Austen & Emma Woodhouse: Imagination, Pictures of Domestic Life, & Novels- Jane Austen EMMA analysis

Jane Austen EMMA analysis | Emma Woodhouse calls herself “an imaginist”. How does Emma’s novelistic imagination align with Jane Austen’s? How do the two imaginists paint pictures of domestic life? Analysis of Jane Austen’s and Emma Woodhouse’s fictionalising imaginations (drawing on the novel ‘Emma’ and Jane Austen’s letters).
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[@DrOctaviaCox]

Do you have your own examples of Emma Woodhouse being a novelistic “imaginist”?

[@effie358]

none as of now, but thanks to you I will sure noticed them for the first time the next time I re-read it! Brilliant video Octavia!!

[@InThisEssayIWill...]

Not sure how closely the film follows the novel, as this is one I have not yet read, but there is the scene where Mr elton offers to take Harriet's portrait to london, and Emma engages Harriet in the speculation for his reasoning of wanting to undertake the task. She imagines that his reason must be love!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@@effie358 Thanks Wildroses!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@@InThisEssayIWill... Yes, indeed. Not only does she get the person wrong, but she imagines the wrong motivations too! - Mr Elton's reasons for 'love' are entirely mercenary.

[@effie358]

Oh it's true! I do remember something about it too. Wasn't Emma trying to convince Harriet that 'Mr Elton must be showing Harriet's portrait to his mother now telling her how much more beautiful the original is'? Or something like that? Emma most definitely has Jane creative mind ahah

[@natalijaarbutina8265]

Could you talk more about Emma's father, and fathers in general, in Austen? Why are (almost) all fathers so inadequate and flawed - Mr. Bennet, Mr. Woodhouse, Sir Walter Elliot, even Henry Dashwood didn't manage to care properly for his daughters.

[@harpo345]

Personally, I find Mr Wodehouse one of the most annoying characters in fiction. Selfish, dull, humourless and timorous; you just want to take him by the lapels and shake him.

[@meretchen]

Every character in Austens novels is flawed. Just like real people are. That's what makes her such a good author.

[@eilisnugent]

In defense of Mr. Dashwood, he had only had the estate for a short time. Even if he had been scrupulous in planning for his daughters’ futures he wouldn’t have been able to save very much. I would really like to hear more about Mr. Bennet. He complains about his wife and daughters being silly but does nothing about it. Elizabeth sees that he could have educated his wife and cultivated her mind but didn’t bother. It might have been a happier marriage if he had.

[@AllTheArtsy]

@@harpo345 the older I get, the more I see things from Mr. Woodhouse's perspective. Bad air is not good for health. Too much indulgent, particularly sweet and fatty food, is not good for health. And I'd much rather stay comfortable at home than venture for a dinner outside. But when I do, I want it just exactly so, so that I would not be inconvenienced. For my part, I think he's one of the most sensible characters in Emma.

[@--enyo--]

This would be a really interesting topic. Don’t forget those like Sir Thomas and the ‘villainous’ Col. Tilney.

[@nr7701]

This is why I very much like the 2009 miniseries adaption of Emma. While it feels very modern, the quiet lingering shots of Emma in her house make her loneliness clear to the audience. The ending where Mr. Knightley brings Emma to the seaside for the first time in her life gives the audience an extra bit of closure and assurance that this is a good match as he is giving her something that expands her world, a new experience to expand her mind!

[@ezb6798]

The idea of Emma as novelist is a wonderful clue to her character. The novel crosses genres: it’s a love story (or several love stories), a mystery and a comedy of manners, among other things. But Emma herself concentrates on the marriage plot. In her zeal for matchmaking, she imagines herself responsible for Mr. Weston’s marrying Miss Taylor. That is so much fun that she tries to engineer a match between Mr. Elton and Harriet through various manipulations, such as pretending to have broken a shoelace and involving Mr. Elton with her portrait of Harriet. She also invents the idea that there is something going on between Jane Fairfax and Mr. Dixon, merely upon hearing about a dramatic incident where he saves her from falling off a boat - a very dramatic story, but only an “imaginist” would turn it into a love story. And her invented love story shifts around a bit; it’s still in draft form, because sometimes Mr. Dixon loves Jane, sometimes it’s the reverse, and sometimes it’s mutual. At the same time, she is blind to the real romance around her: she misses the clues that Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax have a clandestine relationship, she does not see Mr. Knightly’s growing feelings for her, and indeed misunderstands her own feelings for Mr. Knightly until the very last minute. She is not a mystery novelist! So Jane Austen is perforce a more skillful writer than Emma, but Emma ends up with Mr. Knightly anyway - proof that Jane did love her heroine!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Yes, absolutely - fabulous point - the Jane Fairfax & Mr Dixon (imagined) love story is mutable - it bends to whatever is convenient. And Frank almost weaponises (to use a thoroughly modern word) Emma's imagination in this regard.

[@katt92herane]

@4Freedom4All Big age differences (men being older, women younger) was very common back then, and not a reason for being considered mismatched. After all, women were considered old enough to marry at 16, but men marrying at the age of 24 were considered to "marry young". Austen had many marriages with great age gaps, like Marianne and Colonel Brandon, Mrs. Dashwood and Mr. Dashwood (Marianne and Elinor's parents), that are considered happy couples. Though we generally consider couples with great age differences being "mismatched" today, there are still instances of those with 10-20 years between them who are seemingly very happy together. All in all, I wouldn't say that Mr. Knightley and Emma having a great difference of age necessarily make them mismatched.

[@jogibson9394]

Emma is certainly bored, but she is also very lonely at the beginning of the novel, and, I think, had a lonely childhood and adolescence. Her only real companion, 'poor Miss Taylor,' is just married; her mother is long dead; her somewhat older sister has been married for some years and lives in London, and it does not seem that Emma is able to visit her often, if at all. Whilst her father is a companion of sorts, he is also very needy and somewhat averse to Emma ever going anywhere and meeting anyone. Small wonder that she latches on to Harriet - whilst that friendship might seem to be entirely to Harriet's advantage, she (H) is not short of companionship at the school and one can see that Emma gains just as much, it not more, in having a new friend to assuage her loneliness. So, as a lonely child might do, and perhaps as she has always done since childhood, she retreats into her imagination.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Absolutely - very lonely. Emma has little to occupy her mind when she's alone at Hartfield & we know she suffers from "intellectual solitude".

[@user-bb5mb8qp3n]

@4Freedom4All I think that her upbringing made her confident in her own household, but at the same time, being overprotected, she feels unsure, expecially when things go out of her control. And then she doesn't adapt herself very well to changes. This is a thing that a lonely child often does. She's afraid of losing control over her life

[@user-bb5mb8qp3n]

@4Freedom4All I get the the sad part about the governess, never really bad about that. It's like, she lives in her very own world, that apparently is golden, bit somewhat empty

[@MySThomson]

Delightful video! Another example of Emma's imaginings is that she imagined that Harriet's unknown father might have been some sort of aristocrat who would one day acknowledge her and give her her rightful place in society. But he turned out to just be an ordinary middle class business person or something.

[@painwisenurse]

To the age old question “If you could invite ten people in history to a dinner party, who would you invite? I’d have to include Jane Austen on my list. So many questions. Thank you for sharing your insights and knowledge.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Many, many questions! I think I'd rather have a one-on-one conversation with her though. I feel like at a dinner party she'd be silently observing others.

[@dorothywillis1]

From what I have gathered from things other people said about her, I suspect, like many writers, she would not talk much. (I assume that is why one person referred to her as a "poker.") It might be difficult to get her to talk.

[@carakellmeyer5037]

What springs to mind is a modern take on imagining: a comic. A comedian always has a fresh take on ordinary life. What I think makes good comedy is to talk about the human condition, what makes similar and of course the contrasts, and the absurdities of it. Who knows? Maybe Jane Austen in modern times could have been a comedy writer for TV? She surely has all the elements which make her a Rom Com genius.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Life's absurdities were certainly Austen's métier! I rather think that Austen aligns with Lizzy Bennet in this: "Elizabeth loved absurdities" (Pride and Prejudice ch.27).

[@realTLC]

We need a talk on Jane Fairfax, Dr. Cox! Would you consider doing one? Thank you 💝💝💝

[@katdenning6535]

Emma is one of my favorite characters because I feel like she is one of the most misunderstood. Emma reminds me of a mix of Elizabeth Bennett (wit temperament and vivacity) and Catherine Moreland (imagination and fancy) but a much more isolated (physically, socially and economically) version. Emma is often cast as a selfish, spoiled, and self-centered girl because it’s harder for modern people to understand her position in life was a cage (a guilded one but still a highly structured one with narrow scope for allowable relationships, behaviors, hobbies, etc.). I always saw her as incredibly lonely. Her allowable social circle was tiny and even among them, not one person other than her Mr Knightly were on the same circle level. In her area. The novel really showed how “confined and unvarying” country life could. For example Mrs. Elton, one of the few women Emma’s age who might possibly be a companion (though we know from her reaction to Mr. Elton’s proposal that she was above them in rank) and Emma have little choice in their social circle no matter how much they dislike each other and neither has the freedom or ability to move away or disinclude each other due to their social positions (they would have been expected to invite each other to spend time together).

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I think you're right, Kat, that Emma's loneliness is an incredibly important - and often overlooked - part of the novel. Take this passing phrase from the narrative voice, for instance: "the same loneliness, and the same melancholy, seemed to reign at Hartfield" (vol.3, ch.13).

[@katdenning6535]

@@DrOctaviaCox The entire first chapter really sets the tone for Emma to me. Her friendship and reliance on Miss Taylor doesn’t prevent her from wishing and promoting the match with Mr. Weston which shows she’s not mercenary towards the interest of others around her (the way people suppose she is in her actions toward Harriet). She spares no exertions to help support her father’s happiness too, showing she is not selfish but thoughtful of those around her even if she is misled or doesn’t always go about it in the best way. We see a lot of her imagination when she romanticizes about the day the Weston’s met and he helped them get umbrellas. We know she feels deeply the loss of Miss Taylor’s companionship too. “...Hartfield, in spite of its separate lawn, and shrubberies, and name, did really belong, afforded her no equals. The Woodhouses were first in consequence there. All looked up to them. She had many acquaintance in the place, for her father was universally civil, but not one among them who could be accepted in lieu of Miss Taylor for even half a day. It was a melancholy change; and Emma could not but sigh over it, and wish for impossible things, till her father awoke, and made it necessary to be cheerful. His spirits required support.” shows how much she belongs to and yet is apart from her home.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Fantastic quotation - it illustrates your point beautifully. We are also told that the loss of Miss Taylor brought Emma "grief" - a strong word choice for Austen to have used.

[@katdenning6535]

@@DrOctaviaCox I love studying Austen. I wrote a term paper in college many years ago comparing Elizabeth Bennett to Maria Lucas. Fun times.

[@aquafishcspeia2921]

@4Freedom4All Mr. Woodhouse hates going into society and very much objects to Emma being away from home. He worries incessantly over every potentiality, the food, the weather, the company, Emma getting married and leaving home, etc. Mr. Woodhouse's particularities are presented from the very beginning of the book, with his reaction to Miss Taylor's marriage. How is any of that Emma's own doing? Are you sure you've read the novel?

[@effie358]

This was fascinating! The more I learn about Jane the more I love her. Thank you for making this video!!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you, wildroses. Oh, me too, me too. Octavia

[@owamuhmza]

At the risk of being pelted with verbal tomatoes and eggs, I have declared Emma to be my favourite Austen novel, followed closely by Persuasion. I love the light and airy fairy nature of Emma herself, I love her flaws and total oblivion of the attachment between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill and of course Mr. Knightley....swoon

[@sybillestahl8646]

I have always thought Emma was better than Pride and Prejudice. I’m P&P you can see the ending coming from a very few chapters in, but in Emma I was fooled a couple of times. And you’d have to go pretty far to find characters to match Miss Bates or Mrs. Elton.

[@rosezingleman5007]

Emma imagines herself in love with Frank in response to a few remarks rather than an examination of her response to those remarks. My disclaimer is that my Austen anthology is still boxed up from a move so I cannot reread the passages, but that is my recollection. She feels rather wan and distracted and interprets this as love whereas actual love is a profound realization which needs no interpretation.

[@effie358]

oh yes! I do remember something about this as well! Great find :D

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Yes, when Frank Churchill goes away Emma first imagines that she must be in love: "...he was gone; and Emma felt so sorry to part, and foresaw so great a loss to their little society from his absence as to begin to be afraid of being too sorry, and feeling it too much... 'I certainly must,' said she. 'This sensation of listlessness, weariness, stupidity, this disinclination to sit down and employ myself, this feeling of every thing's being dull and insipid about the house!- I must be in love; I should be the oddest creature in the world if I were not-for a few weeks at least...'" (vol.2, ch.12) But then almost immediately decides that she is actually too cheerful to be in love! "Emma continued to entertain no doubt of her being in love. Her ideas only varied as to the how much. At first, she thought it was a good deal; and afterwards, but little. She had great pleasure in hearing Frank Churchill talked of; and, for his sake, greater pleasure than ever in seeing Mr. and Mrs. Weston; she was very often thinking of him, and quite impatient for a letter, that she might know how he was, how were his spirits, how was his aunt, and what was the chance of his coming to Randalls again this spring. But, on the other hand, she could not admit herself to be unhappy, nor, after the first morning, to be less disposed for employment than usual; she was still busy and cheerful; and, pleasing as he was, she could yet imagine him to have faults; and farther, though thinking of him so much, and, as she sat drawing or working, forming a thousand amusing schemes for the progress and close of their attachment, fancying interesting dialogues, and inventing elegant letters; the conclusion of every imaginary declaration on his side was that she refused him. Their affection was always to subside into friendship. Every thing tender and charming was to mark their parting; but still they were to part. When she became sensible of this, it struck her that she could not be very much in love; for in spite of her previous and fixed determination never to quit her father, never to marry, a strong attachment certainly must produce more of a struggle than she could foresee in her own feelings." (vol.2, ch.13)

[@quaesitrix881]

You can find all of Jane Austen's books, as well as those of many other authors, online on Project Gutenberg. It is a wonderful resource ! It is a website dedicated to the creation and free distribution of ebooks. With the help of volunteers, they create digitized versions of printed texts (books, manuals, periodicals, journals, pamphlets, etc) which are in the public domain and old enough [*]. And since Project Gutenberg was the very first (1971 ! [**]) online library of free ebooks, it had time to amass a very extensive collection of above 60'000 ebooks. All ebooks have been through careful proofreading before being uploaded, so the quality is perfectly fine. The resulting ebooks are free of any copyrights. They are freely available from their online library, where they can either be read online (in HTML) or downloaded in a variety of other formats (usually HTML & EPUB & Kindle & PDF, and always Plain Text UTF-8). Most ebooks are in English, but not all of them. You can find both original works and translations in a wide assortment of languages. Some books are illustrated, in which case they will exist in two versions : with and without the images. And that is all the relevant information I can think of. Try it ! And if you feel like it, you can volunteer : either to scan physical books or other documents you have, or to proofread e-text made from someone else's scans by comparing each page of scan with its corresponding page of e-text. [*] No contemporary works are included, even if they are in the public domain. However, they do have a separate project : the Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press, for contemporary authors who want to share their work freely (unlimited free distribution of all the works published on the site, but ownership remains with the author). [**] In 1971[***] Michael Hart uploaded the first book, actually inventing ebooks and founding Project Gutenberg. He named it after Johannes Gutenberg, which I find awesome. The hope that computers would revolutionise society as much as the printing press did ^_^ [***] No, that is not a typo. I do mean 1971 ! Links : Project Gutenberg : www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press : self.gutenberg.org/ The Complete Project Gutenberg Works of Jane Austen by Jane Austen : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31100

[@mayamargolin3484]

The most interesting thing in Emma is the fact that it called by name of the main character, in opposite of other novels where their names give the "key" to approach each one of them, to understand, to decipher

[@coloraturaElise]

Your insight into Austen's work always amazes me! How many times have I read "Emma" (about 50) and never put together the idea that Emma's and Jane's imaginings are the same sort of mental exercise? Or ever really noticed Emma's imaginings in any other context than that of her being a matchmaker? The layers are there, and you are helping to reveal them! I am watching EVERY one of your videos, and recommending them to my local JASNA society. :-)

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you Elise! I really appreciate your kind support. Octavia

[@catherineserver8082]

Thanks for this wonderful explanation, i do think this is one aspect of Emma (in the book) that has not been adequately portrayed in any of the film versions, so far. Its really her absurdly lively imagination that does get her into trouble throughout the story. Im always a little disatisfied with the films because they usually portray Emma as simply a manipulative busybody, when really she is much more complex that just that. I feel Ramola Garai in the BBC series, did a little bit better job as portraying her as imaginative, but kindhearted and well meaning. She just wants to ‘fix’ her world and everybodys lives into the ideal she imagines it can be.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I suppose that imagination is rather hard to portray on film. Especially because readers have to work out for themselves that many of the observations that we are being presented with are the work of Emma's imagination (undercut with moments of revelation and irony from the narrative voice). I think to some extent Northanger Abbey adaptations suffer from the same issue

[@Happyheretic2308]

The Kate Beckinsale ‘Emma’ is good

[@majugeo]

I'm so glad I found your channel, Dr. Octavia! I love your analyses! Emma and Northanger Abby are my favorite Austen novels, because she pokes fun at her heroines. I've also noticed the most detail about daily life in Emma. I love Austen's little commentary when the Westons, Emma, and Frank Churchill go to inspect the Crown Inn as a possible site for the Weston's ball: "Emma," said [Mrs Weston], "This paper is worse than I expected. Look! In places you see it is dreadfully dirty; and the wainscot is more yellow and forlorn than any thing I could have imagined." "My dear, you are too particular," said her husband. "What does all that signify? You will see nothing of it by candlelight. It will be as clean as Randalls by candlelight. We never see anything of it on our club nights." The ladies here probably exchanged looks which meant, "Men never know when things are dirty or not," and the gentlemen perhaps each thought to himself, "Women will have their little nonsenses and needless cares." Some things never change!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you! I love that about Austen too - that she pokes fun even of characters that she's clearly fond of. I've always rather liked the episode in _Emma_ where Mr Woodhouse seeks Mr Perry's agreement that wedding cake is bad for you: "...a few weeks brought some alleviation to Mr. Woodhouse. The compliments of his neighbours were over; he was no longer teased by being wished joy of so sorrowful an event; and the wedding-cake, which had been a great distress to him, was all eat up. His own stomach could bear nothing rich, and he could never believe other people to be different from himself. What was unwholesome to him he regarded as unfit for any body; and he had, therefore, earnestly tried to dissuade them from having any wedding-cake at all, and when that proved vain, as earnestly tried to prevent any body's eating it. He had been at the pains of consulting Mr. Perry, the apothecary, on the subject. Mr. Perry was an intelligent, gentlemanlike man, whose frequent visits were one of the comforts of Mr. Woodhouse's life; and upon being applied to, he could not but acknowledge (though it seemed rather against the bias of inclination) that wedding-cake might certainly disagree with many-perhaps with most people, unless taken moderately. With such an opinion, in confirmation of his own, Mr. Woodhouse hoped to influence every visitor of the newly married pair; but still the cake was eaten; and there was no rest for his benevolent nerves till it was all gone. There was a strange rumour in Highbury of all the little Perrys being seen with a slice of Mrs. Weston's wedding-cake in their hands: but Mr. Woodhouse would never believe it." (ch.2)

[@majugeo]

@@DrOctaviaCox I had forgotten this part, but it is making me smile now. "...he could never believe other people to be different from himself." And "Mr. Woodhouse hoped to influence every visitor of the newly married pair, but still the cake was eaten, and there was no rest for his benevolent nerved till it was all gone." I'm imagining such a character in Austen's circle of acquaintances.

[@cristinaantequera727]

I cited you in my final project! You express yourself so accurately... You are fantastic!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ha! - Wow. Good luck with the project! Thank you.

[@rufescens]

This makes me think of my literary-inclined friends, and how they novelize their lives. Also of people in general, including myself, and what our modes of understanding and sharing our experiences are in comparison.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I think from her letters we can see that Austen considers novelising ones life to have its uses (why not make a boring journey, ball, dinner, shopping-trip, etc, etc, etc, more interesting by imagining what adventures might occur). And one of the best uses is - as you suggest - sharing that with others.

[@margaretinsydney3856]

Oh yes! How about the noble background she invented for Harriet? And of course the fantasy about Jane Fairfax and Mr Dixon! Your lectures are fabulous! Please, keep them coming.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Great examples, Margaret. The narrative voice plays brilliantly with Emma's fantasies about Jane Fairfax: "At this moment, an ingenious and animating suspicion entering Emma's brain with regard to Jane Fairfax, this charming Mr. Dixon, and the not going to Ireland, she said, with the insidious design of farther discovery..." (vol.2, ch.1) Emma herself, and the first-time reader, might be persuaded that she's after "farther discovery", but of course she's actually just looking for more ways to fire her imagination!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

And thank you Margaret! Octavia

[@andrewsmith8454]

I think Jane Austen reveals some of her "imaginist" character in her letter where she describes the London exhibitions she visited in 1813. "I was very well pleased (pray tell Fanny) with a small portrait of Mrs. Bingley, excessively like her. I went in hopes of seeing one of her sister, but there was no Mrs. Darcy. Perhaps I may find her in the great exhibition, which we shall go to if we have time. Mrs. Bingley's is exactly like herself,-size, shaped face, features and sweetness; there never was a greater likeness. She is dressed in a white gown, with green ornaments, which convinces me of what I had always supposed, that green was a favorite color with her. I dare say Mrs. D. will be in yellow." ... "We have been both to the exhibition and Sir J. Reynolds'; and I am disappointed, for there was nothing like Mrs. D. at either. I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye. I can imagine he would have that sort of feeling,-that mixture of love, pride, and delicacy." I find it amusing that she can find a likeness of Mrs Bingley, but can't find any likenesses of Mrs Darcy, given that the society portraits of Joshua Reynolds are full of faces that tend towards an idealised appearance with all individual character removed. So, as well as fictionalising the lives of real people in her letters, she also writes of her fictional characters as if they were real people.

[@effie358]

I love Jane, she sure knew how to keep herself entertained and to entertain others

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Fabulous quotation, Andrew. We might remember - in the words of Fiona Stafford in the OUP introduction to P&P - that it is "the aptly named Mrs Reynolds" (p.ix) who shows Lizzy the portrait of Darcy at Pemberley.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

As well as Mrs Bingley and Mrs Darcy, Austen also imagined the futures of Kitty and Mary Bennet: "Kitty Bennet was satisfactorily married to a clergyman near Pemberley, while Mary obtained nothing higher than one of her uncle Philip’s clerks, and was content to be considered a star in the society of Meryton" (James Edward Austen-Leigh's 'Memoir of Jane Austen' ch.10).

[@angryhobbit5919]

I call the habit of romanticizing everyday life "glamorizing the ordinary". I do this too. When I get ready in the morning, I have some kind of movie soundtrack playing in my head and visualize all the "hero getting ready" scenes from the superhero movies. :-)

[@marthawolfsen5809]

This is why I love the novel Emma. She is the original "if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade" girl. Emma is stuck with a neurotic invalid father who cannot be an intellectual companion for her. Her former governess and dearest friend has left to marry a landed gentleman. Even though Emma is "handsome, clever, and rich" she has almost no hope of marrying, because she cannot in good conscience abandon her father. Instead of bemoaning her lot, she declares she will never marry, and puts her energy into inventing romances for everybody else, deriving her enjoyment from what is really a very poor substitute for the life a charming, intelligent, good-looking heiress with thirty thousand pounds would normally expect. Of course, with her exuberant approach to what should be a rather austere life she causes chaos at every turn. But whine about the lousy hand fate has dealt her? Never! Besides, if Mr. Knightly had just stepped forward a lot earlier he could have saved everybody a lot of grief.

[@LaurieButts]

I love Emma. Thank you for revealing the similarities between Emma and Jane Austin. Emma speculates often with other characters...with Frank Churchill, Harriet, and Mrs. Weston. You name it...novelizing your life, handling boredom by inventing what might be, speculating on the future. I think this may be the essence if Anne Shirley as a child and young woman in Anne of Green Gables. Thank you!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

It's my pleasure, Laurie! And Jane Eyre perhaps? - as this beautiful quotation illustrates: "a tale my imagination created, and narrated continuously; quickened with all of incident, life, fire, feeling, that I desired and had not in my actual existence" (ch.12).

[@63Speed63]

THANK YOU, for you have inadvertently settled my longstanding perplexity on Jane and Udolpho. "Knowing that they are ridiculous but enjoying that they are ridiculous. Jane Austen is parodying the gothic whilst simultaneously celebrating it whilst puncturing the conventions of it." Brilliant. :)

[@DrOctaviaCox]

My pleasure! Yes, it's quite a complex relationship that Austen has with the gothic - I think of it a bit like sisterly teasing.

[@nastyaissor7825]

I hope you're gonna talk about Jane Fairfax one day. I was always curious about the reasons why Lydia and Wickham eloped in Pride and prejudice. I don't really understand why that happend! Thank you

[@effie358]

If you don't mind me asking, what makes you curious about the Lydia and Wickham elopement? Their personal motives for it? Like, why Wickham would risk taking Lydia with him when he leaves to escape him debts? Or why they had to elope to get married? I am just asking because if the question was the second one, I believe the answer to be that Lydia was too young and could not legally marry in England without parental consent, so they had to elope to Scotland to marry (which of course was never Wickham's intention at all). But if the question was about the motive behind Wickham's choice, to risk taking her with him, when he had no intention to marry her in the first place, then I am curious to hear Dr Octavia's take on it too. I know that he is selfish and reckless and all in all a lot of a jerk, but it always seemed such a risky move on his part, even if he just assumed he could abandon her and go somewhere else in Europe alone, to find a rich wife, and even if he was not the kind of man to turn down company, it did seem to me to be a very risky choice, and one I don't fully understand.

[@Tasmanianval]

The only reason I can think about the elopement was because Lydia was the youngest and always wanted to stand up, and being the first married between the sisters would be amazing for her. And let's be honest Wickham seems really attractive and charming in the books before we knew his true nature 😏

[@joanwerthman4116]

I think it’s helpful to remember even Mr. Darcy had to bribe Wickham to do the honorable thing and marry the very young and foolish girl as she expected. This means he did not have the power to force the issue as only some might. The worst he could do was make Wickham notorious enough to escape to the Continent as he (that is Wickham) was always risking. Like most rakes, he was always counting on the girls’ family to want to hush up the matter. So the “elopement” was simply a matter of a selfish rogue taking advantage of a gullible 15 year old he meant to seduce and abandon along with the debts from which he was running away. It wouldn’t be the first time in one of Austin’s novels that an unfortunate girl was left to fend for herself (and usually her baby). That happens, if offstage and by report, in Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@@Tasmanianval Lydia is clearly pleased to be the first married sister, and basks in the elevation in status it brings her among her sisters. When she returns to Longbourn as Mrs Wickham, the narrative reads: "She [Lizzy] then joined them soon enough to see Lydia, with anxious parade, walk up to her mother’s right hand, and hear her say to her eldest sister, 'Ah! Jane, I take your place now, and you must go lower, because I am a married woman'" (ch.51).

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@Joan Werthman Absolutely - seduce and abandon - Willoughby and Eliza Williams spring to mind. And your point about the family wanting to hush the matter up is right - think of both Darcy and Brandon. Both keep it secret from the heroines that they know first-hand that the cad is a seducer: Darcy knows that Wickham is a seducer, as Brandon comes to know with Willoughby. The general approach to responding to scandals within a family might best be summarised by Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park (re the affair between Henry Crawford and Mrs Rushworth): "Say not a word of it; hear nothing, surmise nothing, whisper nothing till I write again. I am sure it will be all hushed up" (ch.46).

[@auntymame9935]

I did enjoy this one! I have studied Emma as well as reading it several times, but I never thought of this comparison with the author. Nor had I thought about one of the themes of the novel being the danger of an intelligent woman being bored... ;)

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Oh good - I'm glad you enjoyed it! Octavia

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I think it's really brave of Austen to write a novel examining boredom!

[@auntymame9935]

@@DrOctaviaCox That's probably one of the reasons she thought people wouldn't much like Emma - because she was so close to home!

[@sylwuskak7065]

Now I understand why I've always loved that heroine despite the fact that most of people hate her :) I found out that I am an “imaginist” too :)

[@emilieerdbeer3610]

This is a very interesting argument and even more so, because Emma herself is quite bored, when she "has to read" books, just to be on the same level in comparison to the "paragon of virtue" that is Jane Fairfax. Emma enjoying her own imaginings supports her character trait being self-absorbed and self-centred. I enjoy your close readings immensely, so thank you!

[@bellringer929]

Your insights into Emma's intellectual solitude are so helpful, Dr Octavia! I am happy i found your channel.

[@GardenGirl33]

I say this to my friends all the time. I'm never bored because I can always think of something to write, and that does away completely with boredom. Guess that makes me a tiny bit like Jane as well. LOL. Thanks.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ha! - yes, indeed. One's imagination can be very useful!

[@jrpipik]

I loved reading Emma because Austen writes so beautifully, but I did not like Emma herself very much, at least not till she repents and makes an effort to apologize and make up for her missteps. I had not considered how personal a novel this might be for Austen, how much she might think of Emma's rearranging the world at least in her own mind as not unlike herself as a novelist moving characters through a plot (though hopefully doing less damage along the way). Something to keep in mind for the next reading -- thank you!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

It's my pleasure.

[@Izabela-ek5nh]

@4Freedom4All yes, so? Nobody ever said Emma should be the one to admire and follow - she does so wrong to Harriet in strong belief she's doing the best for her - so easy to make such a mistake in good will, I think. :) and we clearly see how wrong it is.

[@user-zo4ig4xx5n]

Another example of Emma's imaginist nature is her conviction that there must be something reprehensible in Jane Fairfax's relationship with Mr. Dixon based on another "romantic" incident

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Yes, indeed. Dramatic as well as 'romantic'. And Miss Bates recounts the story to Emma as though it were an episode in a novel (Jane was nearly "dashed into the sea at once", Miss Bates responds to it by "trembling") - she even refers to it as "the history of that day": "Ever since the service he rendered Jane at Weymouth, when they were out in that party on the water, and she, by the sudden whirling round of something or other among the sails, would have been dashed into the sea at once, and actually was all but gone, if he had not, with the greatest presence of mind, caught hold of her habit- (I can never think of it without trembling!)-But ever since we had the history of that day, I have been so fond of Mr. Dixon!" (vol.2, ch.1).

[@tamarakoshmal7100]

I do like your videos! I like the way you penetrate into the deepest parts of the souls and give a very profound analysis through the means of the language the writer uses. I’m listening to you while I’m going to work. A very good beginning of a day for my brains! Thanks a lot!!!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

It's my pleasure. Who wouldn't like to wake up to a bit of Jane Austen!

[@lasalleman]

Wonderful exposition. I never quite understood the novel in the way you do. Enlightening.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you. Octavia

[@marylyons1881]

Just discovered this series last night. I love diving in deep and unpacking (yes, I know, mixed metaphors) Jane Austen. Can't wait to hear more! Thank you

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Welcome aboard, Mary. Ha! - 'deep-diving', 'unpacking', 'jumping into' and even 'exploding' Austen

[@lindsayfriedrich4117]

I just discovered your channel and I am beyond blessed.

[@rachelwhite9503]

Wonderful as always, thank you.

[@rebekkahdowney4735]

Thank you for making these videos! I miss going to school and your lectures are so compelling and informative, I love listening to them.

[@kands90210]

You voice is soothing and your anylisis are very interesting. Love your channel

[@loramcclamrock5549]

I love how carefully you analyze the text. Refreshingly logical. Blessings!!

[@edominiquex]

Fascinating. As I've worked through your backlog, invariably I've been satisfied by your topics in which I was most drawn, but even more so at the end when I started watching the videos I was not drawn to. You have a true talent in drawing interest into overlooked or even overwork passages. Great fan!

[@ROXCANADA2023]

Wonderful analysis Doc!!!

[@aucourant9998]

This channel deserves more subscribers.

[@Therika7]

I think this is my favorite video of yours. It’s yet another example of how Austen is timeless and always relevant to life.

[@mstexasg6243]

Just discovered your channel. So wonderful. Thank you 😊

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you MsTexasG. That's very kind of you to say. Octavia

[@tonyausten2168]

Awesome take on Emma Woodhouse. That explains why Emma did not like Jane Fairfax. Miss Fairfax was not open to Emma. (we know later, Jane Fairfax had a big secret) Jane was rather too reserved. Miss Fairfax deprived Miss Woodhouse personal information so that she can dot-connect & Imagine the unfilled gaps. Later of course, we would read how Emma did quite runaway with her novelistic imagination, didn't she? I believe Jane Austen & Emma Woodhouse both had open temperament. Opposite of Jane Fairfax's reserve.

[@bethotoole6569]

Lovely analysis!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Octavia

[@gramgram1158]

Marvelously clever analysis. I truly enjoyed considering the insights you offered on this much-read favorite.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you. I'm so very pleased to bring enjoyment & offer some insights on these much-loved novels. They're wonderful. Octavia

[@jldisme]

Very interesting! Thanks.

[@starfireiii2536]

I feel like I owe you for a therapy secession. Thank you for teaching me a bit more about Jane Austin and Emma. 🤔📝

[@marilynoverton8142]

Thank you, Dr. Cox, for your insightful, erudite analysis! I very much enjoy listening to you and learning from you. At the same time, the too-numerous, too-loud advertisements detract from the experience.

[@Rocking_the_Mimi_life]

I have really enjoyed this series. I need to reread every book now!

[@user-bi7gl8xg2y]

thank you so much for your talks. I am a retired schoolteacher and for the last couple years cant attend my usual activities (because of the carona epdemic) and you often save me from boredom

[@owamuhmza]

Where has this channel been all my life?????? I’m home now🤗🤗🤗

[@virginiahaag1581]

Your videos feel like a class with some dear teacher on your favorite subject

[@GrumpyYank26]

I have a great mind not to tell you how I enjoy listening to your reflections on Miss Austen. ♥️

[@juliamacdonald3767]

I really appreciate your insights. Emma has always made me a little uncomfortable because of the trouble she causes and gets into. I never thought about how her imaginative thinking was similar to Jane Austen’s way of thinking. I wondered if Jane Austen identified with Jane Fairfax in some ways because of her poverty and dependence, but Jane Fairfax Is not a very dynamic person really. Is Emma the only heroine of Jane Austen’s who is not impoverished and dependent? It’s like she wanted to play with a character who for once did not have to worry about money and finding a husband. She is free to not marry if she so chooses. It is so fun to have someone to talk to about Jane Austen, thank you for these videos.

[@deepdrag8131]

19:53 “Even the dullest doings of daily life.” Imagine if someone made a sitcom about that!!

[@evelynbyrd4961]

I very much enjoyed your imagining. One thing that can be said about Jane Austens' writings are very speculated and scathingly studied. I can hear Jane chuckling over all this fanfare..... hahahaha

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ha - so we are all Emma Woodhouses endlessly speculating and trying to fit the disparate pieces together!

[@sapphire7424]

I've never really bothered with Emma as I found it hard going, but tbf your take on her is very interesting so I'm going to read it again. Ty!

[@a24-45]

Dr Cox, what a fascinating talk re Austen and imagination. Oddly it's given me insight, I think, into the mystery (for me) of Why Jane Austen Hated Bath. I have never found the usual explanations: 1) Jane had painful love memories re Bath or 2) Bath's demanding social life interfering with her writing time or 3) Austen loved nature and therefore hated towns - to be quite satisfactory. I think 1) Austen was strong enough to separate personal memories from a place (Anne Elliot and Wentworth discuss exactly this in relation to Lyme); and as for 2) her writing time, her family were very supportive of her writing goals and I have the impression her parents were not the type to ignore her speaking up for herself about needing quality writing time. In fact I would have thought that a novelist like Austen would find Bath full of potential characters and situations for her novels. As for Austen's 3) deep love of nature, while I am satisfied that she did appreciate nature, in fact I would expect any sensitive person to do so, I haven't come across anything to suggest that she spent more time outdoors appreciating nature than the average Regency country gentlewoman -- many of whom I am sure would have been quite happy to visit Bath. Instead your analysis leads me to think that Austen did not use meeting new people or situations as a form of writing inspiration, as most people would suppose a novelist does. My guess now is that Austen liked being in the country precisely because she met so few people - the fewer the better. For Austen meeting new people was probably wasting valuable story creation time. I can imagine now that Austen never got bored or felt isolated in the country. Her country-born heroines might be bored and under-stimulated-- Anne Elliot's isolation tilts her into depression, Emma Woodhouse has far too much time on her hands and nearly derails, Catherine Moreland is vulnerable to exploitation because of her limited social experience - but now I feel I have an explanation that makes better sense: Austen's being able to spend uninterrupted time in her world daily was essential to her happiness; meeting new people was not. The predictability of country life with its lack of variety, was exactly the life that best allowed for that soul-satisfying inner world to expand. It's almost as if Austen didn't need to feed that world with anything external, it throve on itself. What a genius.

[@evelyne7071]

Ennui has an emotional component of sadness to the boredom.It’s not just “bored to tears”. It’s more subtle than that, to me. It suggests a depth of pain associated with that boredom…..More like bored depression….sinking into darkness with ennui. Great comparison of Emma’s character t;o that of Jane Austen’s………These observations which I would never have appreciated without you.

[@barbarabrown7974]

I have previously made the comment on Facebook Jane Austen threads that Emma is much like a novelist, only she tries to write the narrative for real people, and they don't behave in the way she would like. In many ways novelists are like demigods, in control of their small worlds, her small piece of ivory. This is perhaps why Austen likes her.

[@bellringer929]

After knowing Emma's adventures into matchmaking one might conclude that imaginative minds aren't dependable when it comes to deciding matches.

[@roxanateodorescu8913]

It may be interesting to note the slightly different effect an active imagination has for each of the two: Jane Austen and Emma. Jane Austen's imagination produced these wonderful, timeless novels. Emma's imagination, on the other hand, has both an amusing, exhilarating effect and a risky one too. Ps. I am not a Native English speaker, so please excuse my mistakes in the use of the English language, but I am very interested in your close readings, and find them very thought provoking and stimulating. Thank you for making them, Dr. Octavia Cox!

[@barbarabrown7974]

I just watched some of your Jane Eyre commentary, and in some ways Emma plays a nicer version of Blanche Ingram, the woman who is being used as a blind to cover a male protagonist's real attraction. And the real objects of the man's affection is an impoverished accomplished girl named Jane. Jane Fairfax is even contemplating becoming a governess.

[@peggymccright1220]

I am enjoying your perspective on the classics. Have you analyzed Miss Bates from Emma? I’m very interested in her life and how she gets by. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.

[@eilisnugent]

That would be interesting. How much of her endless chattering is just trying to keep up her spirits?

[@beastshawnee]

I love how she says (basically) “I shan’t trll you if I have been murdered!”. LOL. Best part of the video for me-seeing her humor which is always there-just beneath the surface!

[@suedavis9702]

I've been drawn to something about how writing Emma fits into Jane Austen's life, which I think is true, which is that Emma was the first novel she wrote after her apparently fallow period in Bath. From what I understand, the period in Bath was very difficult for Jane Austen, and she was very relieved to leave there. Emma seems to me so deeply about small town life, to the extent that Emma eventually marries the "boy next door", someone she has literally known all her life. Perhaps you have already explored this aspect of Emma, or have comments about Jane Austen writing Emma at this point in her life? (Of course there are also the comments about Bath and the social life there in Persuasion, things that are also not to the liking of Anne Elliot)

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Could you make an Austen playlist on YT, please? Some organization and categorization (into playlists) of your videos would be great, thank you.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Please analyze the Lady Susan story from Austen’s juvenilia (I forget the title). I can’t quite figure out what to make of it, and the recent dramatization mystified me even more.

[@kazz254]

I use to dislike Emma Woodhouse a great deal. I think my initial dislike was the lack of relatability to her circumstances and my own. I didn’t grow up wealthy, with a very loving parent, and certainly not at the top of society in my community- and I still don’t relate to those components, but Emma is likable. I do tend to give way to imaginings, even as an adult - taking enjoyment from big and small day dreams. I also think we can relate to the negative aspects of her personality, many of us would be dishonest if we didn’t have a Jane Fairfax in our world. A amiable person, who does touch a nerve or produce a slight animosity for us. It’s not meant to be negative, but we all see someone that has something we dearly lack and it can awaken a petty aspect in us. But when I look at Emma , I see a woman who is firmly set in her own world at the beginning , a world that insulates her from the realities of other, but also one that allows her to imagine endless outcomes for others. When she looks at Harriet - she doesn’t scrutinize her position or the way society sees her , but instead envisions a society where Harriet can climb the ladder of social position and marry better prospects. Where others see road blocks , Emma attempts to find alternative routes. Granted - Emma can be snobby and insensitive, and a lot of her imaginings are an attempt to control those around her - but still she isn’t mean like Caroline Bingley -which could have easily been her temperament. By the end of her journey Emma is able to at least see the realities of others - not the world through her own understanding alone- which is something to strive for - and she is able to analyze her own mind and heart and examine with honesty - again something we should strive to do on a regular basis. The journey that so many of Austen’s characters go through - the humility each demonstrates is relatable ; they each show us that being flexible and willing to change isn’t always the end of the world and may actually give your new pathways of happiness- this is how I see Emma now.

[@gretelhallett9530]

Dr Cox - a question which has always intrigued me about 'Emma' - why does Mr Knightley say (Vol3 ChVII), 'Her situation should secure your compassion. It was badly done, indeed! You, whom she had known from an infant, whom she had seen grow up from a period when her notice was an honour, to have you now, in thoughtless spirits, and the pride of the moment, laugh at her, humble her-and before her niece, too-and before others, many of whom (certainly some,) would be entirely guided by your treatment of her.' Why was Miss Bates' notice 'an honour' in the past to Emma? Would she have been of higher status than Emma? Or is this simply seniority of age which would have commanded respect from a child to an adult? Or is this tied up with why the Bates are so poor now, if they had much higher status when Mr Bates was alive? Why has he left them with so little to live on?

[@londongael]

Miss Bates would have been entitled to respect for her age, and also for being the vicar's daughter. Her financial circumstances would have been much better when her father was alive. His income was heavily dependent on the Church, and most of it would have died with him - Jane Austen, her sister and her mother were left in similar circumstances. Also, it is worth remembering Nancy Mitford's dictum "always be nice to the girls. One never knows whom they might marry".

[@CaptainAhorn]

So Emma was a shipper.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ha! Well, many novel-readers of the late 18th - early 19th centuries would have to be shippers! Most novels were all about "hastening together to perfect felicity" (NA ch.31).

[@marijeangalloway1560]

I think you have hit upon the reason for Austen's particular fondness for Emma in their shared "imaginism" as novelistic turn of mind. Both, too, employ their novelistc gifts in the services of matchmaking for others than themselves. Austen, of course, creates other matchmaking imaginists in her novels:.Harriet's rescue from the gypsies by Frank Churchill neatly parallels that of Marianne Dashwood's from her fall by Willoughby in "Sense and Sensibility"------only in that case it is the romance-obsessed Marianne herself who interprets the incident with herself as predetermined heroine, quite naturally having a hero "thrown in her way" in satisfactorally novelistic fashion. And the great matchmaking imaginist in "Pride and Prejudice" is none other than Mrs. Bennet, who is matchmaking for her daughters before the men concerned----i.e., Mr. Bingley and Mr. Collins----even show up on the scene. The comedy here, undercutting the romance typically behind matchmaking, is that Mrs. B. really doesn't care which girl ends up with which man as long as her daughters are the ones getting married. A final thought on matchmaking as novelistic imaginism:. Austen's own brief comments in a letter to her sister regarding her potential "heroine-ship" in relation to Tom Lefroy landed her into full-blown romantic heroine mode some two centuries later in the film "Becoming Jane"---- thanks to matchmaking imaginists of the 21st century! What would she have made of that, I wonder?

[@DrOctaviaCox]

It's a fascinating point you make about Mrs Bennet not caring which girl ends up with which man as long as they get married - I wonder if Jane Austen is making a point / drawing a parallel here about the arbitrariness of some couplings (often among subsidiary characters) that is necessitated by the novel genre. As the narrative voice in _Northanger Abbey_ says, readers know from "the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity" (ch.31). In other words, the author and reader know when the get to the final pages that some hasty match-making and tying together is likely to occur (as Austen jokes about in NA with Eleanor Tilney's husband, who is introduced three paragraphs from the end of the novel!).

[@aquafishcspeia2921]

@4Freedom4All Viruses cause colds and flus, but viruses are constantly around us, being cold and wet compromises our immune system, giving viruses an advantage they normally wouldn't have.

[@thrpschr]

This makes me think of my favourite Emma pastiche, Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm, in which the heroine is an aspiring novelist, but not a very good one. Unlike Emma, though, Flora Poste is so good at briskly managing people's lives for them that I almost think of her as something of a lovable sociopath. I should probably do a proper re-reading of them side by side, I haven't read Emma in many years now. But it's very much a take on Emma as an imaginist, in a way.

[@thesisypheanjournal1271]

So we'd all get much more amusement from Jane Austen's novels if we could spot all the little references as readily as her contemporaries could. Her little references are to her readers as references to the Jurassic Park "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear"; or Indiana Jones reaching back and snatching his hat before the door slams down; or "I've got a bad feeling about this."

[@_Tree_of_Life_]

More JA videos please! Perhaps a video explaining why Emma intends to refuse an invitation to the Cole's party because they are "beneath" her, and why a farmer like Mr. Martin is as much above her notice as "beneath" it, in the wider context of the social strata in JA's day. Why are Jane and Lizzy mortified that Mr. Collins introduces himself to Mr. Darcy when, as a clergyman and a servant of God, he can (as he maintains) move among the social ranks as he sees fit? 💕

[@tymanung6382]

But did clergy of dissenting Protestants. Catholics, or other religions like Juadaism. have same privileges??

[@Green_Gryphon]

Perhaps, for such an imaginist as Jane Austen, life is rendered so: Doing is being, and being is doing. To do is to be, and to be is to do. Do be do be do be do!

[@O-Demi]

By the way, can anybody explain to me (or give directions to where I can find a video on) the differences in Emma and Mr Knightly's social status? It seems that she marries up by marrying him. The novel mentioned a few times that the Knightley brothers are somehow different in status from the Woodhouse family, and there was also the thing with inheritance at play. Also, why does he live in an abbey? I don't understand what it means. I have seen some analysis on the status of characters from 'Pride and Prejudice,' but is there something like this for 'Emma'?

[@sarahmwalsh]

What books do you think were on Emma's reading list for Harriet? Harriet mentions "The Romance of the Forest" and "The Children of the Abbey" as books that she suggested to Mr. Martin to read, but I wonder whether Emma's list would include quite as much of the "horrid" as the list Isabella gave to Catherine in "Northanger Abbey."

[@ccc22112]

So funny to think of Emma as a novelist but someone who is always told to read more.

[@evelynbyrd4961]

Our Jane(Janites) was a matchmaker, too, therefore Emma and Lady Russell(Persuasion) characters stem from Jane Austens' tics. We all have tics. Like in Mansfield Park, Fanny came very close to marry Henry Crawford. Well...in a sequel, after Edmund passes away suddenly, Henry Crawford pops into the story again. Am I now, a matchmaker. Henry's mate, a lovely girl dies suddenly. Henry is devastated. He returns to Mansfield Park, dejavue, both Fanny and Henry have changed and begin to take each other seriously. What will happen next. Read "Second Chances".. hahahaha...e

[@DrOctaviaCox]

That's a good point Evelyn - Lady Russell is a mistaken matchmaker too - after all, she tries to persuade Anne to marry Mr Elliot. Here are Lady Russell's match-making thoughts about the pair: "She could not imagine a man more exactly what he ought to be than Mr Elliot; nor did she ever enjoy a sweeter feeling than the hope of seeing him receive the hand of her beloved Anne in Kellynch church, in the course of the following autumn" (ch.17).

[@ginnysena8094]

Do you think there is any evidence that the story of Emma might have originally centered around Jane Fairfax? Maybe the circumstances of that courtship were too tragic, and readers would never forgive Frank if told from Jane’s perspective? It seems to me that Emma is such a unique main character because there isn’t any risk or conflict for her character other than the troubles she creates for herself. A heroine who isn’t invested in the “real” narrative adds an obfuscation that allows for humor and playfulness that would be out of place in a heavier narrative.

[@sitting_nut]

are you a descendant of austen's "pert young lawyer" william cox? or did i "invent" that because i had nothing to do?

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Excellent use of invention!

[@cynthiarowley719]

The Austen's must've had a great library of novels? But, maybe too busy writing, to read?

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Yes, the Austens were great novel readers. Throughout her letters, Austen refers to (and often assesses) the novels that she is reading. E.g. she wrote to Cassandra: "I have torn through the 3d vol. of the Heroine, & do not think it falls off" (2-3 March 1814). 'The Heroine; or, Adventures of a Fair Romance Reader' (1813) was a novel by Eaton Stannard Barrett.

[@MySThomson]

@4Freedom4All there is a delightful book called, "Evelina - or the history of a young lady's entrance into the world" by Fanny Burney. It was a favorite of Jane and her family. I found it at Project Gutenberg. I'd love to find some of the others too.

[@sixeses]

Was Jane Austen's father also a valetudinarian?

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Might not “work” also refer to Jane’s writing?

[@londongael]

"Work" without any other description always refers to sewing. Middle class ladies did enormous quantities of sewing. They made shirts for their male relatives, clothes for the poor, and made or altered many of their own clothes. Then there was the mending... It was how they spent most of their "free" time. Austen's writing would have been regarded as a pastime rather than necessary "work", at least until she was able to make a contribution to the household income.

[@bekabell1]

Had Jane Austen not had the ability and means if writing her stories, I would be inclined to think she was measly engaging in maladaptive daydreaming. However, as her imaginings were fruitful and so very perceptive, I think it would be better termed highly adaptive daydreaming in her case.

[@julieletford5695]

Unlike Jane Austen's other heroines, Emma wasn't poor.

[@amyrodgers9887]

Actually I liked Emma, but I was very embarrassed for her.

[@bellringer929]

Was Austen a snob like Emma?

[@Barzins1]

Sounds like invention is not a favorite activity since she only resorts to it when she has nothing else to do.

[@katebuckfield7736]

Too many adverts. Yawn yawn yawn

[@beeeesac]

What pronouns do you use? I want to talk about your videos but don't know how to address you!

[@tonyhoffman6749]

Please stop playing with your hair

[@Redberryfarm888]

As a side note, this is an interesting article on "The Probable Location of Donwell Abbey" ( Spoiler: The original Clairmont House, Surrey) www.jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-39-no-1/the-probable-location-of-donwell-abbey-in-jane-austens-emma/