Lecture 4: Fictional Characters, Imagined and Observed
some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one
years in the world with very little to vex or distress her.”
o After two paragraphs that explain Emma’s family situation,
Austen then tells us: “The real evils indeed of Emma’s situation
were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a
disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the
disadvantages which threatened to alloy her many enjoyments.
The danger, however, was at present so unperceived, that they
did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her.”o 7KHUHVWRIWKHQRYHOLVHVVHQWLDOO\DJORVVRQWKH¿UVWWZR
pages, showing Emma’s impetuosity, vanity, and cluelessness
as she tries to manage the love lives of everyone around her
without recognizing her own true love. There’s no need for
any 0UV 'DOORZD\–style intimacy with Emma’s stream of
consciousness, and there’s no watching her slowly reveal
herself through her speech and behavior. Austen simply tells
us about Emma’s character right from the start, then launches
into her story.o Austen’s description of Emma is frank, to the point, and
unironic in the sense that Austen never has Emma do anything
later in the book that undercuts her original description. Thus,
ZLWK(PPD¿[HG¿UPO\LQRXULPDJLQDWLRQVDVDYDLQEHDXWLIXO
PHGGOHVRPHJLUODIWHUUHDGLQJRQO\WKH¿UVWWZRSDJHVZHDUH
free to enjoy her effect on the lives of the people around her.o 7KLVDSSURDFKZRUNVHVSHFLDOO\ZHOOZLWKFRPLF¿FWLRQZKLFK
often depends on types rather than fully developed characters
RU DW OHDVW RQ FKDUDFWHUV ZKR QHYHU UHDOO\ FKDQJH RXU ¿UVW
impression of them.z We can compare Austen’s approach with a more indirect, interior one
from the opening paragraphs of Charlotte Brontë’s -DQH(\UH. Again,
LQMXVWDIHZSDUDJUDSKVZHPHHWDQDGXOW¿UVWSHUVRQQDUUDWRUZKRLV
looking back with bitter irony on her unhappy childhood. We learn that