Which heroine do you prefer and how do events throughout the books :: Free Essay Writer

Which heroine do you prefer and how do events throughout the books affect your opinion of them - Bridget Jones and Emma. Which heroine do you prefer and how do events throughout the books affect your opinion of them. The two heroines, Bridget Jones and Emma are obviously quite different in their attitudes to love and society as a whole. However, I think that in ways they are both likeable characters. The events that occur through the novels have an effect on the reader's opinions of the heroines and can weaken or strengthen these opinions. Austen and Fielding both use humour in the books well which is probably why the heroines are both seen as being comical at times or as is the case in 'Bridget Jones' Diary', more often than not. In Jane Austen's novel 'Emma', the heroine Emma is introduced to the reader at the very beginning of chapter 1. We instantly form an opinion of Emma as she is described as, "handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition and had lived nearly twenty-one years with very little to distress or vex her." The reader forms an opinion that Emma has a pampered lifestyle. We also learn she is a keen matchmaker and brought together her governess Miss Taylor with Mr Weston. I think the reader would perceive Emma to be very interested in her friend's lives and perhaps even a little meddling in them. The reader is also informed of 'the real evils of Emma' being "the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition too think a little too well of herself". I think that the reader would not particularly like Emma because she seems to be too self-assured and interested in other people's business at this stage. However, the reader is often told of Emma as being a compassionate character by the way she talks about Mr Weston, but this could also be viewed as quite patronising as well, "Mr Weston is such a good-humoured, pleasant, excellent man, that he thoroughly deserves a good wife" I then began to feel that Emma believed the matchmaking was for her friend's benefit and not herself. Although she did speak in patronising way about Mr Weston I do not think Emma realised how often she made it seem that she felt herself superior to her friends by patronising them. Emma could also be described as naÃÆ'Â ¯ve or foolish. She often involves herself too much in the lives of other and consequently tries to force relationships that were never meant to be, such as that between Mr Elton and Harriet Smith.