Theme of Education in Emma and Northanger Abbey - Coursework Example

Theme of Education in Emma and Northanger Abbey Jane Austin is definitely one of the exceptional novelist who portrayed the life of woman and children more powerfully and successfully dragged the attention of her readers into the problems of the influence of the society in influencing her own characters. Her novels depicted her own living circumstances which she successfully portrayed in her own novel. Jane loved the life around her but she limited herself to her family circle.. She was aware of worldly happenings, the distant thunder of American and French Revolutions, the rise of Napoleon. But without mentioning the common incidents of the time she was able to drag the attention of the readers by the depiction of pure human beings. Most critique regards Jane Austin as a writer of pure novels concentrating upon human beings and their mutual relations. The writer of pure novels delights us by attention to the formal qualities of composition of design and subordination. She is a sophisticated artist working on a trivial subject is a common criticism against her. Emma is a novel of character and of character alone and of one domineering character in particular Emma Woodhouse . Emma is a young woman with acute sense of the divisions of social rank in the town of Highbury where her own family is the first in consequence and large in fortune. The theme of the novel is the heroin’s emergence at the end of the story to see society in true perspective. She endures a private purgatory of same and regret at her behavior and outlook. Emma is treated throughout with irony and Emma is really a heroine wit all possible failing but innately honest. Northanger Abbey is a novel consisting of two parts effectively wielded into one. The bath scenes show the entrance of Catherine into a world of realities. But later in Northanger Abbey the novel takes the style of a Gothic novel. The novel very effectively presents the theme of reality and illusion, the importance of knowing . The author very consciously reminds us the slow transition of the heroine from illusion to reality. Education, in its broad sense, is an act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, personality and character of a person . The transmission of knowledge at any level and of any kind is valuable and it is a fact that we transmit the acquired knowledge at any time. Some such kind of education though informal parts great role in moulding our character and also brings change in our life according to the circumstances. The same happens in the life of Jane Austin when she produced her characters in the novels. She was educated at home. As a mall child she was sent to school at Oxford with her sister Cassandra. Jane had her rest of education by reading books with the assistance of her father and her brother . George Austen provided is daughters with access to is large library and also with expensive papers and other materials to write and draw. Jane’s remark on Jane Fairfax is notable here. “ Living constantly with right minded people and well informed people, her heart and understanding had received every advantage of discipline and culture….( Emma Ch 20). It is evident that one of the major themes in Emma is education. Te stages in the development of Emma forms the plot sequence of the novel. The novel sows how Emma learns lessons about her own self deception , snobbery and unkindness. The novel begins wit the marriage of Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston and ends with the marriage of three pairs of lovers. Emma Woodouse is the second daughter of Mr. Woodhouse of Heartfeild. She is a young girl of twenty-one handsome, clever and rich. Having lost her mother early she has been brought up by an indulgent father and a loving governess Miss Taylor. At the beginning she is spoiled and conceited She is domineering, willful snobbish and at times unfeeling “. Yet she is lovable and caring. The novel is a story of her education it shows how she learns from her mistakes. Jane Austin describes Emma in the beginning of the novel as one who has had too much her own way and a disposition to think a little too well of herself . This threatens not only her enjoyment but also her enjoyment but also the welfare of others. Emma thinks high of herself. She thinks she is clever wise and intelligent. Except Mr. Knightly all the characters praise her. Mr.Woddouse considers her always right. Harriet adores her. Frank Churcill finds her to be shrewd. Such praise leads inevitably to vanity . She herself is aware of this self love and admits to Mr. Knightly that her vain spirit never tells her she is wrong. Emma behaves both as a teacher and a pupil. Mr. Knightly is always her side to correct her. His teaching is not as effective as she herself learns from her own experience. In the beginning itself, Knightly cautions her against playing the role of a matchmaker. But Emma does not listen to him. She peruses vigorously her mission of bringing Elton and Harriet together. But she receives a severe blow when Elton proposes to her instead of falling into her trap. Though she decides not to do her matchmaking anymore she tries to direct Harriet’s attentions towards Frank. Here again Frank starts courting her instead of Harriet. The personal happiness Emma feels through her temporary success in match making proves to be an illusion when she realizes her mistakes. The true aim of the presentation of the society and the relation is to find the inner truth and reality related to it . But Emma never reaches this stage of being, and she makes many mistakes in her judgment in her journey towards maturity. She tries to play the role of a social snob , but she inaccurately measures the characters such as Robert Martin. She later proves that she is a failure in acknowledging the fine qualities which would make him the right mate of Harriet, which was already known to Mr. Knightly. The transformation coming to is a kind of education , learning through experience . Almost all characters suffer because of her false discernment. Thus the novel has chaos and confusion. Emma is a victim of her own illusions and creates a world of her own fancy. Andrew Wright notes Emma’s ‘supreme self confidence and serene delusion. (135). She is a great failure to understand even Mr. Knightly. She does not know herself and also the depth of her relation with Mr. Knightly. The fancy, imagination, and her manipulation of the lives of the people etc are totally based on her false perception. The word Jane coins for her is ‘imaginist’ . She is a victim of false disposition and thinking. The time she takes or learning about herself and also about others is nothing but her life span itself. She was undergoing transformation all through her life. The informal education she receives through her own life experience transforms her. The insight and maturity she attains towards the end of the novel is because of her realization of her own mistakes and the harm they have caused others as well as herself. The ego diminishes when the real Emma starts living. Her personality also changes whenever she confronts with harsh realities of life and her misconception. The evolution into an integrated personality through the results of self recognition is the real aim of education. The integrity leads her to a better person and later a person who agrees with the reality. The materialization of truth brings insight and understanding. It replaces darkness of the mind and fantasy. This is the result of true education which happens at the end of Emma. Jane Austin stresses the transformation coming to the character Catherine in her first novel Northanger Abbey through life experiences or otherwise education. Catherine Morland is an immature and inexperienced young woman who easily believes whatever she’s told by anyone. Even though she had an average education she lack life experiences. The novel pictures the slow development of Catherine through the real estimation of people and events. Catherine differs in her changes over the course of time just like Emma. It is quite relevant to learn the dialogue “ No one who had seen her in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine”.(39) In the novel we can see how Catherine misreads the events and people of her life . The interest of Thorpe’s and the relation of Isabella with Frederick Tilney is different in the eyes of Catherine. Catherine had misconceptions about death of Tinley and also about Northanger Abbey as a mysterious castle. Later we can see Catherine learns the reality about Isabella and thus se starts to transform. Her true education starts from her own experience. The narration of the author about Catharine gives us about her true nature. “ Her situation in life , the character of her mother and father, her own person and disposition , were all equally against her”, “ Catherine is also tin awkward figure , a sallow skin without color dark lank hair, and strong features”, her mind is equally unremarkable” She could never learn or understand anything before she was taught; and sometimes not even then , for she was often inattentive and occasionally stupid “ (40). The transformation coming over Catherine is well portrayed through different stages. At fifteen year old, Catherine exhibits drastic change and the comments made by her father and mother is notable. Catherine’s training was based on poetry, novel etc where she met with different people and different situations. Thus the journey of Catherine to a real heroine was through learning. Here Jane Austin stresses the effect of education in moulding the personality of person. Claire Grogan says “ Northanger Abbey is a text about reading, reading novels , reading people and reading situations(23) . The narrator tells us about the other important characters by stressing on their learning and learning material. Catherine shows indifference comparing to other characters. Even though they learn y reading , Catherine’s misreading in different situations is notable. In bath she she has misconceptions about Thorpe’s interest in her. Se reveals that, “ I am excessively concerned tat he should have any regard for me, but indeed it has been quite unintentional on my side, I never had the smallest idea of it “ (150) . Catherine’s comments about abbey is another instance of her misreading. Catherine believes the words of Henry’s descriptions about it. When she sees it, she finds the difference. Catherine’s interpretation of the events that she sees in her life and the reaction s to it are very important. In most of the situations Catherine reacts to it emotionally than stoically. Later when she realizes the realities she feels to come down to earth. Here she fails to achieve the wisdom which we really expect to gain after education. But the readers of her novels learn from the mistakes of the heroine Catherine. The realization of ‘absurdities of her fancy’ teach lesson to the readers also . Education is knowing the self . Catherine fails to learn by herself. The efforts of Henry to teach her are also futile. He tries to teach her from her experience. He says “Remember that we are English, that we are Christians; consult your own understanding, your own sense of probable. Your own observation of what is passing around you” (165). Catherine’s education cannot be considered as a self acquired knowledge and impractical. Henry always teach her to observe things based on her own experience. The difference and complexity of experience will teach us various kinds of lessons and observing events differently is another pleasurful experience. Catherine always fastened herself to the world of her own reading and learning and observed everything in the light of bookish knowledge. But a free mind to see the detachment from the factual knowledge will help us to have a different out look. This is the real purpose of education. Henry is a character who behaves more freely than Catherine. He succeeds in relating events to that of his real experiences. He knows how to use his imagination and practically relates that to real experiences. Even though Catherine admires all these qualities of Henry she herself is impractical. Life is more interesting if we approach it with more practical mind. Because everyday life changes from time to time, we want to change our own mindsets. Henry proves that real people in life are more interesting the fictional characters. The expected effect of education is a transformation in the real self which enables us to see the realities of life. This happens because of self realization. The effect of education is transformation. Reading novels and relating that to the life ahead may not be truthful always. But dangers that we confront in life are to be treated practically, not with the bookish knowledge but with the power of experiences. The books and education can give us knowledge about human beings but the actual knowledge about life is gained through wisdom. The two heroines undergo the expected transformation. The leaning happens here through self realization. But it is a fact that the process of self realization is very slow. For both characters Catherine and Emma the alteration takes place when they started coming close to the realities. Another fact is that the steps are slow and the effect will be painful. The painful comprehension of the realities is the root cause of change. We can see the characters undergo great mental struggle when they faces the actual self . So education at any level, or of any kind is excruciating and existing . Work cited Austen, J. (1817) Northanger Abbey. 7th ed. New York: Norton and Company Inc Austen , J , Emma , Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003 Read More