0 (especially in the past) a woman who lives with a family and teaches their children at home
1 (esp. in the past) a woman who lives with a family and educates the children at home
The "successful" governess, it seems, manages her pupils into "successful" betrothals - just like the marriage plot novel.
The governess's presence made the middle-class family's social replication of itself possible; imagining her as only supplemental mitigated its dependence on such an aristocratic holdover.
But while the governess's obscurity is invoked as evidence that she has no opinions or feelings (at least none worth seeing), it also hides them.
Maurice does still advocate careful policing of intimacy between the governess and the men of the family. 11.
This contingency requires that the governess be endlessly adaptable.
This is just the kind of between-stairs position that a governess, a nanny, or perhaps a superior lady's maid, would occupy.
Most of the governess manuals whose authors are known were written by women, explicitly claiming to have successful governessing experience.
The governess becomes visible when something is wrong - when her pupil's performance is faulty.
