Female Education

Compare the school being represented here to Miss Pinkerton's academy in Vanity Fair. What type of school is this? What tone does Punch use to describe it? What exactly is being mocked, if anything? (February 27, 1847)

The Rising Generation

What is the image of youth being presented here, in a series entitled "The Rising Generation" that continued to appear in Punch throughout 1847? How might you contrast this image to the idea of children presented in the "whipping" article? How can we characterize the Victorian child? (January 16, 1847)

Our Female Supernumeraries

While not from 1847 (it's from 3 years later, in January 1850), this cartoon from Punch broaches similar questions to those raised in "The Weaker Sex." Has the debate changed over the course of 3 years? What are the various sides of the debate? Is it, as people have suggested, either feminist or sexist or both? What stereotypes is it using? Does it point to a legitimate social problem?