markets. He owns a copy of Elegant Extracts, the anthology of miscellaneous pieces that both Emma and her father are familiar with, and from which Emma claims she has copied out the riddle “Kitty, a fair but frozen maid.” He has read The Vicar of Wakefield but is unacquainted with the popular Gothic romances that Harriet recommends. He travels on horseback to do business in a nearby town, although he also makes his way about the neighborhood on foot. His “appearance” is “very neat,” and he is by all reports a solid and stable young man of twenty-four-seven years older than Harriet. He writes a straightforward and coherent letter and maintains an attractive and comfortable home.
None of this cuts any ice with Emma. She waves him out of consideration and declares that the “ ‘yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do ’ ” (p. 25). Although yeomen was one of the terms used for the local militias raised for defense against possible invasion during the wars of the French Revolution, the term itself was commonly, if loosely, applied to free-holding farmers. In her put-down of Martin, Emma seems unwittingly, through an almost anachronistic usage, also to have raised him up—at least formally—since he rents his farm (which has very little to do with his relative prosperity). ix And, she goes on to say to Harriet, when Robert Martin is Mr. Weston’s age, he “ ‘will be a completely gross, vulgar farmer, ’ ” unattractive, slovenly, obsessed with money. He may become rich, but he will remain “ ‘Clownish,‘” a local mechanic and yokel, “ ‘illiterate and coarse’ ” (p. 28).
Leaving to one side Emma’s personal motives for behaving in this crude and nasty way, we understand that she has done a number on both Harriet and Robert Martin. She has reproduced by analogy (and in parody again) the situation of the young Captain Weston and Miss Churchill, grotesquely inflating Harriet to a great Yorkshire heiress far beyond the social possibilities of the lowly Captain of Yeomanry (or Militia, or Volunteers). Emma herself occupies the place of the Churchill brother and sister-in-law; and she threatens Harriet with the fate Miss Churchill incurred when she insisted on choosing Weston (p. 54). Harriet sends Martin a letter of rejection—largely composed by Emma (p. 47). The next morning Knightley promptly appears to tell Emma the good news that Martin has consulted him before writing his letter of proposal to Harriet. Knightley is a great champion of Martin, and Martin “ ‘considers me as one of his best friends’ ” (p. 52). Knightley recommends him highly in terms we are already familiar with, and adds that Martin can afford to marry and that he, Knightley, has happily encouraged him to go ahead. Emma, smiling to herself that she is far ahead of Knightley, informs him of what he doesn’t know. Knightley cannot believe his ears, and Emma has to repeat herself. He goes red, stands up, and hits the ceiling. He sees at once that Emma has schemed this whole thing through. He is furious at her for her failure of intelligence, for her narcissism, for her self-referential and mistaken interfering, for her irresponsibility. Emma, as yet unshaken, saucily replies that it is inconceivable that Martin could be “ ‘a good match for my intimate friend! ... It would be a degradation’ ” At this, Knightley more or less jumps out of his skin. “ ‘degradation to illegitimacy and ignorance, to be married to a respectable, intelligent gentleman-farmer’ ” (p. 54). And he proceeds to commend Martin’s manners for their “ ‘sense, sincerity and good-humour’ ” and concludes with the more salient “ ‘and his mind has more true gentility than Harriet Smith could understand’ ” (p. 57).
Emma admits that although legally Harriet is a “Nobody” there can be no doubt that her father is both a gentleman and rich, thereby providing her with everything that
None of this cuts any ice with Emma. She waves him out of consideration and declares that the “ ‘yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do ’ ” (p. 25). Although yeomen was one of the terms used for the local militias raised for defense against possible invasion during the wars of the French Revolution, the term itself was commonly, if loosely, applied to free-holding farmers. In her put-down of Martin, Emma seems unwittingly, through an almost anachronistic usage, also to have raised him up—at least formally—since he rents his farm (which has very little to do with his relative prosperity). ix And, she goes on to say to Harriet, when Robert Martin is Mr. Weston’s age, he “ ‘will be a completely gross, vulgar farmer, ’ ” unattractive, slovenly, obsessed with money. He may become rich, but he will remain “ ‘Clownish,‘” a local mechanic and yokel, “ ‘illiterate and coarse’ ” (p. 28).
Leaving to one side Emma’s personal motives for behaving in this crude and nasty way, we understand that she has done a number on both Harriet and Robert Martin. She has reproduced by analogy (and in parody again) the situation of the young Captain Weston and Miss Churchill, grotesquely inflating Harriet to a great Yorkshire heiress far beyond the social possibilities of the lowly Captain of Yeomanry (or Militia, or Volunteers). Emma herself occupies the place of the Churchill brother and sister-in-law; and she threatens Harriet with the fate Miss Churchill incurred when she insisted on choosing Weston (p. 54). Harriet sends Martin a letter of rejection—largely composed by Emma (p. 47). The next morning Knightley promptly appears to tell Emma the good news that Martin has consulted him before writing his letter of proposal to Harriet. Knightley is a great champion of Martin, and Martin “ ‘considers me as one of his best friends’ ” (p. 52). Knightley recommends him highly in terms we are already familiar with, and adds that Martin can afford to marry and that he, Knightley, has happily encouraged him to go ahead. Emma, smiling to herself that she is far ahead of Knightley, informs him of what he doesn’t know. Knightley cannot believe his ears, and Emma has to repeat herself. He goes red, stands up, and hits the ceiling. He sees at once that Emma has schemed this whole thing through. He is furious at her for her failure of intelligence, for her narcissism, for her self-referential and mistaken interfering, for her irresponsibility. Emma, as yet unshaken, saucily replies that it is inconceivable that Martin could be “ ‘a good match for my intimate friend! ... It would be a degradation’ ” At this, Knightley more or less jumps out of his skin. “ ‘degradation to illegitimacy and ignorance, to be married to a respectable, intelligent gentleman-farmer’ ” (p. 54). And he proceeds to commend Martin’s manners for their “ ‘sense, sincerity and good-humour’ ” and concludes with the more salient “ ‘and his mind has more true gentility than Harriet Smith could understand’ ” (p. 57).
Emma admits that although legally Harriet is a “Nobody” there can be no doubt that her father is both a gentleman and rich, thereby providing her with everything that
Similar Books
