What is the relationship of form and meaning in Emma by Jane Austen?

When you ask about "form and meaning," you are asking a
critical analysis question from the perspective of Formalism critical
theory. Formalists (form-alists) attempted to evaluate literary texts (especially
poetry) in an objective (scientific) way that excluded consideration of (1) the author's
biography and intentions and excluded consideration of (2) the social, economic and political
influences and realities of the literary work's era.

To understand this,
think of how Gulliver's Travels was critically analyzed in the 1800s (19th
century). It was/is typically analyzed as a political and socialaimed at critiquing British
society and government by comparing it to imaginary other societies. The work was not analyzed
for form (as defined by formalists); it was not examined to see if or why it stood up to the
idea of literariness (as defined by formalists). Formalists sought to
change this trend and analyze literature based on how its form gives it meaning without
reference to anything...