It’s interesting, when looking at the differences between Susan and Barbara, because Matilda’s education only comes partially from her mother, who is irrational and emotional, and so dissuades Wollstonecraft’s perception that the mother needs and education to be established as a proper citizen in society, like Susan’s mother does for her. However, it is because of Miss Milner’s desire to provide that education that Matilda is encouraged to peruse it. So, although Miss Milner cannot provide it for her daughter herself, she can see to it that someone is teaching her. She, as the mother, can ask and persuade Dorriforth to provide for their child and allow her to be educated. Therefore, because of her own efforts as a mother, Dorriforth provides
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Maria Edgeworth’s characters and themes are responding to Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication but also take into account her predecessors, like Burney, Inchbald, and Scott. Throughout Edgeworth’s stories in The Parent’s Assistant, her goal is to help parents and their children come to understand that a rational education is the best option for the future of their society. In particular, the stories that revolve around a female protagonist attempt to encourage fathers and mothers to educate their daughters as they would their sons. In this way, Edgeworth’s radical way of thinking mimics the ideas of Wollstonecraft, but she uses her predecessors as a model for how to present this information. Women had to be careful of how they exposed the inadequate education of their sex and how they believed women should be taught. Instead, they had to subtly include this information underneath a series of conservative ideals. In this way, they are able to get their message across to a larger audience, who wouldn’t immediately object to a purely radical ideal – like many did with Wollstonecraft’s Vindication. Edgeworth’s successful use of combining the radical and conservative creates stories that would have helped to not only educate women, but their mothers, fathers, and brothers. As children stories, Edgeworth’s narratives would have been on the front lines of helping to change and improve the English society for all its citizens – and especially
Maria Edgeworth’s characters and themes are responding to Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication but also take into account her predecessors, like Burney, Inchbald, and Scott. Throughout Edgeworth’s stories in The Parent’s Assistant, her goal is to help parents and their children come to understand that a rational education is the best option for the future of their society. In particular, the stories that revolve around a female protagonist attempt to encourage fathers and mothers to educate their daughters as they would their sons. In this way, Edgeworth’s radical way of thinking mimics the ideas of Wollstonecraft, but she uses her predecessors as a model for how to present this information. Women had to be careful of how they exposed the inadequate education of their sex and how they believed women should be taught. Instead, they had to subtly include this information underneath a series of conservative ideals. In this way, they are able to get their message across to a larger audience, who wouldn’t immediately object to a purely radical ideal – like many did with Wollstonecraft’s Vindication. Edgeworth’s successful use of combining the radical and conservative creates stories that would have helped to not only educate women, but their mothers, fathers, and brothers. As children stories, Edgeworth’s narratives would have been on the front lines of helping to change and improve the English society for all its citizens – and especially