Jane Austen’s Emma An Officious Young Lady Misleads and Misunderstands Numerous People, while a Disapproving Male Relative Makes Disparaging Remarks. Their Only Recourse is to Marry Each Other.

Jane Austen,

Publication History of Emma Commenced in January of 1814 and completed in March 1815 Published in December copies were printed, with more than a quarter remaining unsold after her death A massive critical success, with authors such as Sir Walter Scott praising her The Prince Regent’s librarian invited her to dedicate a book to HRH (on of her fans), and she dedicated Emma to him

"I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” --Jane Austen

Overview of Emma Emma Woodhouse (Charming, rich, handsome, but unpercepient heroine) Mr. Knightley (Emma’s brother-in-law, irritatingly addicted to telling the truth) Harriet Smith (A pretty girl of undetermined origins, i.e., illegitimate, in whom Emma takes an interest) Mr. Elton (Charming and handsome man in the neighborhood; Emma convinces Harriet he is in love with her when he is actually in love with Emma) Mr. Martin (A prosperous local farmer, in love with Harriet) Jane Fairfax (A beautiful and penniless girl, reserved to the point of being insipid) Frank Churchill (Charming, handsome, manipulative and cunning nephew of Emma’s former governess) Mr. and Mrs. Weston (Emma’s former governess and her new husband)

The “Instructional” Novel While many novels were considered merely frivolous, there is a strong tradition of novels that have a moral or instructional quality (think Don Quixote) These novels offset the worries of critics who denigrate the “sensational” aspect of novels such as the gothic novel Emma was lauded as an “instructional” text that teaches young women not to interfere in other people’s lives

“[The novel] was never, either aesthetically or morally, a perfect form and its faults and failures can be quickly enumerated. But its greatness and its practical usefulness lay in its unremitting work of involving the reader himself in the moral life, inviting him to put his own motives under examination, suggesting that reality is not as he sees it. It taught us, as no other genre ever did, the extent of human variety and the value of variety. It was the literary form to which the emotions of understanding and forgiveness were indigenous, as if by the definition of the form itself.” --Lionel Trilling

Pathos vs. Ethos Pathos creates an emotional connection between the audience and the character Pathos is the way that Austen generally garners investment in her heroine Ethos depends upon the credibility of the character or setting, based on the connection between shared morals and values between the audience and the characters Highbury—the setting of Emma —is highly credible, and the verisimilitude of the narrative depends upon it Emma repeatedly counters the audience expectation of pathos, creating an atmosphere in which sentimental connection is almost impossible This is a significant break from her previous novels and from the genre of the novel in general

Mr. Knightley as a Persuasive Moral Force Knightley is the most popular and “right-thinking” character in the novel Even with him, however, the reader doesn’t feel an emotional connection However, he conveys the ethos of Highbury and the shared values with the audience Knightley acts as the moral foil to every other character in the novel

A Different Kind of Humor Fewer hilarious asides in this text than in any of the previous The humor rests in the structure and laughable misunderstandings of our heroine

Austen’s Narrative Philosophy “Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken; but where, as in this case, though the conduct is mistaken, the feelings are not, it may not be very material.”