Narratology of Emma

definitions of narratology have focused on (1) a sequence of events (plot) together with (2) the presence
of a narrator or narratorial medium
Narrative must be about a world populated by individuated existents. This world must be situated in
time and space and undergo significant transformations. The transformations must be caused by
nonhabitual physical events. Some of the participants in the events must be intelligent agents who have
a mental life and react emotionally to the states of the world. Some of the events must be purposeful
actions by these agents, motivated by identifiable goals and plans. The sequence of events must form a
unified causal chain and lead to closure. The occurrence of at least some of the events must be asserted
as fact for the story world. The story must communicate something meaningful to the recipient.
POINT OF VIEW
Emma is told from the point of view of an omniscient narrator, who expresses Austen's views and
values. One mark of the narrator's omniscience is her having nothing to learn; her understanding is not
changed or enlarged by anything that happens in the course of the narrative. Her values and her insight
into the characters and things are the same at the end of the novel as at the beginning.
The point of view in this novel is more complex than the use of an omniscient narrator might suggest
because for most of Emma, the narrator presents events and characters from Emma's perspective; in
other words, generally she is presenting Emma's thoughts, feelings, and judgments. Thus the reader
must distinguish between Emma's values and judgments and the narrator's. Sometimes the reader must
infer the narrator's view from the use of language--perhaps an ironic word or phrase appears in the flow
of Emma's thoughts to distance the narrator from Emma and thereby imply the narrator's views. Or the
narrative unobtrusively shifts from Emma's perspective to the narrator's for a sentence or two or in the
choice of a phrase or even one word.
Wayne C. Booth characterizes Austen's narrator as the embodiment of everything we admire most—
wise, gracious, penetrating in judgment, subtle, witty, tender, and properly valuing wealth and rank A
sharp-eyed observer, the narrator/Austen presents the follies, pretenses, and cruelties of people and of
society, often with understated and unsparing irony. She is also capable of being understanding of and
showing compassion for characters who, however flawed or foolish, are not mean-spirited or malicious.
A reader who sees Austen's novels as only lighthearted, comfortable comedy will miss her subtlety and
much of her meaning.
Emma is regarded by many as Jane Austen’s most skilfully crafted novel. Not only the simple eloquence,
but also the differentiated characters and amusing discourse of the novel render it appealing to most
readers and, consequently, a classic of the British literary canon.
The narrative voice

Any analysis of the narrative techniques of a novel necessarily has to begin with discerning what type of
narrator we are confronted with. In the case of Emma, this is easy to accomplish as we have a narrator
who holds a fairly large share of the narrative discourse, especially over the first few pages of the novel,
readily allowing us to gain a number of important impressions early on.
The narrative begins with the introduction and characterization of the eponymous heroine Emma
Woodhouse and gives background information on the family, as well as some of the major characters to
be, to an addressee:
‘Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition,
seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the
world with very little to distress or vex her. […] he was very much disposed to think Miss Taylor had
done as sad thing for herself as for them, […].’ (pp 5-7)1
As we can see, the narrator purposefully communicates this information about the setting, the
protagonist and the other characters. Though, as the story unfolds, much of the plot is developed
through discourse between the characters, we find she2 never shies away from actually guiding the
addressee to a certain insight or making a humorous remark, which are addressed directly at the reader,
whenever this is necessary. Due to this distinct narrative voice, the narrator can be characterized as
overt (Jahn 2005). In consequence, we are aware of her presence throughout the novel - though
sometimes more, sometimes less, this undoubtedly adds to the development of a relationship between
narrator and reader. Furthermore, we can quickly ascertain that the narrator is not present as a
character in the narrative itself, but rather describes characters and relates incidents which happen to
them. As the incipit above shows, characters and actions are referred to in the 3rd person pronoun
singular or plural; at no point in the narrative does the narrator refer to herself; she has no part in the
action related, plot-promoting sentences. Following a distinction proposed by Genette (1980), the
narrator can, therefore, additionally be described as heterodiegetic. As the narrator is not part of the
story, she can, consequently, choose to assume omniscience, which she displays in many instances - she
moves in and out of characters’ minds, provides background information, as the quoted passage above,
once more, shows, and, at times, subtly foreshadows subsequent events. Yet, it is important to state
that she does not actually ever exercise these omniscient capabilities to the fullest.
Subsuming these traits of the narrator, we can consequently, though at a basic level, characterize the
narrative situation in Emma as an authorial narrative (Jahn 2005). Yet this definition by no means
suffices to account for the differentiated reading experience provided in Emma - it is rather more
complex. Therefore, we will now reflect upon how Austen employs this authorial narrator.

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definitions of narratology have focused on (1) a sequence of events (plot) together with (2) the presence

of a narrator or narratorial medium

The narrative voice

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