Emma as a character is at the same time very strong, but also she comes across as a bit of a know-it-all, and she acts as though she is superior to every other character in the novel. Emma allows status to interpret her feelings of people, and it affects how she treats them. It is quite obvious that Emma allows herself to mistreat people for her own purposes, whether it is for mere satisfaction, to prove a point, or perhaps it is just a subconscious task for her that is beyond her control until it is too late to be fixable.
Emma is a character who really sees herself as being better than not only everyone else, but believes she is better than she really is. It could be argued that she sees herself as better than Mr. Elton due to the fact that she rejects him, although claims that it is for Harriet’s sake. Mr. Elton throws all of the signs of having feelings for Emma, but she is too oblivious to notice them because he is below her, but above Harriet so he is sufficient for her purposes. She has no concern as to how he feels about her, but only that Harriet has feelings for him. This can be seen as Mr. Elton confronts Emma with his feelings, and she is utterly confused, and almost offended. “I have seen you only as the admirer of my friend. In no other light could you have been more to me than a common acquaintance.” (Page 119) This quote expresses the surprise that Emma feels as Mr. Elton comes onto her in an attempt to win her over. Clearly she has mistreated him as a person, and as a potential lover since being the third son is not “good enough” for someone of her ranking and importance.
Another person to feel the wrath of Emma’s mistreating is Miss Bates while at Box Hill; Emma makes a complete fool out of poor Miss Bates, f...
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...believes is the better, but only seems to end in misery for the characters.
Overall, Tobin’s assessment of Emma’s behavior is correct. Emma is a heartless person who allows her position to manipulate other people; she believes everything she does is right for everybody whether or not that is the truth. It is quite unfortunate that she is unable to see people for what they are, people who are tightly knitted as a community who are suppose support each other, not put each other down; it takes Emma way too long to realize the importance of the people around her, and Box Hill seems to be the turning point for her, the point where a revelation occurs.
Works Cited
Jane, Austen,. Emma complete, authoritative text with biographical, historical, and cultural contexts, critical history, and essays from contemporary critical perspectives. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
Emma is described as someone “of average height, five four,five five, but weighs nearly two hundred pounds.”(p.1). She is depicted as immovable in her faith in God and in the people in her life. This is shown by her blind faith in the justice system that fails Jefferson and herself and also by her faith that Grant will come through and teach Jefferson humanity. She used her connections to Mr. Pichot, her former employer, to get in contact with Sheriff Guidry, the brother-in-law of Mr. Pichot, who she hoped would do the right thing by her even though she had no way of guaranteeing it. Her strength and love was a catalyst for the only justice that happened to the black people in their Louisiana community during the novel, Jefferson walking to death like a man. His final words were in fact “ Tell Nannan I walked.” This final moment was the only justice she needed. She needed to know that she would see her godson again, that he knew his that he was a man, and that he knew she loved him, which she showed by bringing him her own homemade food, and giving him her unwavering faith throughout his
Emma's arrogance shines through when she brags that she is exceptionally skillful at matching couples. She believes that she is in control of fate and must play matchmaker in order for couples to discover their true love. Austen confirms, "The real evils indeed of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself" (Austen 1). Although Emma is so spoiled and overbearing, she truly doesn't realize this fact.
Emma, who had hated Jane since the day she arrived because Jane "tires [her] to death," (Austen 78), actually felt an ounce of sympathy towards her at one point. “She begins to develop in sensitivity, however, as she experiences her own humiliations. While still disliking Jane, she is capable of entering into her feelings and granting a moment of privacy” (Laurence 1989). Granting privacy towards someone is a huge step for Emma because it means she is actually taking into accounts someone else’s feelings and showing respect towards that person for having them, rather than finding fault in them or simply not caring at all. Besides Jane she also shows sympathy for Harriet after finding out things had gone wrong with Mr. Elton, the man Emma essentially forced Harriet to love. Emma felt bad about this and knows Harriet must have felt lachrymose about the situation because she was led to believe things would work out between them and that it they did work out it would finally make Emma respect her as an equal. Later on in the novel when Harriet becomes convinced of Mr. Knightley’s love for her, Emma cuts herself off from him, and chooses to put aside her comfort in the situation and let Mr. Knightley think for himself. Emma seems willing to “suffer anything, endure any “cost” if it helps him to overcome the terrible state of indecision that she imagines him to be in because, as she believes, he is so reluctant to inflict the pain on her that the revelation about himself and Harriet will incur,the pain of his final turning away from her,and of her final loss of him” (Austen lxxvii). Emma is showing awareness for how Mr. Knightley feels which is something that might not have been felt towards him during the beginning of the book when Emma was too focused on herself to realize her true feelings for others. The
Emma represents the stereotypical upper class lady: attractive, respectable and wealthy. She actively participates in matchmaking, leading her to a series of moral tests. Emma displays unrespectable traits, including her jealousy of Jane Fairfax and dismissal of the poor. Despite recognising the hardships of the working class, she often ignores them, not realising that her power is due to the existence of the lower social classes. She reveals arrogance and deceit: "she was not… sorry to know her reputation for accomplishment often higher than it deserved". Although she appears to be an accomplished lady, she lacks virtue and skill.
Jane Fairfax is a minor character in Emma who is a Bates woman. After Miss Campbell’s marriage to Mr. Dixon, Jane returns to Highbury. Emma, who is the main heroine in the text, shows her dislike towards Jane in many ways. Emma thinks that Jane’s position in society is lower than hers and it is not expres...
Emma, a novel by Jane Austen, is the story of a young woman, Emma, who is rich, stubborn, conniving, and occupies her time meddling into others' business. There are several recurring themes throughout the novel; the ideas of marriage, social class, women's confinement, and the power of imagination to blind the one from the truth, which all become delineated and reach a climax during the trip to Box Hill. The scene at Box Hill exposes many underlying emotions that have been built up throughout the novel, and sets the stage for the events that conclude it.
Another form of Emma’s neglect is one of manipulation, mostly through her control over Harriet Smith. Emma is “willful, manipulative, an arranger or rather a misarranger of other people’s lives. Much of the time she fails to see things clearly and truly, and her self-knowledge is uncertain” (Goodheart)25. “One significant effect of harping on Emma's snobbery is to set in relief her romantic notions of Harriet's origin and destiny” (Brooke)26. Although to Harriet, Emma’s “help” to her is one that will reveal optimistic results and a proper husband, Harriet is incapable to taking up for herself against Emma, but if “[s]he would form her opinions...
Due to Emma’s wealth and being a masculine figure in her household these effects ruptures her understanding of the possibilities and limitations placed on women. Born in ...
This shows that Emma is hiding her ‘torment’ and is capable of maintaining a stable emotional stature in public. I am made to believe that Emma never betrays her passions and is able to keep stable in public, which is all that matters to her.
Even before she meets her husband, Charles Bovary, Emma escapes from her dull and monotonous country life by reading stacks of books and magazines, as well as occupying herself with the conventions of religion. She becomes engrossed in the romanticism of religion – the radiant candles, the cool holy water, blue bordered religious pictures – even going so far as to make up sins for confession. By the time Charles Bovary enters the drama that is Emma’s life, she has all but convinced herself that she has no more to experience. This is, again, an over dramatization of her life.
Within the novel, Jane Austen’s exploits of irony are shown linked throughout Emma’s notions of love and the real within her own society. Emma’s lack of education on the concepts of love is quite evident within her apathy towards Frank Churchill as her opinions are deeply rooted within her own affections, as she states, “Emma continued to entertain no doubt of her being in love. Her ideas only varied as to the how much. At first, she thought it was a good deal; and afterwards, but little. She had great pleasure in hearing Frank Churchill talked of; and for his sake, greater pleasure than ever in seeing Mr. and Mrs. Weston; she was very often thinking of him. But, on the other hand, she could not admit herself to be unhappy, nor, after the first morning, to be less disposed for employment than usual; she was still busy and cheerful; and, pleasing as he was, she could yet imagine him to have faults,” (Austen 264). Emma’s sketch of Harriet is another illustration of irony surrounded by Emma’s arrogance as it does not portray an accurate depiction of Harriet as Emma has altered ...
Emma Woodhouse is the title character of the book. For Emma, Jane Austen took a heroine whom, she remarked, `no one but myself will much like' `And', as one of her ablest critics has said, `many a rash reader, and some who are not rash, have been shut out on the threshold of Emma's Comedy by a dislike of Emma herself.' Emma is a beautiful, wealthy, well-educated young woman who was born and raised in the upper-class society. But also the negative aspects of her character are exposed, she is spoiled, conceited, domineering, wilful, snobbish, and, at times, unfeeling. She lives with her father at Hartfield, their upper-class home. She is the youngest of two daughters, but her mother died long ago and her sister has already been married. She has been the mistress of Hartfield for some time. Emma has led a rather privileg...
The question about Emma is does Newman like other audience members feel kind out of agreement, likeability, pity. Emma has been depicted as a means of conveying to the audience the sense that the difficulty of determining one's true feelings is a result of the author's own devices, and artistic intent. The popularization of the book, and the acclaim which the book received when it came out, is rooted in the need for Emma to be heroic, or seen as a heroine. There ...
In the end, Emma has proven beyond a doubt, that everything in her life was a lie. From her childhood, she created fantasies that she could not act out, and to her marriage, where treachery and betrayal were the foundation of the marriage. Furthermore, her love affairs all ended in lies, and her business transactions were utterly fraudulent. Even her suicide was based on a lie- she lies to get the poison and lies to her husband when he asks what she ate. Thus, the line "everything was a lie!? has enhanced significance when examined in the context of the entire novel.
Emma Woodhouse: Emma is the main character of the novel. She is a beautiful, smart, and wealthy 21-year-old woman. Because of her admired qualities, Emma is a little conceited. She is the daughter of Henry Woodhouse. Since her mother has died, Emma has taken the role of taking care of her father, who is old and often sick. Because she feels she is obligated to stay by his side, Emma decides not to marry. Emma believes that she is a good matchmaker, and tries to put together several couples throughout the novel. Emma believes that social classes are very important and refuses to see anyone cross over to marry someone lesser than themselves In chapter 8-page 52, Emma is talking about Harriet’s situation with the farmer with Mr. Knightley. She says, “Mr. Martin is a very respectable young man, but I cannot admit him to be Harriet’s equal. As the novel progresses, Emma becomes more mature, and realizes how silly she had been in the past. In the end, she finally stops matchmaking others and marries Mr. Knightley, who was perfect for her all along.