Relativity
Posted by Robyn on October 17, 1997 at 04:56:14:
In response to Care to contribute?, written by Kali on October 16, 1997 at 15:47:21
I think that Emma is so universally liked because of the believability of the characters, and how many people - including myself! - find themselves very much drawn to Emma because of how they relate to her. The reader can easily picture the characters in their minds as Jane Austen describes them. As many people have said about Emma, the themes of the novel are as true today as they were nearly 200 years ago - love, marriage, money, class... I wondered about the class thing, but when I thought about it, there certainly IS a very big 'class/status' thing still happening in the world!!!
Everything that happens in Emma - TO Emma - is believable, in that it is easy to picture this happening to yourself, or anyone. Anyone can easily misinterpret people's feelings, anyone is capable of completely ignoring the pleas of their own heart as a unconcscious sacrifice to the happiness and love of other people.
And besides, who CAN'T love the fact that, because the characters are so believable, there could be a 'Mr Knightley' out there somewhere?!?!?!? ;-D Then again, as they say...
"Not one in a hundred men have 'gentleman' so plainly written across them as Mr Knightley!" :)
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