Nausicaa in London: Or, the Lower Education of W

Name: Nausicaa in London: Or, the Lower Education of Woman
Author: Charles Kingsley

The work critiques the state of women's education and health in contemporary society, contrasting it with the ideals of ancient Greek culture, particularly through the character of Nausicaa from Homer's "Odyssey." The narrator reflects on the physical and moral education of Greek women, emphasizing their health, grace, and intellectual cultivation. He laments the decline in the physical stature and vitality of modern women, attributing it to societal pressures, fashion, and misguided educational practices. The text argues that modern women, while educated in reading and writing, often lack the physical training and healthful habits that characterized their ancient counterparts. The narrator observes that contemporary women are often frail, overly concerned with appearance, and disconnected from the natural world, leading to a decline in both physical and mental well-being. He advocates for a return to a more holistic approach to education that includes physical activity, outdoor play, and a focus on health, rather than merely academic achievement. The work calls for a reevaluation of women's education to incorporate elements that promote physical health and moral character, suggesting that true education should foster both mind and body, drawing inspiration from the ideals embodied by Nausicaa.

By Charles Kingsley · First published 1854 · Genre: Satire, Victorian, Social Commentary · 6,865 words

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First lines

Fresh from the Marbles of the British Museum, I went my way through / London streets. My brain was still full of fair and grand forms; the / forms of men and women whose every limb and attitude betokened perfect / health, and grace, and power, and a self-possession and self-restraint so / habitual and complete that it had become unconscious, and / undistinguishable from the native freedom of the savage. For I had been / up and down the corridors of those Greek sculptures, which remain as a / perpetual sermon to rich and poor, amid our artificial, unwholesome, and / it may be decaying pseudo-civilisation; saying with looks more expressive / than all words -- Such men and women can be; for such they have been; and / such you may be yet, if you will use that science of which you too often / only boast. Above all, I had been pondering over the awful and yet / tender beauty of the maiden figures from the Parthenon and its kindred / temples. And these, or such as these, I thought to myself, were the / sisters of the men who fought at Marathon and Salamis; the mothers of / many a man among the ten thousand whom Xenophon led back from Babylon to / the Black Sea shore; the ancestresses of many a man who conquered the / East in Alexander's host, and fought with Porus in the far Punjab. And / were these women mere dolls? These men mere gladiators? Were they not / the parents of philosophy, science, poetry, the plastic arts? We talk of / education now. Are we more educated than were the ancient Greeks? Do we / know anything about education, physical, intellectual, or aesthetic, and / I may say moral likewise -- religious education, of course, in our sense of / the word, they had none -- but do we know anything about education of which / they have not taught us at least the rudiments? Are there not some / branches of education which they perfected, once and for ever; leaving us / northern barbarians to follow, or else not to follow, their example? To / produce health, that is, harmony and sympathy, proportion and grace, in / every faculty of mind and body -- that was their notion of education. To / produce that, the text-book of their childhood was the poetry of Homer, / and not of -- But I am treading on dangerous ground. It was for this that / the seafaring Greek lad was taught to find his ideal in Ulysses; while / his sister at home found hers, it may be, in Nausicaa. It was for this, / that when perhaps the most complete and exquisite of all the Greeks, / Sophocles the good, beloved by gods and men, represented on the Athenian / stage his drama of Nausicaa, and, as usual, could not -- for he had no / voice -- himself take a speaking part, he was content to do one thing in / which he specially excelled; and dressed and masked as a girl, to play at / ball amid the chorus of Nausicaa's maidens.

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Nausicaa in London: Or, the Lower Education of Woman is listed on Textopian as a novel by Charles Kingsley, dated 1854 CE.

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Work type: Novel
Author: Charles Kingsley
Date: 1854 CE
Language: English
Genres: Satire, Victorian, Social Commentary, Romantic, Adventure
Length: 6,865 words
Structure: 1 section, 38 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)

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Genres

Satire — The book is a biting satire of the educational system for women in Victorian London, using humor and exaggeration to criticize societal norms.
Victorian — The novel is set during the Victorian era, which heavily influences the book's settings, characterizations, and themes.
Social Commentary — Throughout the book, Kingsley comments on various social issues of the time, particularly with respect to gender and education.
Romantic — A romantic narrative intertwines with social commentary, contributing to a sense of the emotional lives of the characters within the societal constraints they face.