Communications in Humanities Research
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Communications in Humanities Research
Vol. 24, 03 January 2024
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The Presentation and Influence of Power Dynamics in Jane Austen’s Emma
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Abstract
Nowadays, literary criticism tries to evaluate the literary work by fitting it into a certain established theory. Instead, this essay focuses on the original “dialogues” in Jane Austen’s novel Emma to give a pragmatic testimonial of how revolutionary Jane Austen is in showing the shifting power dynamics between Emma and her friend Harriet Smith through seemingly easy-spoken exchange. By paying attention to three specific passages in the novel, this essay analyses the author’s use of words, tone and punctuation in conversations between the pair of friends. The analysis enables the assessment of their characteristics at different stages of the novel and their consequent change in positions in terms of power dynamics. From Harriet’s initial unsteadiness and Emma’s dominance to obtaining relevant balance, this essay reveals Austen’s construction of power dynamics between characters as variables that maintain conservation. The consequential function of such design is that the establishment of power dynamics helps to distribute authority and exert influences on the characters’ behaviour, thereby presenting the plot development and solid personal growth of characters.
Keywords
Jane Austen, Emma, power dynamics
References
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Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-251-0
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-252-7
- Published Date
- 03 January 2024
- Series
- Communications in Humanities Research
- ISSN (Print)
- 2753-7064
- ISSN (Online)
- 2753-7072
- DOI
- 10.54254/2753-7064/24/20231466
- Copyright
- 03 January 2024
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited