Emma Discussion Continued

Throughout Jane Austen's novel Emma, the main protagonist Emma remains steadfast about her decisions and remains very stubborn. Yet, I believe that as the novel progresses Emma becomes increasingly compassionate. Emma has transformed from a selfish person in the beginning of volume three to a compassionate person. She went was very mean and disrespectful to Miss Bates; Emma was so disrespectful that Mr. Knightly told her about how wrong it was to mock Miss Bates. Miss Bates is a kind person that is in danger of losing the standard of living that she is used to, since women back in the Regent Era could not inherit property. Yet Emma was insulting towards Miss Bates, but after this incident Emma started becoming more compassionate. Emma went to visit the Bates the first thing the very next day and felt even worse about her actions when she saw how kind Miss Bates was acting. Later Emma found out that Jane remained in her room, due to a headache. Emma found out that Jane has accepted a governess position and felt sorry for her, which is a major change in Emma since she dislikes Jane. Furthermore  Emma becomes ashamed of her earlier conjectures about Jane's relationship with Mr. Dixon, even though at the time she was laughing about what she did. Moreover, by questioning her actions towards Jane, Emma is starting to lose her selfish ideals and is starting to become increasingly compassionate. Emma attempts to provide assistance to Jane, inviting her to Hartfield, sending her healthful foods, and attempting to visit her. Yet, Jane refuses Emma's invitations, and says that she is ill. instead of being angry over Jane's constant refusals, Emma only feels sadness, which shows that Emma is becoming a nicer person. Later in the novel, Emma finds out that Frank Churchill and Jain Fairfax are secretly engaged. Instead of being angry at Jane, Emma feels concerned over Harriet's feelings, which shows that Emma is becoming more compassionate. Emma felt so concerned that she dreaded telling Harriet the news, and was relieved when she found out that Harriet was not in love with Frank, though Emma becomes upset when she finds out that Mr.Knightly is Harriet's crush. Later when Emma and Mr.Knightly become engaged, Emma is filled with worry over Harriet's feelings and her father's well being. Emma decided to postpone the marriage until her father passes away, because she is concerned over her father and is becoming a very compassionate person. In addition, Emma decides to write a letter to Harriet explaining her impending marriage with Mr. Knightly and decides to send Harriet off to London to give her time to adjust. Emma becomes such a compassionate person that she forgives Frank easily after she has read his letter. Although throughout the novel Emma was a very selfish person, towards the end of the novel she becomes a very compassionate person and worries over others' feelings.

Emma Discussion Continued

Throughout Jane Austen's novel Emma, the main protagonist Emma remains steadfast about her decisions and remains very stubborn. Yet, I believe that Harriet is Emma's other half, and provides and contrast to each other. Emma is very well educated and comes from a very well regarded upper class family, whereas Harriet is not very wise in comparison to Emma and her origins are unknown to all. Since, Harriet's origins are unknown many can assume that she is most likely not from an upper class family. Another stark contrast between Emma and the young Harriet is that one wants to fall in love, while another wants to avoid that and stay single. Harriet is infatuated with finding love and falling in love; she became infatuated with Mr. Martin and later Mr. Elton. On the other hand, Emma tries her best to avoid love and wants to avoid getting married. Even when she thinks that she likes Frank Churchill, Emma day dreams that she will reject his offerings of love. Furthermore, Harriet was disgusted with the thought of Emma becoming an old maid. Emma on the other hand relishes the thought of becoming a well respected and well-off old maid. Harriet is a very forgiving person and is a very tolerant person, unlike Emma. Harriet easily forgave Emma after she ruined her chance at marriage with Mr. Martin, even Emma was surprised at how kind-hearted she is. Emma is a very unforgiving person and not near as kind hearted as Harriet. She cruelly rejected Mr. Elton's proposal without thinking twice of breaking the rejection to him delicately. Furthermore, Emma is a very stubborn person and tries her best not to change her views, unlike Harriet who changed her views about the kind farmer Mr. Martin and the greedy Mr. Elton. Emma decided not to change her opinion of Mr. Martin, just because of his social class and stubbornly maintains that Harriet deserves someone of a better upbringing, even though Harriet's origins are unknown. Furthermore, even after Mr. Elton did not want to marry Harriet, due to her wealth and origins, Emma still stubbornly believed that Mr. Martin is not worthy enough for Harriet. In addition, Emma did not change her mind about Harriet being too good for Mr. Martin even after he wrote a very eloquent letter asking for her hand in marriage. Emma disregarded all the good features of Mr. Martin, due to his upbringing, which shows a very stubborn mentality and personality. Harriet on the other hand did not pay particular attention to social class and Emma had to convince her that Mr. Elton would be a better match than the kind Mr. Martin. Volume two of Emma, helps to further elaborate and prove that Emma is very stubborn, since she still does not approve of Mr. Martin.

Another Emma Discussion

In this blog I will continue to discuss Jane Austen's novel Emma. In particular I will try to analysis Emma's behavior and actions in the beginning of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Emma is described as "handsome, clever, and rich," and that her only flaw is that she is too confident and used to getting her way. She is slightly spoiled by her father and is very stubborn; Emma is very steadfast about not wanting to get married and remaining single. In the beginning of the novel, Emma had set up her friend Miss Taylor with her husband Mr. Weston. Since Emma successfully hooked up Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston, Emma has gained confidence in her match making abilities. Emma tried to set up her friend Harriet with Mr. Elton, even though Harriet wants to get married to Robert Martin. Emma remained very stubborn about the fact that Harriet is too good for someone like Robert Martin and tried her best to convince her friend that Mr. Martin was no good. The young Emma tried her best at getting Mr. Elton and Harriet to be together as often as possible, and even convinced Mr. Elton to draw a portrait of Harriet. Through all this time, Emma remained oblivious about the fact that Mr. Elton truly did not want to marry Harriet. Mr. Knightly, Emma's neighbor, pointed out that Mr. Elton did not like Harriet and instead liked Emma herself. But Emma ignored Mr. Knightly's insight ad stubbornly believed that Harriet and Mr. Elton were made for each other even when there was evidence against that belief. When Harriet came down with a cold, Mr. Elton was still looking forward to the party without her and declined Emma's suggestion to stay at home, since Harriet is sick. Even against all this evidence, Emma continued to believe that Harriet and Mr. Elton were fated to be together and because of this belief Emma was shocked when Mr. Elton proposed to her. Emma rejected the proposal and not only hurt Mr. Elton but her innocent friend Harriet. One huge flaw that Emma has is her stubbornness. She ignored her neighbor's insight about Mr. Elton's true feelings and dismissed Mr. Elton's obvious lack of interst towards Harriet, because of his Emma hurt many people. Emma hurt Mr. Elton by crushing on his feelings. Futhermore, she destroyed Harriet's chances with Mr. Martin even though they both liked each other. Finally, Emma hurt Harriet by ruining her chances at marriage with the person she likes and giving her false hopes that Mr. Elton likes her. Altough Emma has many good personality traits, her stubborness helps offset them.

Emma Discussion

In this blog I will discuss the beginning of Jane Austen's novel Emma. Before Austen started her novel she said, " I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like," so she planned on making a very different and unique heroine for her book. In the beginning of the novel, Emma is described as "handsome, clever, and rich," and that her only flaw is that she is too confident. I think that although Austen thought that nobody would like her unique character Emma, because of those traits I think that it makes Emma a very likeable character. I can see that at the time, Emma was very unlike how most females were expected to be at the time, since it was made in the nineteenth century, so Austen thought that her character would not be liked. But I think that since Emma is very confident and sure of herself, she breaks the social norms at the time and becomes a inspirational character. Many women now would like to be like Emma now, since many people would like to be confident, rich, and beautiful. All of these positive qualities makes Emma a very likeable character, even though she may make mistakes. Emma is also proud of her accomplishments, which is seen when she was boasting about how she set Miss Taylor and her husband Mr. Weston. Emma is inspirational since she is quite able to take pride in her past accomplishments, which many people would also like to do too. But Emma has her negative qualities like being very stubborn. These negative qualities make Emma seem more human and relatable to others. Emma's stubbornness was seen when she insisted that Robert Martin is not good enough for Harriet, even though Harriet does not want to reject the offer. Robert Martin was a respectable, well-educated, and well-spoken man.  Although Emma thought she was being helpful, she ruined Robert Martin's chance for marriage with Harriet. Furthermore, Emma crushed Harriet's heart, since she was very sure that Mr. Elton liked Harriet, but was completely wrong. As a result of Emma's stubbornness, she ruined Harriet's potential marriage with a great guy, crushed her heart, and angered Mr. Elton, since he thought that Emma wanted him. But since Emma is able to make mistakes, it makes her more human and relatable. By making Emma have such qualities, Jane Austen has created a character that many like, even though she thought that not many would.