always a positive force. However, its ability to shape
society is undeniable.
Plato’s The Republic offers two models of educa-
tion, one for warrior rulers and the other a more
philosophical approach for the philosopher ruler,
given through the pedagogical example and allegory
of the cave. In this allegory, Plato describes a group
of people who have been imprisoned in a cave all
their lives. They see shadows of things passing in
front of them and believe the shadows to be real-
ity. The philosopher is like a prisoner freed from
the cave who understands now the true reality of
things. The highest goal of this form of education is
knowledge of the good, and it is only through this
that Plato’s enlightened philosopher rulers can rule
a utopian community. Similarly, Niccolò Machia-
velli’s The prince is focused on the education of
the sovereign or political leader of a state in the art
of good governance through a strategic deployment
of force and guile. Machiavelli uses the metaphors
of the lion and the fox to underscore the strength,
nobility, slyness, and shrewdness needed to retain
power and triumph over one’s rivals.
During the Renaissance, education found liter-
ary expression in the form of conduct books. The
Renaissance was a golden age for the proliferation of
conduct and etiquette books, which were an impor-
tant aspect in the achievement of a well-rounded
individual, especially in a feudal world where man-
ners reflected the person. Unlike practical books
that taught the martial arts or educated one in the
sciences and arts, these books had a strong moral
dimension that sought to inculcate ethical virtues
and produce the ideal gentleman or gentlewoman.
Baldassare Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier
(1528) is a prescriptive treatise on the ideal courtier
and outlines the essential virtues that he should
embody. Narrated through an engaging series of
imaginary conversations between the real-life court-
iers to the duke of Urbino, Castiglione’s speakers
discuss qualities of noble behavior—namely, discre-
tion, decorum, nonchalance and gracefulness—as
well as wider questions, such as the duties of a good
government and the true nature of love. Castiglio-
ne’s literary skill and sharp psychological insights
make this guide to manners both an entertaining
and a definitive glimpse into the ideals and debates
of Renaissance life.
Advice and conduct books targeted at women
were an especially popular genre in 19th-century
England and America. These guidebooks recom-
mended a broad education for women that also
included French, drawing, sewing, and the ability to
sing or play a musical instrument. They emphasized
the importance of a sweet demeanor and courteous
tongue, of good humor and wit. Jane Austen’s
heroines, for example, embody the lightness of
spirit and wit that all women could aspire to if they
wanted to snare a suitable man. In America, Emily
Thornwell’s The Lady’s Guide to Perfect Gentility
(New York, 1857) was aimed at white women, The
College of Life, or Practical Self-Educator [sic], a Man-
ual of Self-Improvement for the Colored Race, shows
that rules for good wifehood were proposed for both
white and African-American middle-class women.
Writings on education such as John Milton’s
Tract on Education and Free Expression (1644), and
John Locke’s Thoughts Concerning Education (1693)
reflect the intense debates on education in the 17th
and 18th century. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote
Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1786), and
her later a vindication oF the riGhts oF woMan
(1792) is a radical political and educational treatise.
She critiques Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s view on wom-
en’s education and argues that women are not natu-
rally submissive and dependent creatures and that
if they exercised their rationality through a good
education, they could be equal partners of men. In
emphasizing rationality in women, Wollstonecraft
was extending the basic ideas of Enlightenment
philosophy to women.
Rousseau’s Émile, or On Education (1762) was
the precursor of the education novel. In Émile,
Rousseau advocates a system of education that
would enable the natural man to survive corrupt
society. Divided into five books, the novel traces
Émile’s education from childhood to maturity. The
first three books focus on childhood; the last two
examine Émile’s youth and domestic and civil life as
he falls in love with Sophie. Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship (1795–96)
is a novel of upbringing and education and tells the
story of Wilhelm’s disillusionment with bourgeois26 education