Notes
Social Class in Emma
We hear of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, that “she likes to have the distinctions of rank preserved.” But understanding the various slight distinctions of rank within the gentry in a Jane Austen novel can be hard to do – especially from a distance of 200 years. In Emma, we almost entirely encounter members of the gentry – that is, the educated upper-middle class, and the upper class. Emma Woodhouse, her father, and Mr. Knightley all belong to the “landed gentry.” They own substantial property, and while they don’t belong to the nobility, they are the highest class in Highbury, and the only representatives of what we would call the upper class. Most of the rest of their circle belongs to what was known as the “landless gentry” or, in our terms, upper-middle class by right of birth and education if not money: they are gentle by birth, but not landowners. Every member of the clergy and their families (Mr. Elton, Miss Bates, and Jane Fairfax) are thus automatically gentry though not necessarily well-off. Mr. Weston owns property but of a much smaller nature than the Woodhouses or Mr. Knightley, but he married a woman from the landed gentry (his first wife was a Miss Churchill), and is himself a former Lieutenant, the main profession other than the church that was respectable for members of the gentry. His son, Frank Churchill, has been adopted by his mother’s family, the Churchills (who do not live in Highbury), and will inherit from them as long as he stays in their good graces. For women, the only employment which wouldn’t sink them out of their class as gentry is that of a governess. Women like Jane Fairfax, who have no money or family to support them, would commonly turn to teaching to support themselves. Miss Taylor, Miss Bates, and Jane Fairfax would all be part of society, but on a lower level unless they were able to marry up, as Miss Taylor does at the beginning of the novel by marrying the widowed Mr. Weston.
It would be Emma’s duty, as the most important woman in town, to look after those lower down in the social ranks as appropriate. For the poor, this is not too complicated: she brings them food, and medicine, and generally looks after them as their patroness. But within the gentry it becomes more complicated. She owes a duty to Miss Bates, as the now impoverished daughter of the town’s former rector, to make sure that she is alright, and has enough to eat, but she owes it to Miss Bates’ honor to try to give her food and gifts without the impression of giving charity. She has a similar duty to pay attentions to Jane Fairfax, who is the other young woman of the gentry, but her duty to both is to help them not to feel lowered by their poverty out of the class they were born into and belong to, but can’t really afford to live in without help. A woman of less taste than Emma, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice, would delight in helping them ostentatiously and enforcing the distinctions of rank within the society. Emma, guided by Mr. Knightley, Mr. Woodhouse, and Mrs. Weston, has a more delicate sense of her responsibilities, and endeavors to assist her fellow townspeople without emphasizing the distinction between her rank and theirs.
–by Dramaturg Elizabeth Williamson
MORE NOTES:
Social Class in Emma
We hear of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, that “she likes to have the distinctions of rank preserved.” But understanding the various slight distinctions of rank within the gentry in a Jane Austen novel can be hard to do – especially from a distance of 200 years. In Emma, we almost entirely encounter members of the gentry – that is, the educated upper-middle class, and the upper class. Emma Woodhouse, her father, and Mr. Knightley all belong to the “landed gentry.” They own substantial property, and while they don’t belong to the nobility, they are the highest class in Highbury, and the only representatives of what we would call the upper class. Most of the rest of their circle belongs to what was known as the “landless gentry” or, in our terms, upper-middle class by right of birth and education if not money: they are gentle by birth, but not landowners. Every member of the clergy and their families (Mr. Elton, Miss Bates, and Jane Fairfax) are thus automatically gentry though not necessarily well-off. Mr. Weston owns property but of a much smaller nature than the Woodhouses or Mr. Knightley, but he married a woman from the landed gentry (his first wife was a Miss Churchill), and is himself a former Lieutenant, the main profession other than the church that was respectable for members of the gentry. His son, Frank Churchill, has been adopted by his mother’s family, the Churchills (who do not live in Highbury), and will inherit from them as long as he stays in their good graces. For women, the only employment which wouldn’t sink them out of their class as gentry is that of a governess. Women like Jane Fairfax, who have no money or family to support them, would commonly turn to teaching to support themselves. Miss Taylor, Miss Bates, and Jane Fairfax would all be part of society, but on a lower level unless they were able to marry up, as Miss Taylor does at the beginning of the novel by marrying the widowed Mr. Weston.
It would be Emma’s duty, as the most important woman in town, to look after those lower down in the social ranks as appropriate. For the poor, this is not too complicated: she brings them food, and medicine, and generally looks after them as their patroness. But within the gentry it becomes more complicated. She owes a duty to Miss Bates, as the now impoverished daughter of the town’s former rector, to make sure that she is alright, and has enough to eat, but she owes it to Miss Bates’ honor to try to give her food and gifts without the impression of giving charity. She has a similar duty to pay attentions to Jane Fairfax, who is the other young woman of the gentry, but her duty to both is to help them not to feel lowered by their poverty out of the class they were born into and belong to, but can’t really afford to live in without help. A woman of less taste than Emma, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice, would delight in helping them ostentatiously and enforcing the distinctions of rank within the society. Emma, guided by Mr. Knightley, Mr. Woodhouse, and Mrs. Weston, has a more delicate sense of her responsibilities, and endeavors to assist her fellow townspeople without emphasizing the distinction between her rank and theirs.
–by Dramaturg Elizabeth Williamson