Emma, by Jane Austen (1775-1817), was published in
December 1815 although the date on the original title page is 1816. It was
therefore the last novel to be published in Austen’s lifetime, although
Persuasion was written after she had completed the writing of Emma but was published
after her death.
The story concerns Emma Woodhouse, who is introduced in
the opening line as “handsome, clever and rich” and who “had lived nearly
twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her”. The
reader soon gathers that she believes herself to have a gift for understanding
the needs and wishes of those around her, particularly in matters of the heart.
As the novel proceeds she is brought to realise that she is deluded in this
respect, and the shocks she suffers give her a greater degree of self-knowledge
than she had previously possessed.
The events take place in and around the village of
Highbury and concern the members of several families of varying fortunes. The
Woodhouses are well-to-do, although Emma’s father is an elderly hypochondriac
and she lost her mother when a child. Her elder sister is married to Mr John
Knightley, whose brother George, owner of the local estate, takes a fatherly
interest in Emma’s welfare, being 17 years older than her.
Emma believes that she has been responsible for
engineering the marriage of her governess to a local widower, Mr Weston. She
then takes it upon herself to do the same for her socially inferior friend
Harriet Smith, believing that the perfect match will be the vicar, Mr Elton.
She therefore persuades Harriet to break her attachment to the highly suitable
Robert Martin, a farmer. Things go wrong when the vain and foolish Mr Elton
thinks that Emma is matchmaking on her own behalf and proposes to her, to her
disgust and annoyance.
Emma’s second attempt on Harriet’s behalf involves Frank
Churchill, who is Mr Weston’s son but who was brought up by an aunt and uncle
whose name he took. A comedy of errors ensues when Harriet misunderstands
Emma’s hints and assumes that she is talking about Mr Knightley as the intended
target. When Harriet duly falls for Mr Knightley, Emma begins to realise that
she has feelings for him herself. At the same time, Mr Knightley begins to
imagine that Emma is falling in love with Frank.
Emma’s next “victim” is Jane Fairfax, a young woman
without a fortune who faces a future as a governess unless she can make a good
marriage. Jane is staying with her aunt, Miss Bates, who is a gossipy
middle-aged lady who rarely stops talking. Miss Bates is extremely proud of
Jane, who is beautiful, intelligent, and a talented pianist and singer. Emma’s attitude
towards Jane is tinged with more than a hint of jealousy.
Emma persuades herself that Jane is in love with a Mr
Dixon, who is currently in Ireland. She has very little evidence for this fact,
but that does not stop her from joking about it with Frank Churchill, and the
two have a lot of knowing fun at Jane’s expense, although Emma clearly has no
right to take such a line. Mr Knightley upbraids Emma for her attitude, and
attempts to warn her that all may not be as it appears in terms of Jane’s
private life, but Emma will have none of it.
Emma completely oversteps the mark at a picnic at which
many of the villagers are present, when she insults Miss Bates in front of
everyone. She is taken to task by Mr Knightley and suddenly realises that her
behaviour has not been appropriate.
When news arrives that Frank Churchill’s aunt has died,
Mr Knightley’s suspicions are confirmed, as Frank now announces that he is free
to marry at last, and that his intended is Jane to whom he has been secretly
engaged all along. Far from Emma and Frank being co-conspirators in the
long-running joke against Jane, Emma has been Frank’s dupe. Her self-appointed
status as the village’s matchmaker and fount of all knowledge regarding
everyone’s romantic attachments is shown to be groundless.
The next shock to hit Emma is the realisation that Mr
Knightley’s affections are not directed towards Harriet, as she had assumed,
but herself. Now that Emma has been “dethroned” and come to her senses, Mr
Knightley is able to declare his love for her, and she accepts his marriage
proposal. Meanwhile Harriet’s former lover Robert Martin re-appears and
proposes to Harriet. A double wedding concludes the story.
The novel illustrates very cleverly the importance of not
seeking to control the lives of other people or to believe that one knows their
innermost thoughts and desires better than they do themselves. “Emma” contrasts
a variety of forms of selfishness and generosity against each other, portrayed
most clearly through the characters of Emma and Mr Knightley respectively. Jane
Austen makes the point in “Emma” that the most generous thing one can do when
dealing with other people is to accept them for what they are, which is a
lesson that Emma Woodhouse learns the hard way.
© John Welford
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