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Sir Thomas Ashby
The village rector at the church the Murray family attends, Mr. Hatfield is a vain, status-obsessed man who flatters his rich parishioners and threatens the poor ones with hell. He falls in love with and pursues the flirtatious Rosalie Murray. When she refuses his proposal of marriage, he threatens to spread damaging rumors about her flirtatious behavior unless she promises not to tell anyone that he proposed. Eventually he marries a rich older woman. His inability to get along with his new curate Mr. Weston, a less status-conscious and more sincerely religious man, eventually leads Mr. Weston to take another curacy on the coast near the small school founded by Agnes Grey and her mother Alice.
Mr. Hatfield Quotes in Agnes Grey
The Agnes Grey quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Hatfield or refer to Mr. Hatfield. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10: The Church
Quotes
But now and then he gave us a sermon of a different order—what some would call a very good one; but sunless and severe: representing the Deity as a terrible taskmaster, rather than a benevolent father. Yet, as I listened, I felt inclined to think the man was sincere in all he said: he must have changed his views, and become decidedly religious; gloomy and austere, yet still devout. But such illusions were usually dissipated, on coming out of church, by hearing his voice in jocund colloquy with some of the Melthams or Greens, or, perhaps, the Murrays themselves[.]
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Chapter 14: The Rector
Quotes
“[W]hy, you must allow me some share of female vanity: I don’t pretend to be without that most essential attribute of our sex[.]”
Chapter 15: The Walk
Quotes
I thought of the poor man and his one lamb, and the rich man with his thousand flocks; and I dreaded I knew not what for Mr Weston, independently of my own blighted hopes.
Chapter 17: Confessions
Quotes
[B]esides my hope in God, my only consolation was in thinking that, though he knew it not, I was more worthy of his love than Rosalie Murray, charming and engaging as she was; for I could appreciate his excellence, which she could not: I would devote my life to the promotion of his happiness; she would destroy his happiness for the momentary gratification of her own vanity.
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Mr. Hatfield Quotes in Agnes Grey
The Agnes Grey quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Hatfield or refer to Mr. Hatfield. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10: The Church
Quotes
But now and then he gave us a sermon of a different order—what some would call a very good one; but sunless and severe: representing the Deity as a terrible taskmaster, rather than a benevolent father. Yet, as I listened, I felt inclined to think the man was sincere in all he said: he must have changed his views, and become decidedly religious; gloomy and austere, yet still devout. But such illusions were usually dissipated, on coming out of church, by hearing his voice in jocund colloquy with some of the Melthams or Greens, or, perhaps, the Murrays themselves[.]
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14: The Rector
Quotes
“[W]hy, you must allow me some share of female vanity: I don’t pretend to be without that most essential attribute of our sex[.]”
Chapter 15: The Walk
Quotes
I thought of the poor man and his one lamb, and the rich man with his thousand flocks; and I dreaded I knew not what for Mr Weston, independently of my own blighted hopes.
Chapter 17: Confessions
Quotes
[B]esides my hope in God, my only consolation was in thinking that, though he knew it not, I was more worthy of his love than Rosalie Murray, charming and engaging as she was; for I could appreciate his excellence, which she could not: I would devote my life to the promotion of his happiness; she would destroy his happiness for the momentary gratification of her own vanity.
