Knowledge And Ignorance In Jane Austen's Emma

Jane Austen’s Emma is brilliantly constructed of a series of character’s misunderstandings and complex subtexts that weave together to tell many stories at once. Each character’s knowledge and ignorance in various situations offers insight into their personalities and affects the way they interact with other characters, often resulting in comedic exchanges. One of the best examples of this amusing writing style of Austen’s is Mr. Elton’s proposal to Emma Woodhouse. The proposal scene is the climax to a series of mistakes both characters make when attempting to interpret each other's words and actions. While we can laugh at Emma’s and Mr. Elton’s misinterpretations thanks to the omniscience of the narrator, we must take a step back and understand why they make the assumptions that they do.
She completely disregards the signs of Mr. Elton’s affections towards her in order to script her own imagined, perfect love story between Mr. Elton and Harriet. She believes his attentiveness and praise during the painting session is directed towards Harriet’s beauty, instead of her skill with watercolors. Mr. Elton's offer to have the painting framed in London is taken by Emma to be the highest compliment to Harriet. We instead see this as an attempted on Mr. Elton’s part to impress Emma even more. Mr. Elton would certainly be aware of Emma’s reputations in Highbury as a matchmaker. Yet, he is blinded by his infatuation with her. What other characters see as obvious signs of Emma encouraging a relationship between himself and Harriet, Mr. Elton sees as Emma accepting and reaffirming his flirtations. As his belief that Emma is enjoying his advances grows, so does his infatuation. This blinds him further, thus creating a continuos circle of flirting, misinterpretation, and lack of