Here’s a little something to chew on as you’re reading, Emma this month:
As a heroine, Emma doesn’t come off as all that strong. She’s complacent, boring even – especially when you compare her with other Austen ladies. Compare her to Pride & Prejudice‘s Elizabeth Bennett, for example. Even if you haven’t read the book, the A&E version of the movie will catch you up to speed on Lizzie’s personality pretty quickly and accurately. And she’s a tough cookie.
My sister and I made the comparison and decided this: Emma is strong – interestingly enough, where Lizzie is weak and vice versa. As an example, take their relationships with…err, difficult parents. Mr. Woodhouse? Annoying. But Emma excels in forbearing and in being a good example (except when she doesn’t – and that’s a growing moment). Mrs. Bennett? Most annoying ever. And smart, sassy Lizzie mocks her for it. And naturally, you love it because it’s funny and well, you agree.
The question is: What do you think Emma’s greatest strength is and does it make her fitting of an Austen leading lady?
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Heather Hunter, aka This Fish, is is from Dallas, Texas via Boston, New York and some other cold, snowy places. She spends a bunch of her time blogging, planning her May wedding and eating things made mostly of melted cheese. |
Emma has a lot of strength in her – she is strong-willed and confident, and she puts her heart into everything she does (especially when it comes to matchmaking!). Though she is impulsive and headstrong to a fault sometimes, she is also committed. She is even capable of admitting her faults and apologizing for them, which I think is one of the greatest signs of strength a person can manifest.
Hmm. I think Emma’s confidence comes from her wealth and position in society less than it does some internal fire. In the first portion of the book, Austen makes repeated references to how Emma started and never finished so many things. Like, she had all this potential but she lacked drive, she was lazy, in a way. Not that I think this makes her a weak person, I just think it says something about the limits of her “strong will.” Obviously, you wouldn’t want Emma to be perfect or there’d be nothing to identify with.
I don’t think Emma is supposed to come off as strong-willed like Elizabeth Bennett. Her strength is her innocence and naivety. She is so strong in her belief that she can make everything “right”. Her match-making with Miss Smith and Mr. Elton is done so blindly and forcefully that you can believe yourself that the match will really work until Mr. Elton proposes to Emma instead.
She’s strong like a strong-willed innocent child who believes that in the end everything will turn out okay, as long as she believes hard enough for it. Her innocence and naivety are shaken and you can see her truly grow when her match-making skills are shown not to be so good. When Frank Churchill shows her, through his actions, that there is more going on in life than she is aware of. Those rude awakenings help her to realize that her childish fantasies of making the world right one match at a time are really just that, fantasies.
I think that is why she is such an interesting leading lady. Yes, she silly, over-confident and lazy, but I think that watching her grow is what makes her strong in her own way.