Emma by Jane Austen

❤️✨“Vanity working on a weak head produces every sort of mischief.”✨❤️

Set in the early 19th century, Emma centres on the titular character, Emma Woodhouse, a young woman whose misplaced confidence in her matchmaking abilities causes several romantic misadventures in the lives of people around her.

Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security but Emma doesn’t prioritise marriage, she loves playing the matchmaker.

She takes Harriette Smith, a 17-year-old, under her wing, to set her up with Mr. Elton, the Vicar despite her father and Mr. Knightly, the brother of her sister’s husband, advising her not to. Along the way, Emma herself learns how wrong she has been, not only in terms of the match but she realises that she’s highly flawed therefore dubbed as Austen’s most flawed heroine and that’s what makes the book interesting to read. She grows from self-delusion to self-awareness and learns to see the truth and not just what she wants to see. She also grows in her social vision, although not as much as one may hope. All in all, Emma makes significant developments and it is easy to imagine that with more time and Mr. Knightley's influence she will only continue learning and growing.

It is evident throughout the text that Austen was experimenting with creating a unique character, a heroine, who is combination of good and bad, who somehow manages to keep that balance and bring forth something memorable and unparalleled. All of Austen’s other heroines are very different from Emma. They are more or less oppressed. Even Elizabeth Bennet, most similar to Emma, is not in as powerful a position as the titular character. Emma does what she likes, a quality reserved for unsympathetic characters. The basic plot of an Austen novel seems to involve a heroine who must attract her man, not because of her social position, but in spite of it.

Austen’s other superior characters have to prove themselves worthy in classic ways but not Emma. She does not need to prove her worth to anyone and she knows it. Her relationships in the novel are those of an egotist. She has managed to charm people around her but charm blankets her empty mind and a shallow soul.

Austen paints a portrait of the manners and class concerns of the late Romantic period, but she uses the qualities of compassion and sincerity to do so. It is the possession or lack of sincerity that accompanies displays of courtesy that either brings Austen’s characters together or tears them apart.

Although readers may feel frustrated with the protagonist, Austen’s writing and her remarkable wit make the book engrossing. The reader witnesses Emma’s development first hand- the book, at parts, is character-driver and others plot-driven. All the characters are three- dimensional, the plot is simple and there are many hilarious moments in the novel that surely get some chuckles out of the readers.

🧡I recommend this more than Pride And Prejudice if you feel like reading an Austen novel that doesn’t focus primarily on romance.🧡