"Emma" - Book Review by Rafath Begum of BA Final Year

Picture Credit : Special Arrangement

The book “EMMA” was written by “Jane Austen” and published by “John Murray” in the year 1815. Jane Austen was an English novelist. She wrote many books of romantic fiction about the landed gentry. Her works made her one of the most famous and beloved writers in English literature. She is one of the great masters of the English novel and her style of writing is a mix of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Austen created a transition into Romanticism, which encouraged passion and imagination in writings, instead of a strict and a stale writing style. Mixing these two styles, was one of the strongest talents of Austen, which gave her an edge in the literary world. Austen’s writings stand out for their comedy, self-awareness, and realistic detailed portrayals of characters and their relationships.

Emma is one of the best books of Austen and at the same time her last published book too. Emma is the central character of the story. She is indeed beautiful, wealthy, and smart, who was nearly twenty years old. Although she is convinced that she will never marry, but still believes that she is an excellent matchmaker. As she tells her father and her dear friend Mr. Knightley, that recently she had arranged the marriage of her former governess, Miss Taylor, and the widower Mr. Weston, and after such a clear success, Emma is determined to make another match. Mr. Knightley, who is also the brother-in-law of Emma's elder sister, is another important character and also the love interest of Emma. The story proceeds fascinatingly, as there are a lot of misunderstandings being aroused between the characters. In the story, the central character goes through a lot in her life and changes her thought about not getting married, and realizes her love for Knightley.

The story ends with a beautiful climax, Emma gets married to her love Mr.Knightley. The wishes, the hopes, the confidence, and the predictions, of the elegant bond of the true friends, who witnessed the ceremony, were fully assured of the perfect happiness of the union.

To conclude, I would just say that, Emma is one of the best writings of Jane Austen. I enjoyed the process of reading the book, and also I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at the central character Emma, who had several misunderstandings. And according to my visualization, the story focuses on three themes love, attraction, and misunderstanding. Moreover, I got to know, how people used to live and think in the past. I loved the way how the characters developed for a good reason and of course, the writing style of Jane Austen attracts the reader to read the novel.