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The Subjects Of Social Class And Status

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The subjects of social class and status are major concerns in the lives of the characters in Jane Austen’s Emma. If one believes the Oxford English Dictionary definitions that consider social status to be "[a] person’s standing or importance in relation to other people within a society," and social rank to mean "[a] division of a society based on social and economic status," we can see that there is a definite difference in meaning that marks an important dichotomy in the novel. While social class is determined by birth and wealth, one’s social status is left up to the people they are surrounded by. As this is the case, while one cannot socialize themselves out of a low social class, one’s social status can be determined by the attitudes of their peers, and their perception of character and rank. While some characters seem to support this idea more than others, the relationships between the characters and how they relate to the almost omniscient “everybody” shows an interesting flexibility in status. An example of this is our lowest class main character, Harriet Smith, who is shown as being pleasantly simple with a lack of tangible sophistication. Through her relationship with Emma, while Harriet remains at the same social class, her status, at least her own mind, is artificially elevated, driving her to try for marriage proposals out of her reach. Mr. Elton reflects some of this in his own way as well, forgoing a marriage with a woman with very little to offer him for a

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