Jane Austen is considered to be the first great English novelist, and Emma, is undoubtedly her greatest work. Her greatness is evident with her use of characterization to create living characters from the kind of people she knew, especially the landed gentry and the middle class. Her most important characters are the most carefully built and dynamic; they change with the passing of time and they modify the events of the novel with their natural vitality. Her unparalleled writing allows the characters to reveal themselves through their own thoughts, dialogue, and action. Emma provides the prime example of Jane Austen's use of characterization to show the sometimes comic and sometimes painful evolution in the development of this memorable character.
Austen commences the novel by describing Emma Woodhouse. Emma is a beautiful, wealthy, well-educated young woman who was born and raised in a sheltered, upper-class environment. She is "handsome, clever, and rich with a comfortable home and happy disposition and had lived twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." (pg.7) Emma's life centers on herself and her father. Her mother passed away years earlier and therefore " she has been mistress of his house from a very early period." Her governess for sixteen years, Miss Taylor, imposed little "restraint" on her actions and the "shadow of authority" had long since "passed away." Emma does "just what she likes" and is "directed chiefly by her own" judgment. Her "power of having too much her own way" and "disposition to think a little too well of herself" are identified by Austen as the "real evils of her situation". They are "disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments." (pg.7) .
As the novel progresses, Austen shows the reader Emma's other flaws, the most pronounced of which is her meddlesome nature. She is a gossip and has no problem trying to take control of other people's lives by playing "matchmaker".
Miss Emma Woodhouse is a very interesting character in the novel Emma, written by Jane Austen. ... Emma did not even speak to Mr. ... Weston is like a mother to Emma, so she is biased when it comes to discussing Emma's faults. ... Weston are talking about Emma, Mr. ... Emma's love for Mr. ...
In both, Emma and Clueless society is structured according to wealth. ... Emma's disproval of Mr. Martin as a husband for Harriet clearly demonstrates Emma's perspective. ... The quote is spoken by Emma regarding Mr. ... Being a farmer, Emma doesn't feel obligated to associate with him. ...
Emma's Development And Progression: Emma is a member of the gentry" class in English society. ... People such as Robert Martins, a farmer, is so far below Emma's social class that she "cannot help him." ... Therefore, the context of Emma's social position and the rules of behavior that govern her rank are essential realities that shape Emma Woodhouse's development. ... Emma Woodhouse, despite her social standing and her basic intelligence, is not such a person when the novel opens. ... This was not, the narrator continues, "particularly agreeable to Emma herself" b...
Emma's perceptions are most notably amiss when dealing with Harriet, a young woman of unknown parentage, whom Emma befriends and attempts to remake in her own image. ... Emma goes on to highlight the good qualities of Mr. ... Due to Emma's endorsement of Mr. ... His praise for how Emma has improved Harriet, his delight over Emma's artistic skills, and his eagerness to take the drawing to London are all misperceived by Emma. ... The book's final "happy union" (439) is a sign that Emma has achieved that end. ...
Emma is inclined to disregard Mr. ... Austen uses Emma to follow a cause and effect methodology where all of Emma's actions affect the plot and the novel as a whole. ... She serves as an exaggeration of all of Emma's bad characteristics. ... Martin because she knows this is what Emma wants. ... Throughout the novel, Knightley corrects and leads Emma, and, in marrying Knightley, Emma indicates that her judgment has begun to coincide with his. ...
Emma Woodhouse, the heroine of Emma, has both social position and personal fortune. Emma's father comes from a good, well-respected family; he owns a private estates Hartfield. ... Since Emma's older sister is married, Emma's duty in life is to look after her father. This duty causes problems when late in the book Emma and Mr. ... When her father died Emma would have no useful duty to perform for society. ...
Throughout Emma, parties and social events are used widely as turning points in the novel. ... This Chapter also indicates Emma's ignorance, through the mention of Frank Churchill. ... The second important social occasion in Emma is the dinner party at the Coles. ... This alteration of Emma's disposition towards Jane is likely to stem from an increased maturity. ... The continual existence of Emma's active imagination, for example in her persisting belief that Jane Fairfax and Mr Dixon have formed an illicit attachment, proves that Emma has not yet reached full maturity. ...
Contrastingly, the society of Emma places no importance on self-image, as the only description we receive of Emma is that she is "handsome, clever, rich" but they do value etiquette. ... Austen also uses this to show the mistakes and unclear perception of Emma that leads her to her own downfall. ... Emma Woodhouse is first in consequence of Highbury where everybody looks up to her. It is Emma's independent fortune and the anonymity of Harriet's parentage that allows Emma to have friendship and the authority to manipulate Harriet. ... Education for women and men in Emma is highly valu...
