Emma - Jane Austen - Episode 2 - Let The Match Making And Mayhem Begin!
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Emma - Jane Austen - Episode 2 - Let The Match Making And Mayhem Begin!
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Episode 2
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Hi, I\\u2019m Christy Shriver and we\\u2019re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.
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I\\u2019m Garry Shriver and This is the How to Love Lit Podcast.\\xa0 This is our second episode discussing Jane Austen\\u2019s Masterpiece, Emma, and per our usual style, we barely got into the story itself last week.\\xa0 We talked a little about Austen, although I know we\\u2019re going to do a little more of that next week, we learned what a Jane-ite was or rather is, something I was unfamiliar with. We explored Regency England, the age of improvement, the period in which this novel, or really all of Austen\\u2019s novels are set, and we learned what a bildingroman or a coming of age novel is- I\\u2019m not sure I can say that word correctly. .\\xa0 In truth, we only got one page into the story- setting up for us this idea of who Emma is going to be in this book in contrast to what she is NOT- she\\u2019s not a Cinderella, not a victim in any way, but a strong heroine in many ways different than many female protagonists, even of even Jane Austen\\u2019s female characters.\\xa0 Emma, unlike many women of the time, doesn\\u2019t have to find a husband- in fact, she doesn\\u2019t need a man at all and says so.\\xa0 She has money, she has an adoring father, she has position- in fact according to the text, in Highbury, her world, she has no equal.\\xa0 So, the question becomes, what\\u2019s in a story with no problems for the protagonist.\\xa0 The first line of the book says it all- \\u201cEmma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence and had lived nearly 21 years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.\\u201d\\xa0 As we see\\xa0 Emma has no hardships; no anxiety, no internal angst- what could this book be about.\\xa0\\xa0
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I know.\\xa0 It\\u2019s a ridiculous set up.\\xa0 I want to read a section out of chapter 10 that shows us that even Emma is aware of her very pleasant reality.\\xa0 In chapter 10, in the version that is not divided in different volumes, And this is a little confusing if you\\u2019re trying to follow along,\\xa0 the chapters and numbered differently depending on if you\\u2019re reading the one divided in to volumes or not, but in straight through version in chapter 10, Emma is trying to set up her friend, Harriet with a man .\\xa0 Harriet responds to Emma and asks her why she doesn\\u2019t try to set up herself to marry.\\xa0 This is Emma\\u2019s response, \\u201cI have very little intention of ever marrying at all.\\xa0 To which Harriet says she finds that very odd to hear in a woman and to which Emma response, \\u201cI have none of the inducements of women to marry.\\xa0 Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing!\\xa0 But I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.\\xa0 And, without love, I am sure I should be a fool to change such a situation as mine.\\xa0 Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want; I believe few married women are half as much mistress of their husband\\u2019s house as I am of Hartfield and never never could I expect to be so truly beloved and important; so always first and always right in any man\\u2019s eyes as I am in my father\\u2019s.\\u201d
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Well, now there you have it.\\xa0 Here\\u2019s another great quote, \\u201c\\u201cit is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A\\xa0single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid\\xa0.\\xa0.\\xa0.\\xa0but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else\\u201d .(68\\u201369)
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That says it all.\\xa0 She is truly a woman with no need of a many for anything-and not even the gossips will have anything to say about it- there\\u2019s no story here!!!
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\\xa0HA!!\\xa0 Or so it seems.\\xa0 I told my father, who is our greatest fan and who listens to everything we produce and reads all the books we analyze had this to say\\u2026and I will read his text.\\xa0 \\u201cWe are watching Emma.\\xa0 This will be a very boring book for me. If you can make Emma interesting y\\u2019all are a genius.\\u201d\\xa0 So, daddy, Challenge accepted!!!\\xa0 I believe we can make Emma interesting because Emma IS interesting, just in its own sort of way-\\xa0 last week we discussed the angle of feminism as Austen wants to challenge the status quo of her day on what it means to be a woman, that is one way to see the book, but there is so so much more to it than just that.\\xa0 So, let\\u2019s jump into the story.\\xa0 This week, I\\u2019d like to get through chapters 1-16,\\xa0 talk about narrative style and Austen\\u2019s incredibly innovative techniques when it comes to point of view, and revisit another cultural tidbid of the period that will make our cultural understanding of what\\u2019s going on slightly more insightful.
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That\\u2019s quite ambitious, and you still think we can get through before the bell rings in 48 minutes?
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We\\u2019ll try. So\\u2026 the secret to enjoying Emma is to understand that this book is not about a plot.\\xa0 If you\\u2019re looking for plot twists- it\\u2019s destined to be boring.\\xa0 There\\u2019s a couple of parties with waltzing, Harriet gets knocked over by gypsies, but that\\u2019s as aggressive as things get. So, let me say up front- this is a book where basically nothing happens.\\xa0\\xa0
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\\xa0You\\u2019re not selling it, Christy.\\xa0 if it\\u2019s not about the plot, what is it about.
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It\\u2019s about people.\\xa0 It\\u2019s the characters that are loveable.\\xa0 It\\u2019s the characters that we identify with. And it\\u2019s by paying attention to the characters that Austen charms us.\\xa0 She introduces us to new friends that are so well described and narrate in their own unique voices so believably before the end of the story they are old friends..\\xa0 And of course, this is what makes lots of shows loveable.\\xa0 Our good Paul Dooley\\xa0 loves re-watching reruns of Andy Griffin and the Beverly Hillbillies.\\xa0 He\\u2019s seen all the episodes.\\xa0 He knows all the stories.\\xa0 He\\u2019s memorized many of the lines.\\xa0 One time I asked hm, Paul, why do you like watching those shows if you\\u2019ve already seen them?\\xa0 And his answer is- it\\u2019s like visiting with old friends.\\xa0\\xa0
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We all have shows that feel like that.\\xa0\\xa0
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Oh, so do I.\\xa0 I could watch Downton Abbey again and again and again and never tire of listening to the Dowager.\\xa0
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Oh yeah, and I believe half of America feels that way about the characters on the sitcom Friends- and again that\\u2019s a show where not much happens..\\xa0 But, isn\\u2019t that true about life in general. IT\\u2019s the characters in our world that make our lives interesting.\\xa0 That is the genius of Austen, she draws these people in Regency England in such a way as they might as well have been people from Memphis.
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That\\u2019s it exactly.\\xa0 Austen\\u2019s characters are so realistic and relatable.\\xa0 She builds a small community that could be any community- a little like Thornton Wilder.\\xa0
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\\xa0We empathize with Mrs. Bates partly because we all have someone like that in our world, but even if we haven\\u2019t we wish we had because these characters are colorful- they\\u2019re nutty and we can laugh at them.
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So true- and that leads us to where I want to go in discussion Austen\\u2019s narrative technique.\\xa0 It\\u2019s unique in that she is going to craft for us a third person narrative style that brings us in as Highbury insiders.\\xa0 We\\u2019re not time-travelers observing a group of people from the outside- we are insiders ourselves with opinions about the people we meet.\\xa0 We find Mr. Woodhouse\\u2019s hypochondria and obsessions with gruel that in reality borders mental illness somehow loveable; we find Mr. and Mrs. Elston\\u2019s snobbery obnoxious, but we see Emma\\u2019s as forgiveable; and even though it should be creepy that Mr. Knightly has been in love with Emma since she was 13 and he\\u2019s 16 years older than her, somehow it doesn\\u2019t bother us.\\xa0 So, how does she do it and why?\\xa0 Emma is a book about the web of interconnectedness very much about friendship- Austen illustrates three different types of friendships.\\xa0 She offers a perspective on what is important in each variation of friendship that she illustrates, she contrasts them and demonstrates how each kind\\xa0 affects our human development. She illustrates their value by building for us a little stage called Highbury- and Emma is the lens through which we watch her show?\\xa0
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Well, if we\\u2019re looking through Emma\\u2019s eyes, it seems Emma is particularly interested in marital friendship.
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She really is.\\xa0 And so is Austen, and of course, much of the plot is a contrivance of that very thing.\\xa0 \\xa0 But, it\\u2019s not just that, as we traverse the stage, we Emma develop.\\xa0 The people in her life contribute to her evolution as a human being, Emma becomes a better person- this is the self-discovery that we told you last week they call a bildingsroman.\\xa0 Because Emma is so isolated and her life is so easy, she starts out very self-centered.\\xa0 And her self-centeredness makes her absolutely unable to make good judgements.\\xa0 She\\u2019s going to misjudge Mr. Martin, Mr. Elton, Mr. Churchhill and Mr. Knightley- and that\\u2019s just the men in her life.
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True- and it seems to me it\\u2019s Emma\\u2019s constant mistakes that direct the plot.\\xa0\\xa0
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Very much so, so, let\\u2019s jump in.\\xa0 When we left off with page 1, we learned that Emma lives with her father; and her governess, Mrs. Taylor but who will be Mrs. Weston for the rest of the book, has just gotten married.
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And this is something that\\u2019s funny.\\xa0 Emma\\u2019s father finds it distressing that Miss Taylor has moved out of his house and so therefore it must be distressing for Miss Taylor, he can\\u2019t imagine it being anything but a tragedy- he keeps saying \\u201cPoor Mrs. Taylor\\u201d as if she were condemned to be married and leave the perfection of life in his presence.
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Exactly, it is funny- and part of that characterization that Austen is so good at- because he\\u2019s so totally unable to see anything from anyone else\\u2019s perspective at all- ever.\\xa0 This will be consistent all the way through the book.\\xa0 In fact at one point he argues with his son in law on where he should go for vacation on the basis of the preference of his apothecary which clearly makes no sense.\\xa0 He would be a lot to handle in real life.\\xa0\\xa0
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Well, speaking of being hard to handle in real life, Emma\\u2019s sister, Isabella, is also as much of a hypochondriac as her father.
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True, although her husband, a man named Mr. John Knightley, doesn\\u2019t seem too put out by it.\\xa0 Mr. John Knightley\\u2019s brother, most often just called, Mr. Knightley is a very close family friend and resident of the stately mansion, Donwell Abbey.\\xa0 He has basically raised Emma and is 16 years older than her.\\xa0\\xa0
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After setting up Emma\\u2019s primary relationships, we arrive at this line where the narrator tells us the problem that will follow Emma throughout the book. \\xa0 The narrator is talking about Mrs. Weston moving out of the house after raising Emma And I quote, \\u201cHow was she, being Emma, to bear the change?\\xa0 It was true that her friend was going only half a mile from the house; but Emma was aware that great must be the difference between a Mrs. Weston only half a mile from them, and a Miss Taylor in the house; and with all her advantages, natural and domestic, she was now in danger of suffering from intellectual solitude.\\xa0 She dearly loved her father, but he was no companion for her.\\xa0\\xa0
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\\xa0\\xa0Austen is introducing our need as humans of finding intimacy in friendship, and her argument that this requires intellectual compatibility- I will say, and this is truly snobbish sounding, but it\\u2019s an idea Aristotle threw out there in his own book on friendship called Nichomachean Ethics.\\xa0
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Oh my, and for those that thought Emma was slow- that book sounds infinitely more boring.\\xa0\\xa0
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So true.\\xa0 But in it, Aristotle argues that without intellectual compatibility there is no equality in a relationship- and friendship without equality is difficult.\\xa0 Austen will extend that idea both to same-sex friends as well as romantic partners.
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Austen is very clear to highlights throughout the book which characters are Emma\\u2019s intellectual equals and which\\xa0 are not- in fact Emma seems to understand this very clearly herself.
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Of course she\\u2019s already said that her father was not her intellectual equal.\\xa0 But then she brings up that Mr. Knightley IS.\\xa0 And it isn\\u2019t too far into the story that it\\u2019s obvious Harriet is not
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Mr. Knightley, in fact, is one of the few people who can see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever tells her of them; and though this is not particularly agreeable to Emma she accepts it. \\xa0 Her father of course cannot imagine a scenario where she is not thought to be perfect by everybody.
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HA!! Well, as a father, I have to admit, that is how most father\\u2019s view their daughters, which is no slight on his intellect, but even accounting for those natural biases, Austen does make it a point to point out Emma\\u2019s father just isn\\u2019t as smart as she is and this is an impediment in their relationship\\xa0\\xa0
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\\xa0Knightley even in chapter one- when he tells Emma who has decided she is a brilliant matchmaker, that she should let Mr. Elton pick his own wife, tips the readers that Emma may be a little more confident than she is competent.\\xa0 And it is her arrogance that creates blindspots for her.\\xa0 Austen also tips that reader, that Knightley is going to be a voice we can trust, as readers- unless jealousy gets in the way a fact, but we\\u2019ll talk more\\xa0 in a different episode.\\xa0 Knightley will be the closest thing to Austen\\u2019s opinion of the world as we get anywhere in the book. \\xa0 But changing subjects just a little bit, Garry, as we\\u2019ve met all these characters, and when I first listen to them address each other especially in the beginning of the book, one of the oddities that always jumps out to me, is how formal everyone seems to talk to each other- all this Mr. and Mrs. Stuff.
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I know, it\\u2019s one of the hardest parts of reading Austen novels for modern people, at least for modern Americans.\\xa0 We just don\\u2019t understand the social class system, and it can really trip us up.\\xa0 The class-related code words have meaning that were self-evident to Austen\\u2019s audience but not to us.\\xa0 To us sometimes it\\u2019s funny, like when they refer to Mrs. Weston\\u2019s pregnancy as her \\u201csituation\\u201d that might result in \\u201chappiness increased by the arrival of a child.\\u201d\\xa0 But otherwise it\\u2019s frustrating, so here are the rules of thumb, the use of first names is limited to family members and close same-sex friends of equal status. That\\u2019s why Emma always calls Harriet by her first name, but Harriet, you\\u2019ll notice calls Emma Mrs. Woodhouse.\\xa0 This won\\u2019t come out in the first section, but later on when we meet the woman who will eventually marry Mr. Elton, she absolutely insults Emma by referring to her husband as Mr. E and referring to Jane Fairfax as Jane instead of Miss Fairfax.\\xa0 It\\u2019s a slap in the face.\\xa0 Another odd thing to our ear is that a first name is used formally with the last name when two people have the same last name.\\xa0 You\\u2019ll notice that Mr. Knightley\\u2019s brother is referred to as Mr. John Knightley.\\xa0 And Mr. Frank Churchill is also referred to by both of his names because his father would be Mr. Churchill.\\xa0 And of course servants were obviously addressed by either last or first name depending on their job.\\xa0 James is the coachman.\\xa0 It\\u2019s just something to keep in mind as it lets you in to the social structure of the little world Austen is constructing.
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Yes, and it makes it take so long to talk to anyone.\\xa0 I can\\u2019t imagine saying four syllables just to address someone.\\xa0 I\\u2019m so used to calling people by nicknames- Liz for Lizzy, AK for Anna Katherine,\\xa0 But this little bit of cultural insight leads me into the discussion of Austen\\u2019s narrative techniques that most scholars consider to be one Austen\\u2019s great contributions to the English canon.\\xa0
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\\xa0Jane Austen, the little girl with no formal education, literally invented new forms of narration that almost all novelists use now, and that we\\u2019re used to, but that didn\\u2019t exist before her.\\xa0 It\\u2019s this technique called \\u201cFree indirect discourse\\u201d and the narrated monologue.\\xa0 She also uses stream of consciousness, which we\\u2019ll talk about with different authors who made it famous.\\xa0 But before you say Boring- snooze- this is not the kind of thing I am interested in hearing about,\\xa0 bear with me because it\\u2019s interesting.\\xa0 The phrase \\u201cfree direct discourse\\u201d sounds technical and uninteresting- and it is technical- but..pay attention how little miss Jane Austen plays you.\\xa0 As you read this book, ask yourself this question- who the heck is telling the story?\\xa0 Why do I think this way about this character and this different way about that character?\\xa0 What Austen is going to do is dip into and out of Emma\\u2019s head (she does this with a couple of the other characters too, but mostly it\\u2019s Emma).\\xa0 She\\u2019s not being careless.\\xa0 It\\u2019s absolutely intentional and thematically related.\\xa0 She fuses Emma\\u2019s subjectivity to the narrators omniscience- so what does that mean, you think you\\u2019re listening to the voice of the omniscient narrator, but you\\u2019re actually hearing Emma\\u2019s perspective but you think it\\u2019s YOUR perspective- she crafts your opinion for you.\\xa0\\xa0
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Oh you mean- It\'s the way the old-fashioned stereotypical wife used to play her stereotypical brain dead husband when they wanted to do something but they had to make their husbands believe it\\u2019s what THEY wanted or they wouldn\\u2019t do it.
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That\\u2019s it exactly.\\xa0 But after a while, unlike the old-thick-headed men stereotype-\\xa0 you as the reader figure out that that voice in your head- the narrators voice- isn\\u2019t reliable.\\xa0 And then all of a sudden, and let me emphasize this is all going on in your brain in your subconscious, but let me put words to it. we, as readers become aware of the \\u201cmultiple-voiced-ness\\u201dof the text-- if you want to use a word that doesn\\u2019t exist-.\\xa0 We begin to realize that some of the voices in our head we can trust, and some of the voices in our head we can\\u2019t.
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Very much like we do when we hear voices in the read world.\\xa0\\xa0
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\\xa0Yes, and speaking of the real world, to add a third layer- Austen adds a third perspective- so we are looking at Highbury through the eyes of an omniscient narrator- sometimes, we look at Highbury through Emma\\u2019s eyes- sometimes, but sometimes we are given the perspective of what community seems to think-\\xa0
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The infamous- \\u201cwhat will people say\\u201d- the peanut gallery- the facebook crowd.
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Exactly- we are always worried about what \\u201cpeople\\u201d will say- the gossip perspective.\\xa0\\xa0
This book throws out three persectives of very small events in a small place and we\\u2019re meant to understand that all three are perspectives of the same thing, while the truth of the events are often far from the perspective of any of the characters.
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That sounds very confusing.\\xa0\\xa0
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I know- and yet, she does it so well, most readers don\\u2019t notice it\\u2019s happening.\\xa0 But we will.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s notice how the story unfolds.\\xa0 At the beginning everything feels very narrated.\\xa0 We learn about all the family members and neighbors.\\xa0 We learn about Mrs. Bates- that\\u2019s kind of a fun passage- read that one Garry.\\xa0 (page 16)
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We learn about Mrs. Goddard who runs a home for girls.\\xa0 We learn about Harriet but watch how we are going to transition from dialogue to inner monologue.\\xa0
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It\\u2019s through the conversation between Harriet and Emma we meet Robert Martin- but more than learning about Mr. Martin we learn about Emma and what we learn about her immediately makes us dislike her.\\xa0 She\\u2019s such a snob.\\xa0 She judges the Martins before even laying eyes on them.\\xa0 And because she judges them, although we can tell Harriet is in love with Robert Martin by everything she says about him, Emma won\\u2019t allow Harriet to marry him.\\xa0 To which any reader is to ask- who made you goddess, Emma?\\xa0 We learn that as far as Emma is concerned Harriet\\u2019s purpose in the world is to be a playmate to Emma- first and foremost.\\xa0 Emma is mean.\\xa0 She says this after Harriet speaks of Robert in a way that every reader can tell she likes him Emma says, \\u201cI had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air.\\u201d\\xa0 Later on she says this, \\u201cAt Hartfield you have had very good specimens of well educated, well bred men.\\xa0 I should be surprised if, after seeing them, you could be in company with Mr. Martin again without perceiving him to be a very inferior creature- and rather wondering at yourself for having ever thought of him t all agreeable before.\\xa0 Do not you begin to feel that now?\\xa0 Were not you struck?\\xa0 I am sure you must have been struck by his awkward look and abrupt manner- and the uncouthness of voice which I heard to be wholly unmodulated as I stood here.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0
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When we get to the end of the chapter, there is no more dialogue, we\\u2019ve transitioned into an inner monologue, this is not an unbiased narrator, this is Emma\\u2019s perspective of Mr. Elton.\\xa0\\xa0
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Read this Garry\\u201d
\\u201cMr. Elton was the person fixed on by Emma for driving the young farmer out of Harriet\\u2019s head.\\xa0 She thought it would be an excellent match; and only too palpably desirable, natural, and probable, for her to have much merit in planning it.\\xa0 She feared it was what everybody else must think of and predict.\\xa0 It was not likely, however, that anybody should have equaled her in the date of the plan, as it had entered her brain during the very first evening of Harriet\'s coming to Hartfield.\\xa0 The longer she considered it, the greater was her sense of its expediency.\\xa0 Mr. Elton\\u2019s situation was most suitable, quite the gentleman himself, and without low connections; at the time not of any family that could fairly object to the doubtful birth of Harriet.\\xa0 He had a comfortable home for her, and Emma imagined a very sufficient income, for though the vicarage of Highbury was not large, he was known to have some independent property and she thought very highly of him as a good=humored, well-meaning, respectable young man, without any deficiency of useful understanding or knowledge of the world.\\xa0 She had already satisfied herself that he thought Harriet a beautiful girl, which she trusted, with such frequent meetings at Hartfield, was foundation enough on his side, and on Harriet\'s. there could be little doubt that the ideas of being preferred by him would have all the usual weight and efficacy.\\xa0 And he was really a well pleasing young man, a young man whom any woman not fastidious might like.\\xa0 He was reckoned very handsome; his person must admired in general, though not by her, there being a want of elegance of feature which she could not dispense with- but the girl who could be gratified by a Robert Martin\\u2019s riding about the country to get walnuts for her, might very well be conquered by Mr. Elton\\u2019s admiration. \\u201c
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Well- how do you feel about Emma at this point Garry?\\xa0
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Emma is very much an unlikable snob.\\xa0 \\xa0
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She is TOTALLY a SNOB- my dad called her a smart eleck- and we see her snobbery from the inside out- by looking at the world from her perspective, we see that her perspective is flawed.\\xa0 This is her starting point in the story, but we get to watch her change.\\xa0 She\\u2019s horrible here and really comes close to destroying Harriet\\u2019s life- although that\\u2019s not obvious in this early chapter.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0
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As the story progresses, by the way, the omniscient narrator leaves us more and more in the head of Emma.\\xa0 It\\u2019s very bizarre, but as readers, we learn how to interpret her unreliable perspective. We learn what parts to throw out and what parts to trust-
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\\xa0just like we do with people in real life.
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I want to revisit the third voice- so we have the omniscient narrator.\\xa0 We have Emma\\u2019s voice which we can already see is misguided.\\xa0 But, there\\u2019s this third voice in this story- the community voice-and this one is misguided as well.\\xa0
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\\xa0Indeed- we\\u2019re back to the peanut gallery, the town gossips
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Yes, and even Emma, high and mighty Emma is influenced by how the peanut gallery will perceive her.\\xa0 Notice why Emma likes Mr. Elton, it\\u2019s not because she finds him likeable. \\xa0 She clearly finds him annoying, but she likes him because the community likes him.\\xa0 There\\u2019s always this unnamed community voice, \\u201cMr. Elton is reckoned handsome.\\u201d\\xa0 And what we\\u2019re going to see, especially in the person of Mr. Elton, is that the community can often be wrong.
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I would say in real life, the community is OFTEN wrong.\\xa0\\xa0
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\\xa0No doubt, And what I want to point out is that this is a point of humor for Jane Austen.\\xa0 She\\u2019s kind of making fun of community standards and how the community is often trivial and wrong in its judgements of who people are, and their value to the community.
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Chapter 6 is the chapter where Emma in her zeal to get Harriet and Mr. Elton together, contrives this activity where she paints Harriet\\u2019s portrait.\\xa0 Mr. Elton is hanging out with them, Emma is certain he\\u2019s there for Harriet. The reader, by this time, understands that he\\u2019s there for her.\\xa0 In the course of the narration the narrator says this, \\u201cShe was not much deceived as to her own skill either as an artist or a musician, but she was not unwilling to have other deceived, or sorry to know her reputation for accomplishment often higher than it deserves.\\u201d\\xa0 - and what we just had was Austen doing the thing where she takes us into the mind of Emma- and we might not notice we\\u2019re there.\\xa0 And in this case, what we know that the outside world doesn\\u2019t know is that she knows she\\u2019s extremely mediocre at art and music, but she doesn\\u2019t mind the flattery.
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What I find interesting in the character of Emma and how she becomes somebody we can empathize with is that she\\u2019s actually a very honest character.\\xa0 And what I mean by that, how many people do we know in the real world that are completely deceived by their greatness.\\xa0 They actually believe they are something quite opposite than what they are.\\xa0 I could probably name off some self-aggrandizing celebrity examples, but we try to stay away from that sort of thing on this podcast.\\xa0 But because Emma knows herself and doesn\\u2019t like to herself- we are kind of drawn to her for this.\\xa0\\xa0
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Exactly- she can be very honest about herself and at the same totally delusional about someone else.\\xa0 in the very same chapter, let me read what Emma thinks while Mr. Elton is snooping over her shoulder while she draws Harriet.\\xa0 Emma thinks, this is not what she says it\\u2019s what she thinks, \\u201cMr.Elton was only too happy.\\xa0 Harriet listened, and Emma drew in peace.\\xa0 She must allow him to be still frequently coming to look; anything less would certainly have been too little in a lover.\\xa0
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It\\u2019s the playing around with the points of view that Jane Austen creates all of the irony of the story.\\xa0 All of the satire- all of the humor.\\xa0 You barely notice it, but I think it\\u2019s one of those things that when someone points it out- it\\u2019s obvious and something that\\u2019s enjoyable to watch her do.\\xa0 We know that Mr. Elton is coming around to be close by Emma, Emma doesn\\u2019t know this and the confusion is harmlessly funny.
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It\'s harmless until we get to chapter 7, and Emma convinces Harriet to turn down Robert Martin\\u2019s marriage proposal because she convinces her that Mr. Elton likes her which we all know is not true.\\xa0 We\\u2019re having the Greek tragedy experience called dramatic irony where the audience knows but the character doesn\\u2019t.\\xa0
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Yes, and we can see through Emma\\u2019s own description of Mr. Martin\\u2019s proposal letter, that Robert Martin is nothing like the course brute Emma has made him\\xa0 in her head soley based on the fact that he\\u2019s a farmer.\\xa0 Austen in chapter 7 makes you mad at Emma to watch her manipulate the simple-minded Harriet.\\xa0 Harriet is heartbroken at having to turn down Robert martin, but she\\u2019s too obsessed with everything Emma to advocate for herself.\\xa0 At this point, she\\u2019s spending half her time at Emma\\u2019s house to the point that she even has a bedroom.\\xa0\\xa0
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And it is the narrative technique of being in and of Emma\\u2019s mind that makes us so mad at her and then glad when Mr. Knightley, who is the voice of Jane Austen herself, comes and scolds Emma soundly.\\xa0 Garry this passage is worth reading for several reasons- but let\\u2019s read this= you read Mr. Knightley and I\\u2019ll read Emma\\u2019s lines. Page 55-
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It\\u2019s quite the argument.\\xa0\\xa0
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Well, and Emma\\u2019s points are. Not ill-founded.\\xa0 I love these lines- when Emma says, you underestimate your sex if you think they can\\u2019t be swayed by being pretty.\\xa0\\xa0
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I want to bring attention to what I was saying back at the beginning- this book is about friendships.\\xa0 Because Emma illustrates the problem of friendships ,to use a Biblical phrase, that are \\u201cunequally yoked\\u201d- Emma and Harriet are not equal.\\xa0 Harriet is adoring and awestruck of Emma.\\xa0 Knightley is not.\\xa0 And although Knightley is scolding Emma and is obviously right about Elton, Emma is not entirely wrong about men- nor is she wrong about Harriet who she defends as being a better person that Knightley claims her to be- Emma is his intellectual match.\\xa0 Aristotle says there are three kinds of friendships- there is the utility kind- where you get something out of the relationship, there\'s the pleasure kind- sexual relationships can fall into this category, but there are obviously other times of pleasure relationships- your baseball buddies, fishing buddies, something like that, but then there are what Aristotle calls virtuous friendships.\\xa0 In this kind of relationship friends love one another for their identity and not for what they are getting out of the relationship.\\xa0 There\\u2019s this old saying that says, A friend will help you move, but a good friend will help you move a body- that\\u2019s switch from the second to the third kind.
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Ha!\\xa0 That\\u2019s cute.\\xa0 Well, as you read these next chapters, we are going to see utilitarian relationships versus virtuous ones.\\xa0 There is a lot to be said as Harriet and Emma move forward, and we will see that Emma isn\\u2019t all selfish and evil.\\xa0 Harriet is clearly beautiful but she\\u2019s also clearly unrefined.\\xa0 Emma helps her.\\xa0 And Emma just doesn\\u2019t help just Harriet.\\xa0 Emma has a heart for her community too.\\xa0 Let me read another passage, and this is from the omniscient narrator perspective that has pulled out of Emma\\u2019s mind.\\xa0 \\u201cThey were not approaching the cottage, and all the idle topics were superseded.\\xa0 Emma was very compassionate.\\xa0 And the distresses of the poor were as sure of relief from her personal attention and kindness, her counsel and her patience as from her purse.\\xa0 She understood their ways, could allow for their ignorance and their temptations ,had no romantic expectations of extraordinary virtue from those, for whom education had done so little; entered into their troubles with ready sympathy, and always gave her assistance with as much intelligence as good-will.\\xa0 In the present instance, it was sickness and poverty together which she came to visit; and after remaining there as long as she could give comfort and advice, she quitted the cottage with such an impression of the scene as made her say to Harriet, as they walked away, \\u201cThese are the sights, Harriet, to do one good.\\xa0 How trifling make everything else appear!\\xa0 I feel. Now as if I could think of nothing but these poor creatures all the rest of the day, and yet, who can say how soon it may all vanish from my mind?\\u201d
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Again, this is amazingly honest.\\xa0 First of all, I love how the narrator gives her credit for being generous for generosity\\u2019s sake, not for some self-serving reason.\\xa0 We\\u2019ve all seen lots of people help others because of what it does for their ego, not for the help they extend to the person they\\u2019re helping.\\xa0 But, even more honest, when Emma leaves the house, she looks at Harriet, and owns what we all know to be true- the troubles of other people bother us when we look at them, but we all so quiclkly to jump into our own lives the moment we walk away.\\xa0\\xa0
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And of course, we tell by Harriet\\u2019s response. \\u201cSo true. One can think of nothing else.\\u201d\\xa0 That she had no idea what Emma just said or the depth of it.\\xa0\\xa0
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I want to skip all the way to chapter 15, although there\\u2019s lots more to say and point out.\\xa0 Time and time again, we are going to see Emma push hrriet into this relationship with Elton, Elton interested in Emma, Emma missing it, and so forth and so on- it goes on and on until we get to the infamous Christmas eve party at the Weston\\u2019s. \\xa0 And of course, the whole set up for the evening is funny.\\xa0 At least I hope you can find it funny.\\xa0 There is the crazy Mr. Woodhouse who\\u2019se paranoid about the weasther, there\\u2019s Isabella, Emma\\u2019s sister, also a hypochondriac frightened by the weather.\\xa0 Harriet was supposed to come to the party, but she\\u2019s sick and can\\u2019t make it.\\xa0 Elton is there all the time pushing to be near Emma.\\xa0 Emma the entire night trying to get away from him because she wants to hear about Frank Churchill- the character we\\u2019ll focus on in next week\\u2019s episode.\\xa0 But, from Emma\\u2019s perspective, the perspective we get for the entire chapter, the night is miserable and to make matters worse, there were two carriages, She, her vbrother in law Mr. John Knightley and Mr. Elton were supposed ot be on one and her sister and dad were to be in the other one, but John Knightly forget and got in the wrong one leaving Emma and Elton to ride back together.\\xa0 And of course, Mr. Elton who had been drinking just enough to be loose lipped takes this opportunity to do what Austen humorously calls to our modern ears \\u201cmakes violent love to her.\\u201d
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Ha!\\xa0 There\\u2019s. phrase that has changed in its meaning over the years.
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For real, hasn\\u2019t it.\\xa0 Well, it\\u2019s worth reading this exchange and witness this violent love.
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Garry, do you mind reading Elton\\u2019s lines (page 121)
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Of course, I love that line- everyone has their level.\\xa0 But isn\\u2019t that where we identify so much with this story.\\xa0 That is so honest.\\xa0 Even today- doesn\\u2019t everyone have their level?\\xa0 Of course, in or progressive mindset, we try to say that we don\\u2019t judge by levels- but even by saying we\\u2019re not judging people by levels in some sense we really just switch the criteria and judge people by a different standard- just another way of creating levels.\\xa0\\xa0
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But yet again, Emma, in chapter 16, begins to get the big picture.
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And we see it because this chapter is entirely inside of Emma\\u2019s head.\\xa0 Emma realizes that she has brought pain and humiliation not on herself but on Harriet.\\xa0 She realizes Elton doesn\\u2019t love Harriet, but he doesn\\u2019t love her either.\\xa0 \\u201cHe wanted to marry well, and having the arrogance to raise his eyes to her, pretended to be in love; but she was perfectly easy as to his not suffering any disappointment that need to cared for.\\xa0 There had been no real affection either in his language or his manners.\\xa0 Signs and fine words had been in abundance; tone of voice. Less alied with real love.\\xa0 She need not trouble herself to pity him.\\xa0 He only wanted to aggrandize and enrich himself; and if Miss Woodhouse of Hartfield, the heiress of 30,000 pounds, were not quite so easily obtained as he had fancied, he would try for Miss Somebody else with twenty or ten.\\xa0 But- that he should talk of encouragement, should consider her as aware of his views, acception his attentions meaning (in short), to marry him!\\xa0 Should suppose himself her equal in connection or mind! Look down upon her friend, so well understanding the gradations of rank below him, and be so blind, to what rose above, as to fancy himself shewing no presumption in addressing her!\\xa0 It was most provoking!\\xa0 Perhaps it was not fair to expect him to feel how very much he was her inferior in talent, and all the elegancies of mind.\\xa0 The very want of such equality might prevent his perception of it; but he must know that in fortune and in consequences was was greatly his superior. \\xa0 It\\u2019s a very interesting interior monologue.
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Of course, I can\\u2019t read the entire chapter, but Emma begins this journey of self-awareness.\\xa0 She has understood that she has been horrible to Harriet, something the reader has known since chapter 2.
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Yes, and what we are all wanting to see is what is she going to do about it.\\xa0 In the real world, most people are cowards and will act cowardly in this situation.\\xa0 We\\u2019ve seen it hundreds of times, you\\u2019re caught hurting someone and your response is to double-down on demand that you\\u2019re right and the world is wrong.\\xa0 We see this in the world of politics, in the office, in our homes.\\xa0\\xa0
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Exactly, and obnoxious spoiled Emma does not do that.\\xa0 Her response is, I have to make this right.\\xa0 \\u201cThe first error and the worst lay at her door.\\xa0 It was foolish, it was wrong, to take so actve a part in brigning any two people together.\\xa0 It was adventuring too far, assuming too much, making light what of what ought to be serious, a trick of what out to be simple.\\xa0 She was quite concerned and ashamed, and resolved to do such things. No more.\\xa0
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And yet, we see, if we finish the internal monologue, that she has a ways to go before she arrives at where, we as readers know she needs to be.\\xa0 It will be a slow progression.
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Well, that\\u2019s true.\\xa0 But Emma, like the rest of us, is a work in progress.\\xa0 And although she is quick to resolve not to meddle, and show to actually stop meddling, it\\u2019s still progress.\\xa0\\xa0
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And we will progress, I guess we will next week since I\\u2019m pretty sure we busted through our 45 minute mark.\\xa0\\xa0
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Yes, I think we have, but hopefully you\\u2019ve enjoyed the discussion.\\xa0 We hope you\\u2019re enjoying Emma, and if you were in the camp that this story is boring, hopefully we\\u2019ve given you a different way to look at it.\\xa0 Thanks for listening, and please come by to visit with us on our social media.\\xa0 It\\u2019s how We do Highbury in the modern world.\\xa0 Visit us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Linked in or Tik Tok. Good grief that\\u2019s a lot.\\xa0 And please don\\u2019t forget, if you enjoy our work, please tell a friend, that\\u2019s the only way we grow.
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Peace out!
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