emma jane austen......

Emma written by Jane Austen discusses main character Emma, in search of her friend’s Harriet future husband. Emma acts as a match maker for Harriet. Harriet was described as  “the natural daughter of somebody. Somebody had placed her, several years back, at Mrs. Goddard’s school, and somebody had lately raised her from the condition of scholar to that of parlour-boarder. This was all that was generally known of her history” . Mr. Martin, proposed to Harriet but Emma told Harriet to deny his proposal because he was not of high stature as Emma believed her to be . Although Harriet’s background is unknown, Emma believes that Harriet is the daughter of a nobleman or gentleman and should marry someone of her supposed stature. Emma then introduces her to Mr. Elton and believes that he would be a great match for Harriet. Emma pushed Harriet to want to be with Mr. Elton but it is revealed later that Mr. Elton is infatuated with Emma, not Harriet. Once Mr. Elton found out that Emma wanted him for Harriet, he flees off to Bath and marries someone almost immediately once he got there . Mr. Knightley, Emma’s brother in law, watches Emma’s match making skills and determines that Mr. Martin is a fine fit for Harriet although Emma feels otherwise  . Emma tries again to find someone for Harriet and places her eyes on,  Frank Churchill who was raised by his aunt and taken as her heir. Mr. Knightley does not trust Frank but Emma likes him for Harriet until he chooses to fly to London merely to have his hair cut . Emma meets a woman, Jane, who is very reserved and accomplished for a woman of her time which fills Emma with jealousy.

Mr. Knightley defends Jane, telling Emma that she should pity a woman such as Jane and treat her with the dignity and respect that she deserves as a human being. Mr. Knightley earns the respect of Emma when he dances with Harriet at the ball in which she was humiliated by Mr. Elton when he arrived with his new wife. As time passed, news comes in that Frank’s aunt is deceased. After this fact, Frank declared that he and Jane have been engaged this entire time  but kept it a secret because his aunt said that if this forbidden love continued, he would remove him from her will and his inheritance will be snatched right up from under him. Emma worried about how Harriet would respond to this but she handled it well for Frank is not who she loved. Harriet wanted to be with Mr. Knightley since he is who rescued her at the ball by “leading Harriet to the set”. Emma was disappointed because she too wanted to be with Mr. Knightley. Mr. Knightley then declared his love for Emma and they married. Mr. Martin proposed to Harriet again and this time, she accepted. “Robert Martin and Harriet Smith, the latest couple engaged of the three, were the first to be married”. Jane and Frank wanted to wait til November to be married. Mr. Knightley and Emma determined that their marriage ought to be concluded when friends John  and Isabella allow them the fortnight’s absence in a tour to the seaside, which was the plan”.