Over the past few decades, social inequalities such as class, gender and race have been the leading cause in our world's societal problems. What leads one to believing that an individual is inferior to him based on his or her possessions or appearance? Emma by Jane Austen reflects upon the norms of nineteenth century’s England. Austen has always tried to address the social issues in her works such as Pride & Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma. In order to have a clearer understanding of the social conflicts criticized in Emma, one has to look closely at the social structure of the time and place of Austen’s real life situation. Austen comes from nineteenth century England, a time when social status was weighed by the wealth, background of one’s family, and reputation. During that time, one’s family background was vital to one’s social status. Even if someone was rich and of good character, it didn’t guarantee them the same social status someone who belongs to a family with more gently bred background. Apart from that, another defining factor of the society was gender discrimination against women. Women didn’t have much freedom and they couldn’t seem to have their own life without a man. The main character of the story, Emma, is based on Austen, herself. Austen, like Emma, didn’t feel the need to marry. She got engaged to a wealthy man Harris Big-Wither, but the very next morning, she realized that she didn’t love him. Even though she never got married, her works like Emma had romance and marriage as their focus. Her own life experience and norms of society she grew up in, can be seen reflected in the story Emma. Thus, Through the use of social class, gender roles, and moral relativism or (motifs), Austen reflects upon 19th century Britain’s societal conflicts caused by gender discrimination against women and importance of family background in determining social class.
First of all, Austen has highlighted the theme of social class being an important factor in defining the relationships of people of that time which, of course, is unhealthy for relationships in general as it makes people judge the others based on their social status rather than the strength of their character. The value of social class in defining the relationships can clearly be seen in Emma’s relationship with Harriet Smith. Emma has a high social position in the community of Highbury as she comes from one of the wealthiest families of the place. She, apart from interacting with the people of the same social class, also has to deal with the characters that are not on equal level due to her social responsibilities. Such socially less fortunate characters include the poor families who live on such as Miss Bates (who is neither young, nor rich) (Bloom 9). The class differences between Harriet Smith and Emma become obvious when she tries to bring Harriet to the same social level as her. It can be seen clearly in the following example from the text:
“She would notice her; she would improve; she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; she would form her opinions and manners.” (Austen 21)
Despite the fact that seems to be a good person, it is obvious that she does not belong to the high class. It is even asserted that she would not have been accepted in the high class, if it wasn’t for Emma’s personal influence. Emma herself can be found discriminating on the basis of class in the following excerpt from the text:
“A young farmer, whether on horseback or on foot, is the very last sort of person to raise my curiosity. The yeomanries (class of farmers) are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do. A degree to two lower, and a creditable appearance might interest me; I might hope to be useful to their families in some way or other. But a farmer can need none of my help, and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below it” (Austen 59)
Furthermore, social status and wealth was all people saw in potential suitor. Even Emma considered Mr. Elton to be fit for her when she did consider him as her husband (Handler and Segal 128). This unnecessary distinction in classes judges the people for their family backgrounds and riches instead of the strength of character and potential to be successful as a person which leads to unwanted complications in life that would have been avoided, if not for the class difference.
In addition to addressing the discrimination based on social class, another major criticism posed by Emma on the society of nineteenth century Britain is the gender discrimination rooted deeply in the social structure. This discrimination was of norm in those days. Although we see Emma as a strong, independent, beautiful and socially accepted woman, Austen makes it clear that Emma is an exception to what was the norm in the society of that time.
“Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls, but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as anybody else.” (Austen 81)
Not many women could claim to be socially accepted independent of their husbands. Marriage was one of the most vital part of a woman’s life. In fact, it was the role a woman had to take for the rest of her life, as it was as an approach for a woman to raise her social status. Marriage was also vital for the women of that time, as they were denied all other means of increasing her social status if she wasn’t married. Most of the women in the story lacked the financial independence Emma was enjoying, thus had just a few options left to them for their future. Most of the professions were thought of as inappropriate for the women (except for prostitution, which wasn’t really a fit choice for a socially accepted woman) and thus, left women to choose from the few they could. A prime example for this is the character named Jane Fairfax. Jane has almost all of the qualities that Emma possess, save for the financial stability. Lacking the financial security, she can’t enjoy the social security same as Emma and has only two viable options left to her for her future: marriage or governess. Many other females in the novel are compelled to make similar choices. As for Emma herself, despite the fact that she was luckier than the other girls around her, even her choices for the future were limited. She could either decide to go for marriage or live as a wealthy bachelor girl (such girls were also looked down upon in the society). This gender discrimination had the women of that time subject to men and be dependent on them to live a respectable life. The portrayal of gender discrimination in the novel finds its reasons in the discrimination Austen herself had to face in her life. She had to deal with the similar situation as Emma in her life. She had to submit to the oppression. She never married to anyone and thus, could not claim her own novels publicly. This is the reason that she relied on support of her family, instead of being independent (Brown 5).
Lastly, Austen has shed light on the lack of moral relativity in Emma herself and those around her which makes her treat the people around her wrongfully. For the most part of the novel, Emma believes that she knows the right decision to take for the people around her. She mistakenly thinks that she has a right to take decisions of her friend’s life. She even believes that she has a right to determine Harriet’s husband. This made Emma look like a controlling person which Emma surely never wants to be. It can be seen from the following from the text:
“Dear Harriet, I give myself joy of this. It would have grieved me to lose your acquaintance, which must have been the consequence of your marrying Mr. MartinI could not have visited Mrs. Robert Martin, of Abbey-Mill Farm.” (Austen 48).
Harriet refused Mr. Martin just because Emma didn’t approve. Harriet is not the only character around whom Emma behaves this way. She engages in the similar behavior with Frank Churchill, Mr. Elton, Mr. and Mrs. Weston, etc. Later in the novel, Emma realizes the mistakes in her behavior towards Miss Bates at Box Hill. She reevaluates her behavior towards the others and comes to know that her controlling behavior towards those around is due to her arrogance and ego. As Meng explains:
“Because Emma’s sins are both social and moral, her most significant growth takes place when she changes her point of view toward her social and moral responsibilities, particularly in her acceptance of the lower classes, her charity to the less fortunate, and a reversal of her jealousy toward those who are superior to herself.” (Meng 48)
(Meng 48). Here, Austen poses criticism to the society and how people have different morals for others than they do for themselves. Emma wouldn’t want anyone controlling her life or taking decisions for her, but she does this to the other people in her life without giving it much thought for the most part of the novel. This sort of behavior is destructive in relationships.
In conclusion, the social criticism in Emma reflects the conditions of nineteenth century Britain. Austen addresses the issues pertaining to social class, gender discrimination, and moral relativism during that time and shows how issues like difference in class and gender discrimination made the life of the characters more complicated than it should have. In the character Emma, Austen has demonstrated her own image and addressed the same problems as Austen faced herself. Women in that society couldn’t pursue their dreams and desires and had very few options when it comes to deciding their future. Furthermore, the discrimination based on social class was an issue faced by both genders. Only the wealthy and people belonging to gently bred families could be a part of social class. This encouraged people to judge based on wealth and familial glory, something which one cannot control, instead of vital things in life like content and strength of character and potential to grow as a person. Discrimination based on gender restricted the future prospects of most women to either marry or go into a low paying job with no social status or financial security. Lack of moral relativity, even in the best of characters, shows how much intellectual depth was missing from the society at that time of the century. Emma paints an ugly picture of nineteenth century Britain in terms of liberty and intellectual capacity in the general population.
References
Austen, Jane. Emma. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Emma - Jane Austen. New York: Infobase Pub., 2010. Print.
Brown, Lloyd W. 'Jane Austen And The Feminist Tradition'. Nineteenth-Century Fiction 28.3 (1973): 321-338. Web.
Handler, Richard, and Daniel Alan Segal. Jane Austen And The Fiction Of Culture. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1990. Print.
Meng, Brittany A. The Enduring Austen Heroine. Lynchburg, Va.: Liberty University, 2010. Print.
