This paper approaches Sarah Fielding's The Governess as a novel that investigates passions in the context of female education. In this text, passions are roughly divided into three sets: “unsocial passions,” “social passions” and passions that hold a kind of middle place between them. Unsocial passions such as hatred, anger and jealousy destroy peace and happiness of individuals and their community, and therefore should be suppressed. Social passions such as compassion, love and friendship are necessary for a community to be a happy one, and therefore should be encouraged. Grief belongs to the third set of passions that is not so disagreeable as unsocial passions and not so agreeable as social passions. In Fielding’s text, grief is described as the passion that shows one’s good nature and compassion. When excessive, however, it interferes with one’s duty, as a result of which one may become wicked and contemptible. As Jenny Peace is advised by her mother, whenever there is any conflict between passion and duty, the former should be conquered. Fielding also warns that friendship is not always desirable. It is because when children indulge in friendship without considering whether their friends are good enough to deserve their love, they are easily led into all sorts of errors. And whoever tempts them to fail in their duty is not a real friend. Duty is described not only as the most important thing for children but also as the standard according to which children can distinguish true friends from false ones. Significantly, The Governess presents self-examination and self-surveillance as the effective way to suppress or moderate passions that interfere with one's duty. And Jenny is the very person that, by setting an example and being a role model, gets the girls in Mrs. Teachum's boarding school into the habit of examining their passions and reflecting on their actions. This way, they are all rendered obedient to their superiors, and kind and affectionate to others. The problem is that they are very likely to end up as docile domestic women who should voluntarily obey their husbands and take great pleasure in receiving their instructions, which is well demonstrated in Mrs. Teachum's relationship to her husband. Although they are expected to have the power to oversee the domestic sphere, which is exercised through their own self-examination and self-surveillance, they would turn out to be the embodiment of social gender norms that require them to be obedient to their superiors, that is, their husbands.

This paper approaches Sarah Fielding's The Governess as a novel that investigates passions in the context of female education. In this text, passions are roughly divided into three sets: “unsocial passions,” “social passions” and passions that hold a kind of middle place between them. Unsocial passions such as hatred, anger and jealousy destroy peace and happiness of individuals and their community, and therefore should be suppressed. Social passions such as compassion, love and friendship are necessary for a community to be a happy one, and therefore should be encouraged. Grief belongs to the third set of passions that is not so disagreeable as unsocial passions and not so agreeable as social passions. In Fielding’s text, grief is described as the passion that shows one’s good nature and compassion. When excessive, however, it interferes with one’s duty, as a result of which one may become wicked and contemptible. As Jenny Peace is advised by her mother, whenever there is any conflict between passion and duty, the former should be conquered. Fielding also warns that friendship is not always desirable. It is because when children indulge in friendship without considering whether their friends are good enough to deserve their love, they are easily led into all sorts of errors. And whoever tempts them to fail in their duty is not a real friend. Duty is described not only as the most important thing for children but also as the standard according to which children can distinguish true friends from false ones. Significantly, The Governess presents self-examination and self-surveillance as the effective way to suppress or moderate passions that interfere with one's duty. And Jenny is the very person that, by setting an example and being a role model, gets the girls in Mrs. Teachum's boarding school into the habit of examining their passions and reflecting on their actions. This way, they are all rendered obedient to their superiors, and kind and affectionate to others. The problem is that they are very likely to end up as docile domestic women who should voluntarily obey their husbands and take great pleasure in receiving their instructions, which is well demonstrated in Mrs. Teachum's relationship to her husband. Although they are expected to have the power to oversee the domestic sphere, which is exercised through their own self-examination and self-surveillance, they would turn out to be the embodiment of social gender norms that require them to be obedient to their superiors, that is, their husbands.

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