In Katherine Mansfield’s short story, “Miss Brill,” the author provides us with a very peculiar protagonist, Miss Brill, who lives not in reality, but rather in a fantasy world which depends on the lives of other people to keep it going. Finding out that Miss Brill is in fact an English teacher is very ironic considering how childish and judgmental she is of everyone around her. She spends every Sunday afternoon listening to the local band down at the park. Viewing her life as a play, she believes that each individual is an actor or actress, and she alone plays a crucial role. It is at first clear that Miss Brill is not entirely sane, when she takes out an old ragged faux fur and begins stroking and adorning the piece, as if it were alive. Once she arrives to watch the band, she immediately begins to pass judgment on the old couple sitting together on a bench. She is disappointed in their “statue” manner and wishes for them to come alive and entertain her eccentric mind. Another example of Miss Brill’s unpleasant personality is when she describes a lady, referred to as the ermine toque, as being dressed quite unusually and having “yellow” hair and skin. If Miss Brill was able to step back and see herself as everyone else does, she would realize that the ermine toque and her and almost identical in their manner and style. Miss Brill is a loner, who does not have the social skills to interact positively with others, so she chooses to paint a glamorous image of herself, instead of facing reality

miss brill

The temperment and nature of Miss Brill, the main character and protagonist, is very immature, judgemental, and delusional. Throughout the entire story, we see through the eyes of Miss Brill a very twisted perception on reality. She makes up and imagines almost every aspect of her life. When she sees people interacting, she creates situations and dialogue for them. She determines what to imagine strictly through her original visual perceptions of these people, and jumps to very many conclusions. In this way, she makes up for her lifes own lack of luster and lives vicariously through others. She also views life as a play, in which everyone acts out their own small part, and in which she is a superstar. This once again shows her egotistical and judgemental way of looking at things. Miss Brill misses two chances for an epiphany in the story. The first time is when she sees an old lady in a worn out and ancient ermine toque getting disregarded by those around her, even when she attempts interaction. Miss Brill fails to see the parallels in her life and in the woman in the ermine toques life. The second time she misses her epiphany is when, while eavesdropping, she hears a young couple talking negatively about her. Instead of realizing her faults and the negative role she takes, she childishly goes off and cries, an unusual reaction from any weathered adult. The protagonist, Miss Brill, leads a sad existence and her participation in the story greattly reflects this.

Miss Brill

Miss Brill is an old woman who thinks she's a very important "actor" in the "play" of her life. In actuality, Miss Brill is actually an immature, judgemental old woman who nobody even wants around. The way she criticizes the people that walk by her is actually her criticizing herself, only she doesn't realize it, therefore she misses her epiphany. She judges people in the public garden every Sunday until she overhears herself being criticized. Miss Brill takes this very badly and acts like a child, without any of the maturity one would expect from an elderly english teacher. She goes home without getting any cake, which she did every time she passed the shop, and sulked in her cupboard of a room, just like a small child might do. Though Miss Brill may believe she's an important actor in people's lives, she is nothing more than an insignificant toddler and will probably never have her epiphany.

People act in different ways due to their nature. In the short story “Miss Brill,” written by Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill has a unique way of presenting herself. One trait she possesses is being very judgmental. She likes to intrude on peoples’ conversations and judge how these people should act. But in reality, she’s the one who should be looked at. Miss Brill doesn’t have any friends and lives a life as a lonely, old woman. One other aspect of her nature is that she is very childish and immature. In the story, she goes home, almost crying, after she is insulted by the young couple. Miss Brill went to her house without her almond bread, acting like a child with a temper tantrum. But, she should act more mature, since she’s an English teacher. Someone who is a teacher normally is a role model for the students they teach, but Miss Brill wouldn’t be the right role model for the children. Miss Brill is a character with a very interesting temperament and nature.

Miss Brill

Ms. Brill from the story "Miss Brill" is a very judgemental and lonely person. Katherine Mansfield uses many different foil characters in the book that reflect who Miss Brill truly is. Miss Brill never actually has any encounters of her own but rather she lives through the lives of others because there is no purpose to her life, not realizing that, she continues, listening in on people, to go to the same park every Sunday where her dillusions come alive. When Miss Brill travels to the park she is very judgemental to everyone she sees and imagines herself as if she was in a play and that the park was like a stage and if she didn't go there then she would surely be missed. Miss Brills character i reflected through the many people that she sees, asseses, and judges, yet she still manages to find no fault in herself. For example, when Miss Brill is watching the woman in the ermine toque she believes that what this woman i weraing is ugly but also, when this older woman is turned down by someone she takes a moment then walks away as if nothing was wrong. The ermine touque woman, who is a foil character of Miss Brill, acts as if nothing is wrong and just keeps moving on in life just like Miss Brill does. Miss Brill doesn't see the faults in herself but only the people around her such as the woman who is complaing about glasses who she just wants to shake when, truthfully, she is seeing her own faults in other people but doesn't realize it yet. Another way that she judges the people and, appearing hypocritical, looks at them and sees them as people who have just crawled out of their cupboards when really she is the one crawling out of a cupboard. Miss Brills temperament is that of a childs especially at the end of the story when she is insulted because she was listening in on others conversations and they were talking about her and wondering why she just didn't stay at home and so, like a child, Miss Brill goes home, not even treating herself to a piece of cake because she is so sad. The nature of Miss Brill is that she lives in her own world where everything is just a certain way that she doesn't realize what's missing in her world in reality because of her childish temperament and the way that she lets many things affect her mood in such a way that they will either make or ruin her day.

Miss Brill

Katharine Mansfield, the author of "Miss Brill," uses the protaginist of the story, Miss Brill, to present the story. Miss Brill is a very judgemental character,she goes to a park in France every Sunday and watches the people and makes several judgements about them. Miss Brill sits on a bench and listens to a band and judges how the band plays. When on the bench, Miss Brill will get frustrated if the person next to her doesn't start a conversation with her. With the descriptions that Mansfield makes, you can judge that Miss Brill is a hermit, who doesn't have much of a social life and depends on other people to live her life for her. As the story progresses Miss Brill begins to think that life is a stage and all the people are actors and all of their behaviors are part of the act, and she still sits on the bench observing the people and making assumptions about themand enjoys their behavior. With these attributes Mansfield displays a picture to the reader that Miss Brill has low self esteem because all she does is judge other people and doesn't ever judge herself, also the reader can see that Miss Brill has no social life, is a loner, and is kind of crazy with her thought process that life is a stage. Also, Mansfield creates irony through Miss Brill in that Miss Brill is a teacher and should be an example to children, but with the way she acts you'd think that she is a child. Mansfield creates symbolism through the fox fur that Miss Brill wears, because the fox fur, like Miss Brill, goes out every Sunday, and stays caged in all week, is old and unwanted. Katherine Mansfield did a wonderful job depicting the character of Miss Brill, as a reader you could easily tell that Miss Brill was a judgemental loner, who had no social life, and depended on others to live her life for her, you could tell this thorugh Mansfield's literary elements.

We view the people and events of "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield almost entirely through the eyes and feelings of its protagonist. The author relies upon indirect presentation for her characterization of Miss Brill. Write as full of an account as you can of the nature and temperament of the story's main character.