In her book, Jane Austen and the War of Ideas, Marilyn Butler states that, "Jane Austen's purpose in giving [Emma] an exceptionally unfettered social position is rather to leave her free to act out her willful errors, for which she must take entire moral responsibility." What Butler is essentially arguing here is that because Emma is, in many ways, the social and moral center of Highbury, she is able to behave in a way that otherwise would have been considered unfeminine and/or tactless at the time. Many of Austen's other popular heroines are not of the social station that Emma is and do not necessarily have the same freedom, which may be why Austen herself claimed that Emma might be a heroine "no one but myself will much like."
For this week's blog entry, I want you to reflect on the argument Butler poses. Do you buy what she is selling? Give one or two examples to support your response.
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