Jane Austen An Introduc/on to Austen, the novel, and the /me period in which the novel takes place. Jane Austen •  Jane Austen was born December 16th, 1775 at Steventon, Hampshire, England to Rev. George Austen, (the local rector, or Church of England clergyman), and his wife Cassandra Austen’s Educa/on •  1783: Jane and her older sister were taught by Mrs. Crawley, who was a sister of one of their uncles. •  1785-­‐1786: Jane and Cassandra aPended Abbey Boarding School –  Jane was almost too young to benefit from this. •  Learned piano, how to draw, etc. from family •  Read novels all the /me –  Her father had over 500 in 1801. Early Adulthood •  Austen enjoyed aPending social events (dances and par/es) and visi/ng London, Bath, Southampton, etc. where she aPended plays. •  1801: family moves to Bath Austen’s Love Life •  1795-­‐1796: brief fling with Thomas Lefroy –  He couldn’t afford to marry her. •  Possible serious rela/onship with a nameless man in Devonshire. All we have are Cassandra’s accounts of their rela/onship. –  This suitor died unexpectedly. •  1802: Harris Bigg-­‐Wither proposed –  He was 6 years younger. –  She said yes but then backed out the next day Austen’s Adulthood •  1805: her father died and income was reduced •  Moved around to many ci/es including, Winchester, Southampton, etc. for a few years. •  1810 (Hampshire)-­‐ began wri/ng again •  1816-­‐ became ill •  July 18th 1817: death at age 41 –  Buried at Winchester Cathedral Austen’s Gravestone: What’s missing? •  In memory of JANE AUSTEN, youngest daughter of the late Revd. GEORGE AUSTEN, formerly Rector of Steventon in this County. She departed this Life on the 18th July 1817, aged 41, acer a long illness supported with the pa/ence and the hopes of a Chris/an. The benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her temper, and the extraordinary endowments of her mind obtained the regard of all who knew her, and the warmest love of her in/mate connec/ons. Their grief is in propor/on to their affec/on they know their loss to be irreparable, but in the deepest afflic/on they are consoled by a firm though humble hope that her charity, devo/on, faith and purity have rendered her soul acceptable in the sight of her REDEEMER. Addi/on to the Gravestone •  JANE AUSTEN known to many by her wri/ngs, endeared to her family by the varied charms of her Character and ennobled by Chris/an faith and piety, was born at Steventon in the County of Hants Dec. XVI MDCCLXXV, and buried in this Cathedral July XXIV MDCCCXVII. "She opened her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” Austen’s Literary Works •  1787-­‐1793: Juvenilla •  1795-­‐1799: began Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey –  Working /tles: Elinor and Marianne, First Impressions, and Susan. • 
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1803: began The Watsons (never finished) 1812: began Mansfield Park 1814 began Emma 1815-­‐ began Persuasion 1817-­‐ began Sanditon (never finished) Reputa/on •  Reputa/on is everything, especially to women. Class •  Lower class? •  Life for the middle and upper class was strictly regulated Educa/on •  No organized educa/on; local charity or church-­‐run schools were popular. •  “Genteel” social levels, like those in Pride and Prejudice, did not aPend these schools. –  They would be taught by parents, a tutor, or be sent away to live with a tutor when young. •  Some grammar schools existed but were only for males. Educa/on cont. •  The prime symbol of academic knowledge, and masculine educa/onal aPainments, was the Classical languages Greek and La/n, to which a great deal of /me was devoted in "genteel" boys' educa/on, but which few women studied. Women’s Educa/on •  As for domes/c training,a rela/vely large amount of girls' and women's /me was spent on sewing or needlework •  For women of the "genteel" classes the goal of non-­‐domes/c educa/on was thus ocen the acquisi/on of "accomplishments", such as the ability to draw, sing, play music, or speak modern languages (generally French and Italian). –  Generally just done to aPract men. Gender Differences •  Men had greater power and contribu/on to society as a whole •  Women were viewed more as reserved, gossipy, and highly held by reputa/on. •  Women were expected appear and behave with a certain manner, and easily became a social outcast if any societal deviance was displayed Gender Differences: Men man’s primary role is to be the provider: work, propose an engagement for a wife, earn the family’s only income, make final decisions, physically and fiscally support and protect the family, and •  provide a home, food, and clothing. • 
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Gender Differences: Women •  During this /me period, it was unacceptable for women, or a woman, to travel alone. •  Women were to: –  tend to the children, –  cook the meals, –  do the shopping and sewing, and –  uphold the daily rou/nes for the family, primarily tending to the husband’s needs. Jane Austen as a Novelist •  Austen worked hard on her novels, constantly revising
them.
•  She wrote her first work when she was only of fifteen
years. It was a satire.
•  It was in 1790s that she started writing most of here
novels. Thus Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice,
and Northanger Abbey were all started during this time.
•  However, since she revised and edited each of her works
heavily before they were published, so there was a lot of
delay in the publication of her works.
•  Anyhow, Before 1801, while Jane was still in her early
twenties, she had written three unpublished novels:
Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and
Northanger Abbey.
19 Jane Austen as a Novelist •  Sense and Sensibility was not published until 1811.
•  Pride and Prejudice appeared in 1813.
•  Mansfield Park was published in 1814, and Emma appeared in
1816.
•  Publishing her novels was important to Austen, though nearly
all were published long after they were written.
• 
Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published
posthumously that is after her death.
•  Her desire to publish anonymously was not unusual. In the
times she lived as a woman writer, fame could often lead to
problems so she preferred to publish anonymously.
•  It was only after her death in 1818, that a biographical note was
added to her novels and people started knowing her as the
author of her novels.
20 Jane Aus/n as a Great Novelist •  The novelist Virginia Woolf said of Jane Austen, "Of all the great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness." •  Austen was a keen observer of social class and customs, and Emma is no excep/on. •  She had family and friends read and rate the book, and many preferred other of her works. But readers liked Emma, both novel and character, and this admira/on is a credit to the author's skill. •  Though a master of prose and observa/on, Austen did not receive much acclaim by the /me she died of Addison's disease in 1817. •  Today she is a highly respected and well-­‐read author. 21 Jane Austen as the author of EMMA •  EMMA was written from January
21, 1814, to March 29,
1815.
•  Pride and Prejudice is generally considered to be Jane
Austen's most widely read and most popular novel. But as far
as the perfection of art is concerned, most of the critics
believe EMMA to be superior.
•  As an artist this is the masterpiece of Austen out of all her six
completed novels.
•  Austen herself saids she had created "a heroine whom no one
but myself will much like.“
•  A comical book largely about Emma's errors of judgment,
Austen adeptly keeps us from disliking her blundering heroine.
•  Since Emma was written at a time when Jane Austen had
attained maturity as a writer, and she had reached a calm high
point in her development as an artist, a point of steady,
relaxed control over both her subject matter and her
technique, the novel reflects this maturity and grip.
22 The Novel EMMA •  “Emma” was the last of Austen’s novels to be published before her death. It
was published anonymously like all her earlier works.
•  Shortly before the publication of “Emma,” Austen was invited to meet with
the Prince Regent’s librarian, who encouraged her to dedicate her next novel
to the Prince Regent a great admirer of her work. Although Austen was not
particularly fond of the Prince, she chose to follow the librarian’s suggestion
and later satirized her meeting with him in “Plan of a Novel, according to
hints from various quarters.”
•  There were two thousand copies of “Emma” printed in the first edition.
Unfortunately more than five hundred were unsold even after four years of
its publication.
•  However, the novel was generally well-received by the public.
•  Unfortunately, Austen earned very little from its publication as most of the
profits were used for the ill-timed printing of a second edition of “ Mansfield
Park” a few months later, and she ended up earning only 40 pounds from
the novel in her lifetime.
23 What EMMA is about? •  “Emma” is different from all other works of Austen
because, unlike her other novels, the work focuses on a
wealthy and beautiful heroine with no financial concerns or
need to marry.
•  The quest for financial security and an appropriate
husband is central to her other works and adds a serious
element to their narrative structures of those novels.
•  In contrast to these “Emma” is written in a lighter tone, with
a streak of humour and as such without being based on a
dramatic conflict.
•  The heroine of the novel is also unique because of her
seeming immunity to romantic sensibility.
•  It is only at the end of the work that the heroine is shown to
be interested in love; before that point, she shows minimal
romantic interest in any of the male characters.
24 Recep/on of EMMA and her other works •  Because Austen’s works were published anonymously,
they received little critical attention during her time
period. Although her books sold well and were favored
by prominent figures in British society.
•  Austen received only a few short reviews. After her
death, her works continued to be steady sellers but were
not widely popular among readers in the 19th century. In
general, audiences preferred the dramatic style of
George Eliot and Charles Dickens over Austen’s mild
projection of the limited life of provincial British society.
25 Recep/on of EMMA and her other works •  However, Austen’s work was still highly praised by prominent literary
scholars. Authors Sir Walter Scott and Henry James and philosopher
George Henry Lewes lauded Austen’s narrative style; Henry James, in
particular, compared her writing to that of Shakespeare, Cervantes, and
Henry Fielding. After James Edward Austen-Leigh published his biography
of his “dear aunt Jane” in 1869, Austen was introduced to the wider public,
who clamored for new editions of her works. Austen-Leigh’s biography
also spurred a rift between the literary elite, who called themselves
“Janeites,” and the larger public, who was presumed not to properly
understand her works.
•  In the 20th century, Austen’s works began to receive major scholarly
attention, specifically with the publication of A.C. Bradley’s essay on
Austen in 1911. The 20th century also saw a surge of adaptations of
Austen’s works, including films, prequels, sequels, and revised novels.
•  “Emma,” in particular, has been adapted for film multiple times, including
the 1995 film “Clueless” with Alicia Silverstone.
26 More About Emma •  Emma, like Jane Austen's other novels, deals with the subject of
young ladies finding proper husbands. On the surface this is what
the story line of Emma is about. However, beneath the surface the
book concerns much more than that.
•  Jane Austen is mainly concerned with the way people behave.
•  Within the chosen limits of upper-middle-class society and within the
even more limited strict feminine point of view for telling the story we
find her mastery of art to present the detailed picture of this kind of
life.
•  All the events are presented from within a domestic or social
context, though not, as has been claimed, merely from within a
drawing room.
•  And this is the broad area of the moralist.
•  If the moralist chooses, as Miss Austen does, to focus on the
common rather than the exceptional behavior of people, s/he is
more likely to write comedy than tragedy.
27 More on What EMMA is About? •  A tunnel vision •  A drawing room story •  A superficial view of life BUT •  A very clear vision •  A picture with details •  A true picture 28 Character List • 
Emma Woodhouse: "Handsome, clever and rich," Emma is a twenty-­‐one year old daughter of a wealthy gentleman. She is the imagina/ve and self-­‐deceived heroine of the novel who is very much accustomed to "having her own way" and has a "disposi/on to think a liPle too well of herself”. • 
Her main job as such is to be companion of her widower father. Although a meddler who demonstrates a maddening self-­‐confidence, Emma is generally well inten/oned. Her hobby throughout the novel is match-­‐ making.The novel is essen/ally a story of how Emma matures from a clever young woman to a more modest and considerate woman, able to accept the idea of love. • 
Henry Woodhouse: He is Emma's father. He always resists any kind of change, compensa/ng somewhat for his selfish whims by being kindly and concerned about people's health. • 
George Knightley A well-­‐to-­‐do man of about thirty-­‐seven or thirty-­‐eight. He is a very calm and ra/onal man who for years has befriended and advised Emma. His personality fills in all the gaps that we see in the maturity of Emma. Courteous, noble, sincere and intelligent, he is a paragon for behavior, yet not afraid to correct Emma for her mistakes. • 
His brother had married Emma's elder sister, Isabella. He marries Emma at the end of the novel. 29 Character List •  Miss Anne Taylor: She is Emma's devoted governess and friend since long. At the beginning of the novel she has just married Mr. Weston. •  Mr. Weston A near neighbor to the Woodhouses, whose son by a former marriage is Frank Churchill. •  Philip Elton: He is the rector of Highbury. He is a twenty-six-yearold clergyman, and one of the most eligible bachelors in the area.
•  Frank Churchill Mr. Weston's son, who has never visited Highbury
but who has a reputation for his manners and sophistication.
30 Character List •  Jane Fairfax Miss Bates' orphan niece, elegant and accomplished,
who has visited her aunt in Highbury before but not for two years now.
•  Harriet Smith The illegitimate, seventeen-year-old girl. She is a
short, plump and fair girl in appearance. Emma is mostly responsible
for bringing Harriet into Highbury society and constantly instructs and
advises her, although not always to her benefit. Emma fills her with a
pretension that is inappropriate for her status. Emma tries to marry
her off to Mr. Elton. In the end, she marries Mr. Martin, a farmer that
Emma considers too coarse but is more appropriate in status for
Harriet.
•  Robert Martin A respected young farmer who wants to marry Harriet
Smith.
•  Augusta Hawkins A vain and talkative young lady whom Mr. Elton
meets on a trip to Bath and to whom he quickly gets himself engaged.
31 Major or main theme of EMMA • 
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Common human absurdities
Not exceptional absurdities of tragedy such as presented by Swift in his satire
Rather she dealt with those that are more common and frequent, and more
laughable ones of society.
These human absurdities are more based on code of manners, and its
fabricated engagement of man's time, thought, and energy as such in the
system of a society.
Beneath Austen's satiric comedy is a moralistic realism. I would like you to
compare this with Fielding’s moralistic works.
By picturing the real incongruities of social matters, she implies what may be
right: the ideal balance between head and heart, between common sense and
goodness, between rationality and imagination or emotion. Hers is not a
naturalistic world inimical to or destructive of the individual. Rather, it is a fairly
stable social world that operates comfortably as long as there is no major
aberration from it. It can, in fact (if we judge from the outcome of the story),
operate effectively in spite of an aberration, secure that the deviation can be
rectified and absorbed so that the deviant (Emma) finds and accepts her
proper place.
32 Con/nued… Major or main theme of EMMA •  It is against this background that Emma pursues her willful
and subsequently crossed-purpose way. In the end her
change is not into something new and different from her time
and place, but into something that is the standard of her
environment. Her change is not the kind associated with a
liberal idea of progress, but the kind found in the conservative
idea of progress: she develops into, not out of, a social
tradition.
•  Thematic Irony: A major thematic irony of the book is that at
the end Austen enables the reader to understand that as
such there was never any real danger to the environmental
fabric within which Emma was operating. Nor there was
threat of any change in this social fabric because of Emma.
33 Con/nued… Major or main theme of EMMA •  This triumph of this social order or social world
does, however, mean that it is necessarily the
best of its kind.
•  The beauty of the whole novel is its thematic
satire at the expense of the manners and
people of this world throughout the text.
•  This mildness of satire is the unique quality of
Jane Austen.
34 Other Important Themes •  Courtship and Marriage
•  Emma is structured around a number of marriages.
•  All the time the plot and story revolve around some recently
consummated marriage or an anticipated marriage.
•  In fact in all of Austen’s novels, courtship and marriage play major
roles.
•  As far as “Emma” is concerned the entire novel is structured around
various courtships and romantic connections, from Harriet and
Robert Martin to Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill to Emma and Mr.
Knightley.
•  All of the conflicts in the novel also revolve around this topic,
particularly in terms of characters striving to find appropriate
matches. In this way, Austen presents marriage as a fundamental
aspect of society during the time period.
35 Other Important Themes •  Inter-relationship of Marriage and Social Status
•  Social status is the keyword in all these marriages.
•  In Jane Austen’s works marriage not only promotes families
and serves romantic purposes, it also upholds the class
structure of the community by ensuring that individuals
marry appropriately and according to their status.
•  We can see examples of this marriage and social class
matching in the case of Harriet and Robert Martin for
example, who are from the same class.
36 Con/nued… Inter-relationship of Marriage and
Social Status •  At the same time, Austen also uses marriage to highlight the social
limitations faced by Emma and other characters: in their small
village, marriage and courtship are the sole catalysts of excitement
or conflict.
•  The institution of marriage itself plays a vital role in solidifying the
participant’s social status.
•  This leads to the question of as to what was meant by social status
during Austen’s times.
•  Well, in Austen’s time, social status was determined by a
combination of family background, reputation, and wealth. And,
marriage was one of the main channels through which one could
have the possibilities of changing his or her social status. It could
raise one’s social status.
•  This method of social advancement was especially crucial to
women, who were denied the possibility of improving their status
through hard work or personal achievement.
37 Other Important Themes Cont… Inter-relationship of Marriage and Social Status
•  The novel suggests, marrying too far above oneself leads to strife. Mr. Weston’s first marriage to Miss Churchill had ostensibly been a good move for him, because she came from a wealthy and well-­‐connected family whereas Mr. Weston is a tradesman. •  What Austen points out is that the dis-­‐balance and inequality of the rela/onship caused hardship to both. •  He marries Mrs. Weston just prior to the novel’s opening, and this second marriage is happier because their social statuses are more equal—Mrs. Weston is a governess, and thus very fortunate to be rescued from her need to work by her marriage. •  On the same grounds Emma’s aPempt to match Harriet with Mr. Elton is considered by the other characters as inappropriate. 38 Other Important Themes Cont… Inter-relationship of Marriage and Social Status
•  The relationship between marriage and social status
creates hardship for other characters. Frank Churchill
must keep his engagement to the orphan Jane Fairfax
secret because his wealthy aunt would disapprove. Jane,
in the absence of a good match, is forced to consider
taking the position of a governess. The unmarried Miss
Bates is threatened with increasing poverty without a
husband to take care of her and her mother. Finally, the
match between Emma and Mr. Knightley is considered a
good one not only because they are well matched in
temperament but also because they are well matched in
social class.
39 Other Important Themes •  Social class and role as a member of a social class
•  Austen highlights the theme of social class throughout the
novel, particularly in terms of Emma’s relationship with Harriet
Smith.
•  As a member of the wealthiest family in Highbury, Emma
holds the highest social position in the community.
•  While she interacts with other characters at an equal level
(such as Mr. Knightley), she also has social responsibilities to
less fortunate individuals, such as Miss Bates, Harriet Smith,
and the poor families who live on her estate.
•  Jane Austen believes in the importance of class distinctions.
•  At the same time we see that Jane Austen encourages
compassion and charity in members of the higher classes.
40 Other Important Themes •  The Confined and Limited Existence of Women:
•  The novel presents a tunnel view of social life.
•  It presents even a narrower and almost claustrophobic scope of action
throughout.
•  Women as the live, think and act in the novel give us a strong sense of the
confined nature of a woman’s existence in early-nineteenth-century rural
England.
•  Emma as a young potential girl has a great deal of intelligence and energy,
but the best use she can make of these is to attempt to make matches of
people around such as her friends, servants etc.
•  Despite being a member of the privileged class of the society, she does not
have much alternatives in life to do something or to be involved in some
activity.
•  The novel show that the maximum she can do is to pay social visits, charity
visits, to play Participating in the rituals of courtship and accepting or
rejecting proposals is perhaps the most active role that women are permitted
to play in Emma’s world.
41 Other Important Themes •  Economic Oppression of women
•  As a heroine, Emma possesses beauty, wealth,
intelligence, high social standing, and financial
independence. However, Austen makes it clear that
Emma is unique in her position; most of the women in
the novel lack Emma’s financial independence and, as a
result, have much more limited options for their futures.
•  Most occupations were thought to be inappropriate for
women.
•  Women could not support themselves economically.
•  Either to marry or to work as a governess are the limited
options available to them.
42 Other Important Themes Biasness and the Blinding Power of Imagination
•  Austen uses the novel to convey her an important
theme of biasness. The novel offers sharply critical
illustrations of the ways in which personal biases or
desires blind objective judgment.
•  Emma is misguided by her imagination in the
understanding of various characters and their behavior
such as she cannot understand the motives that guide
Mr. Elton’s behavior because she imagines that he is
in love with Harriet.
43 Other Important Themes •  Miscommunication and Misunderstanding
•  Many of the major conflicts in the novel are a
direct result of miscommunication between
characters.
•  One major example is Mr. Elton’s courtship of
Emma during which Emma assumes that Mr.
Elton is actually courting Harriet Smith. This
misconception goes a long way in the novel.
44 Other Important Themes •  Moral relativism
•  For the majority of the novel, Emma operates under the assumption that she
knows what is best for those around her. A prime example of this is Emma’s
relationship with Harriet Smith, in which Emma assumes that she has the
right to determine Harriet’s choice of husband and future happiness. She
even takes responsibility for Harriet’s personality: taking it upon herself to
“improve” Harriet. Emma indulges in similarly condescending behavior with
many other characters in the novel, including Mr. and Mrs. Weston, her
sister and father, Mr. Elton, and Frank Churchill. Emma’s belief in her own
infallibility is undermined by her behavior toward Miss Bates at the picnic at
Box Hill. Although Emma had made mistakes with Harriet and Mr. Elton, this
is the first time that Emma is blatantly wrong in her behavior. This forces her
to acknowledge that her seeming infallibility regarding those around her is
nothing more than ego and arrogance.
45 • 
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Other Important Themes Love vs. Marriage
Austen makes it an important point in the novel that love is not a requirement for
marriage.
For the majority of the novel, Emma considers herself to be immune to romantic
love. Although she considers the possibility of marriage to Frank Churchill, she
acknowledges that she does not actually love him, as she is just as happy during
his absence as she is during his presence. This ability to exist without love
relates to the larger theme of marriage that permeates the narrative.
• 
To her, an individual must first consider social position, fortune, and other logical
qualities when determining an appropriate match.
• 
However, because of Emma’s financial independence, these logical
considerations are superfluous: she is in the unique position to be able to marry
solely for love. Ironically, while Emma’s ultimate choice is made out of love, Mr.
Knightley also combines all of the logical qualities of wealth, social status, and
breeding that make a good husband. In the end, Austen also ensures that
Harriet Smith and Jane Fairfax are able to marry for love’s sake, though their
marriages also serve the important purpose of providing them with financial and
social security.
46 Cont… Other Important Themes •  Social conduct and Mannerism
•  The whole novel revolves around the issue of appropriate
mannerism and social conduct.
•  Characters are measured by Emma against their ability to perform
appropriately in the social context.
47