Emma: A Literary Analysis On Character Technique

Continued...

Harriet Smith and Tai Fraiser, her modern successor, resemble one another almost perfectly. In Emma, Harriet Smith is the bumbling protege of Miss Woodhouse, she "is a new and temporarily absorbing interest" (Gooneratne 136) as she lives at Miss Woodhouse's beck and call. She worships Emma to such an extreme that she cannot even make the simplest decisions with out consulting her mentor. Tai Frasier, the Clueless version of the uncultured Harriet, can be similarly recognised by her thick New York accent and East Coast fashion style that stands apart from the dress of her popular classmates. Out of boredom and a hint of pity, Cher adopts Tai as their next "project" and tries to mould Tai into a young socialite in her own image. "Jane Austen attempts to perpetrate Harriet Smith's simple-mindedness through the depiction of the Ford's scene" (Gooneratne 154) and displays Harriet's flighty and dim-witted personality through dialogue. Harriet utters, "Yes - no - yes, to Mrs. Goddard's. Only my pattern gown is at Hartfield. No, you shall send it to Hartfield, if you please. But then, Mrs Goddard will want to see it. - And I could take the pattern gown home any day. But I shall want the ribbon directly - so it had better go to Hartfield - at least the ribbon. You could make it into two parcels, Mrs. Ford, could not you?" (Austen 242) Dialogue uncovers Harriet's inability to speak eloquently and her inability to make a decision, and ultimately emphasises her simpleton and less cultured personality. To further embellish the subordinate quality of Harriet's personality, Austen makes the reader aware that Emma makes all Harriet's decisions to which Harriet unquestioningly responds "Aye that would be much best" (Austen 243). In Clueless, the viewer perceives Tai Frasier as an mindless follower who relies on Cher for ultimate approval. Cher coaches Tai in all social corners while telling Tai what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. For example, Cher mentions that, "the slackers hang out on the grass over there" (Clueless) and then points to another group saying, "if your going to date someone, those are the only guys who are acceptable" (Clueless). Tai dotes upon Cher's every word as if she would not be able to do anything without instruction. The reader sees that Harriet and Tai's lack of independent action makes them Emma and Cher's simple minded puppets. Although many similarities remain between the characters, the Meridian Broadcasting Ltd movie version of Emma over exaggerates Harriet and bestows her with a more flitty and air headed quality than in the novel.

Emma Woodhouse and Cher Horowitz share many similarities. Through dialogue and action the two women become the most comprehensively developed characters. Austen allows the reader to become intimately involved with Emma through her inner thoughts and incessant talking. Emma, an upper class snob, possesses an acute sense of social rank in Highbury where her family is first in consequence and large fortune. Emma derides those of lower social standing and plainly rejects any one below genteel. The haughty attitude is evidenced when the spoiled Emma attempts to isolate herself from the yeomanry: "A young farmer, whether on horseback or on foot, is the very last sort of person to raise my curiosity. The yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do. A degree or two lower, and a creditable appearance might interest me; I might hope to be useful to their families in some way or other. But a farmer can need none of my help, and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below it" (Austen 59). Emma proudly demonstrates her stuck up and elitist attitude while Jane Arden believes that "Emma Woodhouse is by far the most egotistical character" (109) in Emma and that Miss Woodhouse is "addicted to admiration and praise" (109). Austen also uses Miss Woodhouse's actions as a personality descriptor. When Miss Taylor marries Mr. Weston, Emma initially isolates herself and then amuses herself by adopting a new friend, Harriet. The reader perceives that by choosing the feeble-willed Harriet Smith, Emma possess a forceful personality and always wants to always be in control. As described by Arden, Emma believes that tenderness "means weakness, lack of will, a softness of character which allows itself to be controlled" (26). This compulsive perfectionist tendency is reinforced when Austen says of Emma, "so always first and so always right"(84). Similarly, Cher Horowitz comments, "I don't know why they go out with high school boys"(Clueless) about her other less chic high school classmates. Even Cher's friends note the socially superior attitude when they say, "Cher's got an attitude with high school boys" (Clueless). Cher, akin to Emma, eventually develops a predicament when she discovers that her social prodigy, Tai, turns out to be the perfect image of herself. Consequently, Tai becomes obsessive like Cher and laments, "I felt impotent and out of control which I really hate!" (Clueless). Most importantly, Austen cleverly relays her story line entirely through the main characters' points of view to make the reader empathize with women whom would otherwise have been perceived as snobbish and self-centered. An alert reader realizes the shrewd quality in Austen's choice to use the main heroine's perspective to narrate the story. If the story were told from any other point of view, the reader might not have the same compassion for Emma or Cher's trivial and egocentric problems. However, Austen and Heckerling powerfully narrate the stories from the snobbish point of view to evoke reader compassion and almost cause the reader to adopt the same aristocratic attitude of the heroines; irregardless of how ridiculous they might appear. The Meridian Broadcasting Ltd interpretation of Emma Woodhouse translates quite closely to the original rendering of the story. We perceive Emma to be less high minded in the movie because we are exposed to fewer of her inner thoughts, but the production is ultimately more similar than different.

Jane Austen's Emma is so well composed and her characterization techniques are developed so competently that there exist no appreciable differences between the original characters, motifs and their contemporary companions. Both succeeding translations of Emma are rare in that they each remain very true to the original author's novel and style. Heckerling remains faithful Jane Austen's character portrayals because they are inherently illustrated in manner that easily translates in a modern setting. The Meridian Broadcasting Ltd also creates a world almost exactly parallel to the classic Emma in a movie version because Austen's creative genius requires the most minimal amount of retooling. Clearly, Jane Austen is so effective in utilizing actions to articulate intriguing characters that successive interpreters of Emma faithfully emulate her style to produce popular and modern portrayals of an otherwise ordinary story line.

Works Cited

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