Jane Austens Emma - Rebel or Conformist? Essay -- Austen Emma Essays

Emma - Rebel or Conformist? Near the town of Highbury, a village located in the eighteenth century incline countryside, sits the estate of Hartfield where Emma Woodhouse resides with her health conscious father who finds fault with all of lifes necessities. When Emmas 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 impudent companion. Harriet Smith, a naive teen who lives at Mrs. Goddards boarding school, though of a lower class due to her illegitimacy, seems desperately in need of Emmas management and counsel. original that she was the cause of the perfect match between Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston, Emma is determined to find an tallyly exceptional match for Harriet. The young rector, Mr. Elton, seems the perfect candidate for a hereafter husband, and Emma sets out to match her new friend with the young clergyman. The imaginative Emma views Mr. Elton as falling deepl y in love with Harriet and greatly encourages Harriets feelings for him to inflame. When an old friend of Harriets, Robert Martin, who is equal to her in social status, sends her a marriage proposal, Emma quick discourages it and helps Harriet write the letter of refusal. Mr. Knightely, Emmas neighbor and close friend is greatly disappointed by this action and tells Emma that Harriet do a formidable mistake in refusing such an offer. Emma does not care for this response for in her eyes Mr. Eltons feelings for Harriet are blossoming beautifully and are quickly being reciprocated. On the eve of a dinner held at the Westons estate, Harriet comes down with a cold and Emma is disappointed in Mr. Eltons lack of sympathy for the invalid. The sno... ...y were so hardened of structure that a persons respectability was tarnished if they broke one of the standards. Emma Woodhouse tries to defy some of these codes, but finds that it is much easier to live up to the standards society deter mines. Works Cited and ConsultedAusten, Jane. Emma. Ed. Stephen M. Parrish. New York W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1993. Brown, Julia Prewitt. finish and the Contentment of Emma. Modern Critical Views Jane Austen. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 87-108. Johnson, Claudia L. Not at All What a Man Should Be Remaking English Manhood in Emma. Equivocal Beings Politics, Gender, and Sentimentality in the 1790s. Chicago U of Chicago P, 1995. 191-203. Litz, A. Walton. Limits of Freedom Emma Emma. 1972. Norton Critical ed. New York, NY W.W. Norton & Company, 1993, 369-377