Classics Corner: Emma by Jane Austen: A Sweet Comedy With A Sometimes Infuriating But Always Well-Meaning Protagonist

Classics Corner: Emma by Jane Austen, A Sweet Comedy With A Sometimes Infuriating But Always Well-Meaning Protagonist

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I want to apologize for being so late with these reviews. I had some personal stuff going on. This past Saturday was my birthday and I’ll be honest, I’ve been watching the Olympics. (Figure skating’s my jam. Though I’m an American, I'm happy for Virtue and Moir, their "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Moulin Rouge" performances were awesome. Javier Fernandez was one charming entertainer and totally deserved that Silver Medal-come on going from Charlie Chaplin to Don Quixote, the man deserved a prize for showmanship.) Anyway, on to Emma.

Emma Woodhouse is the type of friend who people constantly criticize but usually end by saying “But she means well.” Okay, she may meddle in people’s lives, set people up against their will, “But she means well.” She’s like that popular girl who thinks that the key to her fellow student’s happiness is a complete makeover and a date with the captain of the football team, “But she means well.” Jane Austen once described her as a “heroine in which no one but (herself) would like.” But…well you get the idea.

Emma Woodhouse is determined to match up her friends whether they want to be or not. Taking pride that she introduced her former governess (and surrogate mother) to a local wealthy widower, she takes full credit for the match and thinks that she has a career (as much a career as a woman would have in Regency-era England) ahead of her of setting up her unattached lovelorn friends with the right person where they will live, hopefully, ever after.

The first to reach Emma’s Spidey Single Sense is Harriet Smith. Harriet is a shy young woman with very little to offer any future prospects. She is illegitimate with unknown parents and is taken in by the charity of distant relatives. So Emma plans on setting her up with an eligible bachelor with the determination of an Olympic athlete competing for a Gold medal. (If Matchmaking were an Olympic sport that is).

First Emma ignores Harriet’s interest in Mr. Martin, a local farmer, thinking that Harriet could do much better….like the new young curate, Mr. Elton. Unfortunately, Mr. Elton is a fickle weak minded fool who is looking for a bride to bring him up a few notches in the social stratosphere. In fact he is quite receptive to the invitations that Emma sends him to be with herself and Harriet. He is completely enamored and proposes to…..Emma. Emma has the sense to turn Elton down and send him packing to find a wealthy but air headed bride.

Other people get involved in Emma’s attempts at match making. There’s Frank Churchill, a local boy made good by a wealthy aunt and uncle and has grown into a snob and a rake. Jane Fairfax, a girl who’s Aunt and Great-Aunt, Miss and Mrs. Bates, will extol her virtues to everyone who is unfortunate enough to be in hearing distance. Their praise of Jane sickens the others, Emma especially, who envision  her as the model of perfection. 

Emma almost treats her friends like dolls, albeit well-loved dolls. She thinks that if she positions them just right, insert a few dinner parties and balls, then they will fall in love just as she suspected. However, she fails to account that unlike dolls, people don’t always act the way she wants them to. She falls in love with Frank Churchill. Then when her infatuation dies, she steps aside for Harriet when she believes the younger woman is in love with him, only to discover that Churchill had been in a secret engagement with Jane Fairfax, the whole time.  Gee, it’s like her friends are actual human beings with thoughts of their own and aren’t Emma’s playthings to move however she sees fit.

The thing with Emma is that she’s not a heartless person. She genuinely believes that she is acting for the good of all. When she tries to set Harriet up with Mr. Elton then briefly with Mr. Churchill, she genuinely wants to see Harriet happy. She doesn’t think about the consequences of whether the men are interested in Harriet or someone else. The worst that she can be accused of is thoughtless. When she is filled with remorse (such as after she realizes that she has hurt Miss Bates’ feelings after she says some thoughtless words at an outing or when she finds out that Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax are engaged and she has to find a way to break the news to Harriet), the Reader has no doubt that her remorse is genuine. Emma is the type of person that you may want to lecture, even slap sometimes, but you don’t want to hate or completely break things off with.

Emma also has a difficult time with following her own desires. Originally, she is content to remain a spinster and care for her eccentric father and estate. Perhaps her need to set up her friends is to ignore or avoid her own feelings. While she admits to being fascinated by the charming Frank Churchill even engaging in flirting with him, she gets out of any potential attachments when he proves himself to be vain, foppish, and overly critical. (She actually pities Jane Fairfax when it is revealed that they married. But Churchill does show some maturity as he writes and apologetic letter to Emma and to his father for deceiving them, suggesting some growth in his character.)

Emma’s own romantic needs become entangled with those of Mr. Knightly, her brother-in-law. Knightly has the unenviable task of acting as Emma’s conscience telling her when she’s gone too far. He is offended when she insults Miss Bates and reminds her that her meddling in Harriet’s life will only bring trouble to her. Of course Emma never listens and learns the hard way.

However, like Emma, Mr. Knightly also shows that he is a caring person. He dances with Harriet at a ball when no one else will earning a schoolgirl crush from her which is almost thwarted by Emma’s jealousy but Harriet’s former intended, Mr. Martin appears from nowhere (a plot point left somewhat dangled) to set things right. When he lectures Emma, it is more out of a blunt kindness of telling her what she needs to hear rather than playing along with her schemes like everyone else does. He’s the type of person that someone like Emma needs, someone to bring them back down to earth before they fly too high and get themselves in trouble.

Despite Austen’s insistence that no one but herself will like, Emma actually is very likable. She is packed with flaws and insecurities. She is extremely meddling, but caring. She gets herself and her friends in trouble and almost makes a mess of many things. But oh darn it all, she means well.