" The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie " is a novel by Muriel Spark which is the best known of her works. It was first published as a book in " The New Yorker " magazine by Macmillan in 1961. The character of the novel, Miss Jean Brodie, brought Spark international fame and brought her into the first rank of contemporary Scottish literature. The novel was chosen by " The Time Magazine " in 2005, as one of the one hundred best English language novels.
About Author
Spark was the British novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. She was born in 1 Feb,1918 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and died in 13 April, 2006 in Florence, Italy. She was educated at James Gillespie's School for Girls. Spark recieved several prize in literature and she was short-listed for the " Booker Prize " in 1969 for " The Public Image ". Her important works are The Comforters, Robinson, The Bachelors, The Public Image etc.
Plot Summary
The novel " The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie " is about the special relationship between six girls of 10 years and their passionate, unconventional teacher Miss Jean Brodie. The novel revolves around the school teacher, Miss Jean Brodie and her six students of Marcia Blain School for girls in Scotland.
Miss Jean Brodie picks up six girls from the junior class to make them best of the best. The girls were also known as " Brodie Set ". The novel shows the influence on the life of these six girls whose names are Monica Douglas, Sandy Stranger, Rose Stanley, Jenny Gray, Eunice Gardiner and Mary Macgregor.
Miss Brodie takes the six girls under her control and manipulates their worldly views in the name of education that has almost nothing to do with academics. One of the six girls betrays their teacher in the end though Miss Brodie never learns which one betrayed her.
The story begins in 1936 when Miss Brodie's favorite students ( Brodie Set ) are 16 years old but the story quickly flashes back to 1930 when they first meet to their teacher at the age of 10. Miss Brodie believes that her students must have a classic, well rounded education so that she could make them best of the best. In addition to teaching them about art, history and literature, she tells them about fascism also of which she is an admirer and even she tells them about her own love life and personal travails. The other teachers of school don't like Miss Brodie's way of teaching, specially the headmistress, Miss Mackey.
Miss Brodie is in a love triangle with music teacher, Gordon Lawther and art teacher, Teddy Lloyd in the school but soon Miss Brodie ends her relationship with Teddy Lloyd because he is married and has six children before doing so, she shares a simple kiss with him, which Monica, one of her students, sees. Miss Brodie has a brief affair with Mr. Lowther also but it doesn't go ahead. Miss Brodie decides to take Sandy as her trusted student and shares everything about her life with her and learns from her that Mr. Lloyd often asks the girls to sit for him as portrait subject.
The climax of the story comes when Sandy, her most trusted student betrays her, though Miss Brodie never learns of it until later her life. While Miss Brodie is traveling for the summer and takes a leave, Sandy enters into an affair with Mr. Lloyd herself but soon she leaves him and decides to convert to Roman Catholicism and becomes a nun. However, before she does so, she decides to help the headmistress, Miss Mackey, who has been looking for a way to get rid of Miss Brodie for years. Sandy tells Miss Mackey to accuse Miss Brodie of promoting fascism in the classroom.
By the end of the novel, the reader learns that Sandy has become a nun and has written a famous book on psychology, called " The Transfiguration of the Commonplace ". When Sandy is interviewed for the book, the interviewer asks her about her prime and she identifies Miss Brodie as the primary influence on her school years.
Miss Brodie takes the six girls under her control and manipulates their worldly views in the name of education that has almost nothing to do with academics. One of the six girls betrays their teacher in the end though Miss Brodie never learns which one betrayed her.
The story begins in 1936 when Miss Brodie's favorite students ( Brodie Set ) are 16 years old but the story quickly flashes back to 1930 when they first meet to their teacher at the age of 10. Miss Brodie believes that her students must have a classic, well rounded education so that she could make them best of the best. In addition to teaching them about art, history and literature, she tells them about fascism also of which she is an admirer and even she tells them about her own love life and personal travails. The other teachers of school don't like Miss Brodie's way of teaching, specially the headmistress, Miss Mackey.
Miss Brodie is in a love triangle with music teacher, Gordon Lawther and art teacher, Teddy Lloyd in the school but soon Miss Brodie ends her relationship with Teddy Lloyd because he is married and has six children before doing so, she shares a simple kiss with him, which Monica, one of her students, sees. Miss Brodie has a brief affair with Mr. Lowther also but it doesn't go ahead. Miss Brodie decides to take Sandy as her trusted student and shares everything about her life with her and learns from her that Mr. Lloyd often asks the girls to sit for him as portrait subject.
The climax of the story comes when Sandy, her most trusted student betrays her, though Miss Brodie never learns of it until later her life. While Miss Brodie is traveling for the summer and takes a leave, Sandy enters into an affair with Mr. Lloyd herself but soon she leaves him and decides to convert to Roman Catholicism and becomes a nun. However, before she does so, she decides to help the headmistress, Miss Mackey, who has been looking for a way to get rid of Miss Brodie for years. Sandy tells Miss Mackey to accuse Miss Brodie of promoting fascism in the classroom.
By the end of the novel, the reader learns that Sandy has become a nun and has written a famous book on psychology, called " The Transfiguration of the Commonplace ". When Sandy is interviewed for the book, the interviewer asks her about her prime and she identifies Miss Brodie as the primary influence on her school years.
Justify the tittle of the novel
In the novel, we see a beautiful relationship between a group of six girls and their teacher, Miss Brodie. Who claims to be in their prime again and again. She teaches at the junior department of Marcia Blaine School for girls where she provides her students with an energetic if unorthodox education in unauthorized topics as various as poetry, makeup, Italian fascism under Mussolini and her own love life also, believing that goodness, truth and beauty are the supreme value and she considers that the arts hold a higher place than the science. In school, Miss Brodie picks up six girls as her special students, to mold them into " creme de la creme " ( best of the best ) and whom Miss Brodie develops and confides in. However, at the end of the play, we learn that one of these girls will betray Miss Brodie though she never learns which.
Thus, through out the play, we learns that Miss Brodie has a huge influence on the life of these six girls from their school years as she remains in the prime of these six girls. So, we can say that why the tittle is " The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ".
Thus, through out the play, we learns that Miss Brodie has a huge influence on the life of these six girls from their school years as she remains in the prime of these six girls. So, we can say that why the tittle is " The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ".
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