The Character of Emma in Jane Austen's Emma: How she has a "mind delighted with its own ideas".

Emma’s biggest misconception is that she thinks she can manage other people’s lives more effectively than they can (Gill & Gregory, 2003:278; Milligan 1988:90). Her dad (Me Woodhouse) and Mr. Knightley both tell her not to engage in matchmaking but she does not adhere to their warning. Rather, she continuously meddles in aspects that she should not interfere with. This is very naïve on her part as throughout the novel we see that Emma is not aware of even her own emotions and intentions (for example she does not realise that she loves Mr. Knightley until Harriet starts showing feelings towards him), so how can she be aware of the intentions of others?

One instance of Emma’s misconception is her belief that she can help Harriet improve her life by introducing her into society and finding her a partner. Emma is however sometimes misguided. She automatically thinks that the Martins are not good enough for Harriet despite Mr. Knightley’s high regard for them. She manipulates Harriet to refuse Mr. Martin’s marriage proposal (Shannon Jr. in Lodge 1978:131): She thinks that Harriet is above Mr. Martin but as pointed out by Mr. Knightley, nothing is known of Harriet’s heritage. Emma has thus made herself believe that Harriet is of a greater social status than Mr. Martin even though there is no evidence to support this. Even when Harriet shows Emma Mr. Martin’s well written letter, Emma still sticks to her preconceived idea that he is not good enough for her.  

Emma makes another mistake by “misreading Elton’s affections and overestimating Harriet’s worth” (Gibson in Cookson & Loughrey 1988:70). Emma therefore makes a big error in making Harriet believe that a man of Mr. Elton’s status would love her. Mr. Knightley even warned Emma that Mr. Elton would be unlikely to marry Harriet because of her lower social status (Williams in Marshall & Williams 2002:45). Emma paid no attention to his warning however since it did not fit in with her own ideas.  

When Mr. Elton tells Emma that he likes her, she is disgraced that a person as low as Mr. Elton would consider himself fit for her, yet she considered Harriet fit for him even though she is unaware of who her parents are. Similarly she did not think that Harriet was of equal social standing to Mr. Martin. This shows Emma’s lack of judgment and the double standards that she sets.

Mr. Elton’s proposal should not have been a surprise to Emma as Mr. John Knightley had indicated to Emma that he thought Mr. Elton liked her (Austen 1994:89). She had dismissed this claim and it is now proved to be true. In this instance, Emma’s “elaborate suppositions” (that Mr. Elton likes Harriet) are once again proved to be false (Gibson in Cookson & Loughrey 1988:70) as they are not based on actual observations of Mr. Elton’s behavior (Gill & Gregory 2003:270) .

Emma's mistakes with regard to Harriet Smith lead her to examine herself. For the first time Emma begins to consider and assess her own faults.

“It was foolish, it was wrong, to take such an active part in bringing any two people together. It was adventuring too far, assuming too much, making light of what ought to be serious, a trick of what ought to be simple. She was quite concerned and ashamed, and resolved to do such things no more” (Austen 1994:105).

Despite this awareness however Emma has only partly learned her lesson (Williams in Marshall & Williams 2002:46). She still misperceives people’s feelings, forms prejudicial attitudes about people and convinces herself that her ideas are correct (Gill & Gregory 2003:268). This is evident when she meets Jane Fairfax. Emma immediately does not like Jane even though Jane has done nothing to her. Rather, as pointed out by Mr. Knightley, Emma does not like Jane because she is very talented and accomplished (Perry in Monaghan 1992:136). Unlike Emma, Jane is liked for her talents and not for her social class. Emma has therefore convinced herself not to like Jane and this view continues throughout most of the novel. She had also convinced herself that Jane could be having a relationship with Mr. Dixon. This error is revealed when it is found out that Jane and Frank are secretly engaged.

Emma is shocked at this news as she herself in Chapter 14 had considered Frank a suitable marriage partner even though she had never met him. Frank and her engage in a period of courtship and she convinces herself that she might love him and he might love her. However, when she realises that she doesn’t love him, she tries to set him up with Harriet. She thinks that Harriet also likes him as Harriet (in Chapter 40) mentions that she likes a man who saved her. Harriet was however referring to Mr. Knightley and not Frank.

Only after the announcement of Jane & Frank’s engagement, does Emma find out that Harriet is not upset by the engagement as she is in love with Mr. Knightley. It is then that Emma finally realises her feelings for Mr. Knightley. (Gill & Gregory 2003:272). She now sees and acknowledges the error of her ways. She has made the humble Harriet vain as Harriet thinks that a man of Mr. Knightley’s class could marry her.  She has also now realised that Mr. Knightly was right when he told her that she was not a true friend to Harriet.

Harriet’s love for Mr. Knightley, as well as the numerous conversations Emma has had with Mr. Knightley where he has tried to guide her and show her the error of her ways (Neale in Cookson & Loughrey 1988:62), has shown Emma her misconceptions. She now begins to understand her mistakes and “becomes more acquainted with herself” (Trilling in Lodge 1978:160), growing as a person. Emma has now learnt her lesson and has realised that she cannot know what everybody else is feeling. She should not have viewed the world as she would have liked it to be. She now realises that people have their own thoughts and she cannot know what others are feeling (Williams in Marshall & Williams 2002:45).

Emma however thinks she has learnt this lesson too late as she has lost Mr. Knightley. She makes herself believe that Mr. Knightley could marry Harriet (Gill & Gregory 2003: 256). When Mr. Knightley arrives back in Highbury (to comfort her after Frank’s engagement), Emma & him finally become engaged. We see a different side to Emma here as she is worried about how her dad and Harriet will take the engagement.

This all turns out well though as Harriet becomes engaged to Robert Martin and Mr. Woodhouse accepts their engagement after a poultry robber robs Mr. & Mrs. Weston. He feels that having Mr. Knightley around would lesson his fears. Emma & Mr. Knightley can thus finally get married and we see how Emma has now grown as a person. She used to interfere in other people’s lives and try to make her ideas a reality. However, at the end of the novel she has now grown as a person and has finally realised the error of her ways. She even accepts the match between Harriet and Robert (something she would never have done if she had not changed). Not only has her perception changed in that she realises not to meddle anymore, she also tries to correct her faults (for instance by becoming friends with Jane and making amends to Miss Bates). She has thus learnt to be a better person – one who is worthy of the respect she is given by everyone at Highbury.  

This essay showed how Emma grew as a person to the point where she eventually recognised the errors of her ways, tried to correct them and finally found true happiness. Emma had to learn to accept the world as it is and not to meddle in other people’s lives before she could find happiness herself. She had to let go of the ideas in her mind and realise that she cannot control people’s emotions, thoughts and feelings. We thus see how Emma has transformed, learnt from her mistakes and become a better person who is no longer enchanted by the ideas of her own mind.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Austen, J. 1994. Emma. London: Penguin Books
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