Jane Austen discussion

The Box Hill outing does not go well, for most of the people involved! Emma tries to repair the damage she has done. Jane has accepted the governess position recommended by Mrs. Elton and Mr. Knightley is departing for London to visit John and Isabella very suddenly. Mrs. Churchill has died! Emma's attempts to befriend Jane do not go well, which is soon explained when Mrs Elton has some news to break to Emma, which Emma must then break to Harriet. Emma begins to realise that there is only one man whom she could ever marry.

Box Hill is an epic disaster.I can't believe Emma got so carried away and said that to Miss Bates.She is such a good-hearted loving person.She even tells Mr.Knightley how grateful she is that Emma and her father helped even when she annoyed them so much.I was happy Knightley gave Emma a piece of his mind.Emma feels her wrong and I think you start to see how highly Emma thinks of and loves Knightley.I do like Knightley better on this reread.

Mr.Elton and Mr.Churchill born gentleman I don't think even half that goodness and sense of Mr.Martin a gentleman farmer.I would wish Mr.Martin in Mr.Elton or Frank Churchill's place.

Frank and Jane.Opposites attract is true on this one.Frank is lucky Jane still wants his worthless behind.I don't see what Jane sees in Frank.She is so much better then him in sense and goodheartedness.

Poor Harriet.Emma has done a number with that girl's head.Telling her to think of Elton and know mistakenly Mr.Knightley.Emma finally understands herself it only told most of the book and most of my patience.Gosh she is so annoying.Every time I read Emma I miss Elizabeth,Elinor,Anne,Fanny,Catherine,and Marianne.

Mrs.Churchill really was sick I was surprised at this.I had thought she just wanted everyone to fawn over her.

@NicoleD
It really is a disaster! She gets carried away and I do agree with Knightley when he says it is evidence of Churchill's influence over Emma. I do believe Churchill's manner and behaviour is partly to blame for Emma's lapse in good manners.

I too have fallen more for Knightley on this read as well. I am glad when Knightley 'gives her a piece of his mind' that it helps Emma to start to see just how much she values Knightley's opinion and how she doesn't want him to think badly of her.

I agree that Mr Martin is truly a good man.

I feel so sorry for Jane. And I do not understand her! How can she still want to marry him after all he has put her through!? Abominable man!

Yes things are becoming clear. Poor, poor Harriet! She really does have her emotions trifled with a lot through this book!

I was surprised as well, the first time, that Mrs Churchill was actually really sick. I always thought she just wanted to keep Frank with her and to get attention, but she is actually ill. I think we were pushed to believing that she was not really ill which is why it is more of a surprise when she dies.

Re Ch. 43

Well I must certainly be relieved that JF has taken Mrs Es acquaintance' s governess' position.

I think Mrs Elton has been kinder to the ladies Bates and JF than Emma certainly has been. I think these 3 ladies deserve kindness. Mrs Elton truly likes the 3 of them I think, while Emma visits them out of obligation and does not really like them.

I do not believe Mrs Elton really likes them at all! She just thinks she can help them - she has taken JF under her wing, so to speak.

Oh dear! Nobody really likes them!

Re Ch 48 (I have not finished it yet)

Well, the chickens have indeed come home too roost for Emma as Mr. Knightly predicted that Emma would create a monster in Harriet of outrageously lofty expectations in Harriet. Mr. Knightly indeed >: !!! TeeHee!

When I told my sister (who has a tv and I do not) that I am reading this book on GR, she said we need to watch the most recent adaptation. She says she has enjoyed it many times. I can't wait to see Emma's foolish expression when she realizes the damage she had really done to Harriet. Harriet would have been worshipped by Mr Martin all of her life and been as queen in his house. If Mr. Knightly thinks Mr. Martin a superior man, then I must. I thought at the beginning of this book that Mr. Martin was an excellent match for Harriet! And that Emma's separating them would be a mistake, thus at the beginning of this book I thought Emma a dangerous menace let loose on the community! I'll have to continue to read to see if in the end poor Harriet will remain a victim of Miss Woodhouse's folly, willful ignorance and foolishness in raising this girl's pretentious to her own detriment. At the point where I am, Harriet would have been better off if she had escaped Emma's notice!

Yes! Poor girl! It would have been better for Harriet if she had left her alone! She has suffered at the hands of Emma rather!

You should watch the latest adaptation. It is pretty accurate to the book because of the lengthy and it is well cast - a very good series and my favourite Emma adaptation.

@Soph
I am looking forward to viewing this version of Emma . My sister and I we love period English dramas and films . We watched Middlemarch over the Xmas / new year holiday season past . I had read that book a couple of times.

It's a very good one! One of my favourites! I look forward to hearing what you think! I haven't see Middlemarch actually. Have you seen North and South?

I saw north and south a long time ago. I don't remember it very well. I would like to see it again. My sister watches this movie all of the time also.

Yes I Iove North and South! :D

The one character that I really felt for at the Box Hill picnic, besides poor Miss Bates, was Jane Fairfax. I already knew what was coming, and I just felt so bad for her! No wonder she became so ill!

Yes I know! The way FC was acting and the things he was saying, all with double meanings for JF! Poor poor girl!

Yes, poor, poor girl! She bore it like a saint! "You have borne it as no other woman in England has borne it" can also apply to her, I think!

Yes!!

Soph wrote: "I do not believe Mrs Elton really likes them at all! She just thinks she can help them - she has taken JF under her wing, so to speak."

I agree.I think Mrs.Elton just thinks she is better then everyone and wants to enrich the what she sees as simple country minds.I do think Mrs.Elton likes Jane because it is clear that Emma really doesn't.Plus Miss Bates always tells her friends how grateful she is for there kindness and I have a feeling that Mrs.Elton likes to be thanked.

I felt so bad for Jane.Frank was down right horrible and if I had ever liked him before I wouldn't have liked him after that.I just can't imagine someone acting like that so someone they love and want to marry.I know he was hurt because they had a fight but that was no excuse for his behavior at Boxhill.

Mrs Elton does like to be thanked indeed!

Box Hill must be my least favourite scene in this book, I fast forward it on the adaptations. It’s so easy to get carried away as Emma does in this scene, with Frank Churchill encouraging her, but it’s still painful to read.

@Nicole “Every time I read Emma I miss Elizabeth,Elinor,Anne,Fanny,Catherine,and Marianne.”

Even Marianne? Ouch… I’m afraid she would drive me crazy, Catherine too to a lesser extent, whereas I’ve always liked Emma.

@Andrea “Well I must certainly be relieved that JF has taken Mrs Es acquaintance' s governess' position. “

I don’t understand that at all. Mrs Elton tried to force Jane to take the position against her wishes, she would not listen to an outright refusal even though it caused distress… even making enquiries when Jane had explicitly asked her not to. Jane had no intention or immediate need to become what she likened to a slave, and she wanted to hold on to her freedom a little longer. Even though Mrs Elton did not know the real reason behind it she should have respected Jane’s wishes. Her behaviour was not that of a friend, she merely wanted to boast about how she had been the one to find Jane a position and how wonderful her connections were. She is an insufferable woman and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be beholden to her because she would never let them forget it.