The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

by Muriel Spark

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Chapter Five

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Chapter five begins when the girls reach the age of fifteen. Sandy finds herself in Mr. Lloyd's studio, where he has just completed a portrait of Rose wearing her gym tunic. Interestingly, Rose's face in the portrait bears a striking resemblance to Miss Brodie.

Mrs. Deirdre Lloyd (Mr. Lloyd's wife), who is present and dressed in fashionable peasant attire, urges her husband to show Sandy another portrait called "Red Velvet." This portrait depicts Sandy wrapped in crimson velvet, giving her the appearance of having a more mature physique than in real life. Sandy is surprised to learn that Mr. Lloyd has also painted portraits of Monica and Eunice, both of which also resemble Miss Brodie.

Sandy begins to think that the girls might break up, which she considers a positive outcome. However, while they are still together in the studio, Mr. Lloyd confides in Sandy his desire to paint all the Brodie girls individually and then as a group. Sandy sees this as an attempt to maintain the girls' unity despite their emerging individuality. In response, she sarcastically remarks that they would all look like one big Miss Brodie and stares insolently at Mr. Lloyd. He laughs, sloppily kisses her and, as she tries to leave the studio, tells her how hideous she is.

Sandy follows Mr. Lloyd downstairs, spending most of her tea trying to make sense of her conflicting feelings about the kiss and insult. Mr. Lloyd then asks Sandy about Miss Brodie's relationship with Mr. Lowther, questioning what she sees in him. Sandy curtly replies that he sings to her. Mrs. Lloyd laughs and comments that Miss Brodie seems a bit unusual. Mr. Lloyd defends Miss Brodie and leaves the room; Sandy also excuses herself.

The narrative then shifts back to when Miss Ellen Kerr discovers what she believes to be Miss Brodie's nightdress in Mr. Lowther's house. Over the past two years, Mr. Lowther has been considering marrying either of the Kerr sisters because Miss Brodie consistently refuses to marry him. Instead, she only engages in intimate relations with him and cooks for him.

Miss Brodie shares most of this information with her girls as they age but without explicitly stating or hinting at her involvement with Mr. Lowther. She is still determining which girls she can trust and wants to avoid arousing any suspicions from their parents. However, she finds in Sandy a girl worthy of her complete trust.

In the autumn of 1935, while playing golf together, Miss Brodie reveals to Sandy that she has high ambitions for her and Rose. She asks Sandy if she thinks Jenny is becoming dull, to which Sandy agrees. Miss Brodie criticizes all the Brodie girls except for Sandy and Rose. Meanwhile, Sandy recalls seeing Miss Lockhart playing golf with Mr. Lowther. The scene ends as Miss Brodie praises Sandy for her insight and Rose for her intuition, claiming she also possesses both qualities.

 Sandy develops what she believes to be Miss Brodie's long-term plan: Rose, with her intuition, will have a romantic affair with Mr. Lloyd while Sandy will act as an informant on the affair. However, the narrator reveals that Mr. Lloyd is only professionally interested in Rose. Ultimately, it is Sandy who has an affair with him, with Rose serving as the informant.

However, it takes some time for these events to unfold. In the meantime, Miss Brodie engages in discussions about art with Sandy and Rose. She encourages Rose to recognize her inner power and fulfill herself, predicting that this will happen when Rose reaches the age of seventeen or eighteen. Rose gains popularity...

(This entire section contains 908 words.)

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among the boys, but not because she talks about or engages in sexual activities. 

Mr. Lloyd paints a portrait of all the girls and, as Sandy predicted, transforms them into resemblances of Miss Brodie on his canvas. He frequently chooses to paint Rose because she is a natural model and relies on the money he gives her to support her cinema addiction.

 Sandy develops warm feelings towards Miss Brodie when she realizes how misguided she is about Rose's sexual adventurousness. Later in life, after becoming a nun, Sandy feels the most affection for Miss Brodie when she thinks of her as silly and misguided.

 Despite this, their classmates still see the Brodie girls as lacking team spirit and forming a separate social unit. If others did not perceive them this way, the girls would likely have gone their different ways by age sixteen.

Miss Brodie also gathers her girls around her whenever the school authorities challenge her teaching methods. She warns them that if the authorities do not dismiss her due to her educational methods, they will try to tarnish her reputation through slander. She defends her relationship with Mr. Lowther as a close friendship. Sandy believes this is because Miss Brodie satisfies her sexual desires through proxy, still hopeful that her plan for Rose to become Mr. Lloyd's lover will come to fruition. Miss Brodie claims she could marry Mr. Lowther at any time if she chose to.

However, the morning after Miss Brodie makes this declaration, it is announced in The Scotsman that Mr. Lowther has become engaged to Miss Lockhart. This news comes as a surprise to everyone, and Miss Brodie feels betrayed. In the following term, Miss Brodie focuses her spare energy on her plan for Rose to become involved with Mr. Lloyd, redirecting her hurt back into her girls. 

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