The Character of Frank Churchill

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Using Chapters 23, 24 and 25 Write an Analysis of the Character of

Frank Churchill

Frank Churchill is one of the dominant characters in Jane Austen’s

‘Emma’ despite the fact that he is not fully introduced until chapter

twenty-three. Each of the characters in ‘Emma’ play a role in

delivering Austen’s personal comments on the society of that time. Mr

Knightley, for example, often reflects Austen’s views of Emma’s

behaviour and expresses her own opinions on social issues and through

Emma she portrays the views of society. The purpose of Frank’s

character is to highlight Austen’s views that people should not be

judged by appearances alone and his relationship with Emma shows the

consequences of being too prejudiced to judge someone’s character

accurately.

Frank represents the ideal gentleman in Austen’s society since he is

wealthy, handsome and seems to be good natured. However Emma’s

prejudice in favour of Frank leaves her open to manipulation and

blinds her to the truth about the relationship between Frank and Jane

Fairfax. Ironically, this perfect gentleman is committing a scandal by

pressuring Jane into a secret engagement, though Emma is too blind to

be suspicious since he uses her to hide it. Frank’s relationship with

Emma reveals another purpose of Frank Churchill’s character; it raises

the issue of prejudice. In this case, Emma is prejudiced in favour of

Frank.

Emma takes deep interest in Frank both before and during his stay,

which lies in the fact that Frank is equal to her in “age, character

and condition” and because he is also the step-son of her beloved

childhood governess, Mrs Weston, therefore “ he seemed by this

connection to quite belong to her.” It is made clear that Emma has

alrea...

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...easure out of deceiving the whole of Highbury.

A final way of looking at Frank is to compare him with Emma. One

could argue that Frank Churchill is the masculine version of Emma; he,

like her, enjoys using his imagination as shown when he leads her

along with the idea of Mr Dixon. Both are intelligent people and know

how to persuade others to do what they want; Emma influences Harriet

and, to an extent, Mrs Weston while Frank influences Jane Fairfax.

Another similarity between the two is their situation in life; they

are the same age and of the same wealth however Frank is confined by

his aunt in a similar way that Emma is by Mr Woodhouse. Frank himself

feels that he and Emma are very alike in character. He states “she

received my attentions with an easy, friendly, good-humoured

playfulness, which exactly suited me. We seemed to understand one

another.”

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