The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) has long been recognized as a brilliantly woven novel, complex in its narrative technique and themes. One of the most significant themes in the novel is that of the double life led by Jean Brodie and her set. The theme of the double life is particularly illuminated by two oddly assorted motifs, the story of an Edinburgh burglar, William Brodie, and an Italian Renaissance painting, Botticelli's Primavera. (p. 418)

The dreariness of [the life of Miss Brodie and her set] rises from the particular conditions of the school, of the thirties, of Philistinism in society, but the great enemy is simply boredom, and one escapes that by leading an exciting though dangerous double life.

The most promising girl of the Brodie set, Sandy, discovers fairly early how to lead a double life in order to escape from the tedium of ordinary life…. Her...