Jane Austen 's ' Clueless '

Jane Austen begins the novel Emma by stating, “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her” (1) immediately giving readers the impression that Emma is a young woman whom the readers should respect and grow to love throughout the novel. As we continue reading, however, we learn that while Emma has a good reputation and a circle of people who love her and want the best for her, she is extremely flawed. In the article, The Darkness in Emma, Anita Soloway states, “for Emma, beauty, cleverness, and wealth prove to be mixed blessings at best, for they foster the conceit of arrogance that lead her to hurt others and threaten her own happiness” (86) which ties into my argument that Emma’s good reputation is not necessarily based on her character, but instead, the lifestyle she lives, which is a similar concept for Tom in Tom Jones.

In eighteenth century which feminist in social status was not popular by that time, author can only through literature to express her thought and discontented about society. Jane Austen’s Emma advocates a concept about the equality of men and women. Also satirizes women would depend on marriage in exchange to make a living or money in that era. By the effect of society bourgeois, Emma has little self-arrogant. She is a middle class that everyone could admire, “Young, pretty, rich and clever”, she has whatever she needs. She disdains to have friends with lower levels. However, she is soon reach satisfaction with matchmaking for her friend. Story characterizes a distorted society images and the superiority of higher class status. It

In Austen’s times, social hierarchy was based primarily on one's name, wealth, and family connections. It was highly rigid, and the only way to improve one's situation was to marry up. This was reflected by the fact that while Harriet is deemed to be good company, she is never considered by anyone to be on the same social standing. So by manipulating her to refuse Mr. Martin’s proposal, Emma is doing her friend a huge disservice, for as “the natural daughter of somebody”, Harriet had no better option. Austen critiques the superficiality of the class system by contrasting the views of Mr. Knightley with those of Emma. Knightley deems Mr. Martin an “intelligent, respectable gentleman-farmer”, making an evaluation of his character. Emma, however, always sees a person’s status first and makes a judgment of character around that – and so she is immediately disapproving of Mr

to. So it defines one's rank to be at one of these social functions as

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

For the first time, Emma actually feels slightly guilty for her actions, and takes responsibility for them for the first time. The incident on its own was quite interesting since it is almost as if Miss Bates is honored by being picked on by someone of Emma’s status, as if it makes her more noticeable, or popular. It does not even occur to Emma that she may hurt someone’s feelings when she does not internalize what she is going to say before forcing her thought and opinions on other people; not until Mr. Knightley brings it to her attention, and even then she brushes it off her shoulder. “Emma recollected, blushed, was sorry, but tried to laugh it off.” (Page 299) The correspondences between Mr. Knightley and Emma continue on until the point is made that Emma was very wrong, and out of line. Eventually it dawns on Emma that she should she does mistreat people and this is the turning point of her attitude.

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

Apart from feeling upset that Miss Taylor has left, Emma is also upset for her own sake, she is upset that she has no companion in the house and, believes that her father-the only other person that lives in the house-cannot stimulate Emma in conversation mainly because he is senile and doesn’t meet Emma at an intellectual level. The description of Emma in the beginning of this novel can instantly, for the reader, decide whether they are going to like her or not, obviously as her mannerisms are unveiled throughout the first three or so chapters, but the first description of Emma is enough to decide ones mind of her instantly. The fact that she is beautiful, clever and rich leads the reader to image Emma Woodhouse as being fairly high in society, but yet, her real self is not revealed. Emma’s real self however, is described perfectly with the line ‘…did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her’

To describe major characters in detail, Emma Woodhouse is a 20-year old girl and is the youngest daughter of Mr. Woodhouse, the owner of Hartfield. She is beautiful, well-educated, but haughty. Her arrogant attitude is revealed in her thoughts about the Coles in chapter 25:

A few minutes were sufficient for making her acquainted with her own heart. A mind like hers, once opening to suspicion, made rapid progress; she touched, she admitted, she acknowledged the whole truth… (Chapter 47).” For so long, her pride had blinded her. Emma’s narcissism had held her in the dark, unable to see the moral and right process of interacting with her community. Despite her wit, she was not clever enough to see herself as a problem as she drove herself between relationships, intertwining and creating drama, but once she knew better, she could do better and she

Austen’s subtle critique of English Regency firmly places her among some of the greatest women, if not of all, authors. One of her most notable topics she confronts in Persuasion deal with the sharp divide of gender.

The start of the novel begins with a description of Emma and her social standing. “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her (5).” By doing this Austen allows the reader to get a glimpse of Emma Woodhouse from the very beginning.

Unlike Elizabeth Bennet, the eponymous character in Emma realizes she loves her romantic interest in a sudden epiphany. After Emma learns of Harriet’s attraction to Mr. Knightley, realizes that she loves him–and only she must love and marry him. As she believes in a potential engagement between Knightley and Harriet, Emma thinks, “How long had Mr. Knightley been so dear to her, as every feeling declared him now to be? When had his influence, such influence begun?–When had he succeeded to that place in her affection, which Frank Churchill had once, for a short period, occupied?” (Emma 386). Immediately, Emma considers her feelings for Knightley in comparison to those she had for Churchill, which illustrates her way of rationalizing her love for Knightley along with dispelling any remnants of affection she may have for Churchill. Emma is completely smitten with Knightley. In addition, her feelings for Knightley suddenly change because of a potential loss, rather than discovering a new, positive aspect of his character. Furthermore, Austen illustrates that Emma has always admired Knightley: “She [Emma] saw that there never had been a time when she did not consider Mr. Knightley as infinitely the most dear. She saw, that in persuading herself, in fancying, in acting to the contrary, she had been entirely under a delusion, totally ignorant of her own heart–and, in short, that she had never really cared for Frank Churchill at all!” (386). Emma continues to reflect upon her

Jane Austen lived a very successful life. Born on December 16, 1775, Jane Austen’s novels about life in England in the eighteenth century very well influenced by her own childhood. As a young girl, she grew up in a household with six brothers and one sister, her mother, Cassandra Leigh Austen, and her father, George Austen, at the rectory at Steventon in Hampshire, England. George Austen contributed to the middle class ranking of the family, working as a clergyman at Steventon. Although Mr. Austen was born into a family of a low rank, specialized in trade, he experienced a rise in social class after being educated at Oxford and given the position of clergyman by a rich relative. Jane’s mother, Cassandra, was of a higher social ranking than Jane’s father, George, but eagerly became a part of the Austen family (Kelly).  Jane Austen’s life was filled with closeness and love.

There are certain warnings that Emma gets in form of symbols and omens warning her in the world that she dwells in. For example, at the ball that she goes to she sees the red lobster claws among the lavishly laid food that are trespassing beyond the borders of the platter clearly suggesting Emma’s ways of life both in terms of marital and economical. Then there is the gun barrel that she suddenly finds directed at her from behind some bushes while she was returning home from one of her trysts with Rodolphe. There’s also a lot of gossip among the people of Yonville against Emma. The readers see that Emma, at beginning of her marriage is worried about what people might think of her were they to discover her meeting and in company of other men. Yet, later we see that she doesn’t feel so in fact, she even shocks the public by parading through the town with Rodolphe on a horseback while the people look out of their windows. She doesn’t care about her fellow Yonvillians but rather has a feeling of contempt for their bourgeois provincialism. This again thwarts the expectations of the