Emma: The Setting Makes The Novel

In Jane Austen’s Emma, the setting has a major bearing on the novel as a whole.  A tiny little town with nothing to do in it seems as if it would not affect the novel, however, I believe that is the point.  Austen is trying to tell the reader that even the most simplistic settings can change the novel completely.  I have been thinking about this lately and it is true that this novel would not be anything like it is now without having this setting.  Emma would not be bored enough to want to entertain herself with matchmaking, which would halt the rest of the novel from happening.  It is interesting when I think about it because if the same exact characters from the novel were dropped into some big hustling and bustling city such as New York City, there is almost a guarantee that none of the events of the novel would have taken place.  Emma would have most likely found some other people whose lives were in need of Emma meddling into, Mr. Woodhouse would certainly not have the fears that he holds in the novel since he would not be able to leave his apartment building if he had them in NYC, and Mr. Knightley would have found someone who truly belongs with him rather than ending with Emma who believes she is in love due to pure jealousy.  There would be no Harriet, no tea parties, and certainly no literary merit for the novel.  On that note, there is no telling whether we would be reading this novel in class today if the setting was any different.  Austen needed the dull setting in order to prove Emma’s boredom then turn Emma into a matchmaker through that boredom.  Emma could have found something else. Maybe something that is actually useful, to do with her life rather than matchmaking if she had been dropped into any other setting than this.  But maybe that is just it, Austen had to make the townspeople’s lives so unbelievably boring that a marriage between two random people could absolutely rock their world.  I know that if I had read this novel with the setting being in New York City, a wedding would not have even made it to the list of exciting things happening in the novel, yet when the setting is so mind-numbingly boring, something like a wedding is quite exciting; I know I was elated to read about the union between a ditsy, egotistic girl and a self-righteous man.  And the fact that I was actually rooting for them and cheering them on all the way to the aisle makes me realize that even though they are absolutely angrily annoying, I still feel happiness since we have followed them this far.  Maybe it is the fact that I was excited for them since this moment could be one of the happiest they will ever experience, or maybe I was simply excited that I had finally reached the end of such a long novel, but regardless, I was pleased when I reached the last chapter and everything came to a close.