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Fiction

Notes an Austen heroine. She possesses all of Emma’s grace, beauty, and intelligence but lacks the
income of a gentleman’s daughter, a fact that seems to doom her to a life as a governess.
Through the characterization of Emma and her financially insecure counterparts, Austen offers
a sharp critique of a society that gives so few options to women. Emma has the best opportunities
and the brightest future as a result of her wealth and independence. Yet, despite all of her
skills, she still only has two possible paths: marriage or spinsterhood. In the end, Austen gives
her heroine the more appropriate choice but still ensures that Emma only marries a man who
will allow her to maintain her independence.
Harriet and Jane Fairfax also receive their portion of contentment: Harriet marries Robert
Martin, the male figure most suited to her, while Jane Fairfax ultimately marries Frank Churchill
and achieves the high social status that she deserved all along. For both of these characters,
marriage is the only possible option to prevent poverty and social stigma. Whether or not the
marriages end happily, Austen assures her readers that the characters will at least have some
financial security.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

5. Emma makes ......... major mistakes.
6. Austen highlights the themes of social class throughout the ......... .
7. As a ......... , Emma possesses beauty, wealthy, intelligence, high social standing and
financial independence.
Only Miss Bates remains the perpetual spinster, serving as a warning to those women who are
unable to achieve matrimony during their youth. Ironically, this is the path that Austen herself
was forced to follow. Neither she nor her sister ever married, and Austen was dependent on
the charity of her brothers for most of her adult life. Because of Austen’s personal financial
difficulties, it is not surprising that almost all of her heroines struggle with similar issues (all
of which are typically resolved by marriage at the end of the novel). Emma then becomes a
sort of idealized vision of the best possible scenario for an intelligent woman to maintain her
independence. Yet, as Austen notes by the end of the book, even a woman like Emma cannot
help but get married in the end.

10.3 Summary

• Emma Woodhouse is the protagonist of the story, is a beautiful, high-spirited, intelligent,
and ‘slightly’ spoiled young woman of the age of twenty.
• Austen predicted that Emma would be “a character whom no one but me will much
like.”
• Knightley’s love for Emma—the one emotion he cannot govern fully—leads to his only
lapses of judgment and self-control.
• Austen highlights the theme of social class throughout the novel, particularly in terms
of Emma’s relationship with Harriet Smith.
• As a heroine, Emma possesses beauty, wealth, intelligence, high social standing, and

financial independence.
• Emma is the first of Jane Austen’s novels to feature a heroine who is free from financial
concerns.

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