CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study A novel is a long prose narrative which
presents the description of the world
chosen by the novelist. In spite of the great number of novels and author
in this world,
the researcher chooses
one of the nineteenth
century’s British literatures,
which come from
the Romantic age
(1798-1870), it is because
of the researcher is interested in love story and social life during that era.
“Romantic age’s novel
is a type
of novel marked
by strong interest
in action and presenting episodes
often based on love,adventures, and combat” (Holman,
1986:438). In the
literary world, people
know so many
English women authors; one of
them is Jane Austen. Jane Austen one of the Romantic age’s novelists, was born on December 16, 1775
in Hampshire in England.
The researcher chooses one of the Jane Austen’s novels Emma, as the object of the study because it is a widely
readand well-thought novel. Her themes of
family, social stratification and
male-female interactions have universal
appeal. In Emma, practically all the characters come from middleclass people
who live in
the village of
Highbury, which was
once on the outskirt
London. There are no very rich people, butneither are there any who are very poor (Calvert, 2003:7).
In the world
of social calls,
dinner parties, dances
and picnics nobody is worried by any social or political
problems. By the time we have 2 finished reading Emma we feel that we know the
heroine and her friends very well indeed.
They may have
done very little
beyond weaving a
rather complicated route
to marriage, but in doing
so they have given
us a well drawn and
most interesting picture
of the social
life and manners
of their times.
The main character
in this novel
is Emma Woodhouse,
she is a young
woman in Regency England. She lives in the village of Highbury with her father, who is principally characterized
by excessive concern for the health and
safety of his loved ones. Emma's friend and only critic is the gentlemanly Mr.
Knightley, her "neighbour" and
brother of her
sister's husband. As the
novel
opens, Emma has
just attended the
marriage of Miss Taylor,
her old governess and best friend. Emma herself
introduced Miss Taylor to her future husband;
Mr. Weston, Emma was very satisfy because
of their marriage, and decides
that she rather likes matchmaking.
Emma tries to
match her new
friend Harriet Smith, a
sweet but none
too bright girl
of seventeen described
as "the natural daughter
of somebody" to
Mr. Elton, the
local vicar. Eventhough it
means that she is
against Mr. Knightley advice. However,
first she must persuade Miss Smith to refuse an
advantageous marriage proposal
from a respectable
young farmer, Mr.
Martin; which is
done. But soon
Mr. Elton declares
he wants to
marry Emma not
the poor and
socially inferior Harriet.
After Emma rejects
Mr.
Elton, he
leaves for a
while, going on
holiday; and Emma now
tries to convince Harriet that Mr. Elton is beneath her
after all.
3 The
arrival of Frank
Churchill, Mrs. Weston's
stepson, whom Emma
has never met,
gives Emma little
air to breath.
The next plot
is presenting Mr. Elton who is
reveals himself to be more and more arrogan and as the story continues Mr. Elton brings a
newcomer,vulgar but very rich wife who
becomes part of Emma's social circle, though the two women soon loathe each other. A third new character is Jane
Fairfax, the reserved but beautiful niece of Emma's impoverished neighbor. Emma,
however, envies her talent in music and
somewhat dislikes her though eventually they become friends. Jane had
lived with Miss
Bates until she
was nine, but
Colonel Campbell, welcomed
her into his
own home where
she became fast
friends with his daughter and
received a first-rate
education. On the
marriage of Miss Campbell,
Jane returned to her relation to regain her health and prepare to earn her living as a governess.
Emma indulges that
Jane was an
unwilling object of
admiration for Miss Campbell's
husband, Mr. Dixon, and that itis for this reason she has returned
home, rather than
going to Ireland
to visit them.
This suspicion is further
fueled by the arrival of a piano for Jane from a mysterious anonymous benefactor.
The plot becomes
quite complex as Emma tries
to make herself fall in love with Frank largely because
everyone says they make a handsome couple. At
this time, Mrs.
Weston wonders if
Emma's old friend Mr.
Knightley might have taken a
fancy to Jane. Emma promptly decides that she does not want Knightley to marry anyone, but
ratherthan further explore these feelings, she
claims that she
wants her nephew
Henry to inherit
the family 4 property. When
Mr. Knightley scolds
her for a
thoughtless insult to
Miss Bates, Emma
is privately ashamed,
and tries to
a tones. Though
the kindhearted Miss Bates
readily forgives her, Jane initially refuses to see her or accept
her gifts causing
Emma to despair
of ever making
amends for her behavior.
She is further discomfited when she learns that Jane and Frank have been secretly engaged for almost a year. When
Harriet confides that she thinks Mr. Knightley
is in love
with her, jealousy
forces Emma to
realize that she loves him
herself. Shortly thereafter,
Mr. Knightley proposes
to Emma, Harriet
reconciles with her
young farmer, Jane
and Emma reconcile
and everyone lives happily ever
after.
In this study
the researcher will
explore the women’s
position in th century
social life in
a novel entitles
Emma written by
Jane Austen.
Researcher will try to explore
the problem using feminist perspective. In this novel,
the writer described
the situation which
represents the woman’s position in their social life at that time
that reflected in the novel. And, the feminism
literary criticism is very appropriate as the critics of the problem.
Researcher has two
reasons why it
is interesting to
study about women’s position in th century England social life in Jane
Austen’s Emma.
First, the story in this novel is
simply about women daily life, the story itself is focused
on women and
their life. Here,
Jane Austen tries
to tell us the
women’s struggle for their life, love
and future. Second, issues about women are
always interesting to be analyzed and the problem faced by women in this novel will lead us to the remarkable attention
about women’s struggle today.
5 The
struggle in getting
equality in rights
and positions are
worth enough to reveal.
Feminist literary criticism means to revealwomen discrimination and subordination
within literary work.
From the reason above
the researcher wants
to analyze the
novel by using feminism
perspective especially their position in
the th century
English social life
that reflected in
the novel entitled Emma by Jane Austen.
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