Hi!!Something in Emma has intrigued me. It seems that in many of Austen's works, the ball or a dance is a great turning point in the romantic lives of her characters. Through closely examining Emma, I have found that not only are the dances themselves indicative of one character's romantic disposition to another, but many actions and dialogues outside of the setting of the dance mirror certain actions of dances at that time (a general example of this would be a dialogue between Knightly and Emma when discussing romanitc issues in indirect discourse). My conclusion therefore, is that through patterns arranged by the dance, Austen's character's court one another and ultimately marry.
I am currently trying to turn this idea into a paper. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions for me, they would be greatly appreciated. In addition, if anyone could point me in the direction of some writings on this topic I would love to be able to find out about them as well.
