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Context
Jane Austen, whom some critics consider Englands best novelist, was born in 1775 in Steventon, England. The seventh of eight children, Austen lived with her parents for her entire life, first in Steventon and later in Bath, Southampton, and Chawton. ... Austen briefly attended boarding school in Reading but received the majority of her education at home. ... Austen died in 1817, at age forty-one, from Addisons disease.
Austen began writing stories at a very young age and completed her first novel in her early twenties. ... Emma, which appeared in 1816, was the last novel published during Austens lifetime. ...
Rather than dismiss Austen as a writer who shuns the artistic and political movements of her time, it is perhaps more useful to think of her as an early feminist. ... In Sense and Sensibility, Austen describes explicitly the danger that cultivating emotion posed for women of her time. ... One of the most interesting questions to consider while reading Emma is to what extent Austen accepts or questions the idea that marriage represents a womans maturity and fulfillment.
Some consider Emma Austens best and most representative novel. ... Long praised for its rich domestic realism, Emma also presents troubling questions: how can a character as intelligent as Emma be wrong so often? When does Austen expect us to sympathize with Emma, and when does she expect us to criticize her? Is the ending as genuinely happy as it is presented to be, or does Austen subtly inject a note of subversive irony into it? That these questions are on some level unanswerable ensures that Emma will be read again and again.
Analysis of Major Characters
Emma Woodhouse - The narrator introduces Emma to us by emphasizing her good fortune: "handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition," Emma "had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." But, the narrator soon warns us, Emma possesses "the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself." Emmas stubbornness and vanity produce many of the novels major conflicts, as Emma struggles to develop emotionally.
Emma makes three major mistakes. ... Then, she flirts with Frank Churchill even though she does not care for him, making unfair comments about Jane Fairfax along the way. ... Throughout the novel, Knightley corrects and guides Emma, and, in marrying Knightley, Emma signals that her judgment has aligned with his.
Austen predicted that Emma would be "a character whom no one but me will much like. ... The novel is narrated using free indirect discourse, which means that, although the all-knowing narrator speaks in the third person, she often relates things from Emmas point of view and describes things in language we might imagine Emma using. This style of narration creates a complex mixture of sympathy with Emma and ironic judgment on her behavior. ... Nor do we know how harshly Austen expects us to judge Emmas behavior. Though it creates problems of interpretation for the reader, this narrative strategy makes Emma a richly multidimensional character.
Emma does not have one specific foil, but the implicit distinctions made between her and the other women in the novel offer us a context within which to evaluate her character. Jane is similar to Emma in most ways, but she does not have Emmas financial independence, so her difficulties reinforce Emmas privileged nature. ... Elton, like Emma, is independent and imposes her will upon her friends, but her crudeness and vanity reinforce our sense of Emmas refinement and fundamentally good heart. ... The novel implicitly prefers Emmas independence and cleverness to her sisters more traditional deportment, although we are still faced with the paradox that though Emma is clever, she is almost always mistaken. ... From his very first conversation with Emma and her father in Chapter 1, it is clear that his purpose is to correct the excesses and missteps of those around him. ... Woodhouses whims; he is sympathetic to and protective of the women in the community, including Jane, Harriet, and Miss Bates; and, most of all, even though he frequently disapproves of her behavior, he dotes on Emma.
Knightleys love for Emma—the one emotion he cannot govern fully—leads to his only lapses of judgment and self-control. ... When Knightley believes Emma has become too attached to Frank, he acts with uncharacteristic impulsiveness in running away to London. ...
Like Emma, Knightley stands out in comparison to his peers. ... Frank is the character who most resembles Emma, a connection she points out at the novels close when she states that "destiny … connect[s] us with two characters so much superior to our own." Like Emma, Frank develops over the course of the novel by trading a somewhat vain and superficial perspective on the world for the seriousness brought on by the experience of genuine suffering and love. ...
Jane Fairfax - Janes beauty and accomplishment immediately make her stand out, but we are likely to follow Emmas lead at first and judge Jane uninteresting on account of her reserve. As Jane gradually betrays more personality and emotion, she indicates that she harbors some secret sorrow. Eventually, she and Emma push the cloudy confusion behind and become friends. The contrast between Janes delicate sense of propriety and morality and the passionate nature of her feelings is much more dramatic than any of the conflicts that Emma experiences. Janes situation too is much more dire than Emmas: if Jane does not wed, she must become a governess, because she lacks any money of her own. The revelation of Janes secret engagement to Frank makes Jane seem more human, just as Knightleys humanity is brought out by his love for Emma.
Themes, Motifs, Symbols
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
Approximate Word count = 4782
Approximate Pages = 19.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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