First Impressions – The Expectations of Society in Emma and Pride and Prejudice

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The novels Pride and Prejudice and Emma, both by Jane Austen, could not be more different in their story: one deals with the trials and tribulations of finding a husband, while the other tells the story of a rich, young woman and her dealings with society. While very different in their basic plot, both novels are shaped by
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Yet, despite their difference in plot, both books have something in common: The role of society is displayed in the opening sentence of each novel.
According to Barbara Seeber Pride and Prejudice “[o]f all the novels, […] comes closest to reconciling the individual with society […]” and agreeing with Johnson, whom she quotes, she continues: “and of all Austen’s novels it most affirms established social arrangements […]” (87). Seeber thus explains that society in Pride and Prejudice influences the “individual[s]” and their decisions through “social arrangements” and expectations.
The famous first sentence of Pride and Prejudice displays upon close examination these expectations of society:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (PP, 1)
The “truth” this sentence addresses is an expectation – all rich, single men must marry – enforced by “universally” everyone; the whole of society. Thus this famous opening sentence reveals the theme that lies at the core of Pride and Prejudice: the expectations of society upon its members.
In a later part of Pride and Prejudice this conformity to the “social arrangements” of society is confirmed:
Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. (PP, 188)
Having successfully married off both her eldest daughte...

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...h not only that but also looks and cleverness, takes this to heart. This again underlines the difference of the society of Emma to Pride and Prejudice. Her disregard won’t harm her social status and will not mean that she failed her obligations to society, because Emma already possesses manners – “the best blessings of existence”.
As we have shown, both Seeber and Grossman point out the rules of society to the story of Emma and Pride and Prejudice respectively, but show that these are significantly different. In Pride and Prejudice marriage is important and made the business of everyone. Good manners, on the other hand, are what the society in Emma values most. It is thus right to categorize the two novels as different stories altogether. For if the expectations of society in either novel had been different, so too would the motivations of the heroine have changed.

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