UTILITARIANISM IN HARD TIMES: AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Dickens was a great social reformer. He was from first to last a novelist with a purpose. Hard Times published in 1848 is a Classic of Dickens, and has a great motif behind it. It has no single purpose but a number of motifs. But the chief purpose of the novelist was to attack the educational system of Manchester in the then England. Because of the advancement in science and technology, the Victorian man is proud of and negates the sentiments and emotions which are worse and futile. Dickens shows us the one sidedness of the Victorian conscience and their belief in advancement of their society. Dickens shows us that the Victorian society at his time was more towards the logic of mind and was far away from the sentiments of heart. This paper is the exploration of the impact of Utilitarianism on the educational system of the England in the mid-nineteenth century. This paper on a broad spectrum highlights the utilitarian philosophy of the educational system in England during the reign of Queen Victoria.