A look at Jane Austen’s Emma
(Disclaimer: This blog contains spoilers, so if you have not read or seen Emma , or other Jane Austen works, proceed with caution.) You may have guessed that I recently finished reading Emma by Jane Austen, which is known to be one of the top favorites of her works. I did quite enjoy it myself and I agree that it is entertaining for being generally uneventful. As I was reaching the conclusion, I realized that each novel I read before this one had some disastrous event occur before the end. In Sense and Sensibility , Marianne Dashwood falls terribly ill and everyone is in fear of her not recovering. Pride and Prejudice , Lydia Bennett runs off with Mr. Wickham and shames her family. Mansfield Park , Henry Crawford, supposedly in love with Fanny Price, runs off with her married cousin, Maria Rushworth. Mostly scandal, but always exciting in some way. Emma lacks this exciting turn of events, unless you count the discovery of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax’s secret engagement.