In Nicholas Breton’s 1599 Miseries of Mavillia , women’s education is examined as a social good that can be transferred across classes. In the text, education helps to define the title character as a gentlewoman, but that education is gained from a laundress rather than from any fellow member of the upper class. For the less-educated characters, Breton allows the value they place on learning to also serve as a marker of worth. For the better-educated characters, worth is more explicitly coded by a combination of endorsed social status, clear reward, and moral stability. Although the titular Mavillia endures many miseries despite her attainments and status, education acts as (variously) safeguard, surety, and salvation throughout her story. Moreover, Mavillia is able to use her education to create a “gentlewoman” out of the stubborn daughter of shepherds. In showing Mavillia’s successful transference of that education and its benefits to a woman not born to either, Breton challenges the established social order of restrictive class immobility and emphasizes the potential impact of education on the lives of middle-class and gentry women. Ultimately, Breton’s text argues for education as a potential source of comfort and moral fortitude for women of all backgrounds.

中文翻译：

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马维利亚的苦难中的教育和代理

在尼古拉斯·布雷顿 (Nicholas Breton) 的 1599 年《马维利亚的苦难》(Miseries of Mavillia) 中，女性教育被视为可以跨阶级转移的社会福利。在文本中，教育有助于将标题人物定义为绅士，但教育是从洗衣店获得的，而不是从上层阶级的任何成员那里获得的。对于受教育程度较低的角色，布列塔尼允许他们将学习的价值也作为价值的标志。对于受过良好教育的角色，价值由认可的社会地位、明确的奖励和道德稳定性的组合更明确地编码。尽管名义上的马维利亚尽管有一定的成就和地位，但她还是忍受了许多苦难，但在她的整个故事中，教育充当了（各种）保护、保证和救赎。而且，玛维利亚能够用她的教育将顽固的牧羊人女儿塑造成一个“绅士”。布列塔尼展示了 Mavillia 成功地将这种教育及其对非出生女性的好处转移，挑战了限制性阶级固定的既定社会秩序，并强调了教育对中产阶级和绅士女性生活的潜在影响。最终，布列塔尼的文本认为教育是各种背景女性的舒适和道德坚韧的潜在来源。