Ideological Analysis: Emma

Jane Austen’s Emma is a novel filled with a multitude of characters and social events. The characters range from rich to poor, and can be classified as high class, low class, and rising class (meaning that they are not yet high class, but will reach the higher echelons in time). The social events consist mainly of fun dinner parties and lots of frivolous dalliances between Emma and a select group of her friends. Emma herself is a bright individual, but doesn’t always see things very clearly; the novel mainly follows her point of view, and paints a picture of the world through her twenty-one year old eyes.

The chief observable aspects of the artifact include the characters, the rank (class) in society of the characters, and their actions. The characters I find most compelling are Emma, her father Mr. Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, Harriet Smith, and Mr. Elton. Emma, an heiress of high society, is basically good at heart, but feels she is smarter than everybody and knows what is best for them better than they do; thus she spends a good deal of her time meddling in the affairs of her friends, and consequently mucking up some very important issues for them. Mr. Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley are also high society; Mr. Woodhouse is somewhat deficient in his perception of reality, whereas Mr. Knightley is completely down-to-earth, setting the two men as opposites. Harriet Smith is a foolish and easily influenced girl who has no standing in society whatsoever; despite her lack of connection, Emma is determined to find her a good husband. Mr. Elton, the local pastor, is of some standing, but his class does not compare to that of the Woodhouses or the Knightleys.

The meaning of this artifact is found in the actions of the characters, most particularly in their courtship dealings. Despite Harriet Smith’s complete lack of advantage or anything to offer a potential suitor, Emma is determined to find her a husband of consequence, convinced that if she herself affixes value to Harriet, it will be seen by others. She fixes on Mr. Elton as Harriet’s groom-to-be, and contrives to bring them together, even going so far as to subtly sabotages a proposal of marriage from a farmer (low standing) that Harriet seems to have genuine affection for. The sensible Mr. Knightley is quite angry with Emma for pressuring Harriet into a refusal; as he says, “Miss Harriet Smith may not find offers of marriage flow in so fast, though she is a very pretty girl. Men of sense…do not want silly wives. Men of family would not be fond of connecting themselves with a girl of such obscurity.” (Austen.) (This might seem cruel and shallow by today’s standards, but during this time period, marriage was as much a business arrangement as it was a romantic notion.) Emma disagrees heartily, convinced that she knows better and that Harriet’s beauty has worked its magic on Mr. Elton, who is quite obvious in his admiration. However, for all of Emma’s meddling, the plan backfires: Mr. Elton’s cheerful doting was aimed at Emma herself, never Harriet, and when Emma questions his intentions Mr. Elton fires back with condescension, scorning a connection between himself and Harriet, asserting that he “need not so totally despair of an equal alliance as to be addressing myself to Miss Smith!” (Austen.) Emma snaps back in defense of her friend and they both leave angry, Emma going home to fume that Mr. Elton would dare presume to qualify himself as her equal, for surely “he must know that in fortune and consequence she was greatly his superior. He must know that the Woodhouses had been settled for several generations at Hartfield, the younger branch of a very ancient family – and that the Eltons were nobody.” (Austen.) The very contempt that Mr. Elton applied to Harriet, who is of less consequence than he, is now applied to him, for Emma is the highest of all and will not suffer the lesser man to pretend to her status.

Given the vast amount of evidence indicating class wars, it is safe to say that the ideology of this novel is that of a rather strict societal hierarchy. Individual standing was firmly defined and widely known; a person’s marriage opportunities depended on the family name and money. Jane Austen seems to disagree with these inescapable rules, however; many of the people of high standing are deluded, possessed of poor or weak character, or downright absurd. While the novel does illustrate the reality of life from class to class, it also ridicules the separation by highlighting just how mediocre many of the “high society” people really are, especially pointing out, in Emma herself, extreme arrogance and fallibility of reason.

Austen, Jane. Emma. United States of America: Barnes & Noble Books, 1816. Print.