A comedy of errors. Review on Emma - Jane Austen

BOOK REVIEW – EMMA

Among all the works of Jane Austen, Emma is credited with having one of the most intriguing and novel female protagonists in its namesake. In a stark contrast to the perfection personified Elizabeth of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and Fanny of ‘Mansfield Park’, Emma’s short-comings are so shockingly evident, it’s almost as if Austen is sharing a precious secret with her readers and it’s exactly this feeling of knowing that the heroine is wrong and faulty that satiates a reader’s intellectual narcissism.

Emma Woodhouse is 21, beautiful, clever, with a sizeable estate at her disposal and though not harbouring any immediate desire to get married, she has some other plans with respect to matrimony. After successfully having made a match of her governess and a well to do gentleman, Emma decides not to derive others the benefit of her match-making skills. Though her intentions are well meaning, things don’t turn out exactly as planned.

Emma takes under her tutelage a simple and unassuming Harriet Smith, educating her in the ways of the upper society and mannerisms of the refined class with the sole aim of what is a constant fixture in all Austen’s novels; Progress in wealth and social standing through a marriage alliance. From getting Harriet to spurn the marriage proposal of an honest young farmer Robert Martin, to convincing her that the new clergyman Mr.Elton and then the adorable Frank Churchill are in love with her, Emma succeeds in creating an atmosphere of numerous comical and spectacular misunderstandings. The drama is elevated by a chattering Miss Bates and her musically talented niece Jane Fairfax while the kingly Mr.Knightly and Emma’s demanding father provide able support.

After many ups and downs, Austen finishes with a characteristic Cinderella ending finally rescuing Emma, victimised by her own heart and vain pride in her ability to read people, while all through the course of events we seem to know better. This leads us to an inference that is still relevant to the times; People who take decisions, ever assuming their understanding of the people who will be affected by those decisions, never get the desired results.

That Jane Austen is the queen of family drama and fantastical prose requires no deliberation. Her inimitable style of writing has won her countless fans and their still increasing numbers is another testament to her skills as a writer. More so, her unparallel supremacy in character development and sentence composition has inspired legions of writers worldwide. Emma certainly makes no exceptions.

-Vishal Pipraiya