Emma’s Happily Ever After
~Blog Post #5~
Topic E.
May 15, 2015
By: Shanon Murphy
Throughout Emma by
Jane Austen, particular settings play a big role in the plots and outcomes of scenes.
For example, the society and time period in which Emma lives in significantly
impacts the decisions that she and other characters make throughout the book.
Other settings, such as dinner parties, often give readers more insight into
the personality and development of characters as they grow throughout the book.
In the final chapter of Emma, Emma’s
growth throughout the story is captured, along with her future.
By the end of the
story, Emma turns back to her old ways of judging people based on their class
without giving any thought about their personality. Once she realizes Harriet’s
father does not have a high social status, Emma comes to the fact that “their friendship
must change into a calmer sort of good-will” (436). Emma, who had once been
great friends with Harriet, now will let Harriet’s family background break the
strong relationship they formed. Emma has not changed immensely since the beginning
of the book. She has gone back and forth between being vain and judgmental to being caring and compassionate. Along with that example, the relationship
growth between Mr. Woodhouse and Emma is also depicted in this setting. Mr.
Woodhouse, “who had never yet alluded to marriage but as a distasteful event”
has always been opposed to marriage (437). In this scene, his fear of marriage
is displayed; however, his fear of robbery overrules this opposition and he
eventually accepts Emma’s marriage. This shows Mr. Woodhouse can always be
persuaded anyway by using fear. Overall, this scene shows the development
of characters and their future plans, such as who is marrying who.
The scene of the final Emma
chapter ends in typical comedic style with numerous marriages. This setting
gives insight into the thoughts of the characters and allows readers to guess
what will happen next. It gives readers a hint that the characters will all
lead a good life once they are married.
Shanon, I think you did a very good job with this blog post!! You really touched on the journey of the book and you were very descriptive. I agree that the settings really impact situations in the book. With the example of marriage between Emma and Mr. Woodhouse, marriage is not even an option for Emma. Eventually over time, things changed and he ultimately let her marry. As I wrote in my fifth blog post, dinner parties were also very important in the boom to understand the personalities of the characters. The dinner events showed the interactions between characters and the ways they would react to certain situations. These different settings really taught us about the characters and how they react under pressure. These types of settings are essential to the book and really do set the mood throughout the story.
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