Emma Woodhouse Essays

  • The Flawed Character of Emma Woodhouse in Jane Austen's Emma

    2161 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Flawed Character of Emma Woodhouse In Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen has created a wonderfully flawed heroine. Had Emma been perfect, her situation would have been of no interest to anyone; her flaws are what interest both reader and critic. Peter W. Graham is interested particularly with the first page of the novel where Emma is first introduced to the reader. He discusses how significant the beginning of the novel is to mapping out "Emma's personal development"(42). Walton A. Litz and Patricia

  • Importance of Social Status in Emma and Clueless

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Importance of Social Status in Emma and Clueless Emma Woodhouse of the Jane Austen novel Emma, is part of the rich, upscale society of a well off village in nineteenth century England, while Cher Horowitz the main character of the movie version Clueless, lives in the upscale Beverly Hills of California. The Woodhouse family is very highly looked upon in Highbury, and Cher and her father are also viewed as the cultural elite. The abuse of power and wealth, arrogance, and a lack of acceptance

  • Comparing the Text and the Two Filmed Versions of Jane Austen's Emma

    2386 Words  | 5 Pages

    Comparing the Text and the Two Filmed Versions of Jane Austen's Emma After reading Jane Austen's Emma, then viewing the BBC production and Miramax films based on the novel one can understand why most authors are horrified over the translation of their novels into film.  The two film versions are quite different from one another, but both take such liberties with the original text as to wonder why the film makers of each even bothered with Austen's work.  The BBC production encompasses more of

  • Emma

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emma Austen, Jane. Emma. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. Emma takes place in Hartfield, which is a part of Highbury, England. Highbury was a large and populous village, but Hartfield was much quieter and secluded. The story is in a time where you only married people of your own social status. Therefore, the story probably takes place in the Eighteenth century but there is no direct reference to the time at which the story takes place. It was a romantic time where women were concerned with marrying

  • Emma by Jane Austen

    2882 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815). Two novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published posthumously in 1817. These novels are prominent for her satiric depiction of English society and manners. Summary of Emma Jane Austen's Emma is a novel of courtship. Like all of Austen's novels, it centres on the marriage plot: who will marry whom? For what reasons will they marry? Love, practicality, or necessity? At the centre of the story is the title character, Emma Woodhouse, an heiress who lives

  • Essay About Love and Despair in Jane Austen's Emma

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emma - Love and Despair The story, Emma, by Jane Austen, is a riveting tale about a heroine who through her determined will to assist others, realizes and attains her own dreams and desires.  The story begins with 21 year old, Emma Woodhouse struggling with the loss of her governess of 16 years and a truly dear friend, Miss Taylor.  Miss Taylor recently wedded Mr. Weston and moved half a mile away from the Woodhouses’ residence at Hartfield.  Both Emma and her father are trying to cope with this

  • Emma by Jane Austen

    2037 Words  | 5 Pages

    Emma by Jane Austen Setting Emma took place in small town called Highbury in 18th century England. During the time period set in the novel, there was a definite social rank, or hierarchy. Almost all of the scenes in the book take place in or around the estates of the characters. Their property mostly determined their social status. This setting has significance to the storyline, because of the social rank. Emma, who is constantly trying to play matchmaker, tries to convince her friend Harriet to

  • Capturing Real Life in Jane Austen's Emma

    2782 Words  | 6 Pages

    Capturing Real Life in Emma Jane Austen deliberately confined herself to the realistic portrayal of a segment of contemporary English life-upper middle-class society. The heroine, Emma Woodhouse, lives on her father's estate at Hartfield which is in effect an adjunct of the village of Highbury 'in spite of its separate lawns and shrubberies'. Mr. Weston's estate of Randals is in the parish of Highbury, and Mr. Knightley's Donwell Abbey is situated in the neighbouring parish, within comfortable

  • BELIEVE IT OR NOT

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    mostly identify firmly with our signs. The characters from Jane Austen’s famous novel, Emma, can be identified with their signs because of their unique personality traits. I believe the protagonist of the novel, Emma Woodhouse, is definitely a Leo. It is stated that “In grandeur of manner, splendor of bearing and magnanimity of personality, Leos are the monarch’s among humans”. This definition is clearly true for Emma for she bears the nobility in her manners and position. She has a great deal of self

  • Jane Austen's Emma - Rebel or Conformist?

    1718 Words  | 4 Pages

    Emma - Rebel or Conformist? Near the town of Highbury, a village located in the eighteenth century English countryside, sits the estate of Hartfield where Emma Woodhouse resides with her health conscious father who finds fault with all of life's necessities. When Emma's governess and close comrade, Miss Taylor, marries Mr. Weston, an affluent neighbor, and moves to his nearby estate, sociable Emma is forced to find herself a new companion. Harriet Smith, a naive teen who lives at Mrs. Goddard's

  • Comparing the Role of Women in Emma and Jane Eyre

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    women's role in society in their books Emma by Austen and Jane Eyre by Brontë.  In both of these books the author shows how a woman deals with societies' norms, values, and manners. Jane Eyre is an orphaned daughter of a poor family.  She is brought up by her aunt Sarah Reed.  Where she is teased and tortured by the aunt and the family.  She is not very pretty and is barely on the social structure. On the other hand Emma Woodhouse is a beautiful girl and is financially

  • Emma - Romantic Imagination

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jane Austen’s Emma and the Romantic Imagination "To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour." —William Blake, ‘Auguries of Innocence’ Imagination, to the people of the eighteenth century of whom William Blake and Jane Austen are but two, involves the twisting of the relationship between fantasy and reality to arrive at a fantastical point at which a world can be extrapolated from a single grain of sand, and all the

  • A Character Analysis Of Jane Austen's Emma

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overall, “Emma” is a novel about the influence that people hold over each other, and how that influence can affect people. Conflict is built by different characters who view themselves as mentors struggling to assert their opinions over others and pupil characters who accept their mentor’s opinions without bothering to form their own. Emma Woodhouse tries to use her influence to manipulate everyone around to her likings, and she only accepts the advice of mentors who agree with her. Emma knows that

  • Character Analysis of Emma in Jane Austen's "Emma"

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    `Emma' was written by Jane Austen in 1816. In all her novels, she is primarily a moral writer, striving to establish criteria of sound judgement and right conduct in human life. In Emma she presents her lesson so astutely and so dramatically, with such a minimum of exposition, that she places extreme demands upon the reader's perceptiveness. Emma was her fourth novel. Lord David Cecil described it as `Jane Austen's profoundest comedy'. It has frequently been applauded for its `engaging, dear, delicious

  • Emma By Jane Austen Analysis

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Matchmaking now days consists of game shows and blind dates; but in Emma, a novel written by Jane Austen, it was composed of a lonesome and bored women who is convinced she is the reason for the marriage of her old governess and the village widow. She also believes she can find her new friend the perfect husband; but she will go to the extremes to find this ideal match for her newly found companion. Emma Woodhouse, a rich, flirtatious, and clever twenty-one year old Highbury resident, becomes bored

  • Born Into Blindness

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    are all qualities that contribute to blindness within Jane Austen’s Emma; a blindness that Austen herself feels can be avoided. This form of blindness ultimately yields unhappiness due to an inaccurate perception of human situations and feelings. With Emma’s inability to perceive the truth and her lack of self-understanding, she becomes the victim of her own imaginative world of matchmaking and false happiness induced by Mr. Woodhouse, her father. This inducement is caused by his angst towards marriage

  • Societal Authority in Jane Austen's Emma

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    Jane Austen’s Emma. In Emma, Austen uses narrative style, characterization, and the plot device of word games to illustrate the ever-present power of hierarchical control. Emma's plot seemingly hovers around the superficial theme of strategic matchmaking. But while this is an important aspect of Emma, it serves primarily as a catalyst to illustrate the much bigger idea of societal authority present in the novel. Word games play a huge role in the plot development of Emma. ". . . Emma is itself a

  • Emma: Summary of the Events at Box Hill

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    We first hear of Box Hill at the end of Chapter 42 when Emma and Frank Churchill are talking. Emma notices that Frank doesn't seem himself and he soon expresses his wish to leave the country and move to Switzerland. Although Emma does not know about Frank and Jane Fairfax's relationship, this suggests to us that perhaps something has happened between them. Emma suggests that maybe tomorrow's gathering at Box Hill would be as good as a change for Frank and invites him to come along. Tomorrow

  • Analysis Of Clueless In The Neocolonial World Order

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    the nineties and today; all while the film draws of social norms of yesteryear. Clueless is a teenage drama tht was written and directed by Amy Heckerling. This film is based off the novel, Emma, by Jane Austen. The following quote allows the reader to realize that Cher Horowitz is a foil of Emma Woodhouse; who represented consumerist and imperial Britain. “Clueless's representation of its protagonist's consumer identity is further complicated by its coding of Cher as Jewish.” (Wald, 60) In the

  • A Review of Emma

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Review of Emma I’ve read Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and most recently Emma. All of them are wonderful, and I can never decide which one is my favorite book by Jane Austen. But definitely Emma is, to me, a very engaging one. I have no special feeling about this book at first glance. Because of Jane Austen, I choose it and take some patience to read. And finally, the patience is greatly rewarded. Emma is a timeless story which is both funny and compelling. The characters are all