ABSTRACT
Emma's efforts to influence her acquaintances is really only one of numerous forces that her young, female friends have to contend with, which purport to build their characters and shape them into ideal women. The whole of female education in early nineteenth-century England made such claims. The materials of women's schooling, from French lessons delivered by governesses to dance steps found in ladies' periodicals, were 'subject to a process of active consumption' by their female audience. Charles Darwin's Plan for the Conduct of Female Education illustrates the extent to which the English system of female instruction sought physical and psychological control over young women. Addressing posture, for instance, Darwin devotes several pages to sleeping positions, baths, homeopathic oral remedies, and stocks and backboards, giving precise instructions as he discusses each topic, and requiring women to pursue his suggestions with 'pertinacious industry'.
