Emma

Emma’s father Mr. Woodhouse is “a valetudinarian” or hypochondriac, whose notions of ill health cause him to lead a sheltered life and to rely on the frequent attentions of his physician, Mr. Perry. While he and Emma dote on each other, his lack of rational intelligence and playfulness means that he is “no companion for her” (3). Emma is affected by Mr. Woodhouse’s insular habits as she too is limited, having barely travelled beyond Highbury and seldom having the opportunity to dance or dine out. Emma is also influenced by Mr. Woodhouse’s negative view of marriage as a sad change, which will break up their perfect setup at Hartfield.

While Mr. Woodhouse is the patriarch of a high-status family that has been long settled at Hartfield, in a patriarchal society his character traits would be gendered feminine. He is known for the soft power of “the friendliness of his heart and his amiable temper,” prefers the company of women to men, and believes that a more vigorous man, like Mr. Knightley, is required to protect him from dangers such as poultry pilfering (3).

Mr. Woodhouse’s consistent nervousness on topics of health and safety causes him, like Emma, to live in a world of his own making. Thanks to his fancy, damps are perceived on hot June days, and fires are lit to accommodate them.

Clear-sighted, 37-year-old Mr. George Knightley is the antagonist to Emma’s high self-regard. Whereas both Emma and her former governess are convinced that her learning is more or less complete, Mr. Knightley holds the opposite view. Even before Emma’s befriending of Harriet Smith leads to the disastrous situation with Mr. Elton, Mr. Knightley thinks the sudden alliance between the two girls is mutually destructive. His sentiments that Harriet will be yet another flatterer who will puff up Emma’s vanity echo the omniscient narrator’s notion that the danger of Emma’s situation was “the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself” (1). The correspondence between Mr. Knightley’s view and the omniscient narrator’s cements him as an important figure in the novel and someone the reader can trust.

Mr. Knightley, who becomes synonymous with the voice of Emma’s “own heart,” tells Emma truths that are difficult to hear. At first, she thinks that this is a game on Mr. Knightley’s part, and then she realizes that these interactions are the most important in her life. While Mr. Knightley’s attraction to Emma is evident in his early declaration that he loves “to look at her” and in his jealousy of Frank, hers takes longer to fathom (31). It is at the Crown Inn Ball that she properly takes in his physicality, noting his “tall, firm, upright figure” and a handsomeness that equals Frank’s (278). While Emma matures during the course of the novel, Mr. Knightley becomes more youthful, as Emma’s view of him adjusts from that of an authority figure, to that of an eligible suitor. The two come to an understanding at the end of the novel, as he concedes that she has improved Harriet and moves to Hartfield to inconvenience her father as little as possible; meanwhile, she strives to resemble and grow worthy of him.

Emma’s old governess, Miss Taylor, is a principled, sensitive woman whose mild temper “had hardly allowed her to impose any restraint” or authority on Emma, meaning that she did not sufficiently challenge the latter (1). Emma acts more as Miss Taylor’s friend than her charge when she claims to have made the match between her governess and Mr. Weston. Mr. Knightley goes further, claiming that the roles of governess and charge were reversed; rather than Miss Taylor preparing Emma for being an accomplished young lady and running her own household, it was the opposite as Miss Taylor received “a very good education from her, on the very material matrimonial point of submitting your own will, and doing as you were bid” (29). While Mr. Knightley exaggerates for comic effect, his observation that Miss Taylor was practicing wifely submission whilst with Emma has an element of truth. When Mrs. Weston has her own daughter, Emma speculates that she will turn out as spoiled as she was.

During the course of the novel, Mrs. Weston plays the role of Emma’s close but distanced friend. However, the two women do not share the intimacy of communication they enjoyed while Miss Taylor was single, as Emma does not confide her schemes or her most troubling feelings in Mrs. Weston. However, Mrs. Weston’s hurt at Frank’s delay of the visit which is her due is a useful device for showing the latter’s selfishness. While Frank sets his sights on Jane, a woman as “portionless” and undowried as his father’s wife, he does not perceive how such a woman would feel his lack of attention as a slight.

Mr. Weston is a man who is newer to gentility and property than Highbury’s oldest families. He is described as having “an active, cheerful mind and social temper” (9). His first marriage to the wealthy Miss Churchill of Enscombe, Yorkshire, whom he met while he was in the militia, was a bittersweet experience. Although the couple were in love, she was cut off by her family upon making such an unequal match, and he felt pressured to exceed his income in order to satisfy her expensive tastes. When Miss Churchill died and the Churchills took over the care of his son, Frank, Mr. Weston felt disempowered as a father, even though he was rising in wealth and had purchased the small estate of Randalls in Highbury. Thus, the Churchills are a continual specter in his life until Mrs. Churchill’s death.

Mr. Weston seems led by his heart rather than by his head, as he marries an undowried woman like Miss Taylor for love and is ready to forgive Frank and Jane for their trespasses, even though he was eager for Frank to marry Emma. Mr. Weston’s preference for large parties and his lack of social distinction is mildly scorned by snobbish Emma, who believes that “general benevolence, but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be” (273).

Harriet Smith, the 17-year-old illegitimate parlor-boarder at Miss Goddard’s school, draws Emma’s attention because of her beauty. Harriet’s petite, plump, fair aspect, in addition to her physical weakness in getting cramps after dancing, are supremely feminine and capture Emma’s imagination. Mrs. Goddard, who conceals the truth of Harriet’s parentage until her eventual marriage, plays a role in this dissimulation, allowing Emma to believe that Harriet is a gentleman’s daughter, an element that would soften the social stigma of her illegitimacy.

While Emma can see that Harriet lacks intellect and assurance, and that her illegitimacy could be problematic when it comes to marriage, her fancy makes her think that Harriet is nearly perfect. Although Harriet is modest and has the innate sense that she would be very happy at Abbey Mill as Robert Martin’s wife, she is impressionable and eager to defer her judgment to Emma, whom she looks upon as an authority in everything. With her lack of curiosity or willingness to find out the truth of her parentage, combined with her idolization of Emma, she enters into the latter’s schemes easily. She too catches the tendency to subordinate feeling to fancy. While she feels real pain at rejecting Robert Martin and truncating the visit to his mother and sisters, she is able to overlook this pain when she is carried away by Mr. Knightley’s rescue of her from social humiliation, imagining that a match could be made despite the disparity of status.

The novel’s treatment of Harriet has both serious and comic aspects. On the serious side, privileged Emma’s meddling in the life of a lower status girl with few connections and marital prospects could have had serious consequences. Had Robert Martin not proposed a second time, Harriet, who Emma effectively banishes from Hartfield after she confesses her feelings for Mr. Knightley, could have found herself more alone and desperate than ever. However, there is also the comic aspect of Harriet’s sentimentality, when she makes relics of Mr. Elton’s old bits of plaster and pencil, and when she fancies herself in love with three men in a single year. Thus, Harriet’s changing mind makes her less of a serious character to the reader, who as a result can more easily forgive Emma for wronging this particular friend.

Miss Bates’ niece, Jane Fairfax, is an orphan. Following the death of her parents, she was adopted into her father’s friend Colonel Campbell’s family and given an excellent education alongside their daughter. Colonel Campbell intends that Jane will henceforth be able to support herself as a governess, given that she has no fortune of her own.

Jane is frequently praised for her elegant, irregular beauty, which comprises deep grey eyes, dark eye-lashes and eyebrows, and pale skin, in addition to her prowess on the pianoforte, which makes Emma’s playing seem like a “lamp” to its “sunshine.” Jane’s accomplishment pricks at Emma’s vanity and shows up her idleness, while Jane’s extreme reserve makes her an odious companion. Emma correctly suspects that Jane has something to hide but is wrong in her suspicion that it is a far-flung attachment to a married man, rather than one who is much closer to home.

Jane’s own temperament is sensitive, and she is prone to ill health. She bears the brunt of the secret engagement; in addition to the shame of knowing that she has done wrong by entering into it, she is mostly confined in her aunt’s small home, while Frank has the freedom to leave Highbury and flirt with Emma. The stress of waiting for some resolution on the engagement makes Jane increasingly moody, as does watching Frank’s attentions towards Emma. She makes some thinly veiled gestures that reveal her true opinion— whether about her feelings on the wretchedness of being a governess, or her crossness at Frank’s teasing her about Mr. Dixon. Her fury at Frank when she temporarily accepts the position with Mrs. Smallridge. Meanwhile, her jealousy of Emma, a young woman whom even the snobbish Mrs. Churchill would have approved of, means that she refuses all forms of help from her. However, when the engagement is in the open and she is secure of her position as Frank’s fiancée, Jane displays warmth towards Emma and welcomes her offer of friendship. Emma thus sees that Jane’s predicament exaggerated the less flattering aspects of her character and judges Frank harshly for putting the woman he loves under such strain.

Mr. Weston’s son, Frank Churchill, was raised by his uncle and aunt, the Churchills at Enscombe in Yorkshire. Frank is tall and good-looking, and while he shares his father’s lively, sociable temperament, he is financially bound to the Churchills and has become accustomed to a grand, fashionable lifestyle that is unlike that of the Highbury set. He likes to visit stylish resorts such as Weymouth and aspires to go on the Grand Tour of Europe in the manner of wealthy gentlemen at the time. The novel thus sets him up as the opposite of the definitively English Mr. Knightley.

Although Frank claims that Mrs. Churchill’s hostility to his father is the reason why he cannot visit him, Mr. Knightley observes that Frank is “for ever at some watering-place or other,” as he puts his own pleasure above his duty to his father and Mrs. Weston (124). He makes excuses in a flourishing letter that satisfies all of Highbury, except for Mr. Knightley who believes it shows him to be more style than substance. Emma too eventually comes to this realization, as she deems Frank too restless and undistinguished in his tastes for her.

The theme of Frank’s divided loyalties continues when he appears in Highbury. He strives to conceal his engagement to Jane by acting like a man who is free to be Emma’s suitor, while at the same time covertly plotting to see Jane at every possible opportunity. While Jane is deeply ashamed and reserved, Frank is less cautious, blundering in his references to information which he is not supposed to know, and wanting to take risks such as confessing the truth to Emma and accompanying Jane back to Highbury. While Jane suffers, Frank appears to enjoy elements of his double game, merrily entering into a flirtation with Emma and entertaining her notion of an attachment between Jane and her friend’s husband. When the truth is revealed, Emma is indignant at being the dupe of Frank’s schemes, despite his intuition that “she was perfectly free from any tendency to being attached to me” and that they “seemed to understand each other” (378). While he was right about the first intuition, he was wrong on the second, as Emma was too blinded by her own schemes to understand his. Still, Emma concludes that their characters resemble one another, and that both she and Frank stand to benefit less from being with each other than with those of a steadier temperament.

Highbury’s handsome, gallant vicar, Mr. Elton begins the novel as “a young man living alone without liking it” who sets his sights on securing a wealthy, well-connected wife for his Vicarage (14). The social-climbing Mr. Elton, who has roots in trade, has become Highbury’s vicar not as a result of any religious calling but in order to rise into gentility. Whereas the women of Highbury see him as exceptionally gentle and many have crushes on him, the men see that he “may talk sentimentally, but he will act rationally” (55). While Emma ignores Mr. Knightley’s warning and is busy matchmaking Mr. Elton and Harriet, it becomes increasingly clear that Mr. Elton intends to try for Emma. Although the proposal is a shock to Emma, she is immediately clear-sighted that his attachment to her is mercenary.

Following his marriage to Mrs. Elton, the full extent of Mr. Elton’s “littleness” is exposed, as he publicly snubs Harriet as a means of punishing Emma for her original scheme. His resentment towards Emma for rejecting him after what he saw as her encouragement persists. When he learns of her engagement to Mr. Knightley, he makes the sarcastic comment that he hoped “the young lady’s pride would now be contented” as he supposes that “she had always meant to catch Knightley if she could” (405). Despite Mr. Elton’s veneer of being the passionate lover, in reality he cannot comprehend anyone marrying for reasons beyond the rational motive of social advancement.

When Mr. Elton meets Miss Augusta Hawkins at a Bath resort and marries her, he congratulates “himself on having brought such a woman to Highbury, as not even Miss Woodhouse could equal” (239). Mr. Elton judges Miss Hawkins as a fitting consolation for his disappointment with Emma, as the latter has a massive fortune, is elegantly dressed, and had a grand connection owing to her sister Selina at Maple Grove, who is married to the ostentatiously wealthy Mr. Suckling. Augusta’s family is newly wealthy, and she has gathered some fashionable accomplishments such as speaking Italian and playing the pianoforte. She uses her elegant, if “over-trimmed”, appearance as a means of playing the lady; in turn, she labels Emma’s simple tastes as “shabby” by comparison. However, she is no more disposed to practice her pianoforte than Emma, and she uses her status as a new bride to excuse herself from the endeavor. Instead, she prefers conversation, appearances, and fashionable pursuits such as exploring parties and picnics. When Emma meets the new Mrs. Elton, she is immediately disgusted by the “modern ease” of her manners, which cause her to refer to Mr. Knightley by his last name, and to her husband as “Mr. E.” Emma resents this lack of propriety, as it threatens to throw Highbury’s established hierarchy, which she herself benefits from, into disarray.

While Emma deplores Mrs. Elton, the two women resemble each other in some aspects; namely, in their disposition to think well of themselves and to interfere in the lives of others. John Mullan in his Guardian article of 2015, titled “How Jane Austen’s Emma changed the face of fiction,” says of Emma’s judgment of Mrs. Elton as an “upstart” : “Emma is right - and yet Emma too is full of herself. She even, unconsciously, uses the same vocabulary as her foe, who assures her, ‘I have quite a horror of upstarts.’” (Mullan, John. “How Jane Austen’s Emma changed the face of fiction.” The Guardian. 2015 Dec. 5. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/05/jane-austen-emma-changed-face-fiction.) Like Emma, Mrs. Elton is sensitive to social status and continually judges people as being beneath her. Although Emma thinks that she has more prerogative to meddle owing to her being a more established member of the gentry than Mrs. Elton, Mrs. Elton’s endeavors for Jane Fairfax are only an exaggerated version of Emma’s designs for Harriet. Mrs. Elton thus presents an unflattering reflection of Emma’s worst traits, heightening Emma’s discomfort in her presence.

Middle-aged, unmarried Miss Bates is the daughter of a former Highbury vicar. She lives a modest life in a tiny house with her elderly mother Mrs. Bates. She defies the contemporary stereotype of the cross old maid by being good-natured, generous, and eternally grateful for the generosity of her neighbors. However, being “a great talker upon little matters,” Miss Bates is tiresome to be around (15). Part of Emma’s education is to learn to tolerate the annoying aspects of Miss Bates and to not be remiss in her responsibilities to a woman who has “sunk from the comforts she was born to” and who deserves compassion rather than censure (323).

While Emma only half listens to Miss Bates’ monologues which are peppered with seemingly insignificant anecdotes, they are a great resource for the reader, who can learn atmospheric details such as that the shabby Crown Inn ballroom has been transformed into “fairy-land,” or that Jane has spent a long time on her hair. There are also clues in her speech that hint towards the intimacy of Frank and Jane; for example, she was the one who dropped the secret hint of Mr. Perry’s carriage that ended up being mentioned by Frank. As Mullan writes, what Miss Bates says, “is truer than what anyone hears: she is the reliable witness to what is really going on.” (Mullan, John. “How Jane Austen’s Emma changed the face of fiction.” The Guardian. 2015 Dec. 5. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/05/jane-austen-emma-changed-face-fiction.)

Mr. Knightley’s younger brother, Mr. John Knightley, lives in London with Emma’s sister Isabella and their five children. His taciturn, unsociable nature and mocking of Mr. Woodhouse’s fastidious habits, make him a comic character. However, given that Isabella, his wife, resembles Mr. Woodhouse in her hysteria over health, he disproves Mr. Knightley’s theory that “men of sense […] do not want silly wives” (53). The learned, rational Mr. John Knightley was evidently not searching for an intellectual companion in his spouse.

However, Mr. John Knightley shares his older brother’s “penetration” on human behavior when after a single carriage ride with Emma and Mr. Elton, he accurately reads Mr. Elton’s intentions towards her. From a social perspective, Emma also delights in the purity of the Knightleys’s bloodline, as the association between Highbury’s leading families reinforces the status of both.

Emma’s older sister Isabella has an “elegant little figure” that resembles Emma’s, however in temperament and personality she is more like her father. She resembles Mr. Woodhouse in her obsession with her physician, Mr. Wingfield, and she dotes over her five children. Mr. Woodhouse’s relationship with Isabella reveals his possessiveness, as he resents that she takes the advice of her husband or physician over his. When it comes to her husband, she is “a worshipping wife”, whose “extreme sweetness of temper must hurt his” (78). Here, Austen notes that flattery and exaggerated feminine submissiveness are undesirable for both the characters of husband and wife. Whereas Isabella and her husband have a relationship that is rooted in traditional gender roles, Mr. Knightley and Emma’s marriage will be based on discussion and companionship.