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In a letter to her niece Anna (who was attempting to follow in her aunt's literary footsteps) Jane Austen wrote: '3 or 4 Families in a Country Village is the very thing to work on'. The novelist deliberately confined herself to the realistic portrayal of a segment of contemporary English life-upper middle-class society. The heroine, Emma Woodhouse, lives on her father's estate at Hartfield which is in effect an adjunct of the village of Highbury 'in spite of its separate lawns and shrubberies'. Mr. Weston's estate of Randals is in the parish of Highbury, and Mr. Knightley's Donwell Abbey is situated in the neighbouring parish, within comfortable walking distance. Here life is concentrated within itself and separated from London which although only sixteen miles away was 'much beyond...daily reach'. Significantly, Emma has never visited London, never been to the seaside, never visited Box Hill (all of seven miles away!) The outside world of early 19th century England does not impinge on this essentially self-sufficient society, of which Emma Woodhouse is the central figure. Here is no mention of contemporary historical events such as the Napoleonic Wars; the war between Britain and America; the assassination of the British Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, the Industrial Revolution. The only historical allusion is a fleeting reference to the slave trade (centred on Bristol) in an exchange between Jane Fairfax and Mrs. Elton. Otherwise the real world of the early 19th century is totally ignored. Jane Austen deliberately selected and limited herself, even declining the Prince Regent's request to write an historical novel. The humdrum nature of daily life in the village of Highbury is captured in the scene where Emma stands at the door of Ford's shop, seeking amusement while she waits for the dithering Harriet to make her purchase. Highbury society can also be unbearably claustrophobic. This is symbolically highlighted when Emma is trapped alone with Mr. Elton in her carriage on the journey home from the Christmas Eve dinner-party at Randals. After she has rejected the vicar's proposal of marriage out of hand, they have no choice but to continue the remainder of the three-quarter mile journey in silence - neither can escape the company of the other The weather was most favourable for her; though Christmas day, she could not go to church. every morning beginning in rain or snow, and every evening setting in to freeze, she was for many days a most honourable prisoner. no church for her on Sunday any more than on Christmas day; and no need to find excuses for Mr. Elton's absenting himself'. Social rituals are a salient feature of Highbury society. There are regular morning visits (to Hartfields,to Randals, to the Bates apartment); evening-parties (at Hartfield); dinner-parties (at Randals, at the Coles, at Hartfield). There are also unusual and exceptional social events - the wedding-visits on the occasion of Elton's marriage; the ball at the Crown Inn; the strawberry-picking expedition to Donwell Abbey; the ill-fated excursion to Box Hill. These events bring the main characters together and enable the author, through a series of dramatic set-pieces, to develop plot, characters and themes. It is profoundly ironic that the valetudinarian, essentially anti-social Mr. Woodhouse should exercise such a controlling influence over Highbury's social rituals. Noblesse oblige (the notion that privilege and wealth bring with them responsibilities) is also a significant element in Highbury society. Knightley is fully aware of his duty and discharges it fully. He advises his tenant Farmer Robert Martin on the advisability of marrying Harriet Smith; he looks out for the Bates family (including Jane Fairfax) - he sends his carriage to fetch Miss Bates and Jane to the Coles' dinner party; he sends them an annual gift of a bag of cooking apples; he tries (unsuccessfully for a long time) to make Emma aware of her social obligations towards those less fortunate. However, while Emma does invite the three women to Hartfield (more for her father's convenience), she seldom visits their apartment because she finds their company tiresome and has no wish to mix with the second and third rate of Highbury society. Emma's failure in her duty towards Jane Fairfax is more complex - it is partly due to jealousy, partly due to her reserve, and partly a stubborn resistance to Knightley's moral pressure. By the end of the novel Emma's moral maturity can be seen in her acceptance of her social responsibilities towards Robert Martin, Miss Bates and Jane Fairfax. Poverty in Highbury society is an issue which is not adequately dealt with by Jane Austen. Emma's visit to the cottage of an impoverished and sick family on the outskirts of Highbury (significantly down Vicarage-lane) is contrived to show the heroine in a favourable light rather than as a serious attempt by the author to address a very real contemporary social problem. It is also extraordinary that the heroine should feel such compassion for the poor, yet should look down upon the hard-working, successful yeoman-farmer, Robert Martin. The gypsies are also used as mere props. Within the Highbury social circle the problem of Mrs. and Miss Bates' poverty is not satisfactorily resolved. The author tells us that Mrs. Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, lives with her middle-aged spinster daughter in a modest apartment over a business premises. We are told that they live "in a very small way, under ......... untoward circumstances", trying to "make a small income go as far as possible". Mr. Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley send small gifts (a hindquarter of pork, a bag of cooking apples). However, while each of them deplores the straitened circumstances of the two women She is poor; she has sunk from the comforts she was born to; and, if she live to an old age, must probably sink more." The Anglican Church in Highbury is officially represented by the Reverend Philip Elton (and later by his wife, the former Miss Augusta Hawkins). However, Mr. Elton is not a good vicar. He is a very worldly man, determined, in Emma's words, to "aggrandize and enrich himself" by marrying the daughter of Mr. Woodhouse and her fortune of £30,000. When he is rejected by her, he departs for Bath, abandoning his flock for several weeks in the depths of winter. There within four weeks he snares Miss Augusta Hawkins of Bristol and her fortune of £10,000. In addition he secures a useful social connection through his wife's sister, Selina "who was very well married to a gentleman in a great way". As Knightley had earlier predicted, Elton did not "mean to throw himself away" by an "imprudent match". Mr. Elton's attitude to Harriet Smith's illegitimacy is most unchristian Harriet's parentage became known. She proved to be the daughter of a tradesman, rich enough to afford her the comfortable maintenance which had never been her's and decent enough to have always wished for concealment. Such was the blood of gentility which Emma had formerly been so ready to vouch for! It was likely to be as untainted, perhaps, as the blood of many a gentleman: but what a connection had she been preparing for Mr. Knightley - or for the Churchills - or even for Mr. Elton! - The stain of illegitimacy, unbleached by nobility or wealth, would have been a stain indeed". Highbury society is rigidly hierarchical: Donwell..............Hartfield...........Randals......Mrs and Miss Bates .......... the Coles.......... the Perrys............Mrs Goddard...........The Martin family ............Harriet Smith. In the course of the novel there is no radical dismantling of the social order. At the end the social status quo still prevails and Jane Austen herself comments approvingly on class division as "what ought to be and must be." In "Emma" marriage is the only means of breaking through the class-barriers of society and experiencing upward social mobility. Mr Elton is determined to improve himself by marrying Emma Woodhouse, his social (and financial) superior. However, he fails and settles instead for Miss Augusta Hawkins, the daughter of a Bristol merchant, with a fortune of £10,000 and a useful social connection. For her the marriage represents a significant step up the social ladder. Through marriage to Robert Martin, a respectable yeoman farmer, Harriet Smith rises from relative poverty and illegitimacy to find a comfortable niche in society. Miss Taylor and Jane Fairfax are elevated through marriage from being governesses (actual and intended) to becoming wives of prosperous, propertied gentlemen. |