The British critic Robert Irvine wrote that unlike the situation in Austen's previous novels, the town of Highbury in Surrey emerges as a character in its own right.Irvine, Robert Jane Austen, London: Routledge, 2005 page 72. Irvine wrote that: "In Emma, we find something much closer to a genuinely communal voice, a point of view at work in the narrative that cannot be reduced to the subjectivity of any one character. This point of view appears both as something perceived by Emma, an external perspective on events and characters that the reader encounters as and when Emma recognises it; and as an independent discourse appearing in the text alongside the discourse of the narrator and characters". Irvine used as an example the following passage: "The charming Augusta Hawkins, in addition to all the usual advantages of perfect beauty and merit, was in possession of as many thousands as would always be called ten; a point of some dignity, as well as some convenience: the story told well; he had not thrown himself away-he had gained a woman of £10,000 or thereabouts; and he had gained with delightful rapidity-the first hour of introduction he had been so very soon followed by distinguishing notice; the history which he had to give Mrs. Cole of the rise and progress of the affair was so glorious".Irvine, Robert Jane Austen, London: Routledge, 2005 pages 72–73. Irvine points out the adjective "charming" appears to the narrator speaking, but notes the sentence goes on to associate "perfect" with "usual", which he pointed out was an incongruity.Irvine, Robert Jane Austen, London: Routledge, 2005 page 73. Irvine suggested the next sentence "would always be called ten" is in fact the voice of the community of Highbury, which wants the fiancée of Mr. Elton to be "perfect", whom the narrator sarcastically calls the "usual" sort of community gossip is about a new arrival in Highbury, whom everyone thinks is "charming". Since the character of Mrs. Elton is in fact far from "charming", the use of the term "charming" to describe her is either the gossip of Highbury and/or the narrator being sarcastic.
