I actually kind of like the novel Emma. When I’m
reading, I don’t very much, but looking back on the different chapters that I have
read, I find that it actually is quite entertaining. I’m not sure if Jane
Austen wanted it to be this sort of humor, but I took it that way. The
different characters and the schemes that they work themselves into is what
makes the novel so funny. I also like it though because I like this time
period. I like learning about the manners and etiquettes that were meant to be
followed at this time, and seeing the interaction (or the lack thereof) between
the different ranks of people.
The funniest character in this novel is Mr. Woodhouse.
He is so petrified of everything that moves, and even things that don’t. He
panics over the smallest instances, and you wonder if he is completely sane or
capable of higher thinking. When he is talking about the wedding cake incidence
and says “he could not but acknowledge that wedding cake might certainly
disagree with many” (13), it shows this perfectly. He cannot eat wedding cake
because he believes that it is too rich for his stomach. Because of his deep
disregard for wedding cake, he expects everyone around him to dislike it as
well. He encourages people not to eat it and even tries taking it away from
people. This seems strange though, because usually women were stereotyped in
this way. Austen characterizes Mr. Woodhouse though as the female character in
this novel and Emma as the dominating man. Women in this time period did many
things though that were not publicly seen and for the most part ran everything
around the house. This is another amusing part of the story. The male character
has all the traits of the stereotypical female, while Emma (the expected
heroine), leads the house and runs everyone and everything.
Another thing that I enjoy about Emma is learning
all about the history of who they could talk to, their dress, and just the
manners that surround the people of high rank. It was interesting to me how
they asked for marriage. Harriet and Mr. Martin seemed to not have had a ton of
interaction and he just wrote her a letter one day asking for her hand in marriage.
It seemed so distant, but in this time, that was acceptable. It was also
interesting that because he was of a lower social class, first, Harriet should
not marry him or else that would look bad on her part, but also because Emma
could no longer be her friend. Emma doesn’t seem to have that many close acquaintances,
so it was peculiar that she was willing to throw away one of her only friends because
she married a man of lower class. But that was expected of her because Harriet
would then be a lower class than her (even if they were close friends before
the marriage).
Emma isn’t a terrible book. Does it keep me wanting
to read more and encourage me to stay up late to figure out whose love life
Emma destroys next…..no. But it is an interesting and actually quite a funny
book that has many quality aspects that give it literary merit and interesting
to read.
