Drama and Moral Education:: the Plays of Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849)

This study is an inquiry into the uses of drama and theatre for purposes of moral education by Maria Edgeworth in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This research examines Edgeworth''s use of theatre and drama to teach moral education. As part of the Théâtre d''Éducation, an educational, creative, and philosophical movement from 1750-1830, selected Maria Edgeworth''s plays are examined as contextual examples of moral education pedagogy. This research is significant in that it adds to the general knowledge and understanding of the historical and ideological components that are the origins of theatre pedagogy that influence our field of theatre for youth and child drama. This research focuses on the transformative thematic structure of the plays, their use in the promotion of symbolic ideology, and a construct of a unified identity, all used to teach moral education. This research is directed towards researchers in the fields of theatre, literature, and educational theory.