Parody And Irony In Jane Austen's Emma

Abstract This research paper aims at analyzing the heroine of Jane Austen`s novel Emma and to show the position of women in her society and how this reflects the suffering of women in a global context both in her time and now. The research paper argues that the author has used various tools including parody and irony to reveal the position of women in the society at her time. The novel Emma was written by Jane Austen in the tear 1816. The novels that she writes show her as a moral writer who strives to establish a criterion of sound judgment and good conduct in the lives of human beings. In the novel Emma, she so dramatically and astutely presents the lesson that she strives to teach the public, with a minimum exposition that places upon

She uses comedy to ridicule life`s social ironies. She does not include in her novels problems or death but just deals with the paradoxes of life which she is familiar with (401). She observes the follies and shortcomings in the real world and wisely addresses them in her novels. Jane Nardin also remarks that Austen uses satire as a humorous awareness of the incongruity in society and this she calls irony. This irony is the measure Austen uses in measuring how adequate moral positions are in the society (2). In the novel by Jane Austen, Emma is excessively imaginative and this is what makes her to always think that she is right in what she observes about life. Wright writes that although Emma is wrong almost all the time, she thinks she is right. As such, Emma is considered to be a comedy of self-deception. Austen uses comedy and irony as a tool against a culture in which women are intimidated and also as a tool to reveal the women`s

Her novel shows that women can act against the patriarchal system of the society. Austen does not directly react against the woman`s place in the society, no, she instead reflects them as intelligent, charming, significant, lively and active as society members. According to Kaplan, Austen uses Emma to reflect the active response of females to the power of the ideologies of the patriarchal society. Emma is sure of the opinion that she holds and therefore she speaks confidently during conversations. Kaplan says, “To convey awareness of sexual inequality and subtle and overt expression of its unfairness, the heroine speaks with a female voice” (189). What Kaplan calls a female voice is the talk of Emma the heroine in the