Jane Austen presents the importance of family wealth in Regency England, as it is the defining factor of one’s position in the social hierarchy. It is made evident early in the story that Emma Woodhouse’s family is powerful, “The Woodhouses were first in consequence there. All looked up to them”. Social order is important in this novel as it is the cause of Emma’s initial inflated ego. Emma is pretentious and snobby as a result of her position in society.
“Studying a pair of texts provides insights into the values of different contexts.” To what extent is this true of the two texts you have studied? Amy Heckerling has managed to creatively transform her 1995 teen film ‘Clueless’ into one of Jane Austen’s classic novels, ‘Emma’ (1815) by sustaining the same significant and important values and elements despite living in different contexts. This is depicted through the contrasting of cinematic techniques and narrative structure. The progress of the importance of social hierarchies and the revolution of self-realization is produced to be invariable. ‘Emma’ exposes the impacts of social hierarchies in the way people interact and behave with each other.
In the book Emma, Emma Woodhouse is known for getting herself involved in other people’s business. She comes from a long line of wealth and power which allows her to think she can do whatever she wants. Emma’s new friend Harriet has fallen for a farmer named Robert Martin. However, Emma sees him as below her social class as well as Harriet’s, so she attempts to set Harriet up with Mr. Elton, a more high class gentleman. When Harriet receives a letter from Mr. Martin proposing marriage, Emma lets her make a decision and then tells her that refusing the proposal was the right choice.
“Do you dare to suppose me so great a blockhead, as to not know what a man is talking of?” What does Austen reveal through misunderstandings and cluelessness in ‘Emma’ and other works? Jane Austen’s novels are known for their depiction of the lives of young women who are represented as heroines and embark on a journey towards clarity and understanding and growth towards maturity. In the time period of Austen’s writing the expectations for women were for them to find a man with wealth who could offer them financial stability and a comfortable way of life. This can be demonstrated through the opening statement from Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, that it is ‘a truth universally acknowledged that a single man, in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife’ and that a man is considered to be ‘the rightful property of someone or other of their daughters’ (Ch. 1).
Transformations Essay “The Study of transformation explores the tension between continuity and change. “ Explore how this statement is true. Amy Heckerling’s film, Clueless, as a transformation of Jane Austen’s novel, Emma, explores the tension between continuity and change. Emma, written in the early 1800s, reflects the values and class hierarchy of the Regency period. Heckerling’s film has transformed Emma into a dramatic twentieth century teen flick that both exemplifies and undercuts the contemporary culture of 1990s Los Angeles defined by consumption and appearance while still maintaining aspects of Emma’s narrative and characterisation.
The transformation of the Jane Austen’s novel Emma into the Amy Heckerling’s ‘teen-pic’ Clueless, involves changing the original text in to another medium set in a different context to allow a re-assessment of the values present in the text thus enabling the audience to gain a greater insight and appreciation of the ideals and concerns outlined by Austin in Emma. The themes presented by Austin in Emma are universal and timeless which enables Heckerling to adapt them to a context a modern audience can reflect and relate to, thus generating a greater understanding of the social commentary made by Austen on social class, marriage and education of the 19th century. Heckerling does not devalue Emma and the essence of what is said is not changed however Heckerling goes further than just a transformation and comments on modern issues such as sexuality, education and social equality relevant to her time. This allows the texts to resonate with each other with the known reflecting upon the new and the new reflecting on the known. Both Emma and Clueless deal with a society in which social structure and values are criteria for assessing people.
The Regency era of the early 19th century, of which Austen has set her novel, was a time greatly to do with social status and propriety. If one did not own enough of good fortune, they were considered beneath those who did, and certainly not worthy of marrying above their social status. This is the case where Emma wrongfully suggests that Harriet Smith, the 17 year old daughter of nobody knows whom, is worthy of more than the marriage of Mr Martin, a common farmer. Emma was convinced that Harriet was gentleman’s daughter, when in fact, there was no proof of this, and so of a general rule, Mr Martin should have been considered of at a higher standard of social status than Harriet, and well worth her hand, of which Emma, in attempted discreet, influenced her to decline. Emma deucedly in herself, chose to view Harriet as an almost-equal to herself (though no-one could quite be as “perfect” as her), thus leading to Harriet’s greatest downfall.
Victoria motherhood is about making sacrifices and a strict adherence to morality. How far do you agree with the view that both Nora in Ibsen’s a dolls house and Mrs Arbuthnot in Wildes a woman of no importance are victims of a society biased in favour of men. In both “A Woman Of no Importance” and “A Doll’s House” Ibsen and Wilde present the victimisation of women in Victorian society, who were biased to men, in different ways. The Victorian ideologies that women were expected to follow where very restrictive in comparison to the twenty-first century views. The ideologies focus on domestic roles that a woman should partake in.
To completely change tradition would result in chaos as he even foreshadows the downfall of the newly installed French government. To change the views of women in society, Wollstonecraft asserts that women should be properly educated as she states that “a little learning is required to support the character of gentleman…But in the education of women, the cultivation of the understanding is always subordinate to the acquirement of some corporeal accomplishment” (Wollstonecraft, 22). Once women are well educated, Wollstonecraft uses the word “friend” to describe the relationship between the husband and wife (Wollstonecraft, 28). The use of the word friend not only suggests social equality but, more importantly, intellectual equality. Traditionally, women have always been seen as entirely devoted to the domestic sphere of the family which over the years have
Her newfound love with Robert browning made her feel insecure, BB reversing the role of the conventional women in sonnet 14 she demanded Robert to love her for who she is as a person not by her physical appearance “if thou must love me let it be for nought, except for loves sake only “By doing so, BB gains a sense of security and freedom to love truly as she challenges the values of the Victoria era and its goal to be the ideal women. BB subverts the expected conventions of her homocentric society in Sonnet 32 as she sees love even physical love as based more on the souls intensity and the deep connection between one another “Neath master-hands , from instruments defaced , -- great souls at one stroke , may do and doat “ these closing lines contrast the attitudes of The Great Gatsby as BB expresses Robert and Herself as imperfect people and that they share an