Emma

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1815

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 1, Chapters 1-18

Volume 2, Chapters 1-18

Volume 3, Chapters 1-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Vocabulary

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Romantic Gesture

The romantic situation or gesture, framing the woman as a damsel in distress and setting the man up as her rescuer, is a recurring motif in Emma. Such situations include Jane Fairfax’s rescue from falling overboard and drowning by Mr. Dixon, and Frank’s rescue of Harriet from the Romani people. Emma, who has never been in love and has never experienced the feelings that accompany it, highly values these romantic situations and imagines the attachments that they must surely give rise to. When she hears of Harriet’s rescue by Frank, Emma considers that “such an adventure as this— a fine young man and a lovely young woman thrown together in such a way, could hardly fail of suggesting certain ideas to the coldest heart and the steadiest brain” (286). Emma, who has been eager to get Frank and Harriet together anyway, imagines that it “was not possible that the occurrence should not be strongly recommending each to the other” (287). Emma performs a similar flight of fancy when she hears of how Mr. Dixon rescued Jane from falling over the edge of a ship. This incident, reported by Miss Bates, is the spur to Emma’s belief that Mr. Dixon prefers pretty, penniless Jane to his fiancée, the rich but plain Miss Campbell. This in turn leads Emma to a self-created fiction that makes her overlook the clues before her eyes of the attachment between Frank and Jane. In showing the contrast between these incidents’ effects on Emma’s imagination and their paltry significance to real-life attachments, Austen mocks both her heroine and the Gothic novels of her contemporaries, which insisted that these heightened scenarios were the prelude to romance.

Harriet, Emma’s imitator, and a reader of sentimental Gothic novels like the Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe, is busy forming her own notions based on a rescue scenario. However, while Emma is certain that Harriet refers to her rescue by Frank, Harriet models her damsel in distress fantasy on her social rescue by Mr. Knightley at the Crown Inn ball. For low status Harriet, being asked to dance by the highest status, gentlemanlike man in the room after Mr. Elton snubbed her, is a thrilling Cinderella fantasy. Her joy expresses itself through physical exhilaration as she “bounded higher than ever, flew farther down the middle, and was in a continual course of smiles” (281). When Harriet’s attachment is revealed and Emma discovers the truth of her own love for Mr. Knightley, she learns that sentimental attachments are more the work of accumulated feelings over time than chance dramatic scenarios. Emma’s journey towards this discovery also reflects Austen’s purpose in portraying the progress of more realistic, emotionally accurate attachments than her contemporaries.

Emma’s Heart

Emma’s heart is a sustained motif, which becomes more prominent as the novel progresses. Although the word heart refers to the body’s most vital organ, Austen uses it in a metaphorical sense to suggest an instinct that tells Emma the profound truths that go against her imagination. Emma’s character development is rooted in supplanting an overreliance on imagination with living and acting from the heart. Both in Emma and other characters, the heart is where the truth is, while the fancy distorts the truth. Ironically, while Emma does not live from her own heart or properly know it, she is arrogant enough to believe that she can “see into every body’s heart” and know their secret attachments (349). However, Emma draws this supposed knowledge from incidental pieces of information that are elaborated on by her fancy, and so she misses the truth. Emma’s ignorance of her own heart is shown in how she fancies herself in love with Frank and confusedly mistakes symptoms of listlessness and boredom following his absence as love. However, her heart is not engaged in the matter. In contrast, when she discovers her love for Mr. Knightley, she is fully driven by her heart.

Even before Emma has an inkling of her love for Mr. Knightley, his advice is often accompanied with a “hint […] from her own heart,” as she instinctively knows that his ways are the path to the right course of action (129). Unlike Jane whose “heart and understanding had received every advantage of discipline,” Emma’s unparalleled freedom prevents her from living in accordance with her duties towards her heart and her innate sense of what is right (137). She often finds that her fanciful notions are in conflict with her heart, as when she decides that Harriet should shorten the visit to Abbey Mill in order to prevent a renewal of Robert Martin’s addresses. She then finds that though “she could think of nothing better […] there was something in it which her own heart could not approve — something of ingratitude” (157). Here, while Emma’s brain has grown tired with conceiving potential ways to manage this tricky social situation, her heart knows that she is wrong to have interfered in the first place.

The Letter

The letter is another important motif in Emma, as it reveals the depth of a person’s character beyond what is generally visible to outside spectators. Low-status yet educated and intelligent Robert Martin’s letter confounds Emma’s attempt to dismiss him as an “illiterate and coarse” farmer who is unworthy of her friend. As Emma reads the letter, she struggles to retain that stereotype in her head, as she admits that his writing exceeded her expectations. Robert Martin’s language which “though plain, was strong and unaffected,” is an accurate reflection of his character, which makes up for lack of showiness with intelligence and integrity (41). While snobs like Emma might wish to condemn Robert Martin to the ranks of the illiterate in order to satisfy their own class concerns, he uses the sense and education he has to make a stand for himself and his right to the woman he loves.

Frank Churchill’s letters are also a key indication of his personality. His letters to Mrs. Weston stand in place of his presence when he is disinclined to visit Highbury after his father’s marriage. The letter, with its warm sentiments to Mrs. Weston, is circulated around Highbury in place of Frank. Mr. Knightley finds it symptomatic of a level of deception and moral laxity in Frank’s character. He claims that Frank “can sit down and write a fine flourishing letter, full of professions and falsehoods, and persuade himself that he has hit upon the best method in the world of preserving peace at home and preventing his father’s right to complain” (126). This observation proves correct when Frank uses letters as an excuse for delaying his presence or the fulfillment of a promise in other parts of the novel. While Frank’s presence is all charm, he prefers to defer matters of duty and the heart to letters, which suggests a cowardice on his part. Mr. Knightley further points out that Frank’s handwriting is “too small— wants strength […] is like a woman’s writing,” an observation that is in concert with his condemnation of Frank’s failure to do his manly duty and be present and direct in his intentions (254). Overall, Frank’s use of letters show that he is an inferior, boyish figure compared to Mr. Knightley, who is exactly the type of man that Emma intends to marry.