Emma - Jane Austen

    

Emma

 Jane Austen

·        Main Characters:

Emma Woodhouse –  The protagonist of the novel.  She is handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition. Emma’s misplaced confidence in her abilities as a matchmaker and her prudish fear of love constitute the central focus of the novel, which traces Emma’s mistakes and growing self-understanding.

Mr. George Knightley -  Emma’s brother-in-law and the Woodhouses’ trusted friend and advisor. Knightley is the only character who is openly critical of Emma, pointing out her flaws and foibles with frankness, out of genuine concern and care for her.

Mr. Woodhouse -  Emma’s father, is nervous, frail, and prone to hypochondria, he is also known for his friendliness and his attachment to his daughter. He is very resistant to change.

Harriet Smith -  A pretty but unremarkable seventeen-year-old woman of uncertain parentage, who lives at the local boarding school. Harriet becomes Emma’s protégé and the object of her matchmaking schemes.

Frank Churchill  -  He is considered a potential suitor for Emma, but she learns that though Frank is attractive, charming, and clever, he is also irresponsible, deceitful, rash, and ultimately unsuited to her.

·        PLOT:

Exposition:

Emma Woodhouse is convinced that she will never get married, she is a twenty year old resident of the town of Highbury, she imagines herself as an matchmaker expert in love relationships. After the self-proclaimed success in the process of pairing between her governess and Mr. Weston, a widower from the village, Emma is responsible for finding an eligible couple for her new friend, Harriet Smith. Although the ancestry of Harriet is not known, Emma is convinced that Harriet deserves to be the wife of a gentleman and puts the glance of his friend in Mr. Elton, the vicar of the town. Meanwhile, Emma convinces Harriet to reject the proposal of Robert Martin, a wealthy farmer for whom Harriet clearly has feelings.

Rising Action:

Emma's plans go awry when Elton makes it clear that his affection is for Emma, not for Harriet. Emma realizes that her obsession with making a partner for Harriet has become complicated. Mr. Knightley believes that Mr. Martin is a worthy young man with whom Harriet would be fortunate to marry. He and Emma argue over Emma's crazy idea of looking for Harriet's partner.

Climax:

Emma remains to comfort Harriet, at which point a new candidate appears, Frank Churchill. Emma does not know anything about Frank, Mr. Knightley immediately suspects the young man, Emma, finds Frank charming and notices that her charms are directed mainly towards her. Although she plans to discourage these charms, she feels flattered and flirts with the young man.

Jane appears in the story that is beautiful and accomplished, but Emma does not like it because she is jealous of her, there are suspicions, intrigues and misunderstandings. Mr. Knightley shows too much importance in what is happening to Emma, which possibly comes from romantic feelings, to which Emma resists.

Falling Action:

Harriet decides to tell Emma that she fell in love with a man of her same social level, Emma thinks she means Frank. Knightley begins to suspect that Frank and Jane have a secret relationship, and tries to warn Emma, but she does not believe.

Resolution:

Frank's aunt is dead, this fact reveals the truth, Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged; his attentions to Emma have been a screen to hide his true preference and now they decide to marry. Emma is worried that Harriet will be crushed, but she soon discovers that Harriet has been in love with Knightley. Harriet believes that Knightley shares her feelings. Emma finds herself upset by Harriet's revelation, and thus realizes that she is in love with Knightley.

Emma waits for Knightley to tell her that she loves Harriet, but, to her surprise, Knightley declares her love for Emma. Harriet is committed to Robert Martin, with whom he has always felt something special. The novel concludes with the marriage of Harriet and Mr. Martin and that of Emma and Mr. Knightley.

·        Literary devices:

Dynamic character

The dynamic character is Emma because during history, she is the one that moves others to achieve her goals, she seeks to be matchmaker and does not intend to give up despite the multiple obstacles that stand in her way.

Static character

The static character is Mr. Woodhouse because he observes what his daughter does, he does not agree with that, but he does not interfere in the plans and for his health he prefers to stay out of the situation.

Conflict:

I think that Emma has an internal conflict because she does not accept her feelings and her deepest desires, and in this way she affects others and the story goes on so that she can also see an external conflict caused by herself, in which she is involved in making decisions that will affect your sentimental situation.

Hero

I know that the hero of a story is usually the protagonist but in this case I consider that the hero is Mr. George Knightley because he is the one who looks for the way to save the situation and to make reason come to ema, and in the end the one who defines the history.

Point of View

The novel is narrated in the third person by a narrator who tells us what individual characters think and feel, and who also provides insight and commentary. For the most part, the narrator relates events from Emma’s perspective, but at times she enters into the thoughts of other characters.

·        Author´s biography

Jane Austen, whom some critics consider England’s best novelist, was born in 1775 in Steventon, England. The seventh of eight children, Austen lived with her parents for her entire life, first in Steventon and later in Bath, Southampton, and Chawton. Her father was the parish rector in Steventon, and, though not wealthy, her family was well connected and well educated. Austen briefly attended boarding school in Reading but received the majority of her education at home. According to rumor, she had a brief love affair when she was twenty-five, but it did not lead to a marriage proposal. Two years later she accepted and then quickly rejected a proposal. She remained unmarried for the rest of her life. Austen died in 1817, at age forty-one, of Addison’s disease.

·        Historical background

Emma which appeared in 1816, was the last novel published -during Austen’s lifetime. Austen’s novels received little critical or popular recognition during her lifetime, and her identity as a novelist was not revealed until after her death. As admired as Austen’s novels later became, critics have had a difficult time placing them within literary history. She is known for her gently satirical portraits of village life and of the rituals of courtship and marriage, but she wrote during the Romantic period, when most major writers were concerned with a very different set of interests and values. Romantic poets confronted the hopes and failures of the French Revolution and formulated new literary values centered on individual freedom, passion, and intensity. In comparison, Austen’s detailed examination of the rules of decorum that govern social relationships, and her insistence that reason and moderation are necessary checks on feeling, make her seem out of step with the literary times. One way to understand Austen’s place in literary history is to think of her as part of the earlier eighteenth century, the Age of Reason, when literature was associated with wit, poise, and propriety. Her novels certainly belong to an eighteenth-century genre, the comedy of manners, which examines the behavior of men and women of a single social class.

·        Analysis or Connection between literary work and historical backgroud

Jane Austen's novel Emma develops during the 19th century, during this time the upper class was the most important and many changes take place. also Jane wrote his novels based on his life, to different situations and specifically in this novel she tries to describe Emma as someone with whom she does not identify in personality but in her actions.

·        Literary movement

 This novel was written during romanticism, where it reflects the feelings and emotions of the characters, as well as evidence of the reality of a sentimentsal point, in oden the feelings are the true protagonists that move the characters. in romanticism it was intended to express the deepest intentions of the authors and imagination was paramount.

·        Country/Genre

Emma, the novel that is considered a comedy by the way of writing, emphasizes the moments in which, emma is in evidence and fails in its attempts to be matchmaker, is very fun and entertaining.

·        Explain the reasons why you liked it and why you recommend it.

I really recommend this book, because it's a story that is out of the ordinary, since the first chapter is interesting, as the story progresses, more fun becomes. It is a novel that keeps the attention and the text is quite understandable. It is also an unpredictable story, you do not know what is going to happen and that is what is really interesting.

·        What were your expectations before Reading the book?

Before reading the book, it really struck me to read something from Jane Austen, when I read the title of the book, I thought it would be a romantic novel that the girl falls in love with the boy and they get married and they are happy forever. However, because of the author's type of writing, I was intrigued to know what was happening with Ema, because Jane has a particular way of making love look a little more complicated than normal. It is important to mention that from the beginning it caught my attention reading it.

·        How do you feel after Reading the book?

I am really satisfied with my choice, it is a very good book, interesting and totally out of the range of common romantic novels that I am used to reading. and I found the unexpected ending to be quite relevant, which makes the novel really good, for me it is a novel that brings together all the characteristics of my favorite readings. He has romance, comedy and drama at some point in history. I liked reading this novel and enjoyed it a lot.

·        Were your expectations/predictions confirmed?

My predictions were correct in some aspects, for example in that it is a novel, and it is not a typical novel because the protagonist is not the one who seeks love as in the common novels, but she seeks love but for others not for her . but I had the expectation that it would be a different novel, because of the way Jane writes. And besides, I could not get right on Emma's personality, because she's arrogant, spoiled and stubborn.

·        Add any other comment to your work, that you feel necessary.

For me, this book is a clear example, that often seeks to seek love, without knowing that it is in front of us, to understand the reality of love, it is necessary to open the soul and know that in the least planned, It will be the most expected. for many people it is easy to find a partner for others as in the case of Emma, who protected herself, evading her feelings. but he did not expect that without knowing he was facing his true love.