In Jane Austen’s lifetime was very different. Boys were more important than girls. Boys were taught more than girls and boys were taught more important subjects like, maths, science, history, geography and French. Girls were taught these, but were taught domestic and artistic subjects like, cooking, sewing, piano and singing. Boys went into politics, and well paid jobs. Girls usually stayed at home and did sewing, cooking, playing the piano and painting. Some women became governesses, which was a teacher for the daughter who lived with the family. They did not get paid well and were not highly respected and did not have very good working conditions. Women had no power as they had no power to vote or anything to do with the government. Women had a little bit of social power and financial power through marriage, which is why marriage was so important in her days. When a couple were married, the man owned everything, even the women. If women were not married by 21, the family started to get worried. An unmarried woman had to live with the family.
The eldest son of a family inherited land, any titles, family responsibilities and the house and business. The second son was encouraged in a living like a vicar, and third and other boys usually took up carers in the army or navy as officers. The girls were usually seen to become married and look after the house. In those days people did not marry for love, but they married for power.
In this novel, Jane uses her characters and events to examine the issues of marriage and women’s lives.
Emma and Harriet’s friendship is a very odd friendship, because Harriet is lower / middle class where as Emma is higher class. Usually people did not mix with other classes, especially higher and lower. Emma therefore tries to bring Harriet into society, so she could go to the parties and mix with higher people. In this friendship, Jane has used her characters to examine the issues of women's lives and the class system.
Jane Austen also uses an authorial voice, by making her characters say things that examine the issues of marriage and women's lives. Jane adds her own thoughts into the novel, by using her characters to say and do things. An example of this is when Robert Martin, who is a lower class farmer, proposes to Harriet. Jane makes Emma say,
‘Mr Martin is only a farmer – he is not your equal or mine. If you married him, I could never visit you.’
This shows that different classes cannot mix and that when a couple get married the women become the class of the men. So, in this case Harriet would become a lower class woman, instead of a lower/middle class. Emma, who is a higher class woman, would not be able to meet Harriet, if she married Robert Martin. This is another way Jane has used her characters, to examine issues.
When Mr Weston and Miss Taylor get married everyone seems happy. This shows that getting married makes a lot of people Happy. But it does make Emma and Mr Woodhouse sad, because Miss Taylor, who was their friend and Emma’s teacher, who used to live with them, had to move away to live with Mr Weston when they got married. Jane has used this to examine Marriage, because when a couple got married the man owned everything and so Miss Taylor, who became Mrs Weston, had to move in with Mr Weston.
Jane also shows that the man owns everything and that the women had to live with him, when Mr Knightley wanted to ask Emma to marry him.
“He wanted to ask Emma to marry him but was worried that Mr Woodhouse would be very upset if Emma had to leave Hartfield and went to live in Mr Knightley’s house.”
This examines women's lives and marriage because it shows that the couple had to live together as the man owned everything.
Emma is wealthy and so there is no pressure for her to marry like other women. Jane used her character to show another aspect of marriage by not putting Emma under any pressure to get married where as Harriet is under pressure to marry to get into society. Emma is already into society and therefore does not need to marry as much as Harriet. Emma does get married in the end, but that is for love, not for gaining in society or class.
At the ball at the Crown Inn, Mr Elton refuses to dance with Harriet Smith. When Mrs Weston suggests that Mr Elton should dance with Harriet Smith, Mr Elton says,
“If only I were not an old married man!”
This event shows us that he will not dance as he is married. This event examines marriage, by showing us that the man owns the women he has married and so can not get too close to another woman.
Overall, this book examines the issues of women's lives and marriage in Jane Austen’s time very well. We learn a lot about how marriage worked in those days. We can also see how women’s lives were mainly spent at home, and how they gained power from whom they married. Jane has examined these issues very well in this novel using characters and events like I have showed.
