Emma's World (Jane Austen)
Emma - Understanding Jane Austen 's World
Pamela Whalan has been a member of the Study Day Committee of JASA since 1999 and has been involved in the successful presentation of study days on Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. She has directed successful seasons of I Have Five Daughters (an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice) and an adaptation for the stage of Emma. She has written a stage adaptation of Mansfield Park and directed this play for the Genesian Theatre Company Inc. in Sydney.
…but he must know that in fortune and consequence she was greatly his superior. He must know that the Woodhouses had been settled for several generations at Hartfield, the younger branch of a very ancient family – and that the Eltons were nobody. (I, Ch.16, p.112)
This is the kind of statement that shows us the difference between accepted standards in the early 19th century and accepted standards today. Understanding the way society operated at the time when Jane Austen was writing will help us to appreciate the novel, Emma.
Wealth and breeding were both very important considerations when contemplating marriage at the beginning of the 19th century and of the two, breeding was the more important, even though it was becoming easier for wealthy people to buy their way into society.
Mr Knightley gave a sensible summary of Harriet Smith’s marriage prospects early in the novel and you will notice that good breeding is the basis of his assessment:
Miss Harriet Smith may not find offers of marriage flow in so fast, though she is a very pretty girl. Men of sense, whatever you may chuse to say, do not want silly wives. Men of family would not be fond of connecting themselves with a girl of such obscurity – and most prudent men would be afraid of the inconvenience and disgrace they might be involved in, when the mystery of her parentage came to be revealed. (I, Ch.8, p..57)
Mr Knightley had good sense and knowledge of how the
Pamela Whalan has been a member of the Study Day Committee of JASA since 1999 and has been involved in the successful presentation of study days on Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. She has directed successful seasons of I Have Five Daughters (an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice) and an adaptation for the stage of Emma. She has written a stage adaptation of Mansfield Park and directed this play for the Genesian Theatre Company Inc. in Sydney.
…but he must know that in fortune and consequence she was greatly his superior. He must know that the Woodhouses had been settled for several generations at Hartfield, the younger branch of a very ancient family – and that the Eltons were nobody. (I, Ch.16, p.112)
This is the kind of statement that shows us the difference between accepted standards in the early 19th century and accepted standards today. Understanding the way society operated at the time when Jane Austen was writing will help us to appreciate the novel, Emma.
Wealth and breeding were both very important considerations when contemplating marriage at the beginning of the 19th century and of the two, breeding was the more important, even though it was becoming easier for wealthy people to buy their way into society.
Mr Knightley gave a sensible summary of Harriet Smith’s marriage prospects early in the novel and you will notice that good breeding is the basis of his assessment:
Miss Harriet Smith may not find offers of marriage flow in so fast, though she is a very pretty girl. Men of sense, whatever you may chuse to say, do not want silly wives. Men of family would not be fond of connecting themselves with a girl of such obscurity – and most prudent men would be afraid of the inconvenience and disgrace they might be involved in, when the mystery of her parentage came to be revealed. (I, Ch.8, p..57)
Mr Knightley had good sense and knowledge of how the
References: are to: Jane Austen, Emma, The Folio Society, London, 1975