"Let Them Be Educated" Harriet Martineau's Disseminating Information and Moral Education in Illustrations of Political Economy and The Playfellow

Abstract

Harriet Martineau was a firm believer in education as the means for moral and social improvement. One of her major works in the educational field was Illustrations of Political Economy (1832-1834), a collection of tales for adults, written with the purpose of popularizing the 'new science' of political economy. The Playfellow (1841) indeed furnished Victorian children with entertaining stories while fostering their intellectual and functional training. The significance of educational aspects in Martineau's work justifies the focus of this dissertation in exploring the motivations that spurred the writer to deal with social aspects: gender, class, religion, economic concerns, and literature's function in life thus provide the frame for the understanding of the ideologies embodied in her controversial writings. While the Illustrations has been a case study throughout the centuries, her tales for children have been less noticed; yet, not only do they deserve attention for the lessons they conveyed, but also for the quality of children's representation. Given that Martineau's accounts of her life contained in the Autobiography(1877) are crucial for the understanding of both her fictional works, this dissertation will provide an analysis of the collection of tales taking into account her experiences as a neglected child, a Unitarian, a resolute woman, but most of all, an 'incurable teacher'. Once Martineau said that "books are for the expansion of the moral as well as the intellectual part of man", in the light of such statement the dissertation will attempt to provide an analysis of the extent to which Harriet Martineau succeeded in conveying moral guidance as well as practical education in her tales.