An examination of the "Pathology" of relationships within the dynamics of illness in Jane Austen's EMMA

Abstract

Emma is Austen's most autobiographical novel. So by referring extensively to her letters, this thesis aims to explore the conscious correspondence between the heroine's life and Austen's which in my opinion is the basis of the novel's complexity. The importance of Emma seems to be that it provides Austen with a Active space within which she displaces her personal frustration over the "illnesses" of her society.