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The Foils In Jane Austen's Emma

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In her writing, Jane Austen used literary techniques to display her character’s integrity, poise, grace and charm, or lack thereof. Throughout most of Austen’s works, a common theme is women and their behavior. In Emma, Jane Austen weaves a story between the differences of society through the actions of a young woman, Emma Woodhouse. The strongest literary technique in Jane Austen’s Emma is the use of a foil. According to LiteraryDevices.net, a foil is a character who embodies the qualities that are in contrast to the qualities of another character with the objective being to highlight the traits of the other character. Jane Austen’s use of foils helps to bring out Emma’s flaws.
Jane Fairfax, a woman of charm, grace, beauty and intelligence, is a perfect foil for Emma for several reasons. First, Jane and Emma were raised in different social backgrounds. Unfortunately, Jane’s parents passed away when she was a little girl. Emma, …show more content…

One reason why Jane could be an excellent example of a foil for Emma, is their constant need and desire to set up relationships with others. Emma tries her best to build up relationships between her peers while Jane sets up perfect, yet sometimes ironic, relationships between her many characters. In some ways, both of them want to play match maker. Not only did Jane Austen and Emma Woodhouse have similar hobbies, but they also experienced a similar event that occurred when they were growing up. Just like her character Emma, Austen had a sister and their relationship was similar to that of Emma and Miss Taylor. Jane’s mother once said: “If Cassandra were going to have her head cut off, Jane would insist on sharing her fate.” (Tucker chapter 3). This is similar to the sisterly relationship between Emma and Miss Taylor. Proving, that foils can be formed between acclaimed authors and their

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Some say that opposites attract; in some cases they do and in some they do not. A foil is a character who is opposite of another character in order to highlight certain characteristics in both characters. An example of foils in a play that Shakespeare wrote, Romeo and Juliet, including rambunctious Tybalt and the tranquil Benvolio. Another example is the obnoxious funny Mercutio and the lovey dovey Romeo. Romeo and Juliet was a Shakespearean play written 1595 by William Shakespeare.

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When comparing the two texts, one is then able to identify the separate contexts and the texts demonstrate the similarities and differences between social, cultural and historical contexts of Austen's time and today's

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A foil is a character who contradicts and contrasts another character. A foil is used in literature to emphasize or accentuate certain qualities of a character. Shakespeare uses foils in most of his famous works such as Romeo and Juliet where Mercutio, kinsman to the prince, is a foil to Romeo, Lord Montague’s son. Mercutio is the direct opposite of Romeo. Romeo is a romantic, serious teen who falls recklessly and easily in love.

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The notion that a young woman must be either engaged or pursuing an engagement was a common standard for women in the 19th century. Women looking for an engagement, must uphold high standards with strong morals as well as being wholly pure of both body and mind. Jane Austen depicts the main characters of her novels as being strong individuals in the midst of these societal standards. These significant morals in Northanger Abbey, influence the characters, such as Catherine and Isabella, in how they make their decisions. Additionally, the main character Catherine Morland, a young lady, learns the ways of presenting herself in the best light possible.

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Jane Austen characterises Emma as a woman with a lack of self-awareness due to her own privilege throughout the book. Suggested from the beginning of the novel, “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence”, Austen foreshadows Emma’s character by criticising her as an intelligent but also spoiled, meddlesome and self-deluded woman. Emma’s foolishness is shown throughout the book through her interest in match-making and meddling in other characters’ business. By Emma acknowledging “The first error and the worst lay at her door. It was foolish, it was wrong, to take so active a part in bringing any two people together.”

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First, Jane Eyre’s attributes displays women in our society who are still in search for meaning and love in their lives. Just like Jane’s spirit of passion despite abuse, these women continue to search for respect from other

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Oftentimes, minor characters help to reveal a theme or contribute to the characterization of the protagonist. In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Helen Burns serves as a foil character to the protagonist, Jane Eyre. Throughout the novel, Helen’s docile and pious nature helps to emphasize Jane’s development from a passionate girl to a modest woman. Helen’s theological beliefs also allow her to serve as a foil character to Mr. Brocklehurst, the headmaster of Lowood Institution, and St John Rivers, a zealous missionary, in order to reveal how Christianity is used to control Jane. Compared to the male characters in the novel, Helen’s positive use of religion proves to be more effective in encouraging Jane to adopt Christian values.

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Jane Austen’s use of character foils is possibly the most interesting. Mr. Darcy has more than one character that contradicts his, for example, Mr. Wickham and Mr. Bingley both contrast different parts of Mr. Darcy’s character, further emphasizing those distinct parts. Austen’s mocking tone made the novel far more interesting than a run of the mill romance novel. It is the 18th century version of a rom-com

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One of the biggest character foils in Jane Eyre is between Mr. Edward Rochester and St. John Rivers. From the first time we meet these characters, it is easy to tell the two apart. While one is ruled by a religious forces the other is controlled by emotions. Jane has to make a choice, and decide how she is going to live the rest of her life. At the end of the novel, she makes a choice between what is expected of her, and what she wants.

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The titular Jane in Jane Eyre struggles to free herself from the power of others to achieve independence throughout the course of the book. As a child, she fights against unjust authority figures, and as an adult, she spurs multiple unequal marriage proposals. Bronte, through Jane asserts that a woman should be independent from others. When Jane was young, she tried to free and defend herself from unjust authority figures. When Jane 's aunt unfairly confines Jane to the Red Room, Jane launches into a verbal diatribe against her aunt.

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1.4 Literature overview At the end of the nineteen century, was published a book, for the first time, concerning Jane Austen’s literary work. Exactly in 1890, the writer Godwin Smith gave for printing Life of Jane Austen, and from then he started a new era which values the author’s literary legacy, so others begun to write critics; thus, this moment marked the first step of the authorized criticism, focused on Austen’s writing style. In conformity with B.C. Southam Critical Heritage, the criticism attributed to Jane had increased after 1870 and became formal and organized. Therefore, “we see the novels praised for their elegance of form and their surface ‘finish’; for the realism of their fictional world, the variety and vitality of their characters;

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This is the opening line of Pride and Prejudice; a romance novel written by Jane Austen and published on the 28th of January 1813 by an anonymous author – the same pseudonymous that she had previously used to publish Sense and Sensibility -. Jane Austen was born in 1775 in England (Stevenson, Hampshire) and it is thought that by the age of 16 had already written many different novels, even though it was not until 1811 when she was able to publish her first novel. The novel brings up many relevant topics that reflect the British life and customs characteristic of the eighteenth century. Austen makes a critic on these topics in a subtle -almost unnoticeable- way, the characters personify the British old-fashioned values that the author rejects, giving the reader freedom to judge the situation, while guiding them to

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Intelligence is always powerful. In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Charlotte Lucas and Elizabeth Bennet are close friends in late 18th century England. Because they both have no fortunes finding a husband is not an easy task for either of them. Instead of bemoaning their fates, both Charlotte and Elizabeth use their positive traits to thrive in unpleasant circumstances. Charlotte uses her intelligence to snag Mr. Collins and Elizabeth uses her sense of humor to remain positive in the face of her mother 's constant nagging.

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2801 Words | 12 Pages

Jane Austen lived in a period at the turn from the eighteenth century to the nineteenth century, which was a period of mixed thoughts, which conflicted all the times. Among all the conflicts, the most important one was the disparity in social status between men and women. Not only men’s status was in the center of the society but also common people thought it was right that men were much more important than women were. In those days girls were neither allowed nor expected to study much because they did not have to work for a living. They were supposed to stay at home and look beautiful in order to get suitable husbands.

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The reader 's response to the novel and how readers in some way work or collude with the author in the act of reading to construct meanings or satisfy unconscious wishes by their response to characters and events. This is a theoretical way of stating that readers usually have empathy or sympathy with one or more of the novel 's characters and may, therefore, identify psychologically with the fortunes of that character. In the case of Jane Eyre, a good deal of the reader 's understanding of the novel depends on the degree of his or her sympathy or hostility towards Jane. Readers will also bring to their reading their own expectations, often derived from their previous

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