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Emma is a novel written by Jane Austen. It is a novel about a charming young girl, who is on the threshold of adulthood and finds out she has a long way to go to become an emotionally mature person. Emma Woodhouse is pretty, outgoing and has the world at her fingertips. She lives by her own rules and is quite confident of herself. This is why she tests the rules of etiquette by looking for a husband for her dear friend Harriet.
Emma loves the word “love”. But, she has taken it upon herself to deny herself this emotion. However, she is determined to ensure that those around her fall in love and live happily ever after. This shows that Emma is a romantic, but does not believe she needs love. After all, Emma has money. Emma craves excitement. This could be the reason why she does what she does in the novel. However, Emma is also a bit naïve. She is in love with the idea of love and is, most times, quite blind to the attentions of the opposite sex. When Emma does fall in love, for her, it is a lot like friendship. Most often, Emma wishes for the status quo of friendship rather than the uncertainty of love. This is how Emma views love.
Family is everything to Emma. She may not know or understand love, but where her family is concerned, Emma is there with the rest of them. Emma lives with her father. He is a crotchety old man, and looking after him could not have been easy for her. Yet, she never once complains.
She is so devoted to her father that she even puts aside the idea of marriage for after her father’s death. She does see how others suffer with their families and cannot imagine anyone living with crotchety people. But, because of her unconditional love for her father, she does not see herself in the same boat as these people. Emma’s love for family extends to outsiders too. For example, she has a bond with those she truly loves, such as, Mrs. Weston, her governess. Emma loves trusts and respects her as she would her own mother.
Before Emma falls in love with Mr. Knightley, they are like brother and sister. This friendship, which later turns to love, is the one constant in Emma’s life when everything else falls around her ears. This is one person who Emma can count on to not judge her mistakes. In fact, he finds them quite amusing. Because of their long friendship, the two can say anything to each other without offending the other. Mr. Knightley is only person Emma is able to argue with and test her ideas with. He is the model for all her escorts. He is the one person who she measures everything else against. Every suitor who comes into Emma’s life is compared to Mr. Knightley.
Although Emma has her mistakes, she has a good heart. This is what ultimately gets her through all her mistakes. Is Emma a true heroine in Jane Austen’s novel? Yes, she most definitely is.