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| "Elizabeth Farren," Sir Thomas Lawrence (1790s) |
READING: R 11 Emma, Chs. 1-12 (pp. 5-77)
Answer ONE of
the following by Friday…
1. Even more than Pride and Prejudice, Emma is
a novel of class distinctions, as demonstrated explicitly in Chapter 3, when
the narrator remarks, “Harriet Smith was the natural daughter of somebody. Somebody had placed her, several years back,
at Mrs. Goddard’s school, and somebody had lately raised her from the condition
of scholar to that of parlour border” (Norton, 18). How does class/status seem to affect the
relationships between the characters in the novel, as well as shape the very
society they live in?
2. Compare Emma Woodhouse to Elizabeth
Bennet: where do we see similarities in their sensibility, opinions,
prejudices, etc.? Or, perhaps, where are
the greatest differences in these very qualities?
3. Emma
also explicitly, even in
the opening chapters, concerns itself with the education of women. How does Emma mean to ‘educate’ Harriet
Smith, and what do we know about her own education? Would Wollstonecraft approve? Would Austen? How satirical is Austen’s approach to
education here—and how much is meant to be exemplary?
4. In Chapter 10, Emma Woodhouse famously
remarks, “I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a
very different thing! but I have never been in love; it is not my way, or my
nature; and I do not think I ever shall” (Norton, 62). Does Emma represent a new, liberated heroine
for Austen (and indeed, 19th century literature)? Is she truly a woman who has escaped from the
marriage market by virtue of her education and class? Or is this another satirical barb of Austen’s?
4. Emma certainly has an advantage over many of the other women simply because of how much money she possesses. That alone allows her to not be totally forced into marrying some wealthy man due to a lack of wealth. That being said, her money, wealth, and power blinds her to the realities of the world. For one, she is unable to sympathize with woman who don't have wealth comparable to hers. It's because of her wealth that she has so much power, and she abuses that power by manipulating and toying with the relationships of other people.
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