Abstract
The aim of this thesis has been to study the ideas about female education at the turn of the eighteenth century in the two writers, Jane Austen and Hannah More, who both interpreted education as the development of the whole personality. At this time in history there was a growing awareness of the highly limited educational opportunities for women and a plea by many for a reform which would take into account the fact that women, as well as men, had the right to develop their intellectual powers.
I have closely examined a number of relevant aspects of education, such as Formal Education, Reading, Conversation, The Use of Time, Sensibility, Religion and Morality, in order to ascertain to what extent the views of the two writers coincide or differ. Hannah More, comparatively known today, was in her times a prolific writer on education, a fervent member of the Evangelical Movement and closely associated with prominent public figures, such as Dr Johnson and the Evangelicals John Newton and Wilberforce. One part of the discussion, therefore, has centred round the question of the degree of influence of Evangelicalism on Jane Austen and her novels.