Emma

This is a novel in which "every movement of thought finds its verbal equivalent in a nuance of speech" and it is Emma's willful misreading, or ignoring, of nuance that causes much of the trouble she brings on herself (Butler 381). The speaking styles of Mr. Woodhouse, Mr. Elton, Harriet Smith, Miss Bates, Mrs. Elton, and Frank Churchill are all distinctive and reveal their individual characters clearly--to the reader. Emma, however, hears in them what she wants to hear and makes judgments and plans on the basis of how the speech appears to her--or how she wishes it to appear. The basis of all of Austen's comedy is the way she regards her characters with this type of "ironical amusement" based on the fact that "they never see the situation

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rces the facts to fit into her notion of reality. She allows that there may be many styles among lovers, asserts that he is a good man who will suit Harriet, and when the falseness of his style reasserts itself on her notice she simply decides that it is more than she "could endure as a principal" (44). At this point Emma's genuine cleverness has allowed her a glimpse of the truth about Elton's intentions. But she quickly accounts for this nagging feeling by assuring herself that she is praised as Harriet's friend and concludes, therefore, that everything he says is, indeed, for Harriet's sake. The funniest thing about the book, of course, is the way Emma reasserts this suppressive logic over and over. She is truly intelligent and capable but manages to foil herself by suppressing the signs of her own intelligence. She easily sees, for example, that Robert Martin's letter is very well written and that Mr. Elton's poetic riddle is terrible, and she is critical of Harriet's preference for the latter. But Emma deliberately chooses to ignore these things. And when, in doing so, she harms other people, as she does Robert Martin, Emma is extremely culpable. But her guilt is always carefully balanced by the fact that "each imag
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Approximate Word count = 1870
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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