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Moral Relativity in Jane Austen's Emma
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Moral Relativity in Jane Austen's Emma
Sabrina Hendrick
What is Moral
Realativism?
- "view that certain judgements are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint, and that no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others” (Westacott)
- Three types (Dimmock, 2017)
- Descriptive
- Meta-Ethical
- Normative
Moralist Criticism
Moralist Criticism
- A type of literary critique that judges literature value based upon how it contributes to a readers morals or ethics (Moral Criticism)
- Corrupting versus virtuous literature
- "The Tortoise and the Hare"
- "...poets may stay as servants of the state if they teach piety and virtue, but the pleasures of art are condemned as inherently corrupting to citizens..." (Plato)
Pre-Harriet Trauma
- Loss of Miss Taylor
- She's not dead, she just abandoned Emma
- “a gentle sorrow -- but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness”
Pre-Harriet Trauma
(playbuzz)
Harriet as a Target
Harriet as a Target
- “for Mrs. Weston there was nothing to be done,” Emma targets Harriet, as she was “exactly the young friend she wanted -- exactly the something which her home required”
- “She would notice her, she would improve her, she would detach her from bad acquaintance and introduce her into good society, she would improve her opinions and manners”
- Boredom or sympathy?
(janeaustensworld)
Emma: Harriet's Problematic Favorite
Mr. Martin's proposal to Harriet
- Emma saw him as “remarkably plain,” and had imagined him to be “a degree or two nearer gentility” (Austen 4.29)
- Dissuades Harriet from accepting
- “You need not be prompted to write with the appearance of sorrow for his disappointment” (Austen 7.11)
Emma: Harriet's Problematic Favorite
(strangegirl)
Mr. Elton's Proposal to Emma
Mr. Elton's Proposal to Emma
- Emma mistakes Mr. Elton's complements and feelings completely
- “was adventuring too far, assuming too much, making light of what ought to be serious… she was quite concerned and ashamed, and resolved to do such things no more” (Austen 16.10)
- Viewed as a miscalculation rather than intellectual error
(regencygentleman)
(janeaustensworld)
The Event at Box Hill
- Verbal abuse of Miss Bates
- Helps Emma realize she's the worst
- She cries and actually feels bad for the first time ever
- “the beginning, on her side, of a regular, equal, kindly intercourse”
The Event at Box Hill
(igrassests)
Emma's Hidden Heart of Gold
- “fond of society in [their] own way”
- Care for the elderly and the poor
- She only wants to improve the society of Harriet, and a pairing of her with the “inferior” Mr. Martin is completely unacceptable to Emma.
Emma's Hidden Heart of Gold
(media.cleveland)
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. George Justice. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. [Fourth Edition]. Print.
Dimmock, Mark, and Andrew Fisher. “Metaethical Theories.” Ethics for A-Level, 1st ed., Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK, 2017, pp. 93–120. JSTOR
“Moral Criticism and Dramatic Construction.” Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism, Purdue University, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/02/.
Plato, and George Maximilian Anthony Grube. Plato's Republic. Hackett Publishing Company, 1974.
Westacott, Emrys. “Moral Relativism .” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/moral-re/.
Images Cited
Images Cited
https://regencygentleman.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/cummin-elton.jpg
https://janeaustensworld.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/emma-and-harriet-reading-eltons-riddle1.jpg
https://janeaustensworld.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/miss-smith-in-a-neoclassical-pose.jpg
http://media.cleveland.com/ent_impact_tv/photo/paltrowjpg-9e039d037decd2cd_large.jpg
http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/74f35d7b-4667-4aa2-90cf-23c75d6e371d/04e59ea4-bdab-440b-834c-5d72e87f7cae.jpg
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1381455506i/4890259.jpg
http://www.strangegirl.com/emma/costume/e2whitedressmobcap.jpg