Family relationships

Family relationships

It is debatable whether family relationships are central to the novel

‘Emma’ and are indeed the foundations on which Highbury is built.

Families may be viewed as objects of satire, as those featured are a

source of financial rather than emotional support. Throughout the

novel, status is built upon class position, material possession and

finance, its characters eager to display such ‘qualities’. This essay

shall demonstrate the emphasis placed upon wealth and social status,

identify and interpret corresponding family units, as well as explore

the use of match-making and marital agreements.

The large proportion of families, contradict the perception that

family relationships are the core of the novel and the foundations of

Highbury life. For, families featured are predominantly broken or

incomplete. The Woodhouses’ are one of the more prominent examples of

rich yet emotionally lacking families in Highbury. For, the

relationship between Emma and her father involves constant humouring

on Emma’s part. Mr Woodhouse is an example of Austen’s use of

exaggerated and satirical humour in order to emphasise the

inadequacies of many families and individual members. With the death

of Emma’s mother, a governess Ms Taylor acts as a replacement and the

only source of emotional dependence for Emma. However, in light of Ms

Taylor’s marriage to Mr Weston, it can be said that the clear source

of family support and intimacy is removed, deepening the instability

of the Woodhouse family at Hartfield. The absence of strong family

relationships with regards to the Woodhouse’s, reinforce ideas that

relationships are not at the core of society.

The relationship between Mr Weston and his son Frank Churchill...

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...or financial motives. Austen therefore suggests that

many choices were made even though husband and wife did not even

respect each other and indicate the impact of money in society.

Although socially appropriate marriages, according to status are still

apparent by the end of the novel, some superficiality associated with

characters ceases to continue. In particular, Emma with regards to

initial match-making schemes and the initial narrow minded views that

she possesses. Emma and Mr Knightly, Harriet with Mr Martin and Jane

with Frank Churchill contradict the frequent number of marriages based

upon the wrong reasons in the 18th century. There is hope therefore;

that the new families created would have valued the importance of

family relationships to therefore change the foundations of Highbury,

so that they would have indeed become central to the society.