Jane Austen Essay, Research Paper

Jane Austen?s novel Emma is basically a biography. As Jane Austen

matured through her childhood years, she acquired many talents

which are reflected through the character Emma. Jane Austen lived

in the popular image of Victorian society. Many critics agree that

Jane Austen bases her novels on her own life. In the novel Emma

Jane Austen portrays her life in a time of maturing through the

main character Emma.

In the early years of Jane Austen, her accomplishments and

talents are then reflected in the character Emma. Austen as a child

had an excellent talent for drawing, painting, playing the piano,

and dancing. As in her novel Emma, the character Emma is very

talented in these areas. Emma?s expertise was in dancing; she

absolutely loved it and was very good just as Austen (Parrish 340).

Emma being the perfectionist that she was, always wanted

everything ideal, and that goes back to Austen in her talents and

everything she did. In the novel Emma, when Emma is asked to

paint a portrait of her best friend Harriet for Mr. Elton, she wanted

to perfect the artwork all the way down to the finest detail . Even

when she thought she had a long way to go to finish it, Mr. Elton

stopped her and said that it was perfect the way it was (43).

Inevitably, Emma?s life was based on the childhood and early years

of Jane Austen?s adulthood. Although part of the upper class society

at an early age, Austen was not influenced by many of the

contemporary novelists of that time (Parrish 343). As a child Austen

was never around many people. She did not trust herself enough to

speak unkind words to anyone, and she controlled her temper well

(Parrish 340). She was essentially confined to her home and nearby

areas. So everything Austen wrote or any idea she had was

genuinely original and a homemade article (Parrish 343). Austen

always delivered herself in a manner with great fluency and

precision (Parrish 340). Once Jane Austen stated: ?My greatest

anxiety at present is that this fourth work should not disgrace what

was good in the others? (Lauber 79). Austen was known for taking

not of the behavior of mankind and a class of society, having a

universality that makes them valid to modern times as well as the

days of George III (Hardwick 11). In studying this behavior, Austen

tries to identify her characters with those in her life, including

herself mainly. Austen?s ability to have consistency with perception

and depiction of the people around her, and her occasional special

touch of irony, makes her novels timelessly successful (Hardwick 11).

Also, by her perceptive powers, as Virginia Woaf said: ?Jane Austen

was a mistress of much deeper emotion than appears upon the

surface. She stimulates us to supply what is not there? (Hardwick

11).

The image of the Victorian society in the minds of people is not

the reality. It just happens to be that Jane Austen lives in what

people believe the upper class Victorian society is. The popular image

of this period was elegant, handsome men and women dressed in big

fluffy dresses who went to balls and social events most of the time

(Mitchell 1). Mainly these people inherited their wealth. Their daily

lives consisted of having brunch everyday, long chats, playing

cricket, and in the evenings had social balls. The upper class women

painted, played the piano, had social graces, and most of the time

had general knowledge of political events (Mitchell 7). The middle

class women were usually a governess (Mitchell 7). As in Emma, Miss

Taylor who later becomes Mrs. Weston was a middle class women,

and she was the governess of Emma from the time she was a child till

Miss Taylor was married to Mr. Weston (16). Basically, Jane Austen

lived in this world. She shows this through the novels she writes. In

her novel Emma, Emma meets with her best friend Harriet for brunch

one morning to discuss the matter about Mr. Elton (69). Another

time Emma throws a ball for Mrs. Elton and invites everyone to show

that she does not despise Mrs. Elton (291). The reality of the

Victorian society is that it was hard to make a living. Practically

everyone except for the upper class had it bad (Mitchell 2). Men

struggled to make enough money to support their families and

provide food for their wives and children. They would work nonstop,

and just barely have enough for the day or week or month (Mitchell

2). So the popular image of Victorian society is not entirely a false

impression, but is correct to a certain extent true of the upper class.

The only problem is that the image is of all people who lived in

Victorian society. Just like today, not everyone is wealthy, so not

everyone in this period had the easy life. Rarely does she have ?lower

class? people in her novels (Hardwick 12) and this is clearly seen just

by reading her novels, especially Emma, and Sense and Sensibility

where Austen has the atmospheres of the novels consist of the upper

class society life. In Emma Austen did not have any lower class

people. The only character that may not have been considered as

one of the upper class, would be Miss Bates (18). Although she dined

and socialized with the upper class, it was only because of her

connections with Miss Jane Fairfax. Miss Fairfax had a well known

and well spoken name (151).

The thoughts of critics of Jane Austen go hand in hand with

the belief that Austen bases her novels on her life experiences.

Austen tries to identify her fictional characters with those in her life,

including herself (Hardwick 12). Austen explores the difficulties of

?independence?, those problems that life poses for a person who seems

to have everything (Dwyer 89). The relationship between Emma and

Mr. Knightley reflects Austen has appreciation of her own

independence (Dwyer 95). Emma never thinks that she can fall in

love. She always plays match-maker for her friends, but when it

comes to herself, she doesn?t know. Emma doesn?t realize she is in

love with Mr. Knightley until near the end of the novel (425). Like

Emma, Austen has realized that her position and her skill have

given her the power to bully and enlighten or be charming at the

same time (Dwyer 94). At one occasion when Emma has a little

picnic with her friends, and Miss Bates is there, Emma shows that she

does have the power to bully Miss Bates and at the same time

enlighten the others that are in her company (238). Laurie Lanzen

Harris says of Jane Austen, ?Austen possess a masterful ironic insight,

whose strength and sensibility are perhaps best revealed in a

character confrontation with this dichotomy of reality and the

power of self-delusion? (Harris 29). Self-delusion explains Austen?s

writing so well. Austen?s works are truly concerned with moral

values in life, and her satire is the best when aimed at the snobby

and presumptuous class (Harris 29). This statement held true being

that Austen was part of that class and most of her settings in her

novel revolve around the upper class.

In the novel Emma Jane Austen portrays her life in a time of

maturing through the main character Emma. It is clearly seen that

Jane Austen bases her life through the character Emma. Their

childhoods, lifestyles, and life experiences mirror one another. Still

research has questioned whether Austen makes herself the heroine in

her novels or through her novels.