Comment on how Jane Austen sets the scene and introduces themes and characters in Chapter 1.

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CHAPTER 1 OF EMMA:

Comment on how Jane Austen sets the scene and introduces themes and characters in Chapter 1.

Consider how she engages the reader's interest in this opening chapter.

The opening chapter introduces and begins the development of several of the main characters of the novel, including Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Mr. Woodhouse. Emma is pictured as a pretty twenty-one year old girl who is devoted to her father. Mr. Knightley, a thirty-seven year old bachelor and neighbour is shown to be the voice of reason. The ailing Mr. Woodhouse is the doting father who is worried about losing his daughter from Hartfield. Mr. Elton is also introduced through conversation.

The narrator opens the novel by introducing us to Emma Woodhouse, a girl endowed with "some of the best blessings of existence," including good looks, intelligence, riches, and an affectionate father. Emma's only disadvantages are that she is slightly spoiled and that she thinks "a little too well of herself." Emma's mother died before Emma could form many memories of her, but her gentle governess, Miss Taylor, provided a motherly love. After Emma's older sister, Isabella, was married and moved to London, Miss Taylor and Emma became best friends.

"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence" The word "seemed" in this opening paragraph is highly significant. Emma is presented on the surface to be a perfect young lady, leading a comfortable, untroubled existence. However, Emma is being set up for a fall. The word "seemed" indicates the difference between appearance and reality. This is a major theme and it also shows the ironic voice of the narrator. "The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself" We cannot judge Emma's arrogance throughout the novel because she does have redeeming qualities. However, the voice of the narrator gently seems to criticize Emma. Jane Austen has sufficiently aroused our interest so that we want to know more about the characters.

David Lodge states "Jane Austen's opening is classical: lucid, measured, objective, with ironic implication concealed beneath the elegant velvet glove of the style. The first scene subtly sets up the heroine for a fall. This is to be the reverse of the Cinderella story. Emma is a princess who must be humbled before she finds true happiness."

This chapter introduces the novel's title character and protagonist, Emma Woodhouse, at twenty-one the youngest of two daughters. Her father is an indulgent man, while her mother died long ago, leaving Emma to be brought up by Miss Taylor, a governess who 'fell little short of a mother in affection.' However, at the novel's beginning Miss Taylor has just married Mr. Weston, leaving Emma contemplative and lonely. After the wedding she is alone playing backgammon with her father, a generally disagreeable man who tended to indulge his daughter, when Mr. George Knightly, whose brother had married Emma's elder sister. They discuss how Emma will miss the new Mrs. Weston, while Mr. Woodhouse pities Miss Taylor, absurdly thinking her unhappy to be married and thus separated from the Woodhouse household. Emma tries to take credit for the marriage, claiming that she matched Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston. This discussion takes place in a social atmosphere, between family members.

"The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself..."

Within the first few paragraphs of the book, Austen gives the reader an appraisal on Emma Woodhouse. While she is "handsome, clever and rich," she is still spoiled and self-centred, less concerned with Miss Taylor's new happiness than her own loss of a companion. Austen lays out the main 'problem' of the book: Emma must learn to be a better person with greater respect for others. Mr. Woodhouse appears as part of the cause of this: his constant complaints and focus on what he perceives to be his numerous burdens has given him a narrow view of the world that Emma has come to share.

"Sorrow came--a gentle sorrow--but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness. --Miss Taylor married. It was Miss Taylor's loss which first brought grief. It was on the wedding-day of this beloved friend that Emma first sat in mournful thought
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of any continuance." Here there is an overflated loss: as if the marriage were a funeral. The want of Miss Taylor would be felt every hour of every day. She recalled her past kindness--the kindness, the affection of sixteen years--how she had taught and how she had played with her from five years old." It is also ironic in the way that they describe Mrs Taylor's love for them; if Mrs Taylor had been so fond of them then she would not have married. Mrs Taylor does not seem to have any faults; the author only uses positive ...

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