Essay Emma: The Character

• The most important element of both Emma and Clueless is the “make-over”/transformation of Harriet Smith (Emma) and Tai (Clueless)

It is interjected into the sentence discussing Mr. Elton’s suitability. Had a strict, third person narrator written this sentence, it would have been more crafted and less conversational. The entire concept itself is not entirely necessary for the reader to follow, but it helps to understand the character of Emma and why she feels such a need to be a match maker among her acquaintances. Emma also expresses her thoughts about Harriet’s suitability in the following sentence, although it is brief. She says of Mr. Elton that he is, “at the same time not of any family that could fairly object to the doubtful birth of Harriet.” Here, it is Emma, not the narrator, who is acknowledging Harriet’s inferior and “doubtful” birth. It is Emma who does not think that it will be an issue to be acted upon for the simple reason that Mr. Elton has no family to object to the union.

Marriage, a broad theme in this book, can be broken down throughout. Emma’s sister has gone off after getting married and left her alone. After her sister’s marriage, Emma proclaimed that she was not destined for love and made herself the town’s unofficial matchmaker. The entire novel is built around relationships and matchmaking, with Emma and Mr. Knightly, Harriet and Robert Martin/ Elton, and Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill.

Jane Austen’s ideas differed with the patriarchal system of her times. She elicited feminist concepts to contradict of the patriarchal structure; Emma’s first determined not to marry. When Harriet once asked why Emma never thought about marriage, she replied that most women were married because of insufficiently social ranking or money. She certainly had all of these privileges, so she won’t

“Emma could not resist. Ah! Ma’am but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me- but you will be limited as to number- only three at once”; Emma insults Miss Bates, who is a dear friend, in order to quench her desire for social credit. When Mr Martin’s proposal arrives for Harriet, Emma shakes her head with disdain. Emma has the highest social status, apart from Knightley, and uses this to diminish those of lower class. Chapone asks us to “Observe her manner to servants and inferiors” and whether she treats “them always with affability”, but we know, Emma does not. Emma thinks Mr Martin is a “very inferior creature” and when Harriet asks for advice Emma says “the letter had much better be all your own” but sneaks in “You need not to be prompted to write the appearance of sorrow for his disappointment”. Harriet refuses Martin, and Emma proclaims that Harriet, if she accepted, would have been “confined to the society of the illiterate and vulgar” and “could not have visited Mrs. Robert Martin” since she deems the lower class as unsophisticated primitives. Emma would have lost her latest amusement and her chance to prove her intelligence. Emma’s subtle manipulations illustrates the absence of inner morality, and is thus, an ill-qualified mentor.

Tai and Harriet are not allowed to see certain males in lower social status and should only find men that are suitable for them. In Emma, Harriet begins to fall in love with Mr. Martin a young farmer, however, Harriet allowed Emma to sway her not to entertain Mr. Martin any longer and she should only see Mr. Elton instead-- a man of acceptable social status. Emma wants to see Harriet to be permanently connected to higher status and can be said throughout Austen's narration:

Austen further instigates these thoughts into the reader’s minds as she expounds in the chapter about how Mr. Elton fails to inquire more about Harriet, and still goes out to the party without her or a second thought. Textually, this is supported by Emma’s narration, as she is shown thinking it strange that Mr. Elton would leave Harriet behind. Accompanied by the thought, is an after thought of Emma’s where she excuses a single man like Mr. Elton’s blatant disregard for Harriet by thinking, “...such a passion for dining out; a dinner engagement is so high in the class of their

Emma urges Harriet not to write back a favourable letter “You need to be prompted to write with the appearance of sorrow for his disappointment.”(pg. 50)

Emma, is the story of the education and growth process of Emma. Throughout majority of the novel, Emma involves herself in bad situations in which she misconstrues facts and blinds herself from the truth, at the expense of others. After Emma has discovered that she has been terribly wrong about Mr. Elton, and she was mistaken to encourage Harriet's affection of him, Emma says, "It was foolish, it was wrong to take so active a part in bringing two people together, it was adventuring too far, assuming too much, making light of what ought to be serious- a trick of what ought to be simple!." Emma

In addition, the novelist provides us with many diverse roles of women. Women did not have careers, simply marriage offers. We are soon introduced to Harriet Smith, who is an illegitimate orphan, with no options but to hope for a marriage proposal. She does not seem to have a great personality, has a bad background, and no dowry whatsoever, so it is a strange case when the young farmer, Robert Martin, proposes to her.

In the novel Emma, the author, Jane Austen, uses many different techniques to characterize Miss Bates as a woman with no intellect, but a very kind heart. Miss Bates in a humorous character who is loved and loving.

Though at first glance, Emma appears to be a generic romantic novel about virtue and ladyhood, Austen actually challenges what the meaning of “ladyhood” is to the reader. We view Emma’s follies, trials, and triumphs through the eyes of the omnipotent narrator who first describes Emma as a stereotypical, wealthy young lady who is “handsome, clever…with…a happy disposition” (1). Through the use of irony, Austen employs a series of situations in which Emma, a “lady” of high standing within her community, challenges conventional thinking of what it means to be a young woman in the early nineteenth century, particularly her ideas concerning marriage and

(Austen 1). Having a conceited nature, she only tolerates following her own advice, as well as frequently acting upon her instincts regardless of the consequences, especially when it comes to match-making. Emma believes that she is able to match any two people whom she deems compatible. Even though Emma is self centered, she ironically refuses to tend to her own feelings. Speaking to her father Emma states, “I promise you to make none for myself, papa; but I must, indeed, for other people.

Emma Woodhouse lives comfortably with a happy disposition as most members of higher society do and she enjoys testing her match making skills on her new friend Harriet. Unlike most women of her time, Emma has no desire to get married and thinks a little too highly of herself. Being accepted into the higher social class depended on how distinguished the family was, owning large properties, education, and large incomes without labor (Palmer). Economics and social standing was taking into higher account than romantic attraction when it came to marriage during that time period. In the novel, Mr. Elton marries Augusta Hawkins because of her new found wealth, however because the Hawkins family is not well establsihed they're considered to be a "nobody", and the new couple is not accepted into high society (Palmer).

Emma Bovary allows herself to be destroyed by the people she encounters and her obsession with falling in love. Emma is not happy with herself and her relationship so she looks for other people to fill the void. Emma never really realizes that she is the root of all of the troubles in her life. If she were more in touch with reality, she would realize that she needs to work on herself before blaming her love interests for not being like the men that she has read about in the past. Emma has a very unrealistic perception of love. Emma is unable to fall in love with anyone because she will always be dissatisfied. She destroyed her own marriage before it even started because of her preconceived idea of love. Charles is absolutely in love with Emma and would do anything for her but she does not feel the same way about him due to her fairytale idea of love. It seems as if she is not capable of separating her real life romances from the romance novels that she read when during her time at the convent.