This is how Jane Austen herself described Emma, her most flawed heroine. I’m going to focus on this issue because I think it’s the crux of why there are such widely differing opinions on this book.
First I’ll say this isn’t my favorite Austen either. (PRIDE & PREJUDICE and PERSUASION are each my favorite, depending on which one I’ve read most recently.) When I first read EMMA as a teenager, I didn’t like it much. Being insecure myself, I didn’t want to identify with a heroine who made so very many embarrassing mistakes. At the time I would almost (hanging head in shame) rather identify with a Barbara Cartland heroine, though come to think of it they all had that embarrassing inability to complete a sentence in the hero’s presence!
Anyway, once I had outgrown the desire for perfect heroines, Emma grew on me. I’ve become more comfortable with my own flaws so now I also prefer heroines who make mistakes as long as they have the saving grace of learning from them as Emma does.
I even think I’ve come to a better understanding of Emma’s behavior toward Harriet Smith and her unkindness to Harriet’s suitor, the farmer Robert Martin. Emma’s most obvious motivation for “improving” Harriet appears to be an officious desire to manage everything. But reading between the lines, I wonder if part of the cause was loneliness. Emma’s sister married and moved away, then Miss Taylor did the same. She was encouraged to befriend Jane Fairfax but really, Jane Fairfax was not the stuff of which BFFs are made. Even Mr. Knightley admits that she ‘has not the open temper which a man would wish for in a wife.’ That open temper was a quality I think Emma longed for in a friend.
So Emma tried to mold Harriet into something more like herself, with disastrous results. I can sympathise with this because I once made a similar mistake. All I can say is that both Emma and I meant well and we are brave enough to admit when we are wrong. That ought to count for something!
I don’t find EMMA quite as romantic as P&P or PERSUASION, yet there’s a part of the romance that works powerfully for me. I like that Mr. Knightley loves Emma enough to always want to bring out the best in her and that he appreciates her courage in admitting her mistakes. The line from the book, so beautifully delivered by Jeremy Northam in the 1996 film: “I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it” is one of my favorites. I love the idea of someone being totally honest with you and loving you despite–or even because of–your faults.
So anyway, EMMA has grown on me
to the point that it’s a strong #3 in my Jane Austen favorites list. But I still understand why it is last on many people’s lists. I have seen reviews of Joan Aiken’s spinoff JANE FAIRFAX (which I haven’t read myself) written by readers who say they detested Emma in the original. Jane Fairfax is a much more obvious choice of heroine by modern romance terms: virtuous, impoverished, an obvious object for sympathy. But being a bit of a contrarian here…why shouldn’t a heroine who is “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition” have a romance too?
Let me know what you think about EMMA, either the main character or any others you’d like to discuss. And don’t forget, we’ll be giving away a copy of JANE AUSTEN’S WORLD to a lucky winner chosen from comments all this week!
Elena
www.elenagreene.com
I confess that I must be in the minority because I love Emma. After P&P and before Persuasion, Emma is my favorite Austen. And I think it’s for the reasons that you point out, Emma is flawed but Mr. Knightley loves her anyway. And I agree with you that Emma latched onto Harriet because she was lonely and wanted a friend. I also love the Gwyneth Paltrow version much more than I do the Kate Beckinsale version. And I adore Clueless. I think that title somes up the story perfectly. Emma thinks that she knows everything but she’s clueless. She reminds me of those friends who try and fix you up but don’t seem to have any idea of what type of guy or girl you prefer and just pick out someone they would like. I think that’s what Emma does with Mr. Elton. She knows that Harriet can never hope to marry a man of Mr. Knightley’s stature, but Mr. Elton as a clergyman is a step up from a farmer. Emma means well, and I think that why I like her. Even when she’s mean to the Misses Bates, I don’t think it’s out of any real malice. Knightley helps lead Emma to her true self. Although the book isn’t as romantic as P&P or Persuasion, I’ve always had the feeling that Emma and Mr. Knightley would be happy together.
I have to agree with you Elizabeth. I actually like Emma. We have all had friends who do things for us or to us because they truly have our best interests at heart even if they are completely CLUELESS as to what we really want. I have a feeling Jane Austen probably had at least one friend like that! I think that is part of her ageless appeal. Her characters are very real in that many of their traits and faults can be found in people each and every one of us knows today. I love the genuine friendship between Emma and Knightley. Great foundation for a marriage. I know from experience!
For some reason I love the movie Clueless, but I’m not that fond of Emma. I think it is that I can forgive adolescents their follies, but Emma is (altho she may be the same age, I forget)a woman. I do like her devotion to her father and the fact that she doesn’t see marriage for herself as crucial-right-now.
But I really dislike books and movies where the main characters keep making mistakes or keep doing the wrong thing. At least Emma grows and learns from her mistakes but, still, she has hurt people. That their lives work out seems to be the kindness of Jane Austen, not Emma.
I’m not fond of the romance with Mr. Knightley either. Just doesn’t work for me.
Regarding Jane Fairfax…she’d have to get a whole lot of gumption before I’d choose her as a heroine! (I have not read Joan Aiken’s book either, but I’ll assume she pulled it off very well!) Jane is stuck with that horrible Frank Churchill. I hope Joan got her away from him!
But I remember this story better than Mansfield Park or Northranger Abbey, so that tells you something!
I’m sorry that I can’t comment being I haven’t read any of the books so far. Please enter me.
I don’t particularly like Emma, because I didn’t think her marrying an older dominating father figure was wise.
It’s another of those “good for you” pairings Austen is so full of: Poor old Edmund saddled with drippy Fanny Price. Marianne and kind but dull Colonel Brandon.
Can you imagine how such matches would play out once these lively heroines overcame the immediate events that persuaded them to accept these dull, safe men as husbands? And do you really think Emma is going to let Mr. Knightly dictate her conduct to her as she grows into her thirties?
I suspect that at some point in her life Austen herself had a relationship with a sexually attractive man who was NOT good for her and decided to behave with propriety. The details of exactly what happened went into the flames thanks to Cassandra, but my reading of her life suggests to me that it probably happened after the family moved to Bath.
Mary and Henry Crawford, Wickham, and Willoughby are just too vibrant and sexually appealing for Austen not to have had a real model. Her “good” male characters don’t have the same liveliness nor the same appeal.
And I often wonder why when we are told that Miss Austen never portrays scenes between men and women she could not have herself observed, she reports with full dialog the scene where Edmund rejects Mary Crawford because of her amorality. The gender is switched, but I am convinced Mansfield Park tells Jane’s story, as long as we read Edmund as Jane and Fanny Price as Jane’s onerous, joy-killing Sense of Duty!
Emma is my number 5 favorite, in the really liked but not loved. And I think it’s for one probably very 21st century reason only — that age difference between Mr Knightly and Emma, and how he was around while she was growing up. So to me, it’s like it starts off where he’s more fatherly then somewhere it changes. If they didn’t know each other until she got older, I’d be fine with it, but well, anyway, that’s my thing. LOL
But yeah, I’m another who thinks she makes her mistakes, without a malicious intent, but I do think she finally gets it once we head towards the end.
And I think that’s the great thing about these six books — all the heroines are pretty much different from each other, and it works because there are people out there like them. 🙂
Just not many Darcys. Or Tilneys. 😉
Lois
I’d say Emma’s something like my fourth favorite. In fact, I might rank my Austen preferences like this:
P&P
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
Emma
Mansfield Park
S&S
I like the character of Emma all right, but for me, the book is long, and just keeps going. Part of my problem is that I find neither Miss Bates nor Mr. Woodhouse to be at all funny…which can make the book seem very long!
(By contrast, I find Mrs. Norris in MP to be very funny…so I’m the odd duck who finds MP to be funnier than Emma!)
I have no problem with the age gap… After all, Mr. Knightley is much younger than Emma’s real father! 😉
On screen, my favorite interpretation of the character was in Clueless, with Gwyneth Paltrow second place, Doran Godwin third, and Kate Beckinsale a distant fourth place.
Because, the way I see it, Beckinsale’s Emma was miserable, and made others miserable too. And how easy is it to like someone who’s rich, beautiful, beloved, and yet always in a bad mood, always wanting more, and making others unhappy?
Whereas in Clueless, Emma (Cher) is just delightfully happy. She’s trying to spread the joy everywhere… Paltrow’s Emma is also mostly happy, and to me, that just seems right for Emma.
Though, Elena, I do agree with you that she’s lonely! The book, after all, begins with the whole thing of Mrs. Weston leaving — it’s an important point.
I guess the way I see her, she’s happy but lonely…if that makes sense. 🙂
Cara
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who didn’t care for Emma. I actually had trouble finishing it because it didn’t hold my attention the way P&H and Persuasion did. I love the Gweneth Paltrow movie and I haven’t seen the Kate Beckinsale version yet.
Oh, and one more thing. I don’t worry about her ending up under Mr. Knightley’s thumb, because if you think about it, throughout the whole book, she basically *never* does what he tells her to do. So the book can be viewed as Mr Knightley (I would abbreviate him to Mr. K to save space but I don’t want Emma to think badly of me!) trying to “raise” Emma to be what he thinks a proper lady should be, only to utterly fail (let’s face it, she’s lazy — won’t read or paint etc like she should — and interfering, etc etc). And when he fails, he admits he loves her just as she is, and marries her!
So I think she’s going to be the boss from now on. 🙂
Cara
The novel Emma is definitely infuriating but also endearing. Emma is loveable because she is so imperfect and her misguided schemes are just a part of Emma’s flaws. She thinks that everything she says and does is correct. By the end of the novel Emma is wiser and hopefully will learn a lesson.
I’m not fond of the romance with Mr. Knightley either. Just doesn’t work for me.
It works for me in the sense that I find it believable, but it bothers me because of the age gap and the fact he knew her from infancy up. I tend to prefer couples relatively close in age, but I’m fine with (and have even written secondary character romances) with a 15-20 year age gap if the characters meet as adults. But Mr. Knightley is almost a father figure to her, so the romance is a bit squicky for me.
So I think she’s going to be the boss from now on. 🙂
Cara, that’s kind of how I feel. Emma has just had to do a bunch of growing up but I can see her having reached a point where they are pretty much on an equal footing. She’s no wimp; she’ll just have better judgment in how to apply her energy and spirit.
And I don’t find Mr. Knightley boring! Or Colonel Brandon either. Though maybe it helps that when I read the books I picture and hear Jeremy Northam and Alan Rickman. 🙂
Because, the way I see it, Beckinsale’s Emma was miserable, and made others miserable too.
Emma is not so beloved as all that, imo. All that business about her being the leading personage in Highbury (of course second to Mr. Knightley) is in Emma’s deep third person p.o.v — and is about as trustworthy as her self-serving notion that “the Woodhouses had been settled for several generations at Hartfield, the younger branch of a very ancient family.”
Younger branch of a very ancient family is pure Austen honeyed venom. The Woodhouse money comes from trade — and “several generations” is nothing compared to the landed venerability of Donwell Abbey. I think Emma particularly loathes Mrs. Elton because she feels a sort of creeping bourgeois proximity to her.
Which is why I love the Beckinsale version, because it hints at some of that anxiety. imo, it’s a book full of anxiety and anger.
Wow, Pam, that’s so interesting! We have totally different takes on it.
The way I see it: we know that Mrs. Weston and Mr. Knightley are intelligent, conscientious, and kind. They think well of Mr. Woodhouse, so we assume he has some redeeming qualities. And all three of these people think well of Emma, and love her deeply. Therefore, I conclude that Emma has redeeming qualities, too. 🙂
I don’t argue that Emma is necessarily beloved by the hoi polloi…
Cara
Oh, and as for the Joan Aiken book… (Don’t read this if you mind spoilers!)
I think Jane Fairfax’s story might make a very nice romance, and certainly a much more conventional one than Emma’s! But that’s not what Aiken gives us. IIRC (it’s been a while), everything Emma imagined turns out to actually be true — and then some. It’s sort of a bizarre, somewhat disturbing, rather depressing novel, IIRC…
Cara
Jenny, I think your thoughts about Jane Austen are very interesting!
I did have the feeling that something important happened that was in the letters Cassandra burned. Wouldn’t we all LOVE to know!
I adore Emma, and though I prefer P&P or Persuasion for story, characters, and depth of emotion, I think Austen’s craft in this book is at it’s best. The use of narrative and POV is just flawless. It’s so Emma-centric that it’s easy to be put off by her total self-absorption. But I love her in spite of myself, and now that I see through her, I think it’s probably Austen’s most richly layered work. I see something new in it every time I read it. Plus, Mr. Knightley is dead sexy.
I agree with Cara that Aiken’s retelling is disappointing. There’s definitely a rich opportunity for a story about Jane Fairfax that subverts Emma’s narrative, but this isn’t it. There’s another more obscure book from Jane’s perspective (The Journals of Jane Fairfax?) that makes a better attempt, but still isn’t very well executed.
I liked Joan Aiken’s book, but I think it lets Mr. Knightley off far too easily.
I read Emma twice and tried very hard to finish the third time, but couldn’t. She certainly improved with the movie, but then I like Paltrow and Northam a ton, so that meant I was more receptive to the characters and the story from the get go.
I second Elizabeth in liking Clueless a lot. I have seen it many times, and every time, Alicia Silverstone gets me into the story. She doesn’t feel like the interfering biddy (sorry!) of the book.
I think Emma was the first book I read of hers and I think it was probably in school but I do know that once I read Emma, I went on to enjoy her others books for pure pleasure.
I like Emma very much, and I do find it funny. And her character doesn’t bother me–though she is an adult (21, if I recall correctly), she’s still rather young, and is so used to being the cleverest person around that she forgets that she can ever make a mistake. At least, she does until one sneaks up and bites her.
I think one thing that may lead people to dislike her as a character is the showing versus telling problem. Jane Austen tells us about Emma’s good qualities, and shows them occasionally, but she exposes Emma’s faults in relentless detail. 🙂
And I like Alicia Silverstone’s Cher. And Gwyneth Paltrow’s Emma. I prefer Kate Beckinsale as a vampire. (What does that say about me??)
Todd-who-thinks-Paltrow-might-make-a-good-vampire-as-well
I love Emma–it’s definitely my favorite. There’s so much ambiguity and so many angry, desperate people–just read over Emma’s dreadful bleak manifesto of how she’s going to spend her life as a rich spinster; her awful self-obsessed father; and yet it’s a comedy too and brilliantly plotted. Fabulous book!
I read Emma in 7th grade after reading P&P and absolutely loving it. I had to do a book report on it, and that’s the only reason I finished it. The report turned into the reasons why I hate Emma (the character). I’ve always wanted to read Emma as an adult and see whether my opinion changes now that I’m so much wiser (ha ha!) from my additional years of living.
-Michelle Butler
Pam, I find your take on this book very interesting–and not really incompatible with Cara’s. I think this is called “richness.” There’s anger and anxiety lurking in each Jane Austen, intermingled with the fun and wit.
Michelle, you may find EMMA will improve on rereading, as it did for me. Or not! 🙂
I guess I’m a very rare sort of Austen fan because I’ve read all her books more times than I can count, and Emma is my very favorite, followed (not very closely to be honest, I love them all but, Emma is just my favorite by far…actually I don’t love them all, I only “liked” northanger abbey)by a tie between P&P and Mansfield Park.
But anyway, from the very first reading, when I was like twelve or thirteen? I absolutely adored Emma, the book, but more so the character. I just find Emma to be the most charmingly self centered, and entertaingly conceited character I’ve ever had the pleasure to encounter. Those statements may seem oxymoronic, but that is the point. For me personally, a character is immensley more likeable when he or she has multiple facets and dimensions to her personality, as Emma certainly does. She is in my opinion the most realistic Jane Austen heroine. Emma is essentially a good hearted, caring girl, but she has been spoiled all her life and has a natural “disposition to think a little too well of herself”. That hardly makes her unlikeable. If anything, I find that pompous nature, which gets blown down left and right by her silly acts entirely endearing.
For whatever reason, Emma Woodhouse has and will have a special place in my heart.
Emma is my very favorite, followed (not very closely to be honest, I love them all but, Emma is just my favorite by far…actually I don’t love them all, I only “liked” northanger abbey)by a tie between P&P and Mansfield Park.
Always interesting to hear different points of view on this, Tess!!!
I wonder if the age at which one first reads Emma makes a difference? I was in college before I read it… Hmm…
Cara