Volume 2: point of view

There are many things to focus on when reading Volume II of Emma

Mrs. Elton: why does Emma despise her? Why is she a caricature of Emma? What are some of the unpleasant aspects of her personality?

Frank Churchill: Why is he such a mystery? How does Jane Austen as a writer keep up the deception? Here is a very interesting article about the style in which Austen writes which is called indirect free speech. It is a technique that makes us think through Emma's head.

Let me explain. Normally a writer uses direct speech (quotes) to show in a straightforward way what someone is saying. Or a writer uses indirect speech to voice the omniscient (all-knowing) narrator.
Well, Austen will use something that looks like indirect speech but it isn't as neutral as one would expect.

Click onto this fascinating article to understand this device better:

Flavin article

Here is a quote from another interesting website:
The point of view in this novel is more complex than the use of an omniscient narrator might suggest because for most of Emma, the narrator presents events and characters from Emma's perspective; in other words, generally she is presenting Emma's thoughts, feelings, and judgments. Thus the reader must distinguish between Emma's values and judgments and the narrator's. Sometimes the reader must infer the narrator's view from the use of language--perhaps an ironic word or phrase appears in the flow of Emma's thoughts to distance the narrator from Emma and thereby imply the narrator's views. Or the narrative unobtrusively shifts from Emma's perspective to the narrator's for a sentence or two or in the choice of a phrase or even one word.

To read more, go here http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/austen/pv.html