Using any literary text studied on a third years course in the literature department, identify and discuss the various voices that respective authors employ and effective are these voices the articulation of the themes and characters of the respective texts. NAKANWAGI CATHERINE

A void describes how the narrative is presented or conveyed through a specific character perspective, through another character’s retelling of the events or through letter correspondence. The narrative voice of the story comes from the story’s narrator, the person or thing, telling the story using “Emma” by Jane Austen and I am going to discuss how Jane Austen employed various voices in the articulation of the themes and characters of the Novel Emma. In “Emma”, the author Jane Austen uses the third person point of view which is called the Omniscient (all knowing). In this literary text the speaker not only presents the action and dialogue of the story, but also knows and reports how the characters are responding and thinking. There are two Omniscient narrators that is Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightely. Through the use of Omniscient narrator irony is created in the social system of her era using mostly Mrs. Elton although the narrator is Omniscient, we are generally restricted to Emma’s point of view and therefore, Austen presents Emma’s thoughts, feelings and judgments for example, the passage describing Emma’s feelings after spending an evening with Harriet. Emma’s vanity is gratified by Harriet’s admiration of her and of Hartfield, with the implicit acknowledgement of Emma’s superiority and Harriet’s inferiority unaware of her own egotism, Emma draws conclusion that Harriet is being impressed by her superiority is an obvious of Harriet’s sensibleness that Emma reasons from Harriet. The judgment that is manipulating Harriet and determining the course of her life would be an interesting and certainly a very kind undertaking is Emma’s, not the narrator’s. Ironically, in reproducing Emma’s thoughts, Austen reveals how self centered and arrogant Emma is being. Thematically, the omniscient narrator enables the reader to acknowledge the marriage and social status as one of the themes that are exhibited in the novel. In Austen’s time, social status was determined by a combination of family background, reputation and wealth. Marriage was one of the main ways in through which one could raise one’s social status. It is through the omniscient narrator that we get to know that Mr. Weston’s first marriage to Miss Churchill had ostensibly been a good move for him, because she comes from a wealthy and well connected family (Mr. Weston is a tradesman), but the inequality of the relationship to both. In his second marriage, Mr. Weston is happier because their social statuses are more equal since Mrs. Weston is a governess. Emma’s attempt to match Harriet with Mr. Elton is also shunned by the other characters as inappropriate. Since Harriet’s parentage is unknown, Emma believes that Harriet may have a noble blood and encourages her to reject what turns out to be a more appropriate match with Robert Martin. By the time it is revealed that Harriet is the daughter of a tradesman, Emma admits that Mr. Martin is more suitable for her friend. The omniscient narrator gives us the confined nature of women’s existence as another theme that is portrayed in the novel “Emma”. Through the Omniscient voice, the story gives us a strong sense of the confined nature of a woman’s existence in the early nineteenth century rural England. Emma possesses a great deal of intelligence and energy, but the best use she can make of these is to attempt to guide the marital destines of her friends, a thing that gets her into trouble. The alternatives pasterns depicted in the book are social visits, charity visits, music, artistic and endeavors seem relatively trivial. The novel focuses on marriage because marriage offers women a chance to exert their power, participating in the rituals of courtship and accepting or rejecting proposals is perhaps the most active role that women are permitted to play in Emma’s world. The Omniscient narrator depicts Mr. Knightley as a character with good sense from his very first conversation with Emma and her father in chapter I, his purpose is to correct the excesses and missteps of those around him is clear. He is unfailingly honest but tempers his honesty with act and kind heartedness. The narrator uses Mr. Knightly for the reader to depend on him in providing the correct evaluation of the other character’s behavior and personal worth. He is sympathetic and protective of the women in the community including Jane, Harriet and Miss Bates.   References Introduction to practical criticism notes about literary polyphone Emma by Jane Austen