Summaries and Critical Commentary

Abstract

Each of the fifty-five chapters of Emma is examined below from two points of view:

• (1) the content of the chapter (i.e. a brief summary of the main incidents it contains and its contribution to the development of the action)

• (2) points of interest in relation to criticism and interpretation (the most important of these are discussed more thoroughly in Chapters 3 and 4).

Note When Emma was originally published in three volumes, each volume numbered the chapters from 1 onwards: the first volume contained eighteen chapters, the second also eighteen, and the final volume contained nineteen. Some modern editions retain this numbering, but others number the chapters straight through from 1 to 55. For ease of reference, both systems of numbering are used below, the indication in parenthesis referring to the original volume and chapter numbers: thus 20 (II, 2) means that the chapter in question was the second in the second volume.