The novel was her chosen medium, but Jane Austen's method is that of the dramatist — as Macaulay recognised in placing her next to Shakespeare. Drama doesn't stop to explain itself: hence the intriguing questions that arise from her novels.

Mr. Darcy surprisingly stresses Elizabeth's social inferiority in proposing to her. No gentleman would normally do such a thing; and the result, predictably, is to anger his beloved. Perhaps Jane Austen makes Darcy step out of character here so as to personify the standards of that age. But could we, instead, be dealing with a psychological depth and rightness, in terms of these engaging personalities, that would render niceties between them at such a moment unrealistic?

And what should we make of Harriet Smith, the humble outsider befriended by Emma Woodhouse? She is neither clever in herself, nor — presumably —in falling in love with three gentlemen in the space of a single year. Yet by the end, Emma sees her as a deadly rival for the heart of Mr. Knightley. Is this artless young woman little more than a device for spinning out the tale? Or is such a girl as Harriet not only "exactly what every man delights in", as Emma had affirmed her, but possessed of qualities becoming in any lady?

These, and a host of other fascinating possibilities, are explored in this challenging study of one of our greatest and most entertaining novelists.