The power of status

In Jane Austen's novels, social status has a lot of power on how a person is seen. Emma is of high status and can act however she wants without repercussions, yet people like Mr. Martin have to act extremely polite in order to get the least bit of respect, and are still not seen as "gentlemen". 

This being said, Emma's status does not erase society's expectations of her. She is a female and therefore must conform to the "female lifestyle". Knightley is watching out for Emma throughout the novel, but in this time period looking after someone is making sure they behave and follow society's rules. He aims to keep her in line and continually tests how much he can say to her before she gets upset, which I see as asserting his male dominance. 

I think social status certainly does allow for a more lenient lifestyle. The rules that apply to most town people do not apply to the more prestigious families such as the Woodhouses, but there is a difference between being male and rich and being female and rich. 

Merit vs. Birth

In Emma, two dissimilar characters are Frank Churchill and Harriet. Both are of different statuses in society and are therefore viewed differently and given different opportunities.

Frank Churchill, being of a high status, is well respected throughout Highbjru and there isn't one who hasn't heard of him, even though no one has really met him. He is expected to be  this perfect human that the whole town is proud of, but this expectation is only placed on him because of his status. He is, in fact, a gentleman. He also uses his charm and status to push his way into Emma's life, making good use of society's label on him.

Harriet, on the other hand, is much lower in status, yet somehow befriends Emma. This friendship between the two girls makes Harriet more respectable by association. Status aside, Harriet is a very kind and innocent woman who behaves much better than Emma, though Emma is supposedly above her.

These labels and expectations placed on people because of status in society is still prevalent. Though those higher in status are no longer expected to be perfectly behaved, they are expected to be more successful and productive with their life than someone with less money. The ability to use what you have is acknowledged far more often than the ability of setting and accomplishing goals no matter your status.

The Emma Complex

First off, I have always been a fan of Jane Austen and was very excited to read Emma. The novel so far is what I expected and is very interesting, and thank god for that because otherwise, it would take much longer to read. As much as I love this nool, I do not feel the same way about the main character, Emma.

She is nothing like most protagonists I've encountered. Emma is very controlling and projects herself onto others. Afraid of falling in love, she places the responsibilities of love and marriage onto Harriet,  an orphan she recently met. Immature and irresponsible in her own life, she fails to be realistic in her goals for Harriet. With only thoughts of romance and high social status, she readily throws away guaranteed love and happiness for Harriet and Mr. Martin because she wants Harriet to marry a more well known "gentlemen". She fails to take into account Harriet's status as well as her feelings and only acts on her own.

Besides that, the novel is very interesting and is definitely not as simple as some think. I, too, love Clueless and can associate characters in the book with those in the movie while reading and enjoy seeing the difference between the novel and movie adaptation.