Julie Davis’s Reviews > Emma > Status Update

Picnics, strawberries, fine weather, what could be better than spring in England for those with a guaranteed income? And yet, the intrigues of who is interested in who. I really love Miss Bates, by the way. So sweet and yet so infuriating. Very much like Mr. Woodhouse. Who I also love but who would drive me nuts.

There is such wicked delight in listening to Mrs. Elton's castigation of low-bred climbers in her original neighborhood. And I thought that Emma was bad at self-knowledge. The extra delight is in listening to Juliet Stevenson read this in the mock-genteel lower class tones she uses for Mrs. Elton. I was laughing out loud the whole time.

I know that Emma is spoiled and extremely dense a lot of the time (despite her own conviction that she's got great intuition) and that makes a lot of people dislike her. But I kind of DO like her. Not as much as I like Mr. Knightly because who doesn't see him as the best character in the book? But I do like her ...

I like that Emma has shown the ability to learn after discovering who Mr. Elton was really interested in (no surprise to the readers; certainly not to me). Not the whole lesson, but at least a big part of it. I can't wait for Mr. Weston's son to arrive since I was laughing at Emma's imaginings about him. Oh the webs she will weave over him.