Hierarchy of Language in Jane Austen's Emma

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Jane Austen writes social novels. Her societies are microcosms of relative stability in a rapidly changing world. Within these restricted realms, class structure is rigid; however, members of this society participate in one common activity: discourse. Due to the vagaries and incompetencies among the characters, not all conversations in Emma conform to the ideals of communication, and in fact, contribute to the promulgation of the central conflict. Henry Fielding proposed in his Miscellanies, that conversation should resemble "that reciprocal Interchange of ideas, by which Truth is examined, and all our Knowledge communicated to each other [and which] contributes to the moral improvement of society but presupposes, under ideal circumstances, a reciprocity between participants." Austen confirms this view of discourse in her novel by creating a hierarchy of language and making clear and meaningful conversation possible only between "persons whose Understanding is pretty near on an Equality with our own" (Fielding 120). Characters of fortune and education who speak in accordance with the rules of pragmatics and social decorum are, in turn, rewarded through matrimonial bonds with characters of similar communicative merit. Based upon an equality of understanding, these relationships are marked by "truth and sincerity in all dealings with each other" (430). Contrarily, characters of low birth and ill breeding are stigmatized by an inferiority of language and a predisposition for misinterpretation, which renders them incapable of communication in its true sense. Those persons with a paucity of language are, thereby, doomed to "pervert the understanding" (430).

Nineteenth century British society considered conversation to be much more...

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... social hierarchy in Emma is based on a culmination of experience and thought. Austen, placed within the strict societal bounds she writes of in her novels, realizes that society is an imperfect institution--the divisions of class are often arbitrarily constructed--and individuals are not necessarily ranked according to inherent worth. Nevertheless, it is requisite to the advancement of humanity that society utilizes some such structure despite these imperfections. Austen has witnessed the effects of both rigid and slack social structures; as a result, Austen advocates the established social contract. She does not propose a "philosophy of mere social conformity" (Hough, 222), rather, suggests ideals to which individuals should aspire. Austen succeeds in confirming the necessity of such an order by organizing her characters accordingly at the conclusion of the novel.

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