Family relationships Essay -- English Literature

Family relationshipsIt is debatable whether family relationships are central to the novelEmma and are indeed the foundations on which Highbury is built.Families may be viewed as objects of satire, as those feature are asource of financial rather than emotional have a bun in the oven. Throughout thenovel, status is built upon class position, material possession andfinance, its characters eager to display such(prenominal) qualities. This essayshall demonstrate the emphasis placed upon wealth and social status,identify and interpret corresponding family units, as well as explorethe drill of match-making and marital agreements.The large proportion of families, contradict the perception thatfamily relationships are the core of the novel and the foundations ofHighbury life. For, families featured are predominantly broken orincomplete. The Woodhouses are one of the more than prominent examples ofrich yet emotionally lacking families in Highbury. For, therelationship between Emma and he r father involves constant humouringon Emmas part. Mr Woodhouse is an example of Austens use ofexaggerated and satirical humour in order to emphasise theinadequacies of many families and individual members. With the deathof Emmas mother, a governess Ms Taylor acts as a permutation and theonly source of emotional dependence for Emma. However, in light of MsTaylors marriage to Mr Weston, it can be said that the clear sourceof family support and intimacy is removed, deepening the instabilityof the Woodhouse family at Hartfield. The absence of strong familyrelationships with regards to the Woodhouses, reinforce ideas thatrelationships are not at the core of society.The relationship between Mr Weston and his son bluff Churchill... ...or financial motives. Austen therefore suggests thatmany choices were made even though husband and wife did not evenrespect each other and indicate the sham of money in society.Although socially appropriate marriages, according to status are stillapparen t by the end of the novel, some superficiality associated withcharacters ceases to continue. In particular, Emma with regards to sign match-making schemes and the initial narrow minded views thatshe possesses. Emma and Mr Knightly, Harriet with Mr Martin and Janewith Frank Churchill contradict the frequent number of marriages basedupon the wrong reasons in the 18th century. There is hope thereforethat the current families created would have valued the importance offamily relationships to therefore change the foundations of Highbury,so that they would have indeed become central to the society.