Emma Woodhouse - Pride and Prejudice

Emma

No doubt Pride and Prejudice was the first novel of Jane Austen I have read. However， when I tried to read more Austen’s works I got Emma, and it became the most favorite one. Although Emma is not that popular as Pride and Prejudice does, it is her best and most representative work, her real masterpiece. Because in this novel Austen modeled an imperfect heroine, and the character is considered to be Austen’s life in miniature. The language in this novel, as is usual, is rich and exquisite, maybe even better compare to Jane Austen's other works. Another thing I  appreciate is Austen’s conciseness in language and wit in remark.

Emma Woodhouse, the heroine, owns the life that appears in every twenty-year-old girl’s dream: free, rich and happy. She lives with her father and after she played a very important role in the combination of Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston by luck, she becomes fond of being a matchmaker. Unlike the common matchmaker who are noisy and in middle-age, Emma is single yet high on the matchmaking, which arouses my interest. It is just the reason why I decided to start reading this novel.

As a feminist, I do appreciate the feminism thoughts which are reflected in the work. In Austen’ s time, social status was determined by a combination of family background, reputation, and wealth—marriage was one of the main ways in which one could raise another one’s social status. This method of advancing social status was especially crucial to women, who denied the possibility of improving their status through hard work or personal achievement. During that time, I regard to married women, their activities were mostly confined within the narrow domestic world and were instructed to be“the angel in the house”. Since women got married, their opportunities for self- assertion were severely restricted. A woman’ s life must be centered on the home, and her main responsibilities should involve“contributing daily and hourly to the comfort of husbands, of parents, of brothers and sisters...” Even within the narrow domestic world. Women were expected to be subservient and obedient to their husbands and of service to their children.

But Emma despises the marriage value of the female at that time. She thinks she can control her own life but not through her husband. From Emma’ s marriage attitude, readers can easily feel her feminism consciousness. Emma is a pride, confident girl, she is eager to change everyone in her own way, she can’ t accept other’ s advice and never be disturbed by others, for she thought she is totally right. Although sometimes she thinks highly of herself and is a little conceited, arrogant and snobbish. But when she realizes her fault, she can change herself and examine her own errors. From the marriage of Emma, we can also find her feminist consciousness. At first, she doesn’t advocate marriage, she thinks that women should change by themselves, but not by the marriage or their husband, women are not a part of men, they are independent individuality, so she believes that she will never get married. At last, when she realizes that she fell in love with Mr. Knightley, she is brave enough to reverse her thoughts and pursue her own happiness.