Chelsea Tsang
Ext English_2014
Jane Austen’s Emma has endured because it promotes values that are still respected today. Austen’s novel promotes many values that are still present in today’s society such as marrying for love, understanding the evils of presumption and the importance of introspection. introspection. Emma clearly displays constant examples of all these values throughout the whole novel. has endured as it displays displays and upholds the value of marrying for love. Austen gives her audience numerous examples of marrying for love, subtly conveying her approval. Despite the fact the Emma was “rich” and “seemed “seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence”, existence ”, Austen could be implying i mplying that women in their context could not afford not to get married, or should, even if they didn’t want to so that they could elevate themselves in society, as married women were considered higher up than single women. Miss Bates is an example of what happened to a women who didn’t get married, someone who “has sunk from the comforts she was born to”, to”, and ending up having to rely on the the kindness of others. others. Women in Emma’s time Emma’s time were almost always married so that they wouldn’t be a burden on their family, to gain money, status, and connections connections and to provide heirs. heirs. So it could be said that Austen approves of marrying for love because of the matches in her book such as Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill, who despite their different social positions chose to marry for love even though it is of no equal benefit to either party. However, Austen shows us how ironic it is that their relationship was so full of “misery to each”, each”, despite the happy outcome. It could be concluded that Austen is trying to promote that marrying for love is perhaps too difficult or may not be worth the “confusion of (the) mind” or the “very just displeasure” that resulted from having a secret engagement. Marriage in today’s western society is almost always for love, although it can be broken without excessive scandal whereas in Emma’s time marriage was seen as a life binding bi nding contract, as an alliance between families and reprehensible to break. Austen uses irony to show how marrying for love could be a cause of happiness, however the journey there is perhaps not worth the suffering. Austen promotes a universal value of marrying for love and could be the reason why Emma still prevails in today’s society. Emma
has endured because it demonstrates the evils of presumption. Austen gives many examples of why clarification is essential to “understand each other…without other…without the possibility of farther mistake”. mistake” . She uses dashes between fast-paced parts of her novel in which characters are speaking quickly, rambling on and or trying to collect their thoughts. A paramount example of this is when Mr Knightley is struggling to express his feelings to Emma, “Emma, that I fear is a word - - No, I have no wish - Stay, yes, why should I hesitate?” hesitate?” Austen has very very cleverly used dashes dashes to demonstrate the rushed pace of the speech and how hard it was for Mr Knightley to cohesively speak to Emma, as obvious by the unfinished sentences and almost visible half-formed thoughts. Another example of the evils of presumption can be seen when Mr Elton proclaims his love to Emma, who reacts with shock and indignity for Harriet. The evils of this situation is that Mr Elton presumed that Emma had encouraged his pursuit and was trying to impress her by taking interest in Harriet, and Emma presumed that Mr Elton was falling in love with Harriet. These situations clearly demonstrate Austen’s approval for the need for clarification of Emma
Chelsea Tsang
Ext English_2014
intention to the opposite gender, which goes against her context in the regency period, where signs of emotions had to be contained and extremely subtle to be appropriate and avoid scandal. However it could be also stated that Austen disapproves of excessive clarification, of outbursts of emotion such as flirtation. An example of this is when Mr Knightley comes back to comfort Emma after he hears of Frank Churchill’s engagement. He assumes that Emma is heartbroken because she “allowed his attentions”, “such permitted, encouraged attentions”. Austen could be suggesting that Emma’s being “so insolent in (her) wit” and yet so “amiable a creature” is harmful to not only her own person but to the people around her. Austen shows us through her characters how one can suffer so much because of the evils of presumption through lack of clarification or outbursts of emotions. Emma has withstood in our
society because it promotes introspection. Austen’s heroine Emma is considered to be her most introspected character with numerous chapters in the novel dedicated to Emma’s “own reflections” and the examination of her feelings. Dashes “−” are used in the faster paced sections in the book such as the end of chapter 49 after Mr Knightley proposed to Emma and this indirect speech is used to show Emma’s own examination of her feelings and thoughts, past and present. Austen applies untagged indirect speech to still refer to Emma in third person but to still allow the audience to perceive Emma’s thoughts as though in first person. A pattern occurs in Emma, there is an event that occurs to send Emma into ‘shock’ or an introverted state; she examines what has occurred and then decides on the best response to that event. Austen could be seen as displaying her approval for the value of introspection or having “moments of self -examination”, having Emma as a character always growing, learning and acknowledging her mistakes after moments of introspection. Ironically, perhaps Austen is also subtly criticising exorbitant amounts of self-examination as it could lead to paranoia. As demonstrated by Mr Woodhouse, who overly worries, likes his comforts and “could not be soon reconciled”. He is used to everything “be(ing) for his happiness” and perhaps by over-thinking he examines every likely scenario and reasons the worse that could happen, would happen which would then effect his own comfort and well-being. In a sense, Austen could be implying that extreme introspection could lead to selfishness. Jane Austen’s Emma has endured because it promotes values that are still respected today. Values such as marrying for love as shown through Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill, which is now the main basis of marriage. Austen also demonstrates the evils of presumption and gives numerous examples, like that of Mr Elton’s intentions towards Harriet to promote clarification of intentions. Emma also sets precedent for the emergence of the importance of introspection, with the whole novel riddled with chapters on Emma in an introverted state. The values displayed in Emma show how Austen has examined what is valuable to humanity and recognises that they will continue to endure.