Hard Times - Charles Dickens

The first 200 words of this essay...

Hard Times - Charles Dickens

'Discuss the theme of education in Hard Times'

Charles Dickens was a great author of the 19th Century and his books are recognised and loved nation wide. Many people understand the meaning to his books, as they are not just plain fiction. In the novel Hard Times Dickens intensely criticises the British system of education and how it has evolved over the years: the 19th Century philosophy of 'Utilitarianism'. Dickens believed this system was a failure, as it changed children's minds and morals, and it is this novel that he attempts to show the horrors that this system has created.

A principle was formed by Jeremy Bentham, the eighteenth century philosopher, calculating 'the greatest good for the greatest number'. This theory explained that self-interest was the primary motivating force behind all human conduct; people strived for pleasure and tried in vain to avoid pain. Bentham advocated a system of calculation known as 'moral arithmetic'. This was used whenever a decision had to be made about a particular choice of action, be it an individual deed or a law affecting million. The equation was a simple one: pleasure vs. pain. If all