Title: The Mysterious Frank: Dilemma of Secrets in Jane Austen’s Emma

Abstract: Frank Churchill in Jane Austen’s Emma is a complex and contradictory character. He remains loyal to a secret engagement, yet he also enjoys amusement and devious schemes, which reflects the novel’s ethical struggle: it seeks to accommodate cross-class marriages based on affection while upholding the 18th-century practice of intra-class unions and the moral philosophy that advocates honesty. To achieve this balance, the novel portrays Frank as one who unreasonably conceals his secret and even resorts to deliberate deception, thereby tarnishing his image to counterbalance the author’s tolerance for secret engagements. However, Frank is not a complete fraud; his actions are clumsy and limited in impact. Although the novel criticizes him, it ultimately grants him societal sympathy and forgiveness, using this dual balancing to reveal the multifaceted nature of humanity.

Keywords: Jane Austen, Emma, moral philosophy, views of marriage

Author: Qihe Lin, Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2025.03.011