Emma by Jane Austen (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

By Bright Summaries

Unlock the more straightforward side of Emma with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Emma by Jane Austen, which centres around the title character, an attractive and intelligent young woman. In spite of her considerable charms, Emma has no interest in attracting a suitor for herself; rather, she focuses her attentions on matchmaking for those around her, including her young friend and protégé Harriet Smith, with frequently disastrous results. This blinds her to other people’s true intentions, including those of George Knightley, whose gentlemanly demeanour and willingness to criticise her mask the depth of his feelings. Emma remains one of Austen’s most loved works, and has inspired numerous adaptations.

Find out everything you need to know about Emma in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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• Language: English
• Publisher: BrightSummaries.com
• Release date: Mar 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9782808015196

Book preview

ENGLISH NOVELIST

Born in Steventon in 1775.

Died in Winchester in 1817.

Notable works:

Pride and Prejudice (1813), novel

Mansfield Park (1814), novel

Persuasion (1818), novel

Jane Austen was born in Hampshire in 1775, the daughter of an Anglican rector. Although the Austens had a modest income, Jane and her siblings were encouraged to read widely. She wrote her first spoof novella, Love and Freindship (1790) – misspelling deliberate – when she was just 14. Jane apparently read excerpts of the work aloud to her family, developing a writing style characterised by social observation and wit.

In 1801, Jane moved from Hampshire to Bath with her parents and sister Cassandra. Their life in the city was cut short, however, when her father died in 1805. Jane, her mother and Cassandra finally settled in the village of Chawton, where Jane wrote her most famous novels: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey (1818) and Persuasion. In 1816, at the age of 41, she became ill and died the following year, possibly of Addison’s disease. She continued to write until the very end and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

A COMEDY OF MANNERS

Genre: novel

Reference edition: Austen, J. (1966) Emma. London: Penguin.

1stedition: 1816

Themes: youth, class, romance, conceit, marriage, matchmaking

Emma was the last novel Jane Austen saw published in her lifetime; Persuasion, written in the months before her death, was published posthumously in 1818. While preparing to write Emma, Austen declared: I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like. Indeed, her eponymous heroine is far from flawless, with