Emma - Jane Austen - Characters and Plot
Introduction
The first sentence has a taunting gaiety which dares reader to challenge Jane Austen's view of a heroine whom no one would like but myself.'
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
Emma
A girl with power and authority, & more than enough egotism for the forgivable follies of youth.
Emma's wit is so splendid in itself as to make it recommendation enough if one is willing to concede the redemptive quality of humour.
Miss Taylor's departure
Miss Taylor, who has taken the place of Emma's dead mother for eight years, has that day married cheerful Mr Weston and has left Hartfield for Randalls.
Her loss is acutely felt, and Emma and her father sink into a lugubrious self-pity which they comically decide is called grief.
Mr Woodhouse's weaknesses
Miss Taylor's departure brings out all Mr Woodhouse's weaknesses
His poor Isabella' and his poor Miss Taylor' are laughable to begin with, then they become oppressive and unnatural.
He is timid and anti-social - The sooner every party breaks up, the better'.
He hates all change and demands that life should be like his gruel: warm, cosy and innocuous.
Although his name is a by-word for condescending thoughtfulness in Highbury, he is really thoroughly selfish; all his kindness tends to enhance his personal comfort and convenience.
Mr Woodhouse has managed to get his own way by recourse to the trivial, and it is in the trivial which Emma evokes to defeat her father's power. She persuades him that by having Mr Knightley in the house as her husband he will have protection from the chicken thieves.
The strength of Mr Knightley
Mr Knightley is the timeless Englishman, modest, unaffected, somewhat inadequate of speech, just, intelligent but not intellectual, loving rather than lover-like and landed.
You
The first sentence has a taunting gaiety which dares reader to challenge Jane Austen's view of a heroine whom no one would like but myself.'
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
Emma
A girl with power and authority, & more than enough egotism for the forgivable follies of youth.
Emma's wit is so splendid in itself as to make it recommendation enough if one is willing to concede the redemptive quality of humour.
Miss Taylor's departure
Miss Taylor, who has taken the place of Emma's dead mother for eight years, has that day married cheerful Mr Weston and has left Hartfield for Randalls.
Her loss is acutely felt, and Emma and her father sink into a lugubrious self-pity which they comically decide is called grief.
Mr Woodhouse's weaknesses
Miss Taylor's departure brings out all Mr Woodhouse's weaknesses
His poor Isabella' and his poor Miss Taylor' are laughable to begin with, then they become oppressive and unnatural.
He is timid and anti-social - The sooner every party breaks up, the better'.
He hates all change and demands that life should be like his gruel: warm, cosy and innocuous.
Although his name is a by-word for condescending thoughtfulness in Highbury, he is really thoroughly selfish; all his kindness tends to enhance his personal comfort and convenience.
Mr Woodhouse has managed to get his own way by recourse to the trivial, and it is in the trivial which Emma evokes to defeat her father's power. She persuades him that by having Mr Knightley in the house as her husband he will have protection from the chicken thieves.
The strength of Mr Knightley
Mr Knightley is the timeless Englishman, modest, unaffected, somewhat inadequate of speech, just, intelligent but not intellectual, loving rather than lover-like and landed.
You