Marriage, Love, and Social Class in Jane Austen's Emma

Introduction: Marriage as Social Contract in Emma

Emma, by Jane Austen, is the story of four marriages and the realities that motivated each couple to join together. This paper examines the factors that come into play when characters decide to marry, and the degree of love and emotional attachment each relationship reflects. The unions are considered in order from the least to the greatest degree of emotional attachment and love.

Mr. Elton and Miss Hawkins: A Marriage of Convenience

Emma attempts to make a match between Mr. Elton, the village vicar, and Harriet Smith, a seventeen-year-old woman of undetermined background. In the process of bringing the two together, Harriet becomes enamored with Mr. Elton and rejects a marriage proposal from Robert Martin. Encouraged by Emma, Harriet believes that Martin is beneath her and that Elton would raise her social status.

For his part, Mr. Elton is flattered by the attention Emma gives him during the course of her matchmaking and asks for Emma's hand instead of Harriet's. Emma rejects his proposal, and Mr. Elton soon travels to Bath and marries Miss Hawkins, a woman of some means.

The irony in this marriage is that while Harriet is trying to marry above herself, Mr. Elton is doing precisely the same thing. As George Knightley puts it, "Elton is a very good sort of man, and a very respectable vicar of Highbury, but not at all likely to make an imprudent match. He knows the value of a good income as well as anybody" (58). This marriage is founded on financial and social considerations rather than genuine affection.

Robert Martin and Harriet Smith: Love Beneath Ambition

It is ironic that Harriet ultimately ends up with Robert Martin. It is evident throughout the novel that he has always desired her. She listened to Emma and rejected his initial proposal of marriage in hopes of raising her social and financial standing, but she failed in her attempt to attract Mr. Elton — who was pursuing the same social game — and lost George Knightley as well.

Robert, by contrast, loved Harriet sincerely, as evidenced by George Knightley's account to Emma: "…my brother asked him to dine with them the next day, which he did, and in the course of that visit (as I understand it) he found an opportunity of speaking to Harriet; and certainly did not speak in vain. She made him by her acceptance as happy even as he is deserving" (417). This pair is of equal social standing, and though Harriet had attempted to marry above her station — and it can be argued that she ultimately "settled" — Robert came into the union out of genuine love.

Conclusion

This novel revolves around a number of marriages, and in each case the participants are identified by their social status. At the time this novel was written, social status was determined by a number of factors including family background, reputation, and wealth. Marriage was understood as one of the primary methods of raising one's social standing.

The degree of emotional attachment and love varies with each union in the novel. In the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Elton, he married chiefly to raise his social status. In the marriage of Harriet and Robert Martin, both parties came from a lower social rank, though his motivation was love rather than calculation. In the case of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax, the marriage ultimately raised her social position. The varied motives and circumstances that drove each couple together only deepen the meaning of Emma's observation that "I suppose there must be a hundred ways of being in love" (43).

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Emma. New York: The Heritage Press, 1964.