Emma Power Essay

The desire for power is perhaps one of the strongest human emotions. It causes wars, starts drama, and drives people to do horrible things. In Emma, by Jane Austen, the main character Emma is often seen fighting to have her way by controlling the aspects of the social hierarchy existing in that time period; she also struggles to overcome the confined nature of women’s existence by exerting control. Emma’s unusual family situation allows for her to have a large amount of control over a huge aspect in her life. Family, though not having much, is a big part of her life. Her father is “a valetudinarian” who constantly demands attention from Emma, which she gives to him without protest. Mr. Woodhouse, Emma’s father, unflaggingly heralds her …show more content…
She feels as if she doesn't need one since she is busy taking care of her father and feels by getting married, she will be giving up her power and authority over men in her life and she will then have to follow the lead of her husband. Even though she denies it, Emma still has those repressed feelings of lust for men, as seen with the character or Mr. Knightley. He is the biggest threat to her freedom: “it is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage. A man always imagines a woman to be ready for anybody who asks her.” Talking to Mr. Knightly about Harriet’s refusal, it is obvious Emma is upset. She does not like the fact that it almost unheard of for a woman to not want to get married, as if she cannot make her own decisions and must succumb to the first marriage proposal that comes her way. This is an example of the social hierarchy existing in the culture. Men think they are superior, they have control, and feel as if woman must have a man to control them. Emma thinks quite the opposite; she wants to be able to have control over the decisions in her own life and in a way, destroy the governing views that women in society are lesser than