Jean Brodie - Calvinism

Calvinism

Most literary critics agree that Miss Brodie was written as a representation of "the God of Calvin", and there are indeed many similarities between her and the Calvinist portrayal of God. In the story, she selects a handful of girls from her class to become "her girls". The girls are not chosen for any particular reason but simply because they are "her favourites". This is strikingly similar to the Calvinist teaching of Unconditional election which teaches God chooses His Elect to go to Heaven, based on His own will rather than any reflection of the person's character. Indeed, Miss Brodie attempts to transform these girls into the crème de la crème, again similar to the Calvinist teaching that the Elect will mold into God's image.

The most striking similarity however is the way Miss Brodie attempts to predestine the lives of her girls and those around her. She is determined that one of her girls becomes the lover of the school's art master as her proxy and seeks to make this happen. Another incident involves her encouraging a girl in her class to run to Spain and fight for the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, resulting in her death. This compares with the Calvinist teaching of Predestination, that God has already set out a path for everybody. One of her girls, Sandy Stranger notices this similarity saying:

She thinks she is Providence ... She thinks she is the God of Calvin, the beginning and the End.

Ultimately, Miss Brodie's attempts to be the Calvinist God drive Sandy to the Roman Catholic Church. This is similar to Muriel Spark's own experience of converting to Roman Catholicism after growing up in Calvinist dominated Edinburgh.

In the climactic scene of the film, Miss Brodie confronts Sandy and is pointedly told that she is "not good for people, and children should not be exposed to" her. Realizing she has no hope of appealing her dismissal from Marcia Blaine (the name of the school), Miss Brodie can do nothing but call the words after Sandy as she walks away, "Assassin! ASSASSIN!!!" The film closes poignantly with a shot of Sandy tearfully walking along after graduation, as we hear a voice-over of Miss Brodie saying, "Little girls, I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my pupils are the creme de la creme. Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life!"