The Problem of Expression in Jane Austen's Emma

“Emma” is a novel written by Jane Austen. The storyline of the publication is about youthful hubris and the risks of misinterpreted romance. The setting of the story is in a small fictional village called Highbury and the surrounding regions of Randals, Hartfield and Donwell Abbey. It is inclusive of relationships among these areas. Just like in her other novels, Austen explores the hardships of the genteel women who were living in Georgian-Regency England. She brings in a comedy of manners among the characters that she uses as she explores the issue of marriage and social status which in turn breeds the confined nature of women’s social existence, the blinding power of imagination and the obstacles to open expression.

The novel Emma is primarily confined among marriages which have been recently anticipated, and for all of them, there is a solidification of their social status. In the times of Austen, the social status was determined by a few things which included the wealth, background of the family and reputation. One of the most significant ways that one would raise the social status was through marriage. It was a method of development that was mostly aligned with the women. They had to maximize on it because they had been denied the freedom to raise their social status through the avenues of employment and hard work.

With marriages, there also were limits because Austen suggests that marrying far above the class that one was in would lead to conflicts. The first marriage of Mr. Weston and Miss. Churchill was a blissful one for him since she had come from a wealthy family. The marriage faced a lot of hardships and failed to long live because of the inequalities that existed on their social statuses. He marries his second wife Mrs. Weston, and this marriage tends to be happier than it was the case with the first because their social statuses are more equal than it was with the prior. In this case, Mrs. Weston is a governess. Thus she felt lucky to be rescued from her requirement to work by her new marriage. The attempt made by Emma to match Mr. Elton with Harriet is said by the other characters not to be appropriate. The parentage of Harriet is not known and, Emma has a belief that she may have some noble blood and she backs her to reject which at last becomes a good match with Robert Martin. Even before there emerges the revelation that Harriet comes from a family of a tradesman, Emma consents that Martin is more suitable for her close ally.

The social status and marriage relationship is also a challenge for other characters in the book. For Frank Churchill, he must be ready to maintain his engagement to the orphan Jane Fairfax secret because his aunty who is very wealthy would not give it an approval. Since Jane lacks a perfect match to settle with her for marriage, she is forced to work as a governess. Miss Bates who is unmarried is threatened with the immense level of poverty with no husband to be responsible for herself and her mother. Lastly, the marriage between Mr. Knightley and Emma has been considered a successful one not only because of their temperaments gel but also because of the factor of their social class. Emma has the perspective that that he was the only one fit for him, “It darted through her with the speed of an arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!” (Austen, 387).

Austen also digs deep into another big idea of the confined nature of the existence of the women. The scope of actions in the novel gives us a perspective on how the limited nature of women in the early 19th century in England. Emma is portrayed to have massive intelligence and a lot of energy too, “Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old.” (Austen, 37). But her scope to exploit this is limited. She can only use that in trying to moderate and guide the marital status of her friends, a practice that only ends up getting her in trouble too. The other ways of passing time that are given in the novel include music, social and charity visits and the artistic works. That is very monotonous, and there is little for one do to exploit the potential that they have.

In the story, Isabella is the only one who seems to be mother focused, and as her life dictates, the life of a mother offers a person little of chances to exploit their intellectual ability. But when Jane compares the Governess profession to that of the slave, she says that the life of a working woman would be preferred less to that of an idle woman of fortune. The novel examines and deeply talks about marriage because it was the only way that the women had the chance to exploit their capabilities. That is even though it is for a short while and have an opportunity to have an impact on their own destinies without having to engage in the life of the working class. In Emma’s world, the most significant role that the women are permitted to play while in Emma’s world is being active in the roles of courtship and rejecting or accepting the proposals.

Austen also explores the Blinding power of imagination. The novel has tried to provide illustrations through which the individual desires tend to blind one of the objective conclusions. Emma fails to understand the intention that guides the behavior of Mr. Elton because she has some beliefs that he loves Harriet. She, later on, makes an admission to herself that “she had taken up the idea; she supposed and made everything bend to it.” On the other hand, the feeling that Mr. Elton has for Emma makes him believe mistakenly takes the behavior portrayed by Emma for an encouragement. Mr. Knightley who is generally dependable forms a frank judgment of Frank Churchill because he does not have contempt of the claim as it was made by Emma. The latter speaks in a harsh manner against Jane because the vanity she has makes her covet the success that has been achieved by Jane. Emma’s Vanities are even spoken about by the narrator, “With insufferable vanity had she believed herself in the secret of everybody's feelings” (Austen, 387). The biases that are possessed by Emma make her to bring on a relationship between Frank and Harriet fictionally and blind her to a belief that Harriet indeed has some intimate feelings for Knightley.

Frank also has an intention to use Emma as a screen for his actual preference leads his to mistakenly believe she knows of what is going on between him and Jane. The ironic and admirable detachment of the narrator gives us a chance to experience these misunderstandings before even the characters do. The narrator expresses their behavior in a way that is very humorous that the reader even feels involved. The Plot of the story is made even stronger by some realizations that allow all the characters to make judgments that are less biased and more objective.

The novel also depicts the obstacles to open expression. The conventions of social propriety create the ideological conflicts that pervade the story. In different occasion and at different magnitudes, the characters are unable to have their feelings freely expressed, and it is for this reason that they are often mistaken. At no time does the novel imply that the rituals and the manners of social interactions should be slashed off, Austen suggests that the deceptive speech of Emma, Mr. Elton, and Frank Churchill deserves to have some critic.

Austen presents the direct, warm and natural manner way of Mr. Martin in presenting himself as better to that of Mr. Elton’s which insincere in the way he complimented the people. Frank too is another on shown as gifted of telling people what they fancy hearing and Knightley becomes suspicious of his integrity. His doubts about Frank are proven to be true when it is discovered that he had been misguiding Highbury and confining his real feelings for Jane. The presumed cleverness of both Emma and Frank only lands them in trouble by angering Jane, of whom Emma ends up saying some harsh things. The flirting that takes place between Emma and Frank at the Box Hill party aches both Knightley and Jane. Emma even forgets herself, and she ends up throwing our words to Mrs. Bates. At this point Mr. Knightly tells Emma “This is not pleasant to you, Emma--and it is very far from pleasant to me” (Austen, 352). Austen seemingly inclines to love the Martin’s and Knightley silence to the antics that are used by Emma, Mr. Elton, and Frank. It is for the reason that he gives the speech of the latter a negative perception.