In "Emma" Jane Austen presents a picture of an inward looking community, limited in outlook. Does this view fit with your reading of the novel?

Just focusing on the village of Highbury allows the reader to grasp an idea of the importance of social status from the novel, it is clear that Jane Austen intended to have social status play a major part in “Emma” so that it reflects the time in which it was written. Jane Austen has also allowed readers to become aware of the social groupings and the way people socialized. Highbury shows the reader how the social status affects small communities; all characters within the novel are concerned with all aspects of social status. Many characters in 'Emma' are of the same social status this allows the reader see that a person would be judged on their position. If the setting of “Emma” was not limited we would not be able to detect in detail the awareness of social status. Miss Bates is the main character in which social status is demonstrated. Miss Bates socialises with Emma and people of Emma's status, even though she is inferior to them. Miss Bates is shown respect by people of higher status than her, 'how could you be so unfeeling to Miss Bates', Mr Knightley forces Emma to acknowledge how rude and inconsiderate she was to Miss Bates.

        Even though it is a limited community, the novel does give a sense of a wider society. Mr Knightley  travels to London and Mr. Elton to Bath. John Knightley and his wife only visit Highbury which is the same for Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill. This means that they are more socially mobile and gives more of a social variety.

        The main purpose of the limited community is to focus attention on the central characters which are Emma Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, Frank Churchill, Harriet and Jane Fairfax. It fixes the reader’s attention in identifying with the characters and allows them to learn each character’s personality in more detail. It also enables the development of relationships to be intensified. For example, the relationship between Emma and Mr. Knightley would not have been so interesting in the novel if their characters were not displayed as much to the reader. It also creates deeper knowledge of the village itself and its inhabitants because the novel is constantly concentrated on the village of Highbury. All of these factors enable Austen to have much more dramatic impact overall.

        Concentration on the village itself, the aspect of social status and the social drama of close family relationships are what give Jane Austen’s novels their artistic intensity and dramatic impact.