Ambiguous Placement of Blame in the Fascist Microcosm of Muriel Spark’s The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.
by laura podolnick
In Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, an ambiguous placement of blame on both Sandy, who betrayed Miss Brodie to the school, and on Miss Brodie, who betrayed those who idolized her by using them and controlling them to suit her own whims, propels the suspense of the novel. Moreover, the novel shows the “Brodie set”--a group of six girls whom Miss Brodie has chosen as her confidantes and favorites--as a microcosm of a fascist government, expanding the placement of blame question into the political arena by asking: Who is to blame, the leader, or those who allow themselves to be lead?
Throughout the book, Miss Brodie demonstrates the characteristics of a Fascist leader. She has the manipulative techniques and the controlling nature needed by such a leader, but also a charisma that attracts her set to her and helps to disguise her controlling ways by showing her as an extremely likable character: “Those of Miss Brodie’s kind were great talkers. . .” “There was nothing Miss Brodie could not yet learn, she boasted of it” (Spark 64-65). “Readers are encouraged to think highly of Miss Brodie through Spark’s characterization methods, which show her in the most positive light, even while readers are beginning to question her need for absolute power” (Magill 1888). Her charisma is also evident by the way her “set” genuinely likes her and nearly idolizes her. Sandy and Jenny, especially, admire Miss Brodie and are enthralled with her life and her stories enough to spend their free time composing their own stories about their teacher. When Sandy daydreams, or leads her “double life” as she calls it, she tend to imagine herself talking to characters in books that Miss Brodie has expressed a fondness for. “In five of her conversational fantasies, Sandy speaks with figures from books that are favorites of Miss Brodie” (Bower 358).
Miss Brodie’s manipulative ability likens her to a fascist leader. Her main manipulation involves trying to make a girl of her set, Rose Stanley (who is “famous for sex”) have an affair with Teddy Lloyd, the man whom Miss Brodie loves (Spark 12). Miss Brodie plans also on having Sandy, with her “insight” report back to her on the details of the affair initiated by Rose with her “instinct” (Spark 157). Sandy instead had the affair, thwarting Brodie’s manipulation. “Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life” says Miss Brodie, unknowingly bragging of her own manipulative techniques (Spark 16).
As well as manipulative, Miss Brodie is controlling. She proves very successful in controlling many of the thoughts, opinions, and actions of the girls in her “set” throughout the novel. We see this very early in the novel, when Miss Brodie asks her class, “Who is the greatest Italian painter?” and they respond, “Leonardo da Vinci, Miss Brodie,” to which she says, “That is incorrect. The answer is Giotto, he is my favourite” (Spark, 18). This pattern continues as Miss Brodie molds her students into the “creme de la creme” (Spark 15). The irony is that Miss Brodie advocates individualism, but does not allow her students to make decisions for themselves. “Phrases like ‘the team spirit’ are always employed to cut across individualism, love, and personal loyalties” Miss Brodie says, persuading her set to avoid the team spirit encouraged in the Senior school (Spark 115). Likewise, Miss Brodie imposes her viewpoint of the Classical side of the Senior school as better than the Modern side by merely stating “You must make your free choice. Not everyone is capable of a Classical education” (Spark 91). By expressing herself in this way, Miss Brodie leads her set to believe that she advocates individualism, but she also keeps them steadfastly under her influence.
Conflicting directly with Miss Brodie’s supposed support for individualism is her fondness for fascism, which is prevalent throughout the novel. Spark places Miss Brodie’s fascist tendencies very carefully and strategically in the novel, making the reader believe Miss Brodie’s fascism is no more important than a quirk in her already quirky character. “Mussolini has performed feats of magnitude and unemployment is even further abolished under him than it was last year” says Miss Brodie (Spark 67). It isn’t until later in the novel, when Miss Brodie encourages a new girl, Joyce Emily, to fight in the Spanish Civil War, and she dies, that we see the malevolent mixture of manipulation and fascism Miss Brodie has become. Even earlier, though, Sandy had recognized the fascist nature of her group, although she did not rebel from it:
| It occurred to Sandy . . . that the Brodie set was Miss Brodie’s fasciti, not to the naked eye, marching along, but all knit together for her need and in another way . . . That was all right, but it seemed, too that Miss Brodie’s disapproval of the Girl Guides had jealousy in it, there was an inconsistency, a fault. Perhaps the Guides were too much a rival fasciti, and Miss Brodie could not bear it. Sandy thought she might see about joining the Brownies. Then the group-fright seized her again, and it was necessary to put the idea aside, because she loved Miss Brodie (Spark 47). |
Also of note relating to Miss Brodie’s similarity to a Fascist leader is her constant persecution of Mary Macgregor, the group scapegoat. In the singling out and abuse of Mary, Miss Brodie uses a tactic that resembles Hitler’s brand of fascism more closely than Mussolini’s. According to some historians, Hitler’s persecution of the Jews helped to unite the relieved majority of the Germans that Hitler passed over: Miss Brodie’s torment of Mary Macgregor has the same effect on the Brodie set (Murray and Tait 348).
Although Miss Brodie has characteristics of a fascist leader, the fascist microcosm would not be functional if her students, the Brodie set, did not have characteristics of a group controlled by a fascist regime, particularly limited personal liberty, isolation from other groups, and idolization for their leader. The Brodie fasciti displays all of these qualities. It can be noticed that the Brodie set’s behavior--picking on Mary McGregor, socializing in an isolated clique, idolizing an adult-- is often typical in groups of their age, but what makes the group so atypical is the involvement of Miss Brodie. The Brodie set is in the stage of social development where such behavior is not abnormal, but Miss Brodie is not. “Miss Brodie’s influence over the girls raises many questions. Why are her companions little girls instead of friends her own age? Why must she be the controlling, dictating element of a group rather than an equal member?” (Magill 1888). Miss Brodie takes advantage of the normal social development that her set experiences by exploiting her influence over them as a role model. While it may be normal for social cliques to form in schools, it is not normal for a teacher to applaud the development of one and participate in it as well. Miss Brodie’s inclusion in the Brodie set is what sets the group apart from a typical circle of friends and instead pushes it into the arena of fascism.
One quality of the Brodie fasciti is limited personal liberty. The girls are each famous for one thing, and are all rigidly held in that stereotype. Spark continually reminds us who is famous for what throughout the novel. Monica Douglas is famous for mathematics and anger; Rose Stanley is famous for sex; Eunice Gardiner is famous for gymnastics and swimming; Sandy Stranger is famous for her small eyes and her vowel sounds; Jenny Gray is famous for her beauty; and Mary Macgregor is famous for being a scapegoat (Spark 11). The girls are so held to their stereotyped positions that the reader seldomly sees the girls as anything but a symbol of what they are famous for. Also limiting the girls’ personal liberty is the fact that the girls have the same opinions as Miss Brodie. For example, in the scene where Jenny, Sandy, and Mary are in the headmistresses office and the headmistress questions them about their plans for attending the Classical versus the Modern side of the Senior school, they reply “Miss Brodie prefers it” (Spark 94). Mary is prohibited from entering the Classical side due to her low grades, but Jenny and Sandy carry out Miss Brodie’s wishes perfectly by being admitted. Similarly, the Brodie set all shun the much exalted concept of team spirit in the Senior school, because Miss Brodie had spoken negatively of it (Spark, 115).
This hatred of team spirit helps to isolate the Brodie set from other groups, which is another factor that shows the girls to be controlled by a facsist-like regime.
| . . . the Brodie girls were as far as possible placed in different houses. Jenny was put in Holyrood, Sandy with Mary Macgregor in Melrose, Monica and Eunice went into Argyll and Rose Stanley into Biggar. They were therefore obliged to compete with each other. . . (Spark 114). |
As previously mentioned, the Brodie set idolized Miss Brodie and had loyalty for her. The stories that Sandy and Jenny write about Miss Brodie show the idolization, and the loyalty is revealed in that the girls continue to visit Miss Brodie and be tremendously influenced by her thoughts and ideas after they have graduated from her class. “On most Saturday afternoons Miss Brodie entertained her old set to tea and listened to their new experiences” (Spark 116).
The unfolding of events in the novel take place in the order of those of a fascist nation. First comes Miss Brodie’s rise to power, when she first began to influence the girls. Miss Brodie’s influence started early, on the first day of school, when she incorporated an “us versus them” mentality in her new students, by citing a poster on the headmistress’s wall that said “Safety First” and renouncing it by saying “Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty come first. Follow me” (Spark, 17). The girls took “an inward note of this, and with the exhilarating feeling of being in on a faint smell of row, without being endangered by it, they followed dangerous Miss Brodie. . .” (Spark 17). Miss Brodie promises her young students that she will turn them into the “creme de la creme” (Spark 22) and that she was “putting old heads on young shoulders” (Spark 15). The girls become fascinated by Miss Brodie and her unorthodox teaching techniques. They trust her and believe the things she says as facts and treat them as such, even if they are only Miss Brodie’s opinions. An example is when Sandy feels bad about always mistreating Mary, and considers being nice to her. But “the sound of Miss Brodie’s presence, just when it was on the tip of Sandy’s tongue to be nice to Mary Macgregor, arrested the urge” (Spark 45). Even when Sandy wants to do something of her own free will, something that anyone should be free to do, such as being nice to someone else, Sandy can not do it because Miss Brodie does not approve. Because Miss Brodie finds it appropriate to mistreat Mary, so does Sandy, even though she recognizes its injustice. “Sandy looked back at her companions, and understood them as a body with Miss Brodie for the head. . .in unified compliance to the destiny of Miss Brodie, as if God had willed them to birth for that purpose” (Spark 45).
Predictably, other people at school soon
become suspicious of Miss Brodie’s
influence over her set. Most notably,
the headmistress of the school, Miss Mackay,
repeatedly calls the members of the Brodie set into
her office for questioning. “Miss Brodie is musical?”
Miss Mackay asks Jenny, Sandy, and Mary three
times in one questioning session, when rumors
were abundant that Miss Brodie was having an affair
with the music teacher, Mr. Lowther (Spark 96).
Questionings of this type appear frequently
throughout the novel, revealing Miss Mackay’s
suspicious attitude towards Miss Brodie.
| Miss Mackay, the headmistress, never gave up pumping the Brodie set. She knew it was useless to do so directly, her approach was indirect, in the hope that they would be tricked into letting fall some piece of evidence which could be used to enforce Miss Brodie’s retirement (Spark 168). |
Miss Brodie is aware of Miss Mackay’s suspicion of her, as is shown when Miss Brodie tells her students to “Hold up your books . . . prop them up in your hands, in case of intruders. If there are any intruders, we are doing our history lesson. . .” (Spark 18) and then after an inquiring visit from Miss Mackay, “You did well. . . not to answer the question put to you” (Spark 22). Later Miss Brodie says “Miss Mackay’s method is to thrust a lot of information into the pupil’s head; mine is a leading out of knowledge. . . Now Miss Mackay has accused me of putting ideas into my girls’ heads. . .” (Spark 55). Other teachers, too, are distrustful and suspicious of Miss Brodie:
| . . . Miss Brodie’s colleagues in the Junior school had been gradually turning against her . . . It was in the Junior school, among the lesser paid and lesser qualified women, that indignation seethed. There were two exceptions on the staff, who felt neither resentment nor indifference towards Miss Brodie, but were, on the contrary, her supporters on every count . . . They were the only men on the staff (Spark 70). |
It is interesting that Miss Brodie’s only supporters among the Junior school staff are male. This phenomenon occurs because men do not fit inside the little world Miss Brodie has created, except to be used as tools and playthings by the girls. In this way, Mr. Lowther and Mr. Lloyd can not be suspicious of Miss Brodie’s fascist governing, because they are not involved in it, except as benign and obedient pawns.
| The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie powerfully evokes a woman’s world. All the major characters are female, and their views and voices dominate the text. The Marcia Blaine School is a female universe and functions as a microcosm in which women play almost all the roles . . . Because the story is so woman-oriented, the male characters almost become objects (Magill 1889). |
After gathering suspicion from others, the next step for a fascist leader is to become a God-like figure. Miss Brodie accomplishes this feat not only by controlling and manipulating the lives of her set, but also by trying to actually turn her students into versions of herself: “It’s because you are mine . . . I mean of my stamp and cut, and I am in my prime” (Spark 143). This cloning works to a point, at least in the eyes of Teddy Lloyd, the art teacher with whom Miss Brodie is in love, and who loves her in return. Mr. Lloyd takes a liking to the Brodie set, and invites the girls to his studio to sit for portraits. However, no matter which girl of the Brodie set Mr. Lloyd paints, she always comes out resembling Miss Brodie more than she resembles herself. “This uncanny and rather sinister coincidence is emphasized by the fact that no other portraits in the studio look like Miss Brodie, only the ones painted of her girls” (Whittaker 108). More proof that Miss Brodie treats her girls as mere extensions of herself is her plan to have Rose have an affair with Mr. Lloyd and have Sandy inform upon it. Miss Brodie wanted to live vicariously through Rose, and therefore needed Rose to do what Miss Brodie wanted to do but couldn’t because of the restraints placed on her by society and by herself. “Sandy looked at [Miss Brodie], and perceived that the woman was obsessed by the need for Rose to sleep with the man she herself was in love with” (Spark 175). Sandy, with the insight Miss Brodie has prided her on for years, begins to recognize Miss Brodie’s God-like aspirations involving her set. “She thinks she is Providence, thought Sandy, she thinks she is the God of Calvin, she sees the beginning and the end” (Spark 176).
Sooner or later in a fascist regime, somebody has to rebel. Sandy’s insight also allows her to be the girl of the set to rebel consciously, and to ultimately be the one to betray her teacher. Her rebellion’s seeds begin to germinate when she is very young and has her inner fantasies while Miss Brodie is teaching. But her first real thoughts of rebellion come when Miss Brodie takes her girls on a walk through Edinburgh, and Sandy considers joining the Brownies, a “rival fasciti” of Miss Brodie’s, but then quickly discards the idea because “she loved Miss Brodie” (Spark 48). “It is when the girls are fifteen, that Sandy begins to feel that ‘the Brodie set, not to mention Miss Brodie, was getting out of hand” (Murray and Tait 351). In later years, Sandy’s thoughts of rebellion are not so easily tossed aside as before. She has an affair with Mr. Lloyd in order to thwart Miss Brodie’s plans of Rose having the affair and Sandy reporting on it.
The reader knows very little detail about the affair, but both Sandy and Teddy Lloyd seem more interested in Miss Brodie than in each other. “The more she discovered him to be still in love with Jean Brodie, the more she was curious about the mind that loved that woman” (Spark 180). When Sandy eventually loses interest in Lloyd, she retains her fascination with his religion (Murray and Tait 351).
This fascination with Roman Catholicism, Mr. Lloyd’s religion, is another way Sandy rebels from Miss Brodie. Miss Brodie thinks lowly of Roman Catholicism: “He is a Roman Catholic and I don’t see how you can have to do with a man who can’t think for himself” (Spark 180). “Her disapproval of the Church of Rome was based on her assertions that it was a church of superstition, and that only people who did not want to think for themselves were Roman Catholics” (Spark 125). It is interesting that Miss Brodie frowns so strongly upon Roman Catholicism because she feels it doesn’t allow one to think for oneself, because she frowns upon Girl Guides and Brownies much in the same way. Miss Brodie applauds thinking for oneself as long as thinking for oneself involves thinking like Miss Brodie. In a way, Sandy’s conversion to Roman Catholicism and her eventual joining of a convent expand upon and carry out her idea of joining the Brownies when she was a girl in Miss Brodie’s class. “By now she had entered the Catholic Church, in whose ranks she had found quite a number of fascists much less agreeable than Miss Brodie” (Spark 183). Sandy finally rebels against Miss Brodie by joining a type of “rival fasciti.”
In the final step of a fascist regime, there must be a shift in control. This shift takes place between Miss Brodie and Sandy. Sandy takes control away from Miss Brodie because she subconsciously becomes Miss Brodie, which could lead one to argue, does Miss Brodie ever really lose control? She accomplishes the results she always planned on. However, Miss Brodie doesn’t realize her controlling ways, and therefore does not expect to be betrayed. “She was quite innocent in her way” says Sandy, explaining Miss Brodie’s lack of knowledge about her own manipulative behavior (Spark 186). Miss Brodie, when betrayed, can not believe one of her girls betrayed her, and she doesn’t stop talking about it. “The whine in her voice-- ‘. . . betrayed me, betrayed me’--bored and afflicted Sandy. It is seven years, thought Sandy, since I betrayed this tiresome woman” (Spark 89). Sandy’s betrayal of Miss Brodie reminds one of Julius Caesar, who like Miss Brodie, was betrayed by his closest confidante. But unlike Julius Caesar, Brodie never learns who has betrayed her. One doesn’t even know if she realizes how successful she has been in her teaching techniques, to have one of her students turn out to be so much like herself. “Miss Brodie’s fate is engineered by her pupil, thus reflecting the very sin of which Miss Brodie is accused”(Whittaker 108). Miss Brodie is successful because she has turned Sandy into a version of herself.
The betrayal itself is ironic in that Sandy told Miss Mackay not about Miss Brodie’s sex life, as Miss Mackay requested, but instead about Miss Brodie’s interest in fascism. In this way, Miss Brodie is fired for the correct reason. Even more ironically, in a letter Miss Brodie wrote to Sandy about her betrayal, she pens: “You, Sandy, as you see, I exempt from suspicion, since you had no reason whatsoever to betray me, indeed you have had the best part of me in my confidences and the man I love” (Spark 185). However, Brodie is oblivious to her own manipulative nature, and therefore is oblivious to both the fact that she has been so successful in molding Sandy, and the fact that Sandy is manipulative enough to betray Miss Brodie.
The unfolding of events in Miss Brodie’s regime leaves just one question to be answered: Whose fault is it? Miss Brodie could easily be blamed for her manipulative techniques and the way she controlled her girls and their actions. But Spark paints Miss Brodie in such a positive light throughout most of the book that it confuses the reader. Sandy we are encouraged to trust throughout the novel, but Spark consistently reminds us of her “small, almost nonexistent, eyes,” encouraging us to see Sandy negatively (Spark 12). Sandy’s betrayal of Miss Brodie can not be seen as completely altruistic, especially due to her bitterness at the time: “I’m not really interested in world affairs. . . only in putting a stop to Miss Brodie” (Spark 182). Her betrayal could be seen as Sandy’s concern for future generations of students, but it is much more believable if seen as a struggle for power. Even when immersed in religion and while trying to redeem herself, Sandy “clutched the bars of her grille more desperately than ever” and even when she knew Miss Brodie was getting out of hand, Sandy behaved and manipulated in the same way in her betrayal (Spark 186). When asked about her influences in her school days, Sandy replies “There was a Miss Jean Brodie in her prime,” showing at least that she recognizes and acknowledges the power Miss Brodie had over her life. The blame lies on both parties. Miss Brodie taught Sandy well.
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