Value of Emma

In the novel Emma, Austen criticizes the manners and values of the upper class in the English society. According to Avrom Fleishman, Jane Austen noticed the “corruption of society: and that money took precedence over everything else, so, important values ere being “undermined” (283). This is the perspective in which Austen wrote most of her novels including Emma. Austen conveyed the upper-class moral misconduct and abuse of social position during that time period. The character Emma resembles the socially problematic effect of a woman who requires moral discipline and misuses her social power. (Dictionary of Literary Biography) Through development of Emma, Austen is able to effectively criticize the arrogance of the upper class that existed in English society during the Victorian era.
The first example that illustrates the arrogance of English society is shown through Emma's opinion and treatment of Robert Martin, a lower class farmer. Mr. Martin wishes to marry Harriet Smith, ...