The first period is from the time when Austen’s first novel published to 1870. During this period, Austen was not so famous and four of her novels were published anonymously. Though there were fewer criticisms about her, Austen was also appreciated by some authors and critics. The second period continues up to 1939, when she was considered as a moralist and humorist, focusing on the language and narrative techniques of her novels. Also in this period, the first valuable full-length study, Mary Lascelles’ Jane Austen and her Art (1939), came out and provided the new perspective of the research on Austen. The third period extends from 1940 to 1970. This period is usually considered as the flourish age for new conceptions of Austen’s achievement and vigorous new the critical methods emerge. From then to now, the fourth period witnesses the increasingly research of Austen’s novels. With the development of literary criticism in Western, the research on Austen has also expanded to a wider range of areas, involving marriage, women’s education and so on. 

1.2 Literature Review on Emma 

Emma, which composed in only 14 months, however, has been appreciated as the height of Austen’s genius. When Emma first appeared in 1816, Walt Scott, the most renowned novelist at that time wrote a literary criticism for Austen, focusing on Emma. The essay, declaimed that Emma represented a major new kind of unromantic fiction, was the first literary criticism of great importance about Austen. And also, the essay fully affirmed the significance of Austen in English literature. In Memoir and Correspondence of Susan Ferrier (1898), Susan Ferrier appreciated the excellence of Emma and declared that every character is vivid. Also, in the book Jane Austen and her Art, not only did Mary Lascelles analyzed Austen but also Emma thoroughly. Another book Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’-a Selection of Critical Essays (1968) collects David Lodge's anthology of essays on Jane Austen's Emma.

However, what the critics concern most is the theme of Emma. Critics have written on moral enlightenment as the main theme. In 1954, C.S.Lewis dicusses the theme ‘awakening’ in Emma. Lewis indicates that it is Emma’s last minute ‘awakening’ that makes the story a happy ending. This also sets a new perspective for later critiques. F.R.Leavis(1968)stated that the analysis of Emma should be emphasized from the angle of morality. Edgar Shannon,Jr.(1956) calls Austen a moral writer and argues that Austen’s moral lessons in Emma. Mark Schorer(1959) particularly concerns the moral values in Emma related to economics and class. He argues that it was the social values of class and economics that affects Emma’s moral choice. Once she learns to reevaluate her attitudes towards materials does she deserve a happy ending.源[自-优尔*`论/文'网·www.youerw.com/

Related to the theme of morality, the tone of Emma is also a key point. Most critics believe that irony is the main tone of Emma. In ‘The Education of Emma Woodhouse’, R.E. Hughes(1961) concentrates on the link between moral education and the irony of novel: ‘The underlying theme of this novel is that Emma, who must become pupil, insists on acting as teacher.’ A.C.B radley(1911), who discussed Emma in a more descriptive attitude, argued that the excellence laid in ‘its successful ironic portrayal of character’.

But there are still different opinions about Emma. Arnold Kettle(1951) disagrees with those critics who views Emma as a story of moral lesson. She believes that the subject of Emma lays in marriage. For other critics, they hold the view that the marriage in Emma also related to the morality. Malcolm Bradbury(1962) argues that the marriage in the novel is the product of a particular class and moral value. Also, criticism of Emma discusses that the marriage of Emma is the justifiable reward for her successful moral education.