandy entrance into a sexual relation with Mr. Lloyd can be deemed as her unconsciously acting out on Miss Brodie’s ideals. She realizes that she harbours romantic feelings for the man and though she wants Rose to enter into a relationship with, Sandy is more willing to do so because of her repressed sexual feelings. Despite her relations with Mr. Lloyd, she fails to establish any romantic feelings for him and soon loses interest in the man. However, she realizes the wantonness of the ways taught to by Miss Brodie and eventually becomes a Catholic, which is the only thing that piques her interest about Mr. Lloyd during her affair with him. It is further revealed that Sandy’s awe for Miss Brodie had somehow transcended into infatuation and it is hinted that both Miss Brodie and Sandy are closeted lesbians. However, Sandy is shrewder than she appears and as she realizes that her feelings for Miss Brodie will never be reciprocated and her reason for betraying Miss Brodie becomes understandable as she puts an end to Miss Brodie’s teaching career at the school. Throughout Miss Brodie’s life, she fails to understand out of her set, which one of the girls actually betrayed her. However, it is hinted throughout the story that it was Sandy’s scorned and repressed love that drove her into betraying Miss Brodie and it is only on her death bed when she realizes that it was Sandy, her confidante all along who betrayed her. (Wanitzek, 2013) It can be further seen that out of the Brodie Set, it was sandy who was the main protagonist and the narrator of the story. She drastically changes as a result of Miss Brodie’s influence but not in the way she would have approved of, for Sandy even renounced Miss Brodie’s religious and political beliefs and converted to Catholicism. Throughout the course of the novel, not only Sandy but almost all the girls of the Brodie set were transformed and matured that caused them to re-evaluate their love and devotion to Miss Brodie. This is the prime reason why almost every single one of them went their separate ways, leaving only Sandy behind who wrote a book on psychology that often caused people began to question what the contents of the book it alluded to, to which she simply replied that “there was once a Miss Brodie in her prime”. In the epilogue it is described that Mary and Jenny drop out of school just before the exams; as the latter aspires to become an actress and the former begins to work as a typist. Rose is successful in landing herself a handsome husband, Eunice works as a nurse and Monica becomes a scientist. Sandy chooses a completely different path as she denounces all of Miss Brodie’s ideology and joins the convent as Sister Helena. The change in the Brodie set was imminent as they made their transition from childhood to adulthood; their sentiments changed too but the change had not been as dramatic for other as it was for Sandy. The other Brodie girls were in awe of their teacher, but they never judged her or paid any close attention to the moral questions that could be raised on her actions. They all passively accepted it and throughout their years in school and even after they continued to follow her ideology and did what they wanted without giving a second thought to the moral qualms it may raise. It does not seem that their feelings for Miss Brodie undergo any change, but for Miss Brodie she was simply projecting her unfulfilled desires on to the little girls and expected them to accomplish those in her stead. Sandy is the first to realize this when Miss Brodie is completely obsessed with the idea of Rose sleeping with Teddy Lloyd even though, she herself was in love with him. Her insight in Ted Lloyd’s regard was intact as she understood the repercussions of engaging in an affair with a married man, but it seemed shocking that she was perfectly fine at the prospect of Rose sleeping with him in her stead. This was clear that Miss Brodie did not want any such action to taint her record, but she did not care if Rose’s character was tarnished by it. Miss Brodie could be viewed as a hedonist and an amoral creature because she fails to see the drawback of her acting on her desires. She takes Mr. Lowther, the art teacher as her paramour because she could not profess her love for Mr. Lloyd. In the end Sandy pieces together all these incidents and realizes that Miss Brodie’s romanticized version of life is not her cup of tea and she was not the model teacher that all her friends and peers had exalted her to the status of. In the end, Sandy concludes that Miss Brodie was highly selfish and a self-centred individual, who truly cared for her own personal satisfaction and happiness. She takes Mr. Lowther as her lover and discards him when the physical attraction between the two had dissipated. Her inexplicable wish to se Mr. Lloyd and Rose together underlined this aspect of her personality. Moreover, Sandy begins to understand her real motive in driving Joyce Emily away that was purely out of spite and she eventually died as a result of the undue encouragement she received for an obviously dangerous mission. Sandy comes quite close to detesting Miss Brodie and though in the end, her feelings for her finally change from an ‘undecided state but she still does not have the courage to openly retaliate against her. So she secretly betrays her and though, Miss Brodie understands that it was only through deception that she lost her position in the school but she could not ferret out as to which one of the carefully chosen girls would dare to defy her, as she had been extremely sure of her judgment about all the girls. In the end, it is obvious that Sandy took the most drastic turn in her life and her conversion to Catholicism was proof enough that she had denounced Miss Brodie’s views and now stood as the black sheep in the Brodie Set. In conclusion, ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ is a coming of age novel about 6 girls and a woman, which entails that not every individual possesses the capacity to act as a role model. She creates a divide amongst the student body and encourages favouritism as she provides extra benefits to her favourite students in the class. The Brodie Set remains intact during the initial years of the school, but by the end of it they all drift apart and it clearly establishes the fact that after reaching adulthood one begins to make their own decisions and beliefs. The imposition of Miss Brodie’s values was only temporary and did not mean that Miss Brodie had completely transferred her ideals on to them, turning the girls into a small of version of her. Blind obedience does not last for long, sooner and later an individual’s personal judgment is bound to intrude and cause the person to re-evaluate their beliefs. This is exactly what happens with Sandy and all the other girls continue with their lives for bigger pursuit instead of emulating Miss Brodie, who spent her prime creating a small line of followers, who would fulfil her wishes and accomplish what she could not. This is a classic story that embodies all these traits and demonstrating them through the changing relationships of the girls and their teacher. Works Cited Galman, Sally Campbell. Wise and Foolish virgins: Wise women in the feminized world of primary school teaching. London: Lexington Books. 2012. Print. P. 34 Kermode, Frank. Introduction to the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2004. Print. Kimball, Roger. The First half of Muriel Spark. New York: The New Criterion. 1993. Print. Little, Judy. Comedy and the woman writers: Woolf, spark and feminism. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. 1983. Print. P.p 129 - 135 Spark, Muriel. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. New York: Harper Collins, 1961. Print. Wanitzek, Leonie. Eros in the Classroom: Mentor Figures, Friendship and Desire in the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the History Boys. United Kingdom: University of Chester. Web. 2013. < http://www.genderforum.org/issues/buddies-that-matter/eros-in-the-classroom-mentor-figures-friendship-and-desire-in-the-prime-of-miss-jean-brodie-and-the-history-boys/> Read More