Emma

Rating:
Summary: Miss Woodhouse Explains It All
Review: Emma Woodhouse is easily Jane Austen's most annoying character. She's young, knows absolutely everything about everything, is the judge of everyone's good character and takes those around her for granted, despite frequently praising her friends and relations. She is, for all intents and purposes, the 18th century version of daddy's little rich girl.

How can a book about such a person be so captivating? The short answer is simply: because Jane Austen wrote it. The long answer is several hundred printed pages and well worth the read.

Much of the story is the typical Jane Austen framework, but the character of Emma is entirely different from many of the other main figures in Austen's works. While her other heroines have plenty of outstanding qualities and several flaws, Emma has plenty of flaws and several outstanding qualities. It's the central, exceptional qualities that make Emma a worthwhile character, but the flaws - and her growing consciousness of them - that make her loveable.

Countering Emma is the younger, and more gullible, Harriet Smith. She becomes Emma's project when Emma learns of her situation in life and is determined to improve it by befriending her. Emma's increasing awareness of her own flaws footnote their friendship, as she is forced to admit to being something of a snob, and a meddler.

There are all sorts of loud and obnoxious people in "Emma", and Austen's orchestration of the interaction among them is, as always, brilliant. The character of Mrs. Elton alone is one of my favorite "bad examples" of all times. This is perhaps the downright funniest of Austen's books, but in ways it is also the happies and the saddest. Miss Woodhouse and Miss Smith are in the throws of adolescence, where everything is either tragic or blissful.

I typically say that "Pride & Prejudice" and "Northanger Abbey" are my favorite Austen works, but secretly it might be truer to say that "Emma" is. It's not as clever as "Pride" or as satirical as "Northanger", but the way in which Emma is forced to open her eyes to the world - and the way it continues to revolve, and evidently not around herself - is really something most of us can relate to all too well.

Incidentally, the movie version of "Emma", starring Gwyneth Paltrow, isn't bad, but if you haven't seen it yet, please do yourself the favor of reading the book first. As always, there is so much in the pages that is ignored on the screen. Then, when you're done reading, watch "Clueless" again, which isn't nearly as true an adaptation, but is a funnier movie.