Essays on Emma

Jane Austen’s classic is not merely a story of Emma Woodhouse’s journey of self discovery, nor is it just a tale of country romance, but rather, Emma chronicles the anxiety of its time: the destabilization of the classes. As the Industrial Revolution allowed for the...

“Emma herself is never to be taken seriously, and it is only those who have not realised this who will be ‘put off’ by her absurdities, her snobberies, her misdirected mischievous ingenuities” Do you agree? In Jane Austen’s Emma the eponymous heroine is “handsome, clever,...

Jane Austen’s many novels contain a complexity of thought and a depth of character that distinguish them from other stories; Emma is no exception to this general rule. In fact, Emma’s most winning trait may well be the well roundedness of its characters. Every character...

In Jane Austen’s Emma, Mr. George Knightley chooses to live at Hartfield with Emma Woodhouse, the protagonist and heroine, after their marriage, instead of moving her to his elaborate estate, Donwell Abbey. This decision is significant because of what the choice reveals about their relationship....

Emma, Jane Austen’s most comical and spirited novel, is well received for its lively characters and engaging narrative. In yet another story of society verses sensibility, Austen weaves together a myriad of incidents to illustrate how youthful presumptions can distort the bigger picture. In a...

From their introductions in Emma, Jane Austen sets the characters of Frank Churchill and Mr. Knightley apart, with Mr. Knightley immediately being described as “a sensible man” while Frank Churchill is described as “very good-looking” and in possession of a cheerful constitution much like his...

Although his methods have largely been discredited, Sigmund Freud’s theories about the unconscious, the subconscious, and repression are extremely useful when applied to literary texts. None of the three novels discussed here – Jane Austen’s Emma, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and Thomas Hardy’s Tess of...

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence…with very little to distress or vex her.” (Emma, V.1,Ch.1) This opening character summary of the heroine in Austen’s novel Emma should instantly...

In Emma, author Jane Austen uses third person narration and free indirect discourse to show the same objects from different perspectives. The detached narration provides an ironic perspective that criticizes the characters’ misreadings of situations. The use of free indirect discourse in the novel shows...

“Austen’s novels are all about money.” To what extent is this a true comment in relation to ‘Emma’? Behind every action is a drive, a will that serves to uphold the most open and secretive desires of the self. Within Jane Austen’s Emma, money acts...

It is tempting to approach a novel with a predetermined perspective or goal, to which all passages and plot events can be forced to comply. With this approach, the story theoretically makes more sense; the messages to walk away with are neatly packaged and presented....

“The exploration of different kinds of selfishness gives Emma considerable depth of meaning beneath it’s [sic] comic surface,” and also contributes to that comedy. Jane Austen’s characters inhabit a hyper-polite society, where admirable displays of selflessness and concern for others are often the result of...

Jane Austen’s novel Emma and Douglas McGrath’s film interpretation of the same name share many key similarities. Important transferred elements and cardinal functions are sustained in the jump from novel to film, rendering the plot, atmosphere and characters familiar to the reader. However, the overall...

Many authors have identified the self-absorbed behavior of Emma Bovary as the key character quality that leads to her downfall, and modern analyses point to lack of social and educational opportunities as the root cause of the decline and death of the eponymous hero of...

Published in 1856, the novel Madame Bovary is one of the first to explore the issue of women’s disempowerment in a pointedly modern fashion. As a woman, the protagonist Emma experiences a number of obstacles that prevent her from reaching what she desires the most....

The Squandering of Wit Women living in the long eighteenth century in England found themselves snagged in a male-spun web of expectations and exclusions. Despite wit being considered a desirable quality in a woman, the expression of wit was only acknowledged favorably when it was...

Telling a story through the eyes of a child is by no means a new literary technique. Fantastical novels such as Rowling’s Harry Potter and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little Cabin in the Big Woods use the younger generation for their central points of view. This...

“ Hardy’s ‘At Castle Boterel’ has a similar approach to ‘Under the Waterfall’ – the vast difference between a joyful past to the bleak, empty present through visiting a physical place in nature which remains constant but where their lives have since deteriorated. This is...

The statue of liberty is an iconic feature of the United States. People all over the world travel to New York City and go directly to the historic statue. Costumes of the green woman are made, people dress up like the statue and hope tourists...

Introduction The appropriate case in this analysis will be the early years of actress Emma Stone. Stone is a very famous actress, and has multiple biographies describing her childhood life online. The details of her childhood will be discussed in more detail in the next...

Today many people have heard of suicide, where one will take their own life when things get to hard to handle and they feel like there is no other way to cope. Not many people today have heard of assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is when...

The Euthyphro Dilemma The concept of God is one that is extremely abstract with no definite definition of God. The Euthyphro dialogue challenges one to attempt to define the exact nature of God. By determining the source of morality, the precise nature of God is...

“It is believed that every original idea has already been conceived hundreds of times over. The challenge of creativity is to transform a familiar concept into something that is unique to one’s personal understanding. Pop-culture is full of claimed ideas, transformed into something entirely new....

On the surface, Jane Austen’s Emma reads as a simple account of its protagonist Emma Woodhouse’s emotional development. Through the course of the novel, Emma comes to realize the folly of her arrogance and cluelessness. Emma’s realization of her shortcomings allows her to correct her...

Once upon a time, the first fairytales were written down from their folkloric origins, thus giving rise to one of the most popular genres of literature. Ever since then, these fairy tales have been enchanting us and there have been thousands of retellings presenting the...

Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck faces many dilemmas that test his morality. Initially, Huck acts like a spoiled child, which is reflected in his lack of appreciation towards the adult characters that take care of him. When Huck is forced to make a...

Oftentimes, modern adaptation of a classic work loses many elements of the original. This is not the case with Jane Austen’s Emma and Amy Heckerling’s film adaptation, Clueless. The adaptation closely parallels the original text, from themes to characterization and even to cultural context. Both...

Today, medicine has a central place between natural and anthropological sciences. The basic method of most fundamental medical sciences is an experiment. However, during some experiments, there are many technical and ethical dilemmas regarding the motive and goals of the research, as well as the...

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons explores the relationship between father and son, and the lengths a man will go to for his family and for himself. The main character, Joe Keller, is a father who believed his greatest achievement was his son, and the business...

While Miss Bates, in Jane Austen’s Emma, may initially be perceived as a minor character from afar, upon deeper analysis it can be noted that she is of capital importance in this novel. Serving as a representative of Highbury’s lower classes, Miss Bates not only...